Barefoot Barefoot Barefoot!!!

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Caritas

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My horse had his shoes removed 5 days ago due to constantly pulling them off when in the field and hurting himself. The first day he was quite footy and his feet were quite hot. Now 5 days on he seems to feel a lot happier and to be fair his feet are quite hard and havent really broken off. Does this mean it will definately work for him to go without shoes as he seems to be improving?? How long before he will be comfortable? I have put a similar post on the other day but didnt get much response, I would love to hear from people with similar experiences. Many thanks
 
i had the same problem with my pony so we removed his shoes he was a little footy to begin with (a week or so) but his feet are fine now and hacks out comfortably unless you go on a really stoney path which we try to avoid.he has white feet which we keep well oiled with cut and heals hoof heal oil and seems to be working!he been barefoot now for 5 months and its great!no stress of lost shoes hoorah!
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When i took my mares shoes off (6 years ago) it took 4 months for her fronts to be okay on concrete!!! (Back feet seemed fine straightaway). Sounds like yours is coping well!
 
How long is a piece of string! LOL

It sounds like he's coping fine but feet can change for the better and for the worse depending on weather, diet, environment etc etc so it's never just a case of once his feet have adapted they'll always be as hard as nails. With all this wet weather, horses standing on (or in!) wet ground, plus lusher grass = all these things make feet softer. It's a case of knowing your horse and knowing when he's comfortable and when he might need some extra help by using hoof boots. Keratex Hoof Hardner is excellent stuff - paint it on the sole and frog, once a day for a week, then once or twice a week or more often if the weather is wet. Also be doubly sure to pick his feet out at least twice a day and ensure no little bits of gravel or tiny stones are wedged in his white line. I use a stud hole cleaner to scrape out any debris from the white lines. It's the tiny bits that get stuck in the white line that can get wedged up between the hoof wall and cause absesses. But as long as your hoof management is good and you listen to your horse you'll do great. Well done for taking the plunge! Barefoot is the way to go
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I had the exact same experience, my girl was a bit footy the first day (she had to walk over gravel to the field
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) then the second day she was striding out nice as you like. Actually about 2 weeks after the shoes came off she jumped into her neighbours field for the first time in her life
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Your horses feet may split a little as the nail holes grow towards the edges of the hoof.
 
Cairo - clydesdale - shoes off for radiotherapy for couple of weeks. When he came back and went out into the field he was fine. Back into work month later and again fine. With him I did have to put shoes back on for about three months of summer as his feet would crack. However, once he had black sunflower seeds, following year never needed shoes again.

Jemima - gypsy cob - shoes off after several years of wearing them - kept to grass first few weeks and she was fine. Soon able to do few miles of roadwork a week.

Chancer - gypsy cob - never worn shoes and unless he needs to, never will.

Farra - clydesdale - took shoes off when I got her, she had worn them for about 18 months. No different though did spend first couple of weeks in field but happy to walk the concrete track back to the stable.

Fleur - WB mare - worked happily with just fronts on including road work. When retired as broodmare, shoes off and never sore or footie and did not need shoes again.

Delia - TB mare, was fine without back shoes, but even when retired to the field needed fronts in the summer or her feet cracked up.

Hope that helps. I am not anti shoes but especially with Cairo, his foot health improved 100% - he used to have constant thrush but once shoes off, it never returned and I never had to spend ages scrubbing out his feet again.

The tracks where we ride are clay/grass so can get hard but are not stoney and I don't do that much road work so mine cope very well without shoes on.
 
It's not that simple. Five days is no time at all and your horse could go "up and down" in sensitivity for months (or years if you get it wrong!

f you really want to know more, do some research. There are plenty of websites that can help. Try barefoothorses.co.uk and rockleyfarm.co.uk and hoofrehab.com for starters and keep reading! Buy a new book written by two friends of mine "Perormance Barefoot", now released on Amazon.co.uk Monty Roberts has just requested a copy. The horse on the front cover is mine and we are doing an Affiliated cross country.

"I don't do that much road work so mine cope very well without shoes on. " "needed fronts in the summer or her feet cracked up."

If your horse is a true barefooter the more roadwork he does the better his feet will get.

Feet which crack at the bottom have usually been left flared or too long. Barefoot feet should be short and it can look scary at first if you are only used to seeing feet with shoes on. Cracks at the bottom are the foot's way of telling you that it wants to be shorter. Barefoot horses don't walk on their hoof wall, they walk on their heels, frog and sole callous. Too long walls can cause lameness as they lever at the white line as the horse walks.

Bare feet should not be oiled, it simply disturbs the natural water balance which comes from the blood supply inside the foot.


The lack of shoes is not the main issue. You must get his food, his work, the management of his lifestyle and the trim right before you can say whether it has "worked" or "not worked". If you put the horse back in shoes at some time in the future don't blame barefoot, but accept that you simply weren't able to provide what a working barefoot horse needs. Not everyone can, especially for the more sugar sensitive or damaged horses.
 
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If your horse is a true barefooter the more roadwork he does the better his feet will get.


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sorry but is this some sort of exclusive club that only people that read copious amounts of spraff on keeping their horse without shoes and fawn over there horse shoeless feet can join? I'd prefer to stay in the my horse has no shoes and my farrier looks after the rest camp, I know the basics no need to get to perverted about it.
 
All three of mine had their shoes off and were fine immediately, but I know that's not always the case. My TB has quite sensitive feet so although he is fine on grass and smooth surfaces like the road, he hates stones. I have a pair of Old Macs with comfort pads for him so that we can charge about on forestry tracks - if you want to ride in your transition period, and probably beyond it, try the EasyCare site - they do a wide range of hoof boots of different shapes and sizes. My other two have Old Macs and Boas but without the comfort pads. The boots are a bit of a fiddle until you get used to them, and you have to get the correct size or they will be very frustrating, but once you've got them sorted they are great - the TB does all his jumping in them now.
 
The point of my posting was that the previous post had made a connection between not doing much roadwork and being able to go shoeless. That connection is false, roadwork is good for a barefoot horse. If it can't do roadwork, then something is wrong.

Your post appears to be solely an offensive rant. You have a good farrier. You are luckier than many in that respect, who have had to learn for themselves how to keep their horses sound barefoot, often in the face of farriers and vets who have told them to retire their navicular horse or have it shot.

 
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"I know the basics"

Yup, you know your horse, who did it easily. You will be no help at all to the creator of this thread if her horse does not do it as easily as yours. The point of your post, other than to try to upset me, was what, exactly?

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That was exactly the point!
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Once you get to know her/him you will soon learn to ignore
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.
 
Ah, thanks Mairi, I actually changed my post after realising that I was feeding a troll, so your quote is now referring to something that isn't it my post - that'll confuse folks. I'll watch out next time, thanks!
 
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Your post appears to be solely an offensive rant.


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As did yours and quite self rightous to boot, as for my post being of no help I posted further up the thread to share my experiences of a horse going barefoot for the first time.

I am not a troll, Mairi just doesn't like me cos one time I disagreed with her regarding deliberately eletrocuting a horse in the mouth.
 
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