Barefoot or shoes, pastern issues

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Jacksie

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I know there will be pros and cons for both and I have had a lot of veterinary involvement already, but what tends to be best for a horse with arthritic changes to the pasterns - shod or barefoot. Horse is sound but I suspect pain. Stands a bit camped under and is showing a slight preference for softer ground. Our hacking is mostly roads and I’m thinking not just of the here and now but long term wise too. The horse has good feet generally and if I did remove shoes I would have to use boots due to the level of road work. Currently shod front and back. Do I remove hind shoes, all shoes or leave shod?
 
I’d say do you have the time and facilities to deal with barefoot?

Boots with wet, muddy legs in winter is a bad combo
 
We had huge success with the wide webbed composite shoes for this issue. Made some mistakes along the way before we got to these including probably trying to get to barefoot success for too long.

Every horse is different and my learning from our experiences is map out the journeys to the outcome you want alongside your vet/farrier/podiartrist so you know what you are up for over what time period.




This is the brand that worked well for us but there are others out there as well
 
I took metal shoes off my horse with hock arthritis and I'm as sure as I can be hat it helped him. He's in Scoots for riding now, fronts only on nice ground and full 4WD mode for rocky stuff. It's harder work than just getting a new set of shoes every 6 or 7 weeks but if you can get the setup right it can work well for some horses.

Have you talked to your farrier? Mine was very much up for taking the backs off to see if it helped, and it was great knowing she was fully on board with the plan. We did discuss all sorts of plastic shoes but the price tag was going to be prohibitive for me, so I went straight for boots. I would have a chat with your farrier if you can, if you've got one with a bit of imagination they should be able to give you a helpful perspective either way.
 
My horse had been diagnosed with navicular at 7, went to Rockley Farm, rehabbed, came sound, back into work. Stayed sound barefoot and in work for years then went lame again. MRI at a different practice, same changes to navicular and had not progressed. Vets s opinion was that these changes were not significant and he had never had navicular. What they did find was arthritis in the pastern joint. Vets told me as he had been coping well without shoes, to definitely NOT ever put shoes on. So we carried on, boots and pads for hard ground, and I don’t do any trot or canter on anything other than good surfaces. He’s now 18 and still in work.
 
Thanks for all the replies so far. The horse has been barefoot behind before. Only had hind shoes put on due to the level of roadwork we do. Along with the pastern issues, there’s also hock arthritis. We are on clay so fields do get muddy but I have stables, a wash area etc so whilst I don’t relish the idea of using boots, I could and want the best for the horse long term. My farrier isn’t against barefoot either.
 
My gelding went barefoot, on the vets recommendation. he has pedal osteitis in his front right and had hock spavin in his left hock! he did end up having this hocks fused but going barefoot has been his saving grace with his front feet! he does wear. he's been barefoot for 10 years but I have 2 1/4 mile long lanes leaving my yard, both with stones/road plainings put down, so not the best for the barefoot horse! if it wasn't for these tracks he'd easily be able to go fully barefoot as road work actually stimulates growth
 
Really, really check for thrush. Dark, damp patches around the frog and heel that don't dry up, with or without a bad odour, cracks and fissures around the frog and heel area. Check if the heels are pushed together, and check if the shoes are catching the back of the frog or heel buttress, as any of these points can cause heel pain. Hope you can find a solution that works.
 
Can I check - does the new hoof growth catch up with the wear in time? Do you use the boots less and less in the end? The horse has good solid hooves.

Thanks everyone
 
Yes absolutely,

In the opposite direction when my own semi retired to light hacking it took about 12 weeks for them to stop growing so much 😅.

For extra info on transition he wore boots for roadwork for 6 months (he had lameness that blocked mostly to coffin joint, nothing on xray , after that only when I knew we’d have particularly challenging terrain. I moved him about 18 months after shoes had come off and we had much more challenging/stonier hacking but they did adjust again (and I protected them on longer rides for a bit)

The only thing I’d have done differently would be to get him more bodywork during the transitions.

He always had rather flat soles but they were thick and flexible and did the job over most stuff
 
Jacksie said:
Can I check - does the new hoof growth catch up with the wear in time? Do you use the boots less and less in the end? The horse has good solid hooves.

Thanks everyone
Click to expand...
no. Once the horse is a transitioned BF riding horse then yes growth does equal wear. However not all horses can cope barefoot even on relatively simple surfaces without boots. I have had all BF horses for about the last 40 odd years. Some make it barefoot and some don't. I don't think you can work on the basis that if you take the shoes off now and boot then gradually remove the boots and in a year you will have a horse that can go anywhere BF. Some will be able to and some won't. For a lot it depends on the surfaces you want to ride on.
The best I had was an arab who had the shoes off at 6 and the next day went on his usual 30 mile ride not the slightest break to his routine of around 60 miles every week end. The worst was one who needed carpeting over the yard even to get to his field. It took a very long time to get him barefoot and even then he would have been booted if they had been invented at that time. Low grade laminitis affects feet badly. Grass affects it so does diet, EMS and PPID.

A fair number probably go BF behind without too much trouble..

as for mud and putting on boots I wouldn't wash feet or legs but dry towel the feet over the heels around the pastern. Far less messy and quicker.
other thing is your roads. Are they smooth tarmac or are you doing a lot of work on gravelly roads. Gravel can be a PITA, smooth tarmac OTOH is brilliant for conditioning.
 
I'd be doing whatever I could to try and go barefoot (and look to posture and compensatory movement as likely to be at the root of the issues, at least partly). Feet affect the body but the body affects the feet.
 
Jacksie said:
Thanks for all the replies so far. The horse has been barefoot behind before. Only had hind shoes put on due to the level of roadwork we do. Along with the pastern issues, there’s also hock arthritis. We are on clay so fields do get muddy but I have stables, a wash area etc so whilst I don’t relish the idea of using boots, I could and want the best for the horse long term. My farrier isn’t against barefoot either.
Click to expand...
If it is just wear from roadwork that causes the need for hind shoes, try Hoof Armour on them. It will greatly increase the milage the hooves can handle.

Link
www.hoofmanshipshop.com

HOOFARMOR Hoof Protection | Hoofmanship Shop

Hoof Armor is for Equine Hoof Protection & Infection Preventionan, it is an Abrasive-Resistant Anti-Microbial Penetrating Protective Coating for horse's hooves.
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