barefoot people what would you do?

[jackessex]

hi all my mum has just brought a lovely little cob who is only 3 1/2 and has never had his feet trimmed,we are gently hacking 4 times a wk on pretty rough stone and he is very sound, his front feet are self trimming nicely but his back toes still look very long and his bars are also quite high?i am reluctant to have his feet messed about with as i feel he is so sound there is no need,how long would you expect it to take for the feet to sort themselves out??or do u think i should get them trimmed back to a more correct length then carry on as we are???i allready have one horse who has had his feet knackered through having shoes on and am not going to make the same mistake twice!!!!thanks in advance

 

[Oberon]

hi all my mum has just brought a lovely little cob who is only 3 1/2 and has never had his feet trimmed,we are gently hacking 4 times a wk on pretty rough stone and he is very sound, his front feet are self trimming nicely but his back toes still look very long and his bars are also quite high?i am reluctant to have his feet messed about with as i feel he is so sound there is no need,how long would you expect it to take for the feet to sort themselves out??or do u think i should get them trimmed back to a more correct length then carry on as we are???i allready have one horse who has had his feet knackered through having shoes on and am not going to make the same mistake twice!!!!thanks in advance

Without a pic of the feet, it's a little difficult to tell.

We humans are not the ones to judge, your horse is. If he's sound, then don't meddle

 

[jackessex]

Without a pic of the feet, it's a little difficult to tell.

We humans are not the ones to judge, your horse is. If he's sound, then don't meddle

hi oberon,i would say the backs look about 1 inch to long as they have a slight change of angle at the end of toe,the surface we have on the roads are the compressed road chippings which wear the feet fairly well,the fronts were pretty bad but in the two wks we have been hacking him they have really improved,but the backs are not trimming at the same rate,i dont have any pics yet sorry.

 

[abitodd]

I would have a farrier or trimmer out to check his feet,get them where they should be, and then let him self trim. I have a youngster who had never been touched when I bought her and her feet were growing a bit wonky,so I am glad I have a really good barefoot farrier to get them growing in the right direction.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

I would get them trimmed to the right level/angle so that then they can wear evenly; you might only need it doing occasionally then but it will be more comfy and healthy for the hoof/blood circulation if the rear of the sole is not too thick.. The prob is if the backs are too much now it may be that they are the wrong angle and that means the bone inside is too.

I never thought that mattered much until my pony had a (thankfully mild laminitis attack - caught early because she is barefoot so knew straightaway, if shod she could have become chronic before we were aware) and she was lamer because her soles are flat and the backs too high so the compromised blood circulation was made worse. Vet will be meeting with farrier to discuss/agree angles for trim in future but the X ray tho showing clear of any pedal bone rotation or sinking did make it so easy to see how important it is to get a really good correct angle so the horse can use its whole hoof and not just the toe.

Of course some horses may wear their feet completely correctly as a result of having superbly correct confirmation in every respect but the majority just dont do that.

 

[Tinypony]

I would get a recommended trimmer or farrier to come and have a look. It sounds as if he needs a helping rasp.

 

[ThePony]

I would say that if he is sound then his feet are working for him - little point in pressing our ideas of how a hoof should look from the outside until we have the benefit of MRI specs! If he has a bit of a 'ski slope' going on then it might be that the hoof ready to wear off is from a period of time when his diet was less good so the angle was worse and perhaps with a stretched white line. Assuming that he is on a low sugar/grass diet, ideally with magox supplemented? With that and enough work then he will grow what he needs and the odd angle should grow out on it's own.

The surface you are working him on sounds brilliant, and if he is happy hacking on it then everything sounds really ace! He knows best, so long as you put correct diet and exercise into place then he can sort the rest just fine without tinkering!

 

[Zuzan]

I would hesitate to muck around with them if as you say he is ridden over quite abrasive surfaces.. my only caveat would be that at 3 and half his work load is probably not enough to be completely self trimming... have you looked at the rockley farm website and blog.. ? much of their rehabilitation uses surfaces rather than human trimming.

MTA that working on the histories of the rockley farm rehabs probably anything from a month to 3 .. depends so much on the hoof and the horse. I don't think you could necessarily set a golden rule for this.

 

[cptrayes]

I'd keep the work going and take the feet down 1/4 inch a week if the road work is not taking them down enough. if they are an inch too long and he is on stilts, he may need some help to get the excess off before he can self trim.