Argh!!! Twisted shoe again!!! Long Sorry!

[snopuma]

Since the last shoeing Indles has twisted her shoe twice!

I am a knats fart away from going barefoot with her, my other horse is a navicular sufferer, he is barefoot (great big warmblood) he became lame after a farrier kept shoeing him short as he was always pulling shoes off (big mover and always wearing over reach boots for turnout) anyway he ended up with contracted heels and very long toes which now barefoot almost resemble good feet, the quality of hoof is better the shape is a little off.

I ride him infrequently (with cavallo boots on) he is fine on these and while the ground is soft he is comfortable in the field barefoot. So he has made an impovement and I would never have him shod again.

So now I am at a crossroads, farrier is coming again today to 'fix' the twisted shoe. When I bought her last summer she was shod all round, and I got the hinds taken off, she is only shod in front with natural balance shoes, hind feet have stood up well and look alot better than before, they unsurprisingly grow more than the fronts, when he shoes the fronts he's basically putting nails holes exactly where the previous ones were! so now we have a weakened area yet still strong enough to not pull shoe cleanly off only twist it which makes her lame, luckily farrier does come out quickly,

So what I need to know is if you had a little 16hh TB mare that was fine on her hinds and crappy on the fronts at this time of year would you try to transition her to barefoot with boots or wait until October when the ground is soft again?

She has small flat feet on the front, heading towards contracted heels and a little long in the toe, and is lame if she pulls a shoe off, she is on a high fibre diet, in light work and is 7 years old, ex-racer (flat) ,

or should I just persist with shoeing the fronts???

any help would be truly grateful!

Morning coffee and Pecan danish for those that got this far!

 

[dressagelove]

If you have boots for her I'm sure she'll manage, go for it! I'm transitioning one of mine atm who has terribly weak, sore feet. Not riding atm (as no saddle!) and still waiting on some boots that fit to arrive but I'm doing it, he desp needed his shoes off.

Just go steady for a while, she might not manage with the same amount of work you were doing shod until through the transition unfortunately, but will be worth it in the end x

 

[AngieandBen]

Agree, go with the boots; I took mine barefoot over two years ago and still have to do long hacks with boots ( We do not have a problem with this, he is more comfortable with them on )

I only ride two maybe three time a week and go out for hours so never really did the rehab thing; but it works for us and for 90% of the time he is shoeless he is sound on concrete, just not over stones.

Saves time/money so I would 100% go barefoot

 

[LucyPriory]

long toes/flat soles/contracted heels are very common in the shod TB but can usually be resolved with a bit of TLC.

When/if the shoes come off check the white line, you should be able to cover it with the edge of a credit card. Also check the hooves for lots of small multiple event lines.

I am sure you have already, but double check the small print of the high fibre diet. A high proportition of 'high fibre' nuts have hidden sugars/molasses etc which are unhelpful.

 

[snopuma]

When I bought her she had a rather fetching rippling effect on all four feet, these have now but all disappeared after 9 months of growth she is on a hoof supplement and gets Magox as a calmer which I understand will also help her feet, the main thing that worries me is that I am trying to up the work she does (she is a bit nuts) everytime she has pulled a shoe off she comes in very lame from the field, so how long could I expect her to really feel her feet before she would come sound enough to ride?