Barefoot horse suddenly becoming foot sore on stones

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jaffa2311

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My horse has been barefoot for three years, with shoes on for 3 months last summer due to mediolateral foot imbalance. I won't go in to the details as I want this to be short and sharp.

He has been barefoot since October, he did not take ANY time to adjust and has been fine ever since in all ground conditions.

However, yesterday, for the first time ever, he went extremely footy on his way in from the field. He was fine on the grass then awful on the stoney track.

I picked feet out and walked on flat concrete to assess lameness again and he was fine.

I then rode on gravelly track and he was footy once or twice in 30 minutes of riding.

He has never been foot sore before, EVER.

He does not get feeds at all, has not done for three years, with the exception of a handful of chaff IF a supplement/medication/electrolytes are needed which it has not been recently.

Horse is out on reasonably poor grazing for 6 hours a day and in with a decent portion of hay overnight. Yesterday, they were moved over to the rested field halfway through their turnout, however the grass is not particularly rich, long or well rested.

Farrier is coming out this weekend, before this even happened.
 
Would the sensitivity present so early from the first intake of grass?

It really has taken me by surprise, I thought he had feet made of steel!
 
Grass is well and truly greening up in my field. You cna't see if you look out across the field (still looks grey/brown), but if I bend down I see lots of bright green shoots. I would muzzle him for a few days or move him back. I wouldn't leave him where he is.

As an additional thought, my pony was barefoot for years and then suddenly came down with mild laminitis. It was a real wake up call and a reminder that metabolism changes over time/age.
 
It's the grass. It doesn't matter what it looks like, the horse will tell you if it's high in sugar.
You are getting an early warning from your clever horse :)

Try him on some magnesium - it's lower in the grass when it's growing so rapidly and high fat intake prevents proper absorption, so some horses need an extra boost to jump over those factors.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAGNESIUM...r_Equipment&hash=item3f13969dc6#ht_1296wt_952

Yea-sacc is also a good addition. Higher sugar levels attack the forage fermenting bacteria in the hind gut, which kills them off and the toxins go into the blood stream, straight into the laminae.
Yea-sacc is like buying those forage fermenting bacteria a beer and keeping them happy and working.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YEA-SACC-...ar_Equipment&hash=item3f0e7db469#ht_924wt_952

If all else fails then charcoal can be helpful at this time of year
http://www.finefettlefeed.com/equine.asp

There is a new iPhone app you may find helpful
http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/

This website might be helpful too
http://www.safergrass.org/
 
Thanks everyone.

What you are saying seems right. I forgot to mention the horse got loose on the rested summer fields, on the way to the winter paddock yesterday, took me a while to catch although must have only been 5 minutes but that is very lush grass.

He's muzzled 24/7 in the Summer (controversial on here, I know, but it works for us). Will dig it out.

I have a magnesium based calmer somewhere, which replenishes magnesium levels so will feed that in the mean time.

I hope we don't get laminitis, I've been so careful to avoid it :(
 
Just been reading this as seems similar to my mare.

At the moment, she is turned out 24/7 and comes in to get a haynet each night (Hay not haylage). She has front shoes on but is quite footy on the stones in the yard on her hind feet, she currently has magnesium, seaweed, brewers yeast and a sarcoid remedy in-with a scoop of coolmix and a handfull of chaff when she's been ridden, she is fine in the rubber/sand school and in the fields.

She has always been slightly tender on stones since i got her in November, thats why she has the fronts on. I walk her out inhand every day also on a variety of surfaces to try and help her adjust her hinds.

Is there anything more i can do to help with this? Thanks
 
Not much more to add from what has been mentioned already, but I found last spring when my boy came in sometimes footy/sometimes not was adding a magnesium lick and a copper lick in the field sorted it out pronto. The copper was on advice from here but my boy was laminitic and probably needed more support than normal.
 
I go with the change in the grass as well. Would just like to add though, that all the recent wet weather hasn't helped at all and will have certainly contributed to the "softening" of the hoof structure.
 
I am really glad I have found this thread, I rode my mare yesterday and she was very footy on gravel, stoney patches which is very unusual for her. She kept almost tripping all throught our hour long hack! :(
She has been barefoot since September and took no time to transition and in that time have NEVER had a problem with her on any type of ground, she has very hard feet and doesn't ever get foot sore.

I hadn't even thought of it maybe being the grass, She started living out 24/7 as of Saturday night and she isn't on an awful lot of grass. She is usually one to bloat to the extreme on her first night out and since moving yards and being more restricted I haven't had this problem so far! She seems happy in her self other than the footiness!

Any advice??
 
Another one thats glad to see this post!!!!

My pony has been unshod for three years and has never had a problem, until this year he is quite bad on stones. He's not as bad when stabled but for a cob he goes on hunger strikes and does not eat when in, then goes out and fulls up on grass!! So found it better for him to be out 24/7 with a vit and minetal lick with botin added, but he's still bad on stones and just stones.

My farrier says the same as Faro, the wet has not let his soles "dry" out so they are quite "soft", going to put front shoe's on for 8 weeks then see what he's like.

Hope everyone else can sort their sore ponies hooves out :)
 
Have you got boots? Could always pull on a set of boots to use at these times when they get a bit sensitive. £80, lasts years.
 
Yes, Its the grass. My boy was out for about 2 hours too long yesterday and it was enough to make him footy. I have kept him in today just to be on the safe side and hopefully he will go out tomorrow for a few hours... it's a bloomin nightmare at the moment. want the bleddy stuff to burn off!
 
Mine has always been barefoot and like yours has become footy on unlevel pebble surfaces but fine on sand and flat concrete surface. I agree with above it being the sudden grass growth. He has been coming in for a well soaked net in the afternoon and has improved but still a big sore x
 
Sounds like everyone is suffering with the grass :-( I am haying like made and keeping up high fibre feeds to minimise risk of lami or foot problems. However -touch wood, not had any probs yet with feet on Idx or TB. I'd been.barefoot for over 5 yrs and been trimming het myself for the last 4 of those, and have been trimming TB for roughly last 10 week but he been.barefoot since last October. He can b a little sensitive as still developing a good foot, however he walking on all terrains down yard and we have gravel, and small hard core waiting to b covered over. My IDx mare stood on a small rock the other day and didn't bat an eyelid! She has out wintered in mud too! Her feet r solid.

For those of u with soft feet r ur horses barefoot, and do u stable, I'm intrigued now as to tge difference and y that might b?

Thanks :-)
 
I posted about a similar problem with my TB, although didn't get any replies (yet).

I admit I didn't think about it being the grass as there is hardly any in her field, but that's not to say it's trying to grow.

So is magnesium a good bet to try and help her for a start?
 
You could all try the Lami App
lol.gif

http://www.laminitis-risk.com/

There is some good advice on grass on this site. Sadly the author hates barefooters - but I'll forgive her for that;)
http://www.safergrass.org/articles.html
 
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