Barefoot advice (first timer!)

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Amyking89

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Hi all,

So I posted a little while ago about taking my mare bare foot. So far all is going fairly well; we had a mild bout of laminitis that my vet said was fairly likely to happen along the journey, no harm was done.
Her feet are doing fairly well, they've hardened up, and ive got Cavallo simple boots for all 4 feet, her fronts have gel pads in and she's doing super in them (and VERY bouncy and strong currently?!) she was out competing BE last year before the feet became an issue; im just wondering how many people do any kind of competition in their boots?
Or whether they just travel to/from competition and compete barefoot on a surface? (I haven't tried this yet as the school is under construction)

Ive started to look into diet, we're keeping ontop of her trimming as she's definitely more comfortable kept short.

She's currently on a scoop of healthy tummy twice a day, with a veterinary hoof supplemt and some linseed oil.

Is there anything else I can do for her? She's on short grass and no hay or haylage currently.
Apparently horsehage is good for lamintis and foot health when she'll need it.

But any help would be appreciated, she's of a good weight, so no issues there (in fact the opposite!)

This is all still so new to me, any help/advice/tips would be great..thanks!
 
Thankyou :)
I feel like a fish out of water, always had shod horses, never had one with feet like hers. They aren't the most awful, but they're typical flat, no heels, brittle, :( terrifies me she'll get another problem!
 
you could always post photos on here or on the two places that I mentioned asking for thoughts. What was the problem with her feet originally?
 
I may do that! They have improved since being barefoot (imo).

She had always been shod, she's very flat footed and grows next to no heel. We discovered that shoeing with extra space at the back and no front clips did help and her foot had started to relax.

Unfortunately I moved and my farrier couldn't come that far.
She's always been shallow so nailing was a pain, you had to nail fairly low.
New farrier wasn't so forgiving and the shoes she had on didn't fit full stop. They started to press onto her foot and dragged what little heel she had completely down and went lame (couldn't weight bare). The vet said it may have happened eventually regardless but she was definitely shod badly.
Luckily due to a change in job I moved back and my farrier has seen her along with the vet, but both have suggested she will need to be barefoot, we may never go back to metal shoes (and right now I do feel it's safer and healthier for her)
 
You should be completely fine competing on a surface at this stage assuming she is ok on grass without boots? I did a xc on mine today which was on grass, mud and a surface, satisfying bit was galloping over the road without having to pull up in case she slipped. Mine is fine on all surfaces and doesn't need boots, so further along than yours, but that should be in your future too :)
 
Aw that's great thankyou!
She's been slightly sore on the hard ground (where we've had no rain), but not unbearable and she is due a trim this week which doesn't help.
I hope she'll be back out competing :) Id like to just do some low level stuff (back to baby steps!!) to start, and I suppose once we head out of summer it'll all go back on surface,

Thanks for your help!
 
i can't not have her feet trimmed?
And she's footsore on hard ground, we have a very long gravel driveway to get down before the road, and I can't see it would benefit making her sore?
 
Put your boots on for the gravel track and then when you get to the smooth road take the boots off and put them back on to go back up the gravel.
 
Smooth tarmac is usually quite an easy surface for freshly de-shod horses. Could you boot for the gravel and then take the boots off for walking in-hand on tarmac and then re-boot for going back down the gravel?
 
I'd put those boots on, walk down the driveway and straight onto the tarmac, leaving the boots on. It's the padding in them that is magic. With every step, the frog comes down on that pad with pressure and release, building the frog and the back of the hoof. Your constant battle against thrush will also help greatly. If the horse is too sore to ride, then leading. Here, they are called Promenade Walks. 20 min./day. Gravel, also is really good for developing the foot as well. (no boots needed). 4" deep pea gravel, around the water trough, gateways, loafing areas..all the places where you wish it would never be muddy again. It acts like a bean bag chair and supports the hoof north,south, east and west, polishes and toughens the wall, self trims the hoof and thrush doesn't have a chance on its excellent drainage. The gravel, like is on your driveway, is graduation...a rock crushing hoof, not the other way around. Graduation of ground surface is like this....soft/pasture ground to hard flat ground, to uneven ground, to gravel. If you get a confident horse with a heel first landing, then its time to move up...when you can get the same on your driveway, you have arrived! If you want a rock crushing hoof, then let the hoof do homework on rocks. Between boots/pads for riding, or Promenade Walks and the horse continuing to his homework on gravel when you're not riding, staying on top of the trim and checking the diet and you will see improvement fast. The grass alone can cause foot soreness, so definitely check the diet.
I went whole hog on the barefoot endeavor. I set a goal of walking the fist-sized quarry stone on the road going back the land. The horses couldn't walk on it and I refused to be trapped on my own land. I started transitioning my horses myself...alone. At the same time, I dumped a load of crushed limestone in my 60' round pen. (couldn't afford the pea gravel and wanted more stability) Come spring and mud, we had to retreat to it and there, we lived, worked and played for 2 months. The changes were so amazing, that when we left the round pen, I headed straight for that quarry stone road and walked the length of it without anyone blinking an eyelid. I was so impressed, that I went and dug all the dirt out of the barn and filled it with crushed limestone as well. Eliminating the stalls, the need to clean them and the need for bedding. All that was 20 years ago. Mine are doing time on gravel in the round pen right now, cause, enough with the grass already. If you take them off grass for a few days and they stop being foot sore, then you know the culprit.
I would continue to trim, even if much isn't taken. What I would want is "balanced" and all torque disengaged from the white line, to stay on top of that balanced trim, get comfortable to move properly and move to work that trim. That's how you open the door to help the horse forge his own foot.
For us, as owners, all this is our homework. The farrier is only there for an hour. The rest of it is ours. Life is actually easier and cheaper now, I can grow old with that, lol!
 
Amyking89 said:
Hi all,

So I posted a little while ago about taking my mare bare foot. So far all is going fairly well; we had a mild bout of laminitis that my vet said was fairly likely to happen along the journey, no harm was done.
Her feet are doing fairly well, they've hardened up, and ive got Cavallo simple boots for all 4 feet, her fronts have gel pads in and she's doing super in them (and VERY bouncy and strong currently?!) she was out competing BE last year before the feet became an issue; im just wondering how many people do any kind of competition in their boots?
Or whether they just travel to/from competition and compete barefoot on a surface? (I haven't tried this yet as the school is under construction)

Ive started to look into diet, we're keeping ontop of her trimming as she's definitely more comfortable kept short.

She's currently on a scoop of healthy tummy twice a day, with a veterinary hoof supplemt and some linseed oil.

Is there anything else I can do for her? She's on short grass and no hay or haylage currently.
Apparently horsehage is good for lamintis and foot health when she'll need it.

But any help would be appreciated, she's of a good weight, so no issues there (in fact the opposite!)

This is all still so new to me, any help/advice/tips would be great..thanks!
Click to expand...

Two or three points strike me immediately from this post.
Laminitis would not be expected when the shoes are removed, laminitis is a disease and the symptoms are more evident than when shod, but it is still abnormal and should be prevented rather than "accepted!"
The diet: if you posted about this earlier I would have expected you to understand the importance of diet, and to start the diet before the shoes are removed.
Trimming: a horse should not necessarily need trimming, the ideal is to self trim, this is best done with regular walking out on tarmac which "rasps" the hoof. I am not clear why she should be "more comfortable" when the hooves are kept trimmed short, yet you say she is uncomfortable when first trimmed.
Have you seen and understood the ethos of minimal trimming as practiced at Rockley ......... a re-hab centre for horses which have been referred by vets. I kind of get the impression that you expect the barefoot regime to happen without having altered management to assist the transition, this may happen, but most horses need assistance, and they will adapt over a long period.
Feed
I recommend that you feed a mineral designed for the barefoot horse, this would provide magmesium which is so important.
Micronised linseed is preferred to linseed oil as it is less processed.
Salt [25gms] is often helpful.Absolutely no molasses, so you need to check any feed.
Exercise
walk out every day on tarmac for twenty minutes to rasp the hooves.
Management
May need to be adjusted if the horse is footy, always watch the feet, you are looking at heel first landing, better heel development and changes in the sole, collateral grooves, concavity and a stronger digital cushion.
Alfalfa, many horses are sensitive, so this should be removed if it is being fed.
 
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Amyking89 said:
I said her being due a trim doesn't help lol, meaning her being long in the toe isn't helping.
Click to expand...

But she should not be long in the toe, this is what you want to prevent, and you do this by altering management day to day.
How often is she getting trimmed, and if only the toe is being trimmed, why would she be sore, is the farrier trimming the frog and even the sole, this is something they do to prepare the feet for shoeing, but is not required for the barefoot horse. I had my own farrier rasp and used it to round off the edges every two weeks, not a perfect job visually, but it kept the toe shorter and prevented chipping.
If convenient you might try stabling for a few hours in the morning [when grass sugars are high] and feeding soaked hay, thus increasing the proportion of fibre in the diet.
 
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I understand Her lami, perhaps you mis understood the comment; she has had laminitis twice now, and we always get it around this time. We've recently changed to being out more, it was a possibility, even in a small paddock, the grass here has just been so incredibly high in sugar.
I know how to care for a laminitic, shes out over night and in during the day, which works fine now ive gone back to it.
Trimmed every 6 weeks latest.
And as for the comment about preparing her, I didn't have time. She was on holiday livery (full), for several days whilst I was having some tests done in hospital and I was due to move back the direction I was for work, when I collected her, completely lame. As soon as Id got her moved, the vet was called. The shoes came off then, this wasn't really a lengthy decision to go barefoot, I didn't plan to! Ive done my best since for her to try and understand it, I came here looking for advise!

- missyclare, thanks for the advise, I'll certainly give it some thought, re the pea shingle etc :-)
 
Im not upset :-) I've looked into diet, supplements and salt, have been given some advice from some other forums about ones people use as a forage balancer. I looked into Lamineaze but i've not given it a go yet, im trying to manage her laminits without too many added things for it!
Cinammon powder also seems to be recommended?

Apart from that excuse the ignorance but i hadn't looked much at how my farrier was trimming her, i didn't think i needed to, but maybe he doesnt realise entirely my intention is to keep her barefoot forever!
I know the first time she was 'trimmed' (after he removed all her shoes), he effectively just cut back the toe and rasped round, the time after that it seemed more like prep for shoeing, but bare in mind all i've ever had is shod horses..im still adjusting,
she seems better now we've had a couple days of rain, the ground here gets quite hard, and isnt very flat, so i think she'd probably been having a jolly around and made herself a bit sore.
I dont expect her to become magically transitioned over night..which is why I asked for help, I have limited knowledge of a barefoot regime; so far i've tried to make the changes that a) i know about, and b) that have been suggested and tried over time. Ill be looking into pea shingle for hard standing areas, and her diet more closely now i've had some time to research and read up (and have recommended) some changes, I like to be careful with her diet transition, and she doesnt have any cereal based feeds at all (comp mix, etc). She has a salt lick in the field, and I did try natural selection herbs to help find out what she needed.
 
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