Barefoot advice

[cellie]

Our loan mare has had to have her shoes off.Her feet have just disintergrated in all this bad weather and the farrier has no hoof to work with for shoes.She is on a hoof supplement and is fed healthy hooves so its not her diet.She has had a active time with us pc jumping and lots more general work which is why it had never shown up before. We have used keratex hoof hardener on farriers recommendation to make her more comfortable but wont use it long term Ill put cornecresine round coronary for new growth.She is going to be sore as it was a hard trim .I will also have farrier every 2 weeks to monitor and trim .
How long before she can do a little school work barefoot she loves her work.Is it more likely to be 8 weeks .I dont have any experience of barefoot so any expert advice will be appreciated.

 

[brightmount]

If you get a set of hoof boots you will be able to continue working her pretty much straight away, though maybe give it a week or so if it really was a severe trim.

If you put sole mates pads inside the boots it will help the transition by stimulating the sole and frog and accelerating growth. With the right conditioning you build concavity, so work is good, even hand walking in boots and pads to begin with.

You can get pads here:

http://www.equinepodiatrysupplies.co.uk/products.html

 

[cellie]

Thanks for that will check it out.It was quite severe on her front feet so will give her couple of weeks to make sure she doesnt bruise.Just need to work out the sizing.

 

[Kallibear]

If her feet are crumbling it's highly likely she has a hoof wall infection (bit like yucky nails in humans, but bacterial, not fungal). A HUGE number of horses has it to some extent but farriers rarely mention it (just like thrush really). Disinefcting her feet should really help.

Def go and do some reading up on barefeet. It's very interesting and there is SOOO much to learn.

Boots would probably really help her - what ones depends on the shape of her feet - have a look here for the main different types http://www.easycareinc.com/our_boots/whatboot.aspx

 

[cellie]

The vet mentioned fungal infection but both farriers said it was normal for cobs to have coronet that looked dry and flakey.Would hibiscrub do the job or something stronger like canisten.I had a push round coronet tonight and she seemed tender Ill have to investigate further.Thanks

 

[brightmount]

I shouldn't worry about the coronet, Kallibear is presumably referring to the white line which can get various degrees of fungal infection and cause white line separation, hence compromising the outer hoof wall and making it more prone to breaking off.

An easy way to deal with minor white line disease is to soak for 10 minutes in a 50% solution of Milton liquid. Make a fresh lot for each hoof you treat as it is inactive after 10 minutes contact with the hoof. I just use about an inch in a small plastic tub.

The gold standard treatment for more severe white line infection is a Cleantrax soak. 45 minutes per hoof in a long soaking boot. You can get 2 feet per solution as it is active for 90 minutes. You can get it from the link I posted earlier.

 

[cellie]

I ordered some keratex disinfectant treatment and keratex gel which repels water for 7 days.That should help protect her feet protected from elements but I will use milton I keep it in for washing the stables out .Spoke to her owner and she has always had bad feet its just that she has been so active with us its put added pressure on the hoof.Shes having a holiday along with my lame boy two horses and nothing to ride typical lol

 

[neverlate]

hi, iv done the barefoot on my mare and it is honestly the best thing ive ever done. My mare had really poor feet. she would loose shoes, and whatever bit of hoof the shoe was nailed to would drop off with it. After trying everything(and spending a small fortune) my farrier and my self had nothing left to try but barefoot. he came evey 4 weeks at first for a view and tidy up, then every 6 weeks. She was totally lame for first 2 and a half months. by just after the 3rd month She was sound in the school,on soft surfaces. and not long after that she was walking across stones sound too. I never thought she was capable of doing that! I gave her 6months barefoor, only put shoes on in april for the summer, to hack and compette. This summer her feet have not been a problem. theyve been hard, shes not lost 1 shoe. I thought it was so good that im going to give her every winter barefoot. In the whole 5 years ive had her, theyve never been so good. The only product I used whilst she was barefoot was a keratex hoof hardner, only once a fortnight over the whole hoof wall. so i still use it now.