Barefoot diet, depressed horse!

pines of rome

pines of rome

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Has anyone else had this problem, my boy is miserable and grumpy even though I add herbs and a handful of hoofkind.
I don,t know if its the cal mag or charcoal that he hates or even the linseed, he has never been fussy before, any ideas?
 
seems a bit odd to be miserable and depressed because of his feed, as long as he is getting plenty of hay/haylage it shouldnt affect him that much. are you sure theres nothing else to make him depressed, one of the symptoms of cushings is depressed horse, also if he is in pain anywhere this could make him grumpy. one of the reasons i had my mare tested for cushings as she didnt shed her coat and had become a little grumpy which was very unusual so i knew something was wrong. if he is recently gone without shoes he may be a little uncomfortable to begin with and that could make him grumpy....hope you find a solution soon..
 
I am no expert on this, but basically its cutting out sugars and starch adding balanced vitamins and minerals, to enable the horse to grow strong healthy hooves! Its really a good diet for any horse not just a barefoot one!
 
I am following the advice of Lucy Priory who I have had a consultation with and as she thinks his feet are pretty bad , as in LGL, thin soles and generally weak this was the diet she suggested along with soaked hay so I am trying to stick as close to it as possible.
When I take his bucket to him, he is keen until he sees whats in it, then sulks ithas gone by the morning though, breakfast often gets left!
 
So he has been assessed by Lucy and she felt he has poor hooves due to dietary issues?

You can strip the ingredients down and add one bit each day to find what is offending him and then introduce things slowly.

It's lovely to watch them dive into a bucket of sweet feed....but that's not necessarily the best thing for some horses...

As a replacement for molasses, people have used;

Turmeric
Fenugreek Seeds
supermarket's curry powder (my Tank's favourite)
Sugar free apple cordial
Stevia leaf
bran
Wasabi
eek.gif

there are many others....

I have one horse who HATES rosehips and one who loves spices :p
 
pines of rome said:
When I take his bucket to him, he is keen until he sees whats in it, then sulks ithas gone by the morning though, breakfast often gets left!
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My husband was a bit like that when he developed diabetes and had to change his diet....but better that than losing a foot
lol.gif
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Funny you should say that I have a husband like that he sulks like the horse when I don,t feed him what he likes!
Anyway thanks for the tips I will do some experimenting, surprised you put bran down I thought that was a big no no these days!
 
Cider vinegar can often enhance a feed.
The fact that he does eat his evening feed.......eventually............. is a good thing.
Horse are not meant to gobble it up like dogs!
 
Is he miserable and grumpy about the feed or generally? If it's just with the feed stick with it. Could be sugar withdrawal. :D
 
Yes Lucy did mention the sugar withdrawal, he can be a bit grumpy anyway as he does have navicular to deal with but this is proper sulking at feed time , he is fine out in the field,
I will carry on and try adding things as Oberon suggested!
 
You mention at the start that you are feeding Cal/mag
I have to say it is not a favourite with me.
I am all in favour of getting my clients to get the magnesium in but I find it is best in the pure form, making sure that you balance it with Calcium.
Don’t forget the longer it takes your horse to eat its food the better, if you are going to be needing more energy then something like Copra may help.
I have allot of customers on late/first cut meadow hay or haylage add-lib, they are all barefoot and all seem to take the minerals sprinkled over the hay without a second thought.
 
OP, my mare went through this for about two months. She had her shoes off in November, spent December and January hunched up and depressed and I was really worried about her. She also didn't eat breakfast or all her tea (although like yours, it was gone the next morning!). However I think we're out the other side now. She eats breakfast and nearly all her tea, is walking better as we're walking out in hoof boots now and is generally a happier horse. I do have to add some Spillers high fibre cubes to her Fast Fibre, but she seems fine on those. Hopefully as time goes on, I can reduce the amount I put in.
Give it a month or so and you will hopefully see a difference. My mare has been off work for six months and believe it or not she looks absolutely fabulous now, even though we've only been walking out for the first week!
 
My mare is also super fussy when it comes to her barefoot diet - however she did come round to a low sugar diet slowly and now she always eats it but sometimes it does have to be left overnight. Basically if she's hungry she will eat it! Stick with it, i think he will come round :)
 
I've started adding a little bit of sugar free diluting juice to his dinner - finally he is eating it all up again (bloody horse just doesnt appreciate me!)
 
My mare isn't barefoot, but she is on a high fibre diet as she is inclined to be a bit porky. She doesn't like it when I reduce the fibre nuts towards spring, leaving her with more chaff in the bucket. I'm afraid my attitude is she either eats it by the morning or it goes back into her evening feed!! It all gets eaten eventually! If she ever starts not eating it by the morning, she will have it cut down.
 
moorman said:
You mention at the start that you are feeding Cal/mag
I have to say it is not a favourite with me.
I am all in favour of getting my clients to get the magnesium in but I find it is best in the pure form, making sure that you balance it with Calcium.
.
Click to expand...

I have exactly the opposite. Magox was a nightmare but I have got them all on calmag quite happily with no problems.
I would guess from your original post that it is the charcoal causing the problems. Could you perhaps remove this for a while and then gradually reintroduce it?
 
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