Barefoot diet and farrier or trimmer?

[xStephx]

Hi all.

For anyone that has seen my previous thread about heart bars will know I took the plunge on Monday and went barefoot with my horse. I had scheduled a trimmer for an assessment and as he had lost a shoe and was coping fine I asked her to take off the other and bought some pads for his boots.

I have seen progress every day and I am astounded. The horse that had to be shod one foot at a time as couldn't stand barefoot can now stand barefoot and let me pick his feet out. He is walking well in his boots and pads pretty much sound and because he over reached on Saturday while I left his boots off to see how he coped for an afternoon he now has no boots on in the field and is looking pretty good. Never did I think I would see him like this so quickly.

Two questions I'm having a little trouble on deciding on.....

Do I stay with farrier or go with the trimmer I had take off his remaining shoe? I spoke with my vet on thursday and he was all for trying barefoot but told me he would prefer a farrier that trims as well as he has seen awful trims and has had to remove a rasp from a so called trimmer. I trust my farrier and he trims my other retired horse but he is not into the whole diet being an issue for some barefoot horses. Marley already has bare feet behind and he has always been good with these as far as I am aware. They always look good to me and never had problems. The lady I had assess him was a DAEP and there were a few things with his diet I disagreed about.

Question two, diet, getting a bit confused with what to do. He is a poor doer in winter and a thoroughbred. He gets at the moment and looks well.

Scoop hi-Fi lite although had to get spillers conditioning fibre today as no hi-Fi.
Quater scoop oats
Just started speedi beet today and will usually get half / full scoop dpeening on weight.
Turmeric
2 topspec cups linseed
Zeolite which removes impurities
And seaweed
All twice a day

I am assuming I should really add magnesium to this?

Now I know seaweed is a bit of a no no as high in iodine. I have just bought another 2kg tub as well. The trimmer told me no oats but from what I have read oats are a suitable grain. And she said seaweed was fine.

If I was to swap the seaweed for pro balance would I still need to give more magnesium? I would love to afford the best but feeding two can get expensive in winter! Or is there another supplement that is barefoot friendly that doesn't cost the earth? Or do I keep the seaweed and add some magnesium?

He pulled a shoe three / four weeks ago and was crippled. I changed his feed from hi-Fi original to the lite, added the zeolite ( was already getting seaweed) and changed the topspec conditioning flakes to normal oats. They contain soya which I want to stay away from as pro-inflammatory. He pulled a shoe last Saturday and was fine so not sure whether the feed changes made a difference or just coincidence. Either way he is coping far far better than I expected.

Sorry it's long and any help appreciated as I just want to do the best I can for him and my other boy.

 

[be positive]

Personally I would stay with the farrier you and your vet trust and look into the diet side of things yourself, it sounds as if you are on the right lines already and you will see him every day unlike the trimmer who may be fixed in their ways, I think it can get very over complicated unless you get a forage analysis done and a bespoke supplement made up based on the results.

 

[xgemmax]

I would stick with the farrier, cut out the seaweed and switch to a mineral balancer such as the pro balance mine is also fine with oats so i would keep with them if he seems to be ok on them

 

[cellie]

I went barefoot 5 months ago with navicular same problems shoeing and picking out feet . Mines tb too there's a mineral that has really made big difference it's pro mineral progressive earth of eBay sounds like you are using same one ,Linseed and fast fibre plus chaff is my staple diet but advised to add salt .
My farrier has been fabulous and bf trimmer said he was doing great job so stick with who you trust .

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I would stick with the farrier who is already trimming your other horse.
Then I would cut out seaweed (we had 4 horses all react extremely badly to a batch - never again!), the Hi-Fi lite and the TopSpec lite. The Hi-fi contains alfalfa which horses have not evolved to digest properly and many react badly to it and many people have posted on here about their problems with TS, which apparently contains wheatfeed and molasses.

 

[Morland]

Can you get Thunderbrooks feeds where you are (Base Mix + Herbal Chaff), reduce grass intake and give good meadow hay? Increase movement (exercise + track system/paddock paradise) This is the advice I am following, and horse is looking well (and healing an abscess). My farrier is fairly supportive and I have advice from a bft too Proof will be when we start riding out in boots next week...

 

[tallyho!]

It depends... a farrier who is good with barefoot are rare IMO.

May I please ask what qualifications your trimmer has? Only EPAUK trimmers are qualified and recognised by LANTRA. I would not trust anyone else. Their training is similar but much more intense as an MSc level farriery degree even though it is not yet recognised as such.

I would only ever trust a farrier which has had the MSc now, as anything before that is to do with shoeing. No disrespect, but shoeing and trimming are distinctly different.

To many, as long as a horse is sound, it is good enough.

To me, a horse has to have perfectly balanced feet. Only that is good enough. I will not settle for any less and why should I? It's not rocket science, I agree, but it makes a difference.

For me, a qualified EPAUK trimmer with many many performing sets of hooves on the books is my idea of doing barefoot well. There are two farriers with MSc in my area according to WCF and they are fully booked - one was my old farrier and he wasn't all that good...

 

[stencilface]

Just a thought, but the difference in response to pulling a shoe could be that the grass has now lost its goodness and isn't related to hard feed. That's the problem with horses, there's so many small factors it's hard to pinpoint exactly! Mine gets probalance, linseed with a couple of handfuls of high fibre cubed. But then he's a fatty! Can you up his hay intake instead of relying on hard feed to keep him up to weight? It's so long since I've had a poor doer I can't remember : D

 

[xStephx]

I think I will stick with my farrier for now and see how we go. I've never had problems with him trimming my other boy. I've ordered the pro balance so will hopefully get that tomorrow and will be interested to see if it makes a difference.

Stencilface I did think that possibly the sugar in the grass had something to do with it. At the moment he is out 24 hours and has to come in at night by 7th next month. When he's in he has as much haylage as he can eat which isn't a lot. There's usually a fair bit left in the morning but I do stuff my haynets full. He's the same with hay. When he was on hay he generally ate about 6-7kg a night which I don't think is enough for a horse that should be no less than 580kg. Both mine are last out and don't come in till I get them at nearly 6pm. They are usually ready and waiting or messing about in the gateway from about 2/3pm. So don't really eat anything for a few hours. I know as I've seen them before. So this year I am going to get our yard owner to bring them in 4pm latest and I hope he will eat in those few extra hours and keep his weight better. Doesn't help that he can be quite fussy with feeds. I left a trug of graze on in his stable over night last winter and at first he ate it but after a few days wouldn't touch it. Any feed that is meant to be high oil and fibre and low in starch and sugar either does nothing for him or he won't touch it. Hopefully we'll crack this barefoot and diet problem!