Barefoot peeps - can corns be cured by barefoot

m3gan

m3gan

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Hi there,
Another barefoot question! My boy has suffered with corns on both front feet at various times and has just been shod and has another small corn on the front , where he is currently lame in trot on, which I am hoping will be improved after three days rest, otherwise i will be getting the vets opinion . What I am wondering is if he would fair better being barefoot ? He also wears his shoes unevenly on the hind shoes, which is why my farrier says he would not be able to go barefoot, is this the case or could it be possible?

Many thanks for reading!
 
I've never heard of a BF horse with corns (exception is perhaps neglected, over grown bars).

Corns are caused by excessive pressure. You don't get that with BF as everything is pressure and release.

Regarding uneven wear on his hinds....it's not a problem. The hooves may wear unevenly - but that's cosmetic only, when dealt with by a sympathetic hoof care practitioner and may well straighten back up after a spell without shoes.

My old boy wears unevenly on his fronts and his hooves look wonky after 5 weeks, but his routine 6 week trim fixes him up nicely and I know the strain isn't going up into his joints.
 
I can't see shoes helping TBH...

CBlover on here has a youngster who suffered from re-occuring abscesses (literally one after the other) until she had her hay analysed and minerals balanced through forage plus.
She's not had a problem since...

So worth looking into alongside taking him barefoot ;)
 
Thank you Oberon and CBfan for your advice.

I am thinking it might be best to get a qualified barefoot trimmer to come and give me an opinion on my lads feet, and what are my options.
Do any of you know of a barefoot expert in South West Devon ?
My lad also has one hind hoof that always grows at a faster rate than the others........!
 
CBFan said:
I can't see shoes helping TBH...

CBlover on here has a youngster who suffered from re-occuring abscesses (literally one after the other) until she had her hay analysed and minerals balanced through forage plus.
She's not had a problem since...

So worth looking into alongside taking him barefoot ;)
Click to expand...

The forage analysis seems like a good idea - but the trouble with my boy is that he is only fed a handful of chaff and a handful of coarse mix , mainly just to mix his equiflex and garlic in, he is such a good doer, even with living out 24/7, I struggle to keep the weight off him.
When I have tried adding a calmer to his food he wouldn't touch the food and I tried everything to make it palatable! I gave up in the end ....... So how would I disguise supplements in a minute amount of food?
 
For supplements you could try equimins advance in powder form. I can feed that with 6 cubes and all of it goes. I could probably feed it with 1 cube. That includes magnesium and is a complete supplement but they really will lick the bowl clean with it in. That said forage analysis is a better option still. I am sure there are other palatable supplements available just been really impressed after trying the equimins advance as one of mine is very fussy
 
Cocorules said:
For supplements you could try equimins advance in powder form. I can feed that with 6 cubes and all of it goes. I could probably feed it with 1 cube. That includes magnesium and is a complete supplement but they really will lick the bowl clean with it in. That said forage analysis is a better option still. I am sure there are other palatable supplements available just been really impressed after trying the equimins advance as one of mine is very fussy
Click to expand...

Thanks! The forage analysis is expensive though !
 
m3gan said:
Thanks! The forage analysis is expensive though !
Click to expand...

As expensive as treating repeated corns and having a repeatedly lame horse? worth the expense IMO... get your grass analysed rather than hay.. you may only need to do it once to give you an insight into someb imbalances in your horse's diet...
 
Corns are very often because off a bad farrier not shoeing correctly or being left to long between shoeing. If you want to carry on shoeing try a different farrier
 
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