Barefoot break help advice needed

[andytiger]

Hi everyone
Well to cut a long story short my horses front feet are crap have just crumbled away have struggled with shoeing and keeping shoes on ect all summer his heel has dropped on his right fore his front feet are now 2 different shapes vet say he may develop a corn or abscess
However vet has advised to go barefoot for 5-8 weeks complete break so his feet can grow ......so that's what we are doing going back to the vet after this period for x rays and to be shod by remedial farrier
Need 2 bits of advice really the first is I want to give him a complete break at my yard they come at night so he would have to walk twice a day over gravel would this wear his growing feet down
Would it be better to find grass livery for 5-8 weeks so he's on soft grown all the time
The other choice is to buy him some bare foot boots for turnout but very expensive
Or am I just worrying to much and his get will get used to the stones
The other bit of advice is how to encourage his feet to grow I am feeding him naf pro feet and using Kevin bacons hoof dressing
But have heard that using Stockholm tar and cod liver oil is good also have heard of using iodine around the coronet band to encourage growth
Are there any. Are foot experts out there who have had a similar experience
There is tea and a slice of cake for those show have got this far
Ps sorry for grammar it's never been my strong point

 

[Goldenstar]

The first thing I would say that IME five to eight weeks won't be long enough .
Twelve weeks is the shortest shoeing break I do .
How far on the gravel do you have to lead ?
A fair amount of breaking back in unavoidable the walls will chip back to at least the level of the highest nail holes .
There's lots of threads about BF transition on her which might be worth reading.
You could turn away completely at grass it won't stop the feet chipping back they will do that anyway
You can still enjoy your horse while BF look at buying some boots and getting the horse moving it will help the feet and mean you could give a longer break .
When feet a re nail sick there's nothing to do except take the shoes off and get the horse moving with no shoes on.
I enjoyed and learnt lots from the Feet First book although it's about keeping horses BF there's lots of stuff very relevant to people giving their horses a shoeing break , my horses spend part of every year working BF .

 

[be positive]

You will get loads of advice on this topic but the main thing is to get the diet correct, good feet come from having a suitable diet to promote growth, if your horses feet are crumbling away it suggests the diet is very wrong and until that changes his feet will not get better, nothing you put on externally will really help if you don't change the feed.
It will probably require longer than 8 weeks to make a difference, the horn takes up to about 9 months to grow fully and really improve so you are in for a long wait.
I will not do a whole diet post, the basic idea is you need to get him off of starch and sugar onto a simple fibre based feed topped up with appropriate minerals that are probably lacking as his feet are so bad, do a search on here for barefoot diet and you will get all the information you require, and some, the minerals from progressive earth are considered to be the best.

Goldenstar has covered the turning out, the only thing I would add is just get the farrier to take the shoes off and to leave them as they are absolutely no tidying up or trimming, they will do all they need to without help at the early stage.

 

[avthechav]

Pm Oberon and ask for her fantastic advice sheet. I would also recommend the book feet first. I have a warmblood in work who has been properly barefoot for the last year, I would have never thought his feet would stand up to it but they look amazing and never crack, I am using boots at the moment to try to stimulate heel development but that's another story! My youngster is shod at the moment but his diet is pretty much the same as the wb and I have a problem with him losing shoes. Driving the farrier mad coz he said that the nails are shearing rather than the foot giving...(great for horses foot, less good for the losing shoe scenario!).

Basically the thing is to get the feeding right first, mine are on fast fibre, micronised linseed and a fab supplement from progressive earth (ebay) called pro balance, and a bit of salt. Once you have got good hoof coming through you will find that growth and wear balance out, (although the foot will look way way shorter which takes a while to get used to! And also 'knowledgable friend experts' will look at his feet and tell you that they are away wearing away to the white line and your horse is about to be crippled- which makes is very satisfying when your poor crippled barefoot horse trots away in a lovely exuberant medium trot hahaha!). If you are worried that your horse is sore on gravel etc then hoof boots are a godsend and you can put therapeutic pads in them too which can help. I have cavellos and although I thought they were pricey at the time they cost less than 2 shoeings and horse has been wearing them for nearly a year, bonus!

There will be lots of fab advice on here for you, just search through this forum and also look at the Rockley farm blogspot which is a staple for barefoot info. Good luck but would also echo goldenstar- you might need longer but no reason why your horse should need an absolute break from work.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

It is well worth your time reading the Rockley Farm blog. http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/ They take horses for BF rehab there, so the process the horses go through and the photos of their progress will be very helpful for you.

I had to take my mare BF after she had hoof problems.

I don't use topical hoof ointments at all. Once you see the difference that feeding for horn quality makes, things like expensive lard (AKA Kevin Bacon) look like a sticking plaster/band aid. Remember that the new diet only effects the new growth and you need to grow out the whole hoof to get good horn at the bottom.

The two main keys are diet and movement.

You need to cut molasses out completely. Commercial feeds and mixes are often too high in carbs, so mine get unmolassed sugar beet (eg speedi beet), oats and micronised linseed, plus Pro Balance supplement and they also get salt. Alfalfa is OK for some horses but not for others and I have one who can't eat it. Some people have found that it is fine to feed high fibre cubes. I don't have rich grazing so mine are able to live out, but rich fertilised, ryegrass, ex dairy grazing is generally too high in sugar so should be restricted. With hay, i buy meadow rather than Rye.

So on to movement. You need to try to walk your horse in hand every day for a few minutes on a surface that they are comfortable on. If they need boots and pads to do this, then get some. I was lucky and mine was comfortable on grass and smooth surfaces from the start, so she was turned out and walked down the lane. I just started with short walks and slowly built up the length of the walks. i did it slowly like an old fashioned fittening programme. as she improved she started to be able to walk over gravel. When I started riding, again I took it slowly. Trying to do a little regularly is definitely better than nothing all week and then lots at the weekend. in the end I never put shoes back on and she was able to go for 3 hour hacks and in fact the more roadwork she did, the better her hooves became. She never wore too much away as the work was increased slowly.

Good luck.

PS unshod hooves do look shorter than shod ones.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Feed a good hoof mineral like pro earth Pro Hoof, this is highly recommended. After three months you can probably shift on to pro earth winter balancing minerals, but email or phone for advice. Forageplus are good too, both are geared to feet! Continue with minerals 365 days a year.
Feed 50 gms of micronised linseed, or more if needing more condition.
Tablespoon of salt per day.
Boots like Cavallo boots might be needed to transit to and from field [esp fronts], but it would be better to turn away for 3 months if the grazing is suitable, ie not green, lush, and abundant, or stressed from overgrazing.
Read up on feet, they need to work on a variety of surfaces to toughen up, Feet First is a good book to read, also there is a lot on Rockley, it is a site which updates every week on new re-hab horses ......... over time you will learn how to assess you horse, it is not easy!

 

[_HP_]

As above...diet and movement. Roadwork is really useful for conditioning the hooves and tidying them up without putting too much pressure on them like gravel and stony paths do.
As for hoof boots....they won't cost you much more than a set or two of shoes which you won't be spending out on
Good luck