Barefoot riders, a little advice please

Lyle

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Hi all,

I have a lovely 5yo Warmblood who has never been shod. This is my first barefoot horse, so please excuse me if I sound like a total nuff! I purchased him three months ago, and have kept him barefoot. His feet were very long when I purchased him, although they were still a nice and regular shape. He now gets 3 week trims to keep everything in shape, and they are looking fabulous, and are really developing great concavity.

All while I've had him, he's been rock-crunchingly sound over very large stones/gravel, never had a proppy step. I moved him to a new yard about 6 weeks ago. The old place had lots of gravel and stones that he had to walk over every day, which now he doesn't really get. He's being worked on a river-sand arena, all fine, keeping up with the wear very well, and being hacked once a week. However, after his last trim, when I went for a walk around the lanes he felt a little hobble-y over the stony bits.

time for the questions...

Now, because I really am new to this, I'm wondering if it's normal that when a trim may have been a little short, they can get sensitive?

Or could I be dealing with the fact his feet aren't being conditioned as much? It is the end of winter over here, so could that have something to do with it?

His diet hasn't changed, except that he's now off grass, but has ad-lib access to his grass round bale.

I'm just looking for a bit of advice in general about keeping horses barefoot!

Chicken Ceaser salad on offer!!
 

Dizzle

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Trimming every three weeks might have been fine to correct the long feet but maybe it's too much now they are a better shape?

My mare is currently shoeless, I tailor her shoeing to what she is doing, if she isn't happy without shoes she has them on, usually only in front, if she is going well then they come off. I don't adhere strictly to one school of though.
 

Cragrat

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The ad lib round bale could result in more / richer grass, and / or it could have different mineral profile, all which can affect their hooves and make them footy.

But being sore straight after trimming would suggest that some of the blame at least lay with the trim.
 

Meowy Catkin

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A horse should never walk away from a trim or a shoeing less sound than it was before the trim/shoeing.

It really does sound like too much was taken off. He might not need 3 weekly trims now.
 

Lyle

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Thanks everyone, this is the sort of advice I'm after :)

I'll extend the trimming time out and suggest a little more is left for him! His feet do look great, I'm a complete convert now (it's been an easier transition now I'm focussing on dressage and not eventing though!) The shape of them, the concavity, the nice heels, it's all just really shown me how much shoeing changes their feet.
 

Fuzzypuff

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For me, if a horse goes footy I would look first at the diet and the gut. It could be the change in grass/hay causing it due to the nutrient profile or sugar concentration. Or it could be that the move has upset his gut due to the stress of the move. With my horse I do notice that regardless of the diet if he has had some stress which has affected his gut I first see it in his foot comfort.
 

Exploding Chestnuts

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To be honest you are best to aim for self trimming by managing the feet rather than trimming.
I suggest you feed a mineral all year round and 50gms of micronised linseed [more if needing condition. Look at Rockley Farm blogs every week, and you will soon get the idea, they rarely trim, and the horses are all vet referrals.
A coarse tarmac road is the best thing for trimming hooves, main thing is to keep exercise regular, feed fibre and avoid sugars/molasses.
I used to round off edges every two weeks [farriers rasp], that was it.
Farriers said he was fine, horse said he was fine, all happy.
 
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Exploding Chestnuts

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A horse should never walk away from a trim or a shoeing less sound than it was before the trim/shoeing.

It really does sound like too much was taken off. He might not need 3 weekly trims now.
A trim every three week is outside "normal" , if you suddenly stopped working a barefoot horse, then the rate of growth might overtake the rate of wear, but in general the rate of growth is determined by the rate of exercise, assuming other factors being the same and no mineral deficit.
 

ester

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Unless you are Frank, whose rate of growth no amount of roadwork seems to keep up with ;)

OP it does sound like he needed to keep a bit more of that hoof, either with less frequent trims or less taken off. Speak to your hoof care person :). We have had a few 'trimming experiments' with Frank as he is quite particular about not having too much removed and particularly hates it if his bars are touched at all but each time we (trimmer and I) have just learnt from that and tried a slightly different approach for him :).
 

Exploding Chestnuts

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I would hack him out every day even if only for twenty minutes, you want to expose him to a variety of surfaces, if he is stabled and has limited/ no turnout, you can expect to have to more problems than if he is living more naturally.
Rockley use tracks to keep their horses moving, horses should be moving.
 
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Lyle

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Thanks everyone!! I should have mentioned he lives out 24/7 (Good weather here :) ) He's got the round because the pasture quality is poor. He came from a paddock that had excellent quality pasture, so I would have thought the sugar content had decreased?

He gets a quality Vit/Min supplement every day in his hard feed too! :)
 

cptrayes

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There is a possibility that the stress of moving to a new yard has affected him slightly (stress hormones can cause laminitis) And combined with a trim, it was to much for him. I'd be looking first at the trim, given the timing.
 

mandwhy

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That is quite often, I am lucky as mine mostly self trims other than a little touch up usually on the heels, but maybe say to whoever does the feet that he was footy last time and do they think you should reduce the frequency. I mostly let my farrier tell me how often they need to be done and he will leave them if they don't need it (other horses are being done so not a wasted trip!).
 

NZJenny

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Hi Lyle, how wet is your grazing? My paddock turns into a bog in the winter, and with it comes softer hooves. The ground outside the paddock is a lot drier, and I find it takes them a bit of time to condition. I love a dry spring - so they catch up quicker. I would also suggest that maybe three weekly trims are more than needed now.
 
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