barefoot feed?

[Brambridge04]

what do you feed your barefooters?

My mare is a NF barefoot and has good feet, she has recently been broken and im worried the hacking and road work will be to much and am tempted to shoe her.

She gets a handfull alfa a chaff, carrot or apple, and is out 24.7.

Winter she got grass nuts and alfa a chaff.

 

[Shysmum]

Dengie Healthy Hooves and speedibeat all winter - hooves fab

Going to try Topspec Light alone over the summer. Hope it's worth the cost , but he eats mineral buckets by the gobful .

 

[only_me]

The barefoot (Full TB) mare gets a scoop of cool mix.

The shod mare gets a scoop of cool mix

 

[Brambridge04]

may sound daft but i always just stuck to a low sugar diet on any horse shod or unshod, yet recently on here, people have said be careful to feed this and that, and not this and that, and dont use this hoof oil, use this one, and now im worried maybe im doing something wrong.

My last mare (sadly no longer with me) was barefoot, the needed to be shod as she had flat feet, but im now wondering if i didnt feed the correct diet?

 

[LucyPriory]

hooves put out growth to match wear so long as you condition them properly. There is a time lag so don't be tempted to go from no road work one day to 10 miles the next. Build it up slowly and you should be fine.

 

[Shysmum]

my last horse was flat footed, had terrible feet, and had to be shod. I fed him D and H pasture mix or leisure mix. If I knew then what I know now, re low sugar/starch etc (and had read the book Feet First), I know his feet would have been so much better.

But you can only do what you can do , live and learn

 

[Toast]

Happy Hoof!
x

 

[tallyho!]

toast and marmalade!

 

[Paint it Lucky]

I would avoid sugars and starchy food (although this applies to shod horses too!) Also beware of feeding too much protein, alfalfa is quite high in this though as you are only feeding her a small amount I wouldn't worry. Speedibeet is great, oils are also good, and lots of fibre. If you introduce the roadwork gradually she should adapt and be fine, most newfies have good feet so hopefully she will too! Good luck.

 

[MissMistletoe]

Lol, Cornflakes, or Golden Grahams (do they still sell those?)

No really, my girls are fed hi-fi lite a bit of kwik beet, a bit of Brewers, a bit of Linseed and Yea-Sacc. Mineral block in a strip grazed field.

 

[Chico Mio]

3kgs dry oats, soaked (12hrs soak 12 hrs drain) split between four feeds. (2 horses, twice a day) Squirt of cider vinegar and slosh of maize oil in each bucket.

Mineral lick

Straw (yes, grotty old wheat straw) - about 4 flakes a day each and a flake of baled oats each at night if they have been working.

They had unmolassed sugar beet (for cows) when we lived in the north but it ferments down here, so none of that now. I have never bought proprietary feed in my life and they DO NOT EAT GRASS unless we find some when we are out. As you can see, my lad hardly looks like he is fading away!

They have feet like iron these days, but I think living in what is basically a desert helps.

Personal opinon: Roadwork on tarmac is great for barefoot riding - hard but nice and smooth. My tworide on this sort of stuff barefoot and don't suffer (although I put hoof boots on if we are doing more than about 10km and I know we are going rough riding)

 

[Brambridge04]

Lol, Cornflakes, or Golden Grahams (do they still sell those?)

No really, my girls are fed hi-fi lite a bit of kwik beet, a bit of Brewers, a bit of Linseed and Yea-Sacc. Mineral block in a strip grazed field.

Tescos has started selling golden grahams again

 

[Brambridge04]

also the alfa a chaff is literally a handful or 2 at the moment, in winter it was a level scoop of one of those round bowl scoops x

 

[sakura]

my mare has a scoop of hifi original and lo cal balancer and is currently barefoot all round with great feet

 

[Oberon]

Fast Fibre, Speedibeet, micronised linseed, brewer's yeast, copper, zinc, lysine, magnesium, turmeric, fenugreek and a selection of herbs.

This is balanced in accordance with a foreage analysis I had done and bespoked for my elderly horse with poor teeth.

They are out during the day.

 

[MissMistletoe]

Forgot to add, seaweed, but only in the winter, wouldnt feed it all year round.

Tumeric for the old lady.

 

[CMMB]

Mine gets 3 or 4 handfulls of alfalfa light chop, 1/2 small scoop spillers horse and pony cubes, occassionally carrots, 1 section hay (just cut down from 2 as spring grass coming through) a high magmesium mineral block (sheep & cattle version) and has just switched to turn out overnight. Feet like rock (in fact haven't even been trimmed since last June).