Back shoes off last night...remind me what to expect!

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As above, had the farrier take the back shoes off my cob last night on the basis that 'I'm not working him much over the winter' for anyone who remembers my previous thread :rolleyes:

He agreed that the hoof quality is vastly improved from when I got him 18 months ago, and we both agreed that backs off, fronts on was a good idea as his back feet are much better - and I'm hoping it will be a gentler introduction for cobby and I!

So three questions really for anyone who makes it to the end:

1) Remind me what to expect now foot-wise? He was quite happy walking over the planings straight away last night, and again this morning where we tried a little trot on the smoothest bit. He also happily cantered off down the frozen field this morning :D

2) Back feet are a bit thrushier than I had thought - recommendations? I've been brushing and spraying with iodine every couple of days for the last week or two, and had a good scrub after the farrier left with disinfectant, then sprayed again with iodine after. Doesn't seem to be giving him any bother.

3) Any good articles on going barefoot that I can sneak into the farrier's truck next time? I'm planning on attempting to convert him too - he's rather traditional and admitted that feet are miles better recently, but when I said that fitted when I've changed his diet, he was rather sceptical... For both myself and for foisting off on him, something 'proper' and hardcopy would be good - lovely as this forum is :)

Congrats for anyone who made it this far! :D
 
1) You might find hes absolutely fine and not bothered at all. When my backs came off my girl she wasnt any different at all.

2) Id carry on cleaning. Ive heard milton is quite good. If its not bothering him then I wouldnt be overly worried. Sounds like you are doing the right thing with that.

3) There are a lot of good things on the rockley site that you could print out?

When I got my girl I used a farrier and he was very much the same mind set as yours. The feed doesnt make a blind bit of dofference and shouldnt be faffed with but actually I can tell if my girl has sugar because shes that sensitive. If I hadnt have changed her diet then we wouldnt be barefoot now.

Roll on the fronts lol!
 
If you google "barefoot" you will find an absolute wealth of information. You can't really get away from it these days... :D
 
1) Mine was also totally unaffected by having his back shoes off.

2) When I took mine's front shoes off and found they were very thrushy I did a CleanTrax soak, expensive and a faff but clears it up completely so you have piece of mind. Be careful not to do too much scrubbing and use of iodine etc as too much cleaning can actually keep it going (stops the frogs from healing up properly), best to have a real blast at it over a few days and then either stop or stick to safe products for a bit (e.g. sudocrem).

3)

There are plenty of 'proper' articles about the affect of diet on hooves (e.g. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2042-3306.1998.tb05121.x/abstract) maybe that would be a start?

Not much 'proper' on barefoot unfortunately (or shoeing for that matter). Something like this maybe: http://www.hoefnatuurlijk.nl/index_js.htm?http://www.hoefnatuurlijk.nl/bekappen/article.htm
 
Thanks for the replies so far everyone :D

Laura - Thanks for the articles; great suggestions. I've put the keywords from the first article into a database and lots more has come up than when I looked before - wrong keywords I guess! Some good reading... The forums etc are great for personal experiences, but at heart I'm a scientist :rolleyes:

Again, relatively old, but some good references and informative without being too obscure:
http://203.170.85.168/~equineco/pho...7Improving Hoof Health through Nutrition5.pdf
 
Also should have said - horse still fine too :D

He's been happily cantering up the field in the mornings when he didn't really before, and I've lunged and schooled since the backs came off, and he went really nicely. Tracking up well and stretching on the lunge, and felt like he was really working from behind when I rode. He did feel like he tired quite quickly when I rode though - harder work if the whole foot is being used? It wasn't tea time so I gave him the benefit of the doubt :rolleyes:

Something someone else mentioned on a previous thread, but he usually brushes quite a lot behind, and I couldn't hear/see much at all :)
 
My TB had crap feet but i took the backs off and there was no transition time at all, I didn't notice a difference and neither did she apparently. It also stopped her pulling shoes as the backs came off and the diet sorted. Just keep on doing what your doing in regards to thrush.
 
An update and a bump...

A week half-shod tomorrow and all still going well so far - he doesn't even seem to have noticed! If anything, he looks and feels like he is stepping through from behind more and overtracking by 2-3 hooves in walk on the lunge :)

My question today is...how long before the increased stimulation will encourage faster growth? Have noticed a little bit of wear already - texture looks different on toes - and don't want to wear his feet away to little nubbins as all the (shod) people on the yard seem to think... I have been keeping the same number of work sessions, but shorter and less intense whilst he got used to his new feet - keep doing this or back to normal?
 
Glad to hear it's going well :D.

Re work - in the school you're not going to wear the feet out (unless you have some kind of uber-abrasive surface and school for hours at a time!), so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Out hacking, start off with maybe 30-40 mins and see how the foot looks when you get back. Each horse is different, so I would judge it according to how your horse is wearing his feet.
 
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