Barefoot Diet

Snapshot2016 · 8 September 2020

Hi all I have 7YR old 17hh gelding who I have decided to go barefoot, he was barefoot till the age of 5 but I put shoes on him as we were hacking quite alot and his feet wore down too fast. Hes constantly losing shoes (every week/fortnight) and Iv come to the conclusion that its his way of telling me he's had enough of them! He is a nightmare to shoe and is really sensitive Although he has white feet they are in excellent condition he is a good doer and is out 9hrs during the day and in on a night, ad lib hay/haylage and hes currently fed topspec cool balancer, dengie performance fibre and topspec fibre cubes. What would you all recommend diet wise for him?

Gloi · 8 September 2020

Include a good hoof friendly supplement such as pro hoof from progressive earth or equimins advance complete. Some micronised linseed in the diet is good too. Are you finding some boots for hacking for him?

ycbm · 8 September 2020

I would drop the Top Spec, there are a lot of anecdotal reports of people with barefoot horses where it causes problems.

When you say you shod him because his feet wore down too fast, was he still sound? If so, you will need to revise your expectations this time around. Barefoot get can look very short. As long as the horse is sound then that's how they are meant to be. If he wasn't sound he might just need more time to adapt to increased work, and boots might be a good idea.
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Snapshot2016 · 8 September 2020

Yes he was sound, a little footy on stones but I plan on rehabbing him so hopefully get him used to a variety of terrain. Its all new to me so Ill welcome any suggestions

BlackISH · 8 September 2020

Agree with ycbm - drop the TopSpec. It used to have brilliant ingredients but they must have changed the recipe at some point because it now has soya in it which is a massive no no for me (increases risk of laminitis). I used to feed it to my horse but got rid after realising the recipe had been changed.

Progressive Earth or Forageplus are good supplements to add to a barefoot horse’ feed. If he’ll have it, I’d just feed a chaff that’s doesn’t contain any molasses, sugar or soya (I think dengie healthy tummy meets that criteria) and add the supplement in.

Griffin · 12 September 2020

If you go on a barefoot FB group, you will be told that you can only feed barefoot horses feed that has nothing in it except vitamins and minerals (and has preferably been prepared by fairies). However, if your horse won't eat powder, you are pretty much stuffed (mine won't).

I feed a Spillers balancer and my barefoot mare is absolutely fine on it (I mix it with Thunderbrooks chaff). I think if your horse is fine on their current diet, I wouldn't change it but if he is losing shoes or has slightly dodgy feet, I would try to reduce the sugars if possible. I would also look at feeding a supplement for hooves (Feedmark do some good ones) but remember it will take 9 months to a year to show any real change due to the speed of hoof growth.

ycbm · 12 September 2020

Griffin said:
I feed a Spillers balancer and my barefoot mare is absolutely fine on it

That's great. But most UK grazing is high in iron and/or manganese and many horses do a lot better in many ways, not just feet, of they are fed a supplement which contains no iron or manganese and also has high levels of copper and zinc to counteract the action of iron and manganese in grass/ forage of blocking copper uptake.

remember it will take 9 months to a year to show any real change due to the speed of hoof growth.

If the horse is taken barefoot it should show improvement at the top within a few weeks and have a complete new hoof capsule on about 6 months.

ownedbyaconnie · 12 September 2020

If the horse is taken barefoot it should show improvement at the top within a few weeks and have a complete new hoof capsule on about 6 months.

Agree with this. Mine has been barefoot since March and within a few weeks I could see the new growth at the top growing at a much better angle.

Also it took me a while to realise there’s so much more to the hoof than the actual hoof! The frog, the grooves, toe length, heels etc.

Griffin · 12 September 2020

ycbm said:
That's great. But most UK grazing is high in iron and/or manganese and many horses do a lot better in many ways, not just feet, of they are fed a supplement which contains no iron or manganese and also has high levels of copper and zinc to counteract the action of iron and manganese in grass/ forage of blocking copper uptake.

If the horse is taken barefoot it should show improvement at the top within a few weeks and have a complete new hoof capsule on about 6 months.

Thank you for correcting me about hoof growth, I was always told it was 9 months to a year but happy to be corrected.

With regards to feeding, I absolutely agree with you but it's not much help if your horse won't eat powdered balancers. One of the reasons I feed Spillers is because it doesn't have added iron and has the best spec that I can find (disclaimer there could be better ones that I have not discovered) for a pelleted balancer that she will happily eat. I have also fed Equimins Advance Complete for similar reasons.