Barefoot people - diet?

Damnation

Damnation

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I have a DWB mare and I want to try her barefoot.

She is currently fed Allan and Page Calm and Condition, Hi fi Lite, NAF vitamin suppliment and garlic. She is also on good quality ad lib hay both in the field and stabled.

She doesn't do a huge amount of hacking but we will be eventually building it up. Infact, she is in no work at the moment until the floodlights in the arena go up! :D

How do you go about managing a barefoot horse? She will be trimmed by the farrier and I have that "Hoof Heal" hoof oil that she gets on her feet 2x a week to stop them from being brittle.

She seems to have ok feet.

How do you go about managing a barefoot horse?

Now I don't want a debate on barefoot vs shod. I just want to know how you manage your horse, what type of feet your horse had to begin with and how he/she coped.

Equally I would like to know about those horses who can't go barefoot? If not why? It will be something for me to weigh up if another horse sounds similar to mine but can't cope being barefoot.

Ta :D
 
You need motivation to keep your horse b/f and in work, first of all self educate , with Feet First [ignore seaweed advice] and Rockley Farm
Also I like the Cavallo trimming information which is deep inside their site.
Management, work, diet, trim is the mantra.
I think you have a balanced diet already, so you need to decide to have the forage tested and have a diet designed for your horse [forageplus]
or add an additive to what you feed at the moment, like pro hoof supplement.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PRO-HOOF-...t=UK_Horse_Wear_Equipment&hash=item415ecd69e0
If you alrady have to use something for brittle feet, I would stsart on pro feet straight away, the health comes from the inside and most barefooters swerve lotions, but not potions.
I also like micronised linseed meal from Charnwood Milling
 
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Make sure your farrier understands that a barefoot trim is not the same as a trim prior to shoeing - when my girl was X rayed you could see that the foot was all wrong as the back of the hoof had been left far too much and the wear was all at the front, leading to the bones not being level inside the foot.

Hoof boots are useful if you are concerned about sore feet as you start the work. You can hire from some places rather than buy up front.
 
Plain factual post coming up - no debate!!

Both ours are barefoot, both had good feet in shoes, but one (horse a) had balance niggles that we struggled to get sorted, and the other (horse b) had such good feet I wondered how she might do without shoes. That was just over a year ago.

Horse a - total diva, high maintenence in every respect! She has been tricky to get 100% - but since our (v good!) farrier struggled to keep her sound in shoes it was always going to be more work as she didn't start off totally sound. It has been her needs that has directed us to taking more of a barefoot friendly approach to their management. As we were struggling to get her comfy on rocky drives we got their forage analysed (dreadful grass!) and then got a feed plan sorted so that we could give just the right minerals to balance what they were/were not getting from the forage. We also needed to spend a few months working on conformable surfaces so that she got an opportunity to balance her feet correctly. Again, our farrier is fab, but literally microns out affect her soundness so it was a job best left up to her to sort out! She is now on top form and will be going out SJ in the next week or so. She has spent the summer doing dressage and showing. Onwards and upwards!!

Horse b - just a doddle with everything, apart from food as she really struggles to tollerate grass, has sweetitch, and is a proper arse on even the smallest bit of sugar! Rock crunching pretty much from the off on a scoop of chaff and speedi beet diet. We put her on the same mineral plan as horse a to see if it would help her tollerate any grass, rather than because we were having soundness issues. It has def helped, her runny-ness on any grass has gone and she is showing a more level temperment - which is a relief! Been sound as a pound all the way through, and has been the one who has helped us through with horse a as she showed that this wacky idea of taking shoes off working horses might just work!

Both of them are out 24/7 spring/summer/autumn in strip grazed paddocks. In the worst grass growing times in spring and autumn their grazing is supplemented with soaked hay rather than giving enough grass. They each get one meal a day - as worked out by Forage Plus from our grazing analysis. They are in at night in the winter (because there isn't enough grazing for them to trash, rather than for dietry/feet reasons) and fed soaked hay. Both do decent amounts of work - a usual week would include 2 2-3hr fast hacks over a variety of terrain, 2 45min-1hr medium schooling sessions mostly in trot and canter, 2 days of poles/jumping/lunge or a 1-2hr slower hack. Instead of one of the poles/jumping/lunge/shorter hack days every couple of weeks they compete. Could be showing/prelim-novice dressage or SJ (disco to 1.05 - aiming to make the step up to newcomers this winter!).

They are seen by our farrier, but esp when they have mud in their fields (puts a perfect little roll on!) they just don't need anything doing. Any little chips fall off of their own accord when they are ready, and their hooves grow in line with what is needed so nothing needs trimming off either. When they were very first out of shoes their feet grew faster so the farrier took about a breath of hoof wall off every 6 weeks, not needed anymore though as things have settled with their growth/work balance.

Hth!
 
I use Simple Systems feed - no grain and not molassed - Lucie Stalks, Lucies nuts (soaked) and Total Eclipse.
Mare is strip grazed in all seasons.
She is in at night (at this time of year) with haylage specially made up for her from Baillie's.
She is ridden on different surfaces, although her work is limited to weekends at this time of year.
Mrs D123 is totally right, you do need to self educate on this subject.
 
A supplement which has made a huge difference to my cob who has been barefoot since May after discovering he had Navicular, is Protexin. A gut balancer which has really helped him on the road to barefoot success. Mine's on a scoop of Happy Hoof a day (split over two feeds) with Protexin in one and Equine Answers 365 Complete in the other. Ad lib hay, soaked as its this year's. Diet really is the key and be prepared to persevere. I have been so close to putting shoes back on but am glad I've kept at it. Good luck!
 
High maintenance TB - makes me work every step of the way but like ThePony's horse A he wasn't sound in shoes and barefoot was his last chance. He's an ex Rockley rehab

He gets
Ad lib hay and haylage
1/4 scoop Coolstance Copra
1/4 scoop kwikbeet
Minerals balanced to his forage as per Mrsd123

Brewers Yeast (for B vits including Biotin and gut calming properties)
Micronised linseed

Joint supplement (been fed it since he first went lame on vet's advice and too scared to stop)

He is a little grass sensitive and in the summer goes out at night in a grazing muzzle.
Also when I ran out of Brewer's yeast and had trouble getting more he went footy and improved as soon as I put him back on it.

Was using my farrier but he kept trimming the frogs and making him lame so I left him and he was self trimming for about 3 months and he has been getting even better. Got a trimmer to take a look at him a couple of week ago and she confirmed he did not need trimming though I did get her to tidy the edges for appearance sake. However I do alot of hacking over different surfaces for this to be possible.

When you first take the shoes off if you can do gentle walks every day on smooth tarmac/concrete it will stimulate his feet.

Just looked at the profeet supplement and if you can't do a mineral balancing it looks pretty good as a general multivit.
 
I can’t recommend Protexin enough its fantastic stuff!! My farrier told me about it. I have seen a huge difference in my horse since I started him back on it. He gets 2 scoops a day with The Pure Feed Company Pure Easy feed and a scoop of winter glow summer shine. Has 5 Kg of soaked hay a night and is muzzled through the day due to his laminitis attacked in the spring and I have to watch his weight. He is doing really well and looks the best he has ever looked. 5 weeks ago he had his shoes taken off (he had been shod for one year while on loan) his feet are tremendous, even so soon after having them taken off. I just can’t wait for those horrible red rings to grow out from his attack. I ride him on all surfaces, it quite stony here but the more I do with him the better he is. I don’t use any oils or creams on his feet, if I feel they are dry I hose them down or take him to the stream to let them soak.
Good Luck
 
Before I moved to barefoot I changed my chaff from spillers happy hoof to dengie healthy hooves. I also put him on codlive all purpose supplement purely to ensure he had everything and I changed in the winter. He had very good feet and could've easily have been fine with barefoot though I went back to front shoes as he wasn't overly happy with boots and he needed his exercise due to his weight. Saying that he's got no shoes behind and he's happy to hack out like that.
 
I am fortunate that my lad was barefoot in Spain and only had front shoes on for a couple of months when he came over to the UK before they were taken off again - as a consequence he already has rock hard feet. He's on Alpha-A lite, Baileys fibre cubes, garlic and biotin and has my local qualified equine podiatrist see him once every 6 weeks. Thus far she's been nothing but complimentary about his feet - lets hope it continues!
 
Mine is barefoot and has been for a while, she has no special feed supplements, she's on Hi-Fi lite and some pony nuts. She is on box rest but before she went barefoot wonderfully. She used to loose shoes before (cost me a fortune) but i changed farriers and now her feet are fantastically strong.
I usuallu use Effol Huffsable (green top) on her feet once a day and this keeps them in really nice condition- get compliments all the time! :D

So to sum up, no major feed changes, good farrier and Effol! I honestley swear by the stuff it's amazing for strengthening brittle/ weak feet :D
 
My TBxWB is now 6 and has never been shod. He has only really started work this year, due to various reasons and has Easyboot Glove boots to wear in front if needed - which they haven't been.

I don't do anything particular with him, management wise. He is fed A&P Fast Fibe and Calmer Chaff. He has a magnesium supplement sourced from Natural Horse on Ebay. I used to feed Brewer's Yeast, but he wouldn't eat it, so I've dropped that off for the time being.

Other than that, he is fed haylage, as he has been since we bought him as a 2 year old. Grazing is not overly lush, as there are quite a few on it, but he seems to be fine, sound and happy. He is sound over the stoney parking area at the yard and hacking out on roads.

He is seen by a trimmer every six weeks and I just keep an eye on any chips, rasping them off as I see them. His feet look great!
 
Thanks guys. I am going to discuss it with my Farrier when I ring him up, he is more then happy to take her shoes off, and his attitude is we will see how she goes.

I will definately look into the feeding regimes and get myself more sussed on feeding for better feet etc :)

D :D
 
My boys are barefoot - 1 has never had shoes hes 7 and competes BE at Novice. The other is my old boy, barefoot for about 4 years. They get fed, haylage, A&P ride and relax and veteran vitality, HiFi, sugarbeet in winter (with molasses!!!!!!), they are in at night. Other than having a super farrier I have never changed a thing, ride as normal and dont worry about. Maybe Im lucky with the 2 I have but I think folks worry too much about no shoes. Non of my ponies as kids had shoes and they were fine and lived out on grass 24/7 (maybe hay in winter) with nowt else - there wasnt anything else to give them!
 
Hey, you really need to self educate on this one - just because one person feeds their horse something, doesn't mean that it will be right for your horse - you need to understand what you are feeding and why. As a general rule, it's high fibre, low sugar, so that A&P C&C would be unsuitable - although, your horse may be particularly unsensitive to diet, and may be ok...You need to have your horse on a suitable diet for at least a month or so before the shoes come off, to give your horse the very best chance in transitioning smoothly. Of course, these are all issues that you will need to discuss with your farrier, if he is the one that you will be working with to transition your horse....good luck!!! P.S. Feet First is an excellent 'first' barefoot book, and really spells out the basics in a easy to read way!!
 
Well I must have been lucky. The farrier took Star's shoes off, left them toe long and as a result I got a trimmer to do them.
Her feet improved dramatically within weeks, and I just used my commonsense when it came to transition. We avoided stony grounds and used the grassy/softer parts of tracks. We avoided the stony debris at the sides of the roads and rode a couple of feet away from the kerb.
I fed her on AlfaA and Top Spec feed balancer, with speedbeet as needed.

Must have been lucky
 
my ex racer has quite bad pigeon toes so rather than him keep pulling his shoes off he is barefoot - one of the comments is really sensible you have to be very careful how you trim its not the same as trimming for shoes to be put on - i had a painful and costly mistake when I had him trimmed by a cytek farrier which resulted in all kinds of problems (6 months in poultices from abcesses!) the one good thing that came out of it was we had the feet xrayed so we can see whats happening inside. I now have a barefoot trimmer she is wonderful and really supportive always there to chat. My Top Bay Chap is a little sensitive to grass and would be under the radar laminitic so sugars are a no-no for him - as the other lady said each horse is different and needs different things - he is now on quikbeet and microgenised linseed x 2 a day with supplemented vegetable oil, charcoal when the grass is lush or we have had a spell of sun and rain combo - loads of soaked hay - Good luck
 
My unshod horses are pretty easy. Out on grass 24/7, fed chaff, Bailey's Lo-Cal and magnesium, checked by farrier every 6 weeks when he comes to shoe the shod ones, though they are pretty good at self trimming themselves.

Took shoes off a 14 yr old TB mare last year who had been shod all her working life. She was walked on roads after the first day, for twenty minutes for 5 days and then ridden, building up distance and different surfaces. I was surprised how easily she took to it, I really thought she would take ages to adapt.

As far as I know, my farrier just trims their hooves. Don't need boots as none of them tend to be footy.

Keeping working horses unshod doesn't have to be complicated.
 
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