Barefoot/Feed advice please - maybe from Oberon?

Finn

Finn

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 January 2011
Messages
284
Location
Leicestershire
Visit site
Im really hoping all you knowleagble HH's out there can please give me a little advice regarding barefoot and feed
Bought my mare in Aug 2010 who at the time had really bad feet, damaged, cracked and chunks missing out of them and was foot sore so previuos owner got her shod as recomended by my vet during the 5 stage vetting. My farrier who is amazing with her said she had really bad feet and told me to put her on Farriers Formula Double Concentrate which I did straight away and she is still on it. He kept her shod for a while then we went to barefoot at the back and shoes on the front, now we are completly barefoot but he did say at the last visit that her feet are brittle but he said they are so much better now compared to how they used to be and to carry on doing what I'm doing with them as she is fine barefoot and not foot sore at all anymore.

My question really is feed as this can also be related to crappy feet isnt it?! She is a 15.1 Shire X Cob, very sensitive and highly strung lol that is slighlty overweight (due to being on box rest for the last 7 months after having had tendon Surgery,) even though I have been as careful as I can with her feed and hay. She is on Dobson and Horrell Safe and Sound as this is what her previuos owner gave her so I just kinda stuck to it to be honest.

What would you guys recomend feeding her? She has to have something as she needs to have her Farriers Formula and I also have put her on a Top Spec Calmer to help try to calm her down a little. Shes fine if shes in her own comfort zone but as soon as you take her somewhere different she is on her toes and wont seem to relax until shes back in her comfort zone.

Someone at my yard recomended just giving her Chaff but then wont she need vits, mins and supps added to it?

Forgot to add that she has just started being turned out again in her field this week starting at a few hours a day building up each day to being out all day again

Sorry for the long post and any help/advice would be much appreciated xxxx
 
Oberon, you've got a fanclub!
fangirl.gif


OP - low sugar, low starch, high fibre and balanced minerals - it's the future! ;)
 
Many thanks for replying. This is the product info in Safe and Sound

Est. Digestible Energy 8.5 MJ/kg
Crude Protein 8.0%
Crude Oils and Fats 4.0%
Crude Fibre 23.0%
Crude Ash 10.0%
Copper 55 mg/kg
Sodium 0.5%
Lysine 3 g/kg
Starch 5.0%
Sugar 5.0%
Biotin 10 mg/kg
Vitamin A 14,000 iu/kg
Vitamin D 2,000 iu/kg
Vitamin E 200 mg/kg
Vitamin C 160 mg/kg
Mixed tocopherols/E306 60mg/kg
Rosemary extract 110mg/kg

Is this OK? Should I keep her on it or could you recomend me to try her on anything else? If changing her feed would this calm her down aswell or would I need to keep her on the calmer?

Sorry for all the questions but feed is not one of my strong points.

xxxx
 
I'm no expert on feeding either, but the best advice I've recieved is to be guided by your horse; if you are still having trouble with her feet then something is not right, and imho it is often dietary. How much hay do you feed, and is it soaked? Is she getting any grass yet? How much of the Safe and Sound do you feed? The analysis posted doesn't mention calcium, magnesium, zinc or phosphorus, among others... the sugar & starch content is just about ok, but higher than ideal.

Is she still on box rest or are you working her at all? Does the Topspec calmer work? If so, is it magnesium based? Sorry for the 20 questions ;).
 
OBERON - any chance you want to write a barefoot FAQ and get H+H to sticky it at the top of NL???? Seems to be a daily thread on bf atm!

No offence OP :)
 
Shes back in very light work as in being ridden 2/3 times a week mainly in walk with a little trotting to be built up slowly and being lunged 2/3 times a week for about 15 mins in walk, trot and canter. We have to take it slowly as she is unfit and has muscle wastage from being on box rest for so long and I cant hack her out to build muscle up as we are on a bus route and she really doesnt do buses, the last one we past when out hacking last yr we end up going up, down, round, backwards and sideways ending up in a ditch at the side of the road half way through a bramble hedge!

Yes shes out now since last sat for a few hours a day building up to being out all day hopefuly by the end of this week.

I will have to look on the bag tonight for the other contents you asked about as could only get that other info of the Dobson and Horrell website and the other info you asked about wasnt on there.

As for the calmer to be perfectly honest I couldnt say if it has worked or not as she coped really well while on box rest and so Im assuming I should be able to see a difference now she is going out more and being bought back in into work. I put her on it originally as she really was a handful when I was walking her in hand after her surgery, she would rear, buck, bronc and everything and she didnt seem to have any respect for my personal space, so while she was on box rest I did plently of groundwork with her and worked on it and shes seems alot better now. Then the Vet introduced us to Sedalin, which then became our new best friend lol

She has 1 medium sized haynet ever night that is soaked, and she also has a handful of Dobson and Horrell for her tea so I can get the FF in her and the calmer.

Its just that I will be needing to get her some more feed soon so thought If Im gunna change it then now would be a good time to do it

xxxxx
 
None taken TigerTail :)

To be honest it was the OP post about barefoot advice from Oberon that I was reading earlier today that made me think about putting a post up on here regarding advise for mine as there are some very knowledagble people on here.
 
Im just thinking a well laid out sticky for people to read would be easier in a lot of ways!

Basically you want the diet as natural as possible - this means high fibre low sugar and starch. The vast majority of cals should be coming from forage not the bucket. This is better for their digestive systems and stops them getting full of crap which is whats in so many feeds.

This is why we then say to get the forage analysed as then you only supplement the minerals the horse is lacking in rather than wasting money on stuff the horse doesnt need and which can also inhibit the absorption of the ones he does need.

All I feed is half a cup of micronised linseed, a handful of just grass (unmollassed plain grass chaff) and minerals. She has hay pretty much adlib and thats it.

Keep it simple, read your labels and ignore the marketing hype!
 
I use S&S for some of mine but when I put the fit eventer on some last year to just add a bit extra to his feed he went way over the top on it, he was in hard work at the time so I cut it out and he was back to normal.
I find Allen and Page Fast Fibre ideal, it is low sugar and starch and suitable for barefoot horses, it is low energy also.
I thought that Farriers Formula was a complete, if expensive, supplement so would not expect to be adding more vits and mins anyway, it may be the time to think of changing to a different supplement if it is not fully providing what your horse needs.
The other thing to take into account is that the time on box rest would not have helped her feet develop so well, without the stimulation of movement during that time, they will therefore take a while to improve further.
 
Personally I'd stop the safe and sound, there are hidden sugars in there and i'm not really convinced that FF is anything other than bloody expensive!

The perfect way would be to get your hay and grazing analysed and have a feed plan devised from it but as a start a basic barefoot friendly diet consists of either unmolassed beet (speedi beet, kwik beet, pura beet) or fast fibre with mag ox.
Lots of people feed brewers yeast and yea sacc and others have started with either Pro Hoof or Equimins meta balance with good results.
Once you've built up the turnout time i'd turn out overnight and bring in during the day, the sugar levels in the grass tend to be lower at night.

With regards to calmers they're very much trial and error and what works for one won't work for another for instance the top spec one sent my TB loopy but my friends mare looks as though she's been doped on half a scoop so if you havn't seen a difference than try a few others out but you might find stopping the FF makes a difference too, often balancer type feeds can have too much of everything in and make the horse feel a little too well!
 
I also like fast fibre as a carrier for supps, though if you're only feeding a handful of the safe and sound I doubt it's that causing her poor feet. I would suggest having your forage analysed, and your minerals balanced for you by someone like Sarah at Forageplus. You could try one of the specially designed off the shelf supps, like Equimins Meta balance or pro-hoof, but I think you would have better results with bespoke minerals.

Hopefully you will also start to see an improvement from increased work, although I've found road work to be the best for stimulating healthy new growth.

Good idea about the sticky, TT.
 
Worthington1 said:
I'm new on here and posted a hello thread last night. I was warned not to discuss barefoot subjects as apparently it is a minefield on here! So am going to decline to comment :)
Click to expand...

I don't know its not so bad nowadays - we don't seem to fall out so much any more :D

Welcome to the forum and comment to your hearts content :D
 
Thankyou so much everyone for your replies/ advise. I will certainly take it all on board when I look into changing her feed sometime next week when I run out of the Safe and Sound that I have left.
 
Worthington1 said:
I'm new on here and posted a hello thread last night. I was warned not to discuss barefoot subjects as apparently it is a minefield on here! So am going to decline to comment :)
Click to expand...

Whether you horse is shod or unshod you can still get some great hoof-care advice on these barefoot threads; so do join in!
 
I've sent you a Pm, OP - just got home from work.

I won't be doing any type of sticky as I am neither experienced nor qualified enough.

You can take all my ramblings with a pinch of salt;)
 
Oberon said:
I've sent you a Pm, OP - just got home from work.

I won't be doing any type of sticky as I am neither experienced nor qualified enough.

You can take all my ramblings with a pinch of salt;)
Click to expand...

Salt?? is salt allowed? you know we take your word as gospel and we'll all be adding a pinch of salt to our horses feed;):D
 
Worthington1 said:
I'm new on here and posted a hello thread last night. I was warned not to discuss barefoot subjects as apparently it is a minefield on here! So am going to decline to comment :)
Click to expand...

A couple of years ago it would become highly unpleasant on any BF threads. There would be a bunfight every time.

Now the more extreme on both sides have either mellowed out or run away and we 'generally' have a friendly discussion
lol.gif
.

As there is no right or wrong answer regarding horses and hooves - it can sometimes get waffly while we all chunner about our separate theories - but sometimes the brainstorming is really helpful for us all to learn;)
 
Ibblebibble said:
Salt?? is salt allowed? you know we take your word as gospel and we'll all be adding a pinch of salt to our horses feed;):D
Click to expand...

25g a day maintenance - more if exercising....and a booster amount of electrolytes, no more than 4 hours before very heavy, sustained exercise and every 4 hours after that with access to water.
bouncy.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top