Barefoot - trainer just said something that confused me

Holidays_are_coming

Holidays_are_coming

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My boy has been bf his whole life, he is 10 now when he had a abcess earlier this yr the vet could not believe how thick his sole was, he is rock crunching.

However he doesn't seem to like hard ground he almost protects himself but not flexing to the right (he finds it hard). Now my answer is to get him more supple so he can flex easier, he never slips Sj or X-c, my dressage trainer has just text he saying shoes would give him support and really help him. Now I can't see how they would help if he hates the hard I wouldn't want to put studs in. Surely I just need to improve his suppleness and get him to bend better through the ribs. When the ground is softer its not such a problem.
 
Ask her/him in what way s/he thinks a shoe will support his foot?

I hear this all the time. It never makes any sense to me that people think a shoe supports a foot better than the ground does.
 
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Oh goodness...maybe the Sparkle Sisters would like to weigh in here? I fail to see how a shoe (that makes concussion worse) can "support" a horse on hard ground. It doesn't make anatomical sense to me. If he doesn't mind stones underfoot, but seems to protect himself in some way on hard ground, I'd maybe wonder if there's something joint-related going on? Listen to your hoof care professional rather than your trainer; perhaps take your trainer's comments to your hoof care professional and see if they can explain...?
 
See I use a farrier but don't really trust them tried a trimmer and hated her.

He is a 10yr old who has done barely anything till I picked him up last October I have worked really hard to get him forward and straight but he struggles with right flexion, we are working on it but rome wasn't built in a day. I don't think he has anything wrong he just prefers ground with some give in it.
 
Does she mean so you can put studs in? As that may be why he's not flexing if the hard going is slippy.
 
Do you mean he flexes to the right on soft ground but not on hard ground? Or is he just stiffer to the right on any going as many horses are?
 
Do not assume that this is an issue with the feet there's a whole lot of other places that this stiffness could be coming from .
It may be a job for a vet or/and a physio .
 
I would also be thinking equine vet to begin with - to work out where the stiffness is coming from. Mine has just been diagnosed with pedal osteitis resulting in intermittent lameness, worse on a tight circle and funnily enough hard ground.

Your trainer clearly knows sod all about feet and frankly if she hasn't taught you more suppling exercises by this and just blames the feet Id be looking for a new trainer.
 
Thats my thoughts we are working on suppleness with him he only started proper work last October after 2 yrs off after nearly dying do we are still building muscle and the suppleness is slowly improving. The more I think about it the more I blame the idiot rider. If he doesn't improve by the spring ill look at getting my vet but I think at the moment he would think im crazy as he is moving so well
 
Holidays_are_coming said:
he is stiffer to the right on all surfaces but it seems to be more pronounced on the hard which could be my fault partly.
Click to expand...

Any stiffness will be compounded by hard ground, the horse will hold himself to avoid working through on the rein that is most uncomfortable it is natural and nothing to do with whether he is shod or not, in fact shoes could make it worse, if you haven't already had a physio check him that would be my next call and I would avoid the hard ground as much as possible in order to try and reduce the issue rather than force him to work on ground he doesn't like. Not suggesting you are using actual force but the easier the surface the more he will be able to soften and relax.
 
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