Barefoot Rehab....exercise

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Cheiro1

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Hey guys :)

My horses shoes came off a week ago, and we are going to hopefully take her barefoot.

At the minute she wears boots all round to work in. She is 100% comfortable like this and marches along. Without her boots even inhand she is a bit ouchy on gravel/stones.

Will her feet "condition" properly if she wears boots to work?

How would you guys advise I go about getting her to a stage she might be able to work without boots?

Thanks in advance!
 
Faracat, is that the benchmark? if they are ok on smooth tarmac without boots then they are okay to do some work?
 
You need to do some background reading. "Feet First" is a good start. Also look on the Rockley Farm website and blog.

Do the boots have pads inside them? These are a good idea as they a) give support to the foot so it is working correctly and building up its strength and b) is more comfortable for the horse to work on.

The horse has to develop its frog and the back of the foot and the best way to do this is exercise, but it has to be comfortable. You should be able to see that gradually the size of the frog increases and that the soles of the feet gradually lift - this shows that the foot is getting stronger.
 
mjcssjw2 said:
Faracat, is that the benchmark? if they are ok on smooth tarmac without boots then they are okay to do some work?
Click to expand...

With my mare, I walked her out down the lanes in-hand and this really helped her hooves. Tarmac is really good for unshod hooves, but you do have to build it up slowly.

You need to stimulate the hooves with exercise, but you have to do it on surfaces that the horse is comfortable on (use boots if needed).
 
She is sound on tarmac but doesn't stride out like she can in boots if that makes sense? :o

She has pads in her boots :)

So should her hooves still develop ok with boots on? :)
 
Even with boots on the feet will develop if you put the miles in - and with boots on you can put lots and lots of miles in.
 
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