Barefoot TB, opinions/advice please?

[Holzdweaver]

My boy had his shoes taken off around 4 months ago and, with the help of cavallos, is progressing really well. Hes not footy unless its over stones without his boots on but on tarmac and grass he is great, but as i have no experience with unshod feet, id like to ask for your opinions on how they are looking if i may?

Hes currently being fed on speedibeet, grass nuts, 'diamond omega' supplement and micronised linseed. oh and a bucket of graze-on now the grass is lacking. He will be going onto adlib haylage when hes brought into the trash paddock.

He is also due for his feet to be done this weekend.

Front:

back:

Anybody with knowledge of barefoot hooves like to say what they think?

 

[TwoStroke]

I'm on my phone, so the photos look tiny but from what I can see it looks like you're starting from a decent enough point. There doesn't look to be much flare there, so it's really a matter of beefing up that caudal hoof (frog, digital cushion, lat cartilages etc). Is the horse landing heel first?

The only thing I'd suggest is to perhaps reconsider the graze on & grass nuts. There are quite a few event lines which indicate the horse may be struggling with the sugar from the grass.

With plenty of work those heels should decontract in no time, though .

 

[Holzdweaver]

Thank you ever so much for your reply

its good to know im heading in the right direction with his feet, i was a bit concerned about the lines but i think the one above the first is when he went to grass for 6 weeks (quie lush grazing) and was unworked the entire time.

Can anyone reccommend an alternative to the grass nuts and graze on? he isnt a poor doer as such, but takes a little more to maintain his condition when hes not on grass. maybe a haychop to texturise so he will eat the speedibeet readily and up his speedibeet and linseed maybe to compensate?

 

[fuffy]

The rings on the hoof are just changes of feeding and I think they look in good condition. Adding the linseed should help all round coat, hoof quality. A little low on heels but typical tb! Well done!

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

If you used Allen and Page fast fibre (or an equivalent) that has sugarbeet and fibre mixed so you could use it with only 60 secs soaking; and maybe upped the micronised linseed instead of the grass based feeds you would get a similar profile to the grass nutrients excluding some of the bad stuff (starches and sugars). If that wasnt enough you could add a chaff with added oil.

 

[yaffsimone1]

My boy is barefoot on his backs, his feet are as strong as nails. He is fed Biotin and i apply Kevin Bacon hoof dressing.

Yours look fine, its takes a while for them to really become established. Just make sure you clean out, as well as you can, the 'white line' of small stones etc and make sure the farrier doesnt trim the frog too regularly.

If you do go for shoes anytime and then decide to remove them again watch for splits and breakage from moisture getting in the nail holes

 

[A Guilding]

I'm on my phone, so the photos look tiny but from what I can see it looks like you're starting from a decent enough point. There doesn't look to be much flare there, so it's really a matter of beefing up that caudal hoof (frog, digital cushion, lat cartilages etc). Is the horse landing heel first?

The only thing I'd suggest is to perhaps reconsider the graze on & grass nuts. There are quite a few event lines which indicate the horse may be struggling with the sugar from the grass.

With plenty of work those heels should decontract in no time, though .

If anybody wants to translate the above I would be happy to read it. Do you consider these heels are in the slightest contracted? What type of work would decontract them? To me they look over expanded.
OP your horses feet are good.

 

[TwoStroke]

A guilding - yes, photo 3 looks like its a little contracted; the central sulcus is a narrow groove rather than a shallow depression. As for heels being over expanded - could you elaborate on that? As far as I'm aware, heels don't 'over expand' as you put it, especially when they've only recently come out of shoes?

Any type of work will decontract the heels; so long as the horse is comfortable and landing heel first. It's the stimulation which causes the changes; road work is excellent, but a variety of surfaces is best imo.

OP - lush grazing would definitely explain the event lines. Hopefully that will improve when you move onto haylage for the winter. As above, micronised linseed is excellent for condition, and I use oats for my poor doer TB as well.

 

[Scarlett]

My TB's feet looked very similar at 4 months out of shoes, it was another month or so before they really started to change and now, at 10 months unshod they are very different... I didn't use boots though so I'm not sure if that makes a huge difference.

Your horses feet don't look bad at all, though they are definately a work in progress

Which grass nuts do you feed? Personally I'd up the Speedibeet and linseed so you can remove the nuts (unless they are required for energy) and maybe add some Omega Rice if you need to keep weight on. I think Graze On is flash dried which makes it quite high in sugar, can you feed extra hay instead?

Have you thought of feeding a barefoot specific supplement instead of the Diamond Omega one? Something like Pro-Hoof?You might find this helps to hurry things along a little as there may be something your horse is lacking....

Good luck!

 

[Holzdweaver]

i use Northern Crop Driers' Graze-On Grass Pellets and a level scoop of them per day, i can easily cut these out though and replace with a hay chop and then increase his speedibeet and linseed.

Il have a think about feeding prohoof instead, is there a specific mineral in it which isnt usually put in other supplements?

 

[Pale Rider]

Look pretty good to me.

 

[Holzdweaver]

Thank you, its good to know hes heading in the right direction as im not experienced with bare feet, the only knowledge iv picked up is from on here and researching on the internet in general. but even then i was very apprehensive about it all as iv always had full sets on all my horses.

My farrier is very supportive though which is great and he encouraged me to give it a go, saying that i can always go back to shoes if it doesnt work out, but il definitely be sticking with it