Barefoot advice

[Lissie2]

So... 21 year old Arab. Never been shod.
Always a little bit footy over stoney ground but nothing major.
I now have him on full loan BUT prior to this he was only trimmed every 15 weeks and had shocking cracked hooves and overgrown spongey frogs. I’ve reduced his trimming time to 6 to 8 weeks and his feet are looking good, nice clean and hard frogs, thrush hasn’t come back, and no splitting. However he is now VERY foot sore on anything other than grass or super flat concrete. Much worse than before. His diet hasn’t changed and he has no strains or injuries. Is this because of the shorter time between trims and will he get used to it? Or is farrier taking too much off and leaving him without protection? He is otherwise in good health. Spring grass hasn’t come through at all yet around here so he’s not eating anything overly rich. Advice please. Farrier is okay and trims all the other horses at yard (whodont have this issue afterwards.) thanks In advance!

 

[supsup]

Based on your description, it does sound like the trim is leading to the horse being footsore. Does the horse get more sound towards the end of the trimming cycle? That would be another clue. The obvious way to test the theory is to skip the next trimming appointment and see if soundness improves. Maybe the horse needs to have more hoof wall left to be comfortable, or needs his own hoof balance that the farrier tried to alter to make the hooves look more symmetrical. I doubt the horse will just "get used to it".
There's always a chance it's coincidence too. At 21, he might be starting to develop Cushings, leading to sore feet, for example. But I think I'd see first how he does with skipping a trim.

 

[PoppyAnderson]

Almost certainly due to farrier. Barefoot feet don't necessarily need to look great - the most important thing is functionality. They might not have looked perfect before but if the horse was sound and landing heel first, then leave them be. Sometimes, less is more!