Barefoot diet

[Holly7]

Hi All,

What is the best barefoot diet? I know about reducing sugars and starch etc, but how do we really now when we've got it correct?

Currently feeding Thunderbrooks chaff, fast fibre and lite balancer, but have just ordered Pro Balancer to replace the lite balancer, as my pony is still footy going to the field and currently is lame in all four feet - but this is due to shoulder / wither / bicep / muscle across the back / pelvis and muscles over the bum being tight (under physio treatment at the moment). Oh, and of course her navicular !! ;-0)))

Am just wanting to get the diet best I can.

Can't test my hay and we get bales from different batches all the time - so will be a waste of money.

She is currently out in the field in the day and back stabled over night. Not on a track system, as ground to wet to sort it out at the moment.

 

[0310Star]

My barefoot TB is just on Saracen Essential balancer, apple Hifi, salt, and hay when she comes in. She seems fine on this and has been barefoot for probably just over 3 years or so? Worked on any type of ground

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Dengie hi fi molasses free chaff [nice mix with Fast Fibre]
Fast fibre or NON MOLASSED BEET [quickbeet]
Salt as they don't all use a lick
Micronised linseed 100-200gms
Minerals to provide 10-15 or more gms Magnesium oxide, introduce over 7 days.

The grass will be coming through now, hi in sugars, so you may want to soak his hay for an hour to get rid of worst of sugars, and provide ad lib overnight so he is not stuffing himself during the day. Small feed before turnout if you want to.


The mineral Pro Balance from Progressive Earth is what I term a mineral rather than "a balancer" which is different!

No seaweed [high in Iron which is bad]
No alfalfa [some are sensitive but we don't know which ones!]

Once his feet are better, you are now kind of tied in to the diet, as you want to keep change to the minimum.

However, to make his feet better he needs regular exercise, on a hard surface with no gravel, like tarmac, you have to build it up every day, twice a day.
You should really consult with your vet and explain what you are going to do, with all these problems you need to help the pony as much as possible.
Does he need some Danilon, as it is not fair to have him sore all over plus feet.
Some people use boots, or boots with pads.
If he has sore feet he will hold himself awkwardly, leading to other problems, or the other problems are contributing to his all over soreness.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

P.S. I assume you will only be able to walk in hand for quite while, you have to accept this, he will let you know when he is getting better, and you must continue build up his strength and balance over a longish period.
When out on grass, continue with 25-50gms of linseed but the full daily amount of minerals, in a tiny feed, he will need them all the time.
You must be absolutely sure he has not got thrush, as he will not be able to carry himself naturally. He should be able to stride out ie not shuffle, and land heel first not toe first.

http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/p/hoofcare-essentials.html

 

[Fuzzypuff]

There isn't a "barefoot diet". I'm sure you know this but just wanted to add as people seem to think that in order to go barefoot horses need a special diet. That isn't really the case. Some horses are fine on whatever they eat, others are not - but they are not fine whether they have shoes or not, it's just not having shoes shows up the symptoms more!

Anyway, you'll get lots of different responses. For example, I won't feed Dengie products due to the additives (even in non molassed versions), won't feed Fast Fibre for a number of the ingredients particularly soya, won't feed beet either.

I think with a navicular horse you have some particular issues to sort out there, but generally in my experience footiness points to a diet/gut issue - but the gut issue may be nothing to do with the diet. There might also be a metabolic issue going on too.

Is it Pro Earth pro balance you have ordered? You might want to just start on that for now and see how you get on. You'll know when you have it all right before your horse won't be footy anymore. I think it's key to try as much as you can to change one thing at a time (I'm guilty of changing loads and then not knowing what worked!) so you can see what effects it has - but do remember to take into account things out of your control too like grass.

 

[Fuzzypuff]

Dengie hi fi molasses free chaff [nice mix with Fast Fibre]
Fast fibre or NON MOLASSED BEET [quickbeet]
Salt as they don't all use a lick
Micronised linseed 100-200gms
Minerals to provide 10-15 or more gms Magnesium oxide, introduce over 7 days.

The grass will be coming through now, hi in sugars, so you may want to soak his hay for an hour to get rid of worst of sugars, and provide ad lib overnight so he is not stuffing himself during the day. Small feed before turnout if you want to.


The mineral Pro Balance from Progressive Earth is what I term a mineral rather than "a balancer" which is different!

No seaweed [high in Iron which is bad]
No alfalfa [some are sensitive but we don't know which ones!]

Once his feet are better, you are now kind of tied in to the diet, as you want to keep change to the minimum.

However, to make his feet better he needs regular exercise, on a hard surface with no gravel, like tarmac, you have to build it up every day, twice a day.
You should really consult with your vet and explain what you are going to do, with all these problems you need to help the pony as much as possible.
Does he need some Danilon, as it is not fair to have him sore all over plus feet.
Some people use boots, or boots with pads.
If he has sore feet he will hold himself awkwardly, leading to other problems, or the other problems are contributing to his all over soreness.

Hifi has alfalfa in it, so if you want to avoid alfa then you need to avoid hifi.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Hifi has alfalfa in it, so if you want to avoid alfa then you need to avoid hifi.

Yes you are correct, there is one which is Hi Fi alfalfa chaff molasses free so i assumed the other had no alfalfa.

 

[Holly7]

Thanks all for your responses. Nic at Rockley advised about Pro Earth as she thought the diet was low in key minerals. It has arrived today so can introduce tonight.

Bonkers - she is sore probably due to media lateral balance as well as diet. Her physio treatment is due to the original bicep issue, that actually probably stemmed from navicular but this got diagnosed later ! I am not buting/danilon as I will never know whether she is sound or not, also her mother ended up with horrific grade 4 ulcers from this so am not prepared to go back down this path (but likewise, if she was extremely uncomfortable then I would address - but she isn't . She is sore / shuffly on tarmac / concrete but is free moving on soft ground).

I have not consulted vet as vet not happy that I was prepared to remedial shoe, nor have the MRI, which she said would not change treatment but would give them some more information.
Farrier recommended against remedial shoeing.

I am happy for it to take as long as it does. She has been out of action due to bicep injury since 2nd June 2014. All her work was hand walking for 90 days, then hacking at walk only for 60 days (she was still shod at this time). It was when the trot work was re-introduced that she wasn't right still and it was following this and various methods / discussions that we discovered the navicular. Since then I have been trying to get her sound barefoot.

 

[Brandy77]

I'd like to change my boy to either Pro balancer or pro hoof, I just need to decide on a chaff to feed it with. He doesn't like hifi or alfa-a, not that I want to feed them and he also doesn't like speedi/kwik beet or copra. I am thinking about Pre-Alpin musli as it looks yummy but this will work out quite expensive... any other suggestions?

 

[julieb65]

I feed Pro Hoof with micronised linseed in Halleys Timothy Hay chaff as its free of everything...literally just chopped Timothy Hay...all my lot are barefoot and sound on all surfaces. Halleys do a range of chaffs but my lot improved once we cut out alfalfa.

 

[tallyho!]

For this horse... a barefoot diet is erm... nothing! Absolutely nothing. Just grass. If I give her anything else she goes footy.

Last horse... needed lots of copper to be sound.

 

[mrswad]

If your horse is getting enough fibre - grass, hay, haylage - why feed a chaff? A little speedibeet will "carry" the pro balancer more effectively and has a protective effect on the stomach lining. I know there is a lot of scaremongering about pesticides used on sugar beet but these are used on ALL non-organic crops and we're not seeing massive queues of poisoned horses at the vets! Good luck