Barefoot not working out?

Ok, i have taken all your comments on board, I brought my horse in tonight walking much better now but when i pick his feet out and pick up the near fore, he hunches his back and brings his hinds under him, i am wondering if has some pain going on in his back end other than his feet, but most of the time he stands square. I will go through all of this with vet on Monday.
 
Don't despair. I'm having problems with my BF girlie too. I took her BF for comfort and for her to grow a better hoof, not for any madical reason and we were doing so well that I didn't have her shod again as I had intended.

Then the snow and ice came so not a lot of turnout or exercise, then the wet, wet, wet came and she trod on a big stone in the lane on one of our first hacks this year, which resulted in one lame mare who was also footy all round and soooo soft soled!

I'm swinging from having shoes back on, to trying her back in the boots? She has been BF for 18 months!

However she seems fine now and repaired from the hoof bruise fairly quickly when compared to a few of the shod horses on our yard, who have had the usual related winter injuries.

I hope your vet comes back to you with positive news, it sounds like you need some.
 
As others have said before, no horse should be lamer after a trim, and if the are repeatedly, the owner and trimmer/farrier should be looking at possible reasons for this. If by lowering the wall so the sole is nearer the ground, it might mean that there is sole tenderness. Maybe they just need strengthened up, or possible some low grade laminitis. This is something you need to discuss with your trimmer. Your trimmer should really be looking at diet at this point to see if there is anything that can be causing this tenderness. This horse should probably still be in boots and pads, to support the feet but also to stimulate growth and strength. Hopefully your trimmer will be able to sort this, but if not and you have some doubt whether they are experienced enough you should perhaps look for another trimmer. Im an EP myself, but if your not happy with the trimming, look for someone with more experience.
I dont think that being trimmed every 4 weeks is a bad thing, it depends how much the feet grow. But if the trimming is done this regularly, you shouldnt have to take much off. Sometimes the walls just need to be left a little longer depending on the horse. Not all horses have perfect feet, so cant always have the perfect feet. Sometimes we need to compromise to keep the horse happy.
I hope that this doesnt put you off EPs, as there are some very good trimmers from all associations, so its just about finding one you are happy with and has the experience to deal with your horse. Best of luck.
 
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cptrayes said:
Jeepers creepers. Now THAT's the kind of trimmer who brings barefoot into disrepute :(

I don't believe any barefoot horse should walk away from a trim lamer than it went into it more than once (sometimes, the horse does not like what we could call a "good" trim and he knows best. So once may, not "is" may, be OK but not twice.)

I think that the scoring system is a nonsense. A friend of mine had a horse out hunting every week who an EP scored as having heels too weak to do much work. I had a horse who, following the book I was reading, would have scored about 2.5 but he was in full work and sound. The trouble with it is that the horses themselves just don't recognise it!


OP you badly need either a different trimmer or a good farrier, the one you have has let you down I'm afraid. I hope you get sorted soon.
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Ditto this. It's not acceptable for the horse to be more uncomfortable after a trim than before (and if you do make a mistake, bloody learn from it and don't do it again!). Get a better trimmer, or a decent farrier (although usually their first answer is to put shoes straight on :( )

And forcing the foot to match a scoring system isn't helpful. If my horse, who is completely happy galloping over rubble, says she needs one wall slightly longer than the other, with squared off toes and not-as-convace-as-I-would-like feet, who am I to tell her otherwise!?

Being tender will not help your horse rehap in anyway or form: to develop a strong, healthy foot they need to walk correctly, and they can't walk correctly if they're made sore! We cannot cut them into the shape we think they should be, they need to grow themselve the shape they need.

4 weeks sounds far too much! My horses are done every 4 MONTHS (or once a year when working hard)! The horse will wear his own feet to the balance he needs but not if he's having bits hacked off every 4 week: constant interferance won't help him. Get a better trimmer and leave him until his feet are looking a little long, then get him trimmed.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Well said!

I don't actually agree with you very often CPT but on this occasion, I'm glad you joined the thread and as an exponent of 'barefoot' I hope the OP and LadyRascasse will take notice of what you have to say.
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i actually agree with CPtrayes, but that is the way to put your opinion across. straight to the point but not rude. POR isn't a nasty or cruel person, she throughly cares for her horse, its not always easy to see the problems occuring when you see it everyday. there are ways of saying things without being rude.
 
I will keep you all updated, in defence of my DAEP he has taken on a horse with alot of problems fist vet suggested pts, he likes to trim little and often to keep on top of any flare and keep him balanced, he is also very concerned that he has gone downhill atm and suggested getting vet and possibly physio involved, as some of you say perhaps this is not the way to go with barefoot.
I shall do whats best for my boy, desperate not to lose him as i lost two 18 months ago 7 weeks apart which broke my heart.
I am in a very low place in my life at the moment, so i come on here for friendship with fellow horse lovers to help others if i can and seek help and support, sorry rambling now must be the wine talking....
 
pines of rome said:
I will keep you all updated, in defence of my DAEP he has taken on a horse with alot of problems fist vet suggested pts, he likes to trim little and often to keep on top of any flare and keep him balanced, he is also very concerned that he has gone downhill atm and suggested getting vet and possibly physio involved, as some of you say perhaps this is not the way to go with barefoot.
I shall do whats best for my boy, desperate not to lose him as i lost two 18 months ago 7 weeks apart which broke my heart.
I am in a very low place in my life at the moment, so i come on here for friendship with fellow horse lovers to help others if i can and seek help and support, sorry rambling now must be the wine talking....
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Soory to hear this p o r. Soundness issues and shoeing are so bloody frustrating but it sounds you are doing all you can and with getting the vet out you will know then what the problem is. Some harsh comments on here :(

Hugs p o r xxx
 
Yours sounds alot like mine - also ex racer, ongoing foot problems and he used to go 'footy' when shod at which point farriers would shrug their shoulders and say what do you expect with his feet.

I sent him down to rockley farm to be rehabbed so the hard work was done for me. Scroll down to the bottom of this link to see his stories and links to before and after pictures.

http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/p/rehab-horses.html


I wonder if with these difficult cases it just needs everything to be perfect to set them on the right track and if I could have managed it at home. Might this be an options for yours.

Also once I got him back getting my pasture analysed and supplementing some key minerals which were lacking made a real difference.
 
pines of rome said:
I will keep you all updated, in defence of my DAEP he has taken on a horse with alot of problems fist vet suggested pts, he likes to trim little and often to keep on top of any flare and keep him balanced, he is also very concerned that he has gone downhill atm and suggested getting vet and possibly physio involved, as some of you say perhaps this is not the way to go with barefoot.
I shall do whats best for my boy, desperate not to lose him as i lost two 18 months ago 7 weeks apart which broke my heart.
I am in a very low place in my life at the moment, so i come on here for friendship with fellow horse lovers to help others if i can and seek help and support, sorry rambling now must be the wine talking....
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I'm very sorry for you POR, that you cannot trust the "expert" who you have paid to help you, but it does sound to me as if your trimmer is trying to impose a balance on your horse that he simply does not want. And unless he leaves those feet alone for a while you will never find out what your horse does want. It simply isn't sensible for a trimmer to repeat a trim which he has been told makes the horse more sore.

If your horse was a PTS case, then it is quite likely that he actually wants feet that look, to us, quite UNbalanced, to match a problem somewhere else in his body. If that is the case, then trimming him to some "book" idea of "perfect" balance will simply make him lame, as it seems to be doing.

If you want to get some idea of what I mean, look at a couple of weeks posting on rockleyfarm.blogspot.com and you will see some photos of some very oddly shaped feet on some very sound horses.

Please try and find yourself another trimmer or a good farrier.
 
Thanks, for that, i understand where you are coming from and i do follow Rockley,s blog and constantly read information on barefoot, but as you say i do pay a qualified professional and you want to trust what he says.
when he had the wraps on he looked very comfortable i wasn,t walking him out then, was just turned, so maybe he needs more of that? he has a good heel landing first, but its like his whole body has been put out of alignment.
when i ride him it feels like he wants to go forward in front but the back end is holding him back, i know i need to walk him for conditioning, but it will have to wait until i can get him comfortable
 
YorksG said:
As the horses keeper it is YOUR responsibility to ensure that the people you pay to provide a service do so correctly, and not damage your horse!
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I'm a barefoot trimmer and I wholeheartedly agree with this sentence. Never let your instincts be ignored, if you feel something isn't right for your animal you owe it to them to do something about it.
 
Pines of Rome, 4 weekly trims can be necessary in the intial stages of a rehabilitation, but this should settle down to between 6-8 weeks eventually, if he's sound before your EP trims him, then I'd suggest the balance is right, but perhaps he can't handle the his toe/heel planes being lowered. It sounds like a difficult case to be fair, maybe try leaving him 6 weeks and keeping a diary of when he's comfy, and what his foot looked like that that point.
 
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Hope you find a solution which works for your horse. I don't care if its a barefoot trimmer, farrier or jo bloggs from down the road if my hoof care practitioner was laming my horse every 4 weeks, he would not be invited to do so again.
 
I think that a lot of problems, like the horse being footy after a trim indicate that there has been too much done. If everything is in place then the trimming is the least important factor with a barefoot horse. I feel that the foot should be trimmed when required not on a regular basis, like every 4 weeks.

The fact that shod horses normally get a visit from the farrier on a regualr basis appears to have set a trend for regualr visits from the trimmer, which are not necessary in many cases. Once the trimmer has turned up though there is pressure on them to 'do' something to justify the visit.

With enough exercise there should be little for a trimmer to do, and self maintaining hooves should be the ultimate goal.
 
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