Barefoot transition help please

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daydreamer

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Hi,

Sorry I know there are lots of threads on barefoot already but I just wanted people's thoughts.

I have had a TB on loan for about 5 months and his feet were in poor condition when he came to me. He kept losing shoes and although his feet are slowly improving one of his hinds is particularly bad and the other isn't great - very crumbly, poor quality horn, under rub heels, tiny little stumps. He pulled his shoe off his worst hind last Thursday and after talking to the farrier we decided to try going barefoot on his hind feet.

He is overtracking in walk on a sand arena and on grass but is short in trot. Going across the yard is v. footy and he has started stopping. I have some hoof boots on order. He is fed top spec balancer and the top spec conditioning cubes (cereal grain free). He is out 24/7 as i am currently on grass livery (looking at changing yards) on grazing probably richer than i would like, i could restrict but i would like him to put a bit of weight on going into winter. I am planning on ordering magnesium oxide to help with feet and calmness.

My question is what would be best to help him adjust. I know i should do lots of walking on tarmac but he is a real stresshead about going on roads alone. I am currently walking in hand on the grass path outside his field which is pretty flat and hard - should i persevere with this? When i get the hoof boots should i try and work him in the arena as normal or wait until he seems less sore?

I know i am not doing everything that would be done in an ideal world but i want to do the best i can with the resources and situation i have!

Thanks
 
You will get a lot of help if you ask this question on uknhcp.myfastforum.org

There are also people on there who have had problems with Top Spec products and footiness. My friend's horse was very itchy when on a Top Spec balancer.

If he is sound with the hoof boots on then you can work him as normal. Meanwhile, do whatever he can do without being sore, like your grass verge in hand. The work will make him grow foot and develop a nice sole callous more quickly.

To increase the quality of his feet, you would be advised to strip as much sugar (molasses and anything with "syrup" after it) from his diet. Check the white bag labels, you cannot trust what the bag itself says. To put condition on him safely you should be able to feed him oil in fairly large quantities (up to 500ml a day if necessary, though you should supplement vitamin E if you feed at that level).

Thankfully the grass is dying away now with the cold end to the summer and you should hopefully be OK with your grazing, though it can flush in September/October as a last gasp before winter and causes a peak of laminitis, so if he gets better and then goes footie again do suspect the grass. Likewise, if he is fine all winter and then goes footie in spring think "grass" before you think "hard ground".

Good luck, if it goes well why don't you try the fronts as well?


ps my own current experience with underrun back feet is that they have taken eight whole months to develop a decent heel. Meanwhile, the horse has been through stages of exaggerated foot "pickup" early on, to a phase of "standing under" with his back feet pushed forwards, to fine but still weak in appearance with very poor concavity and too rapid wear on roads and now, quite suddenly, has gone concave with a clearly stronger heel and is moving beautifully. You may need quite a lot of patience, but I hope you can stick with it.
 
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I did exactly the same thing for my TB about 3 years ago and it was the best decision I have ever made. Also about this time of year after dreadfully cracked feet through summer.

At that point he was living out overnight and in during the day. I kept his schooling sessions short for about three weeks and would take him out nearly every day for a walk in hand up the road.

As his feet adjusted (you will be amazed at how quickly this happens) we started hacking out again keeping to tarmac or grass avoiding stoney tracks and just gradually increased the distances.

His feet improved enormously even in the first month. The structure of the frogs etc changed to accomodate no shoes really well.

I kept the shoes off through the winter, and only put them back on the following March when I wanted to do more and the ground was hardening up again. He has never looked back. His hind feet have remained the strongest and keep shoes on really well. I would not hesitate to do this again if they became bad again.

Please persevere and give it time. I hasten to add I did not change his diet at all during this time.
 
Dreckly said:
I kept the shoes off through the winter, and only put them back on the following March when I wanted to do more and the ground was hardening up again. ............ I hasten to add I did not change his diet at all during this time.
Click to expand...

I can understand if you did not want to change his regime, but he should have been able to do more in spite of the ground getting harder. In fact barefoot horses can often do more on hard ground than shod ones because they suffer less concussion. There was an advanced BE event horse ridden by Tom Robinson, which could not be kept sound in shoes but competed barefoot. If your horse could not cope with hard ground, then your answer may well have been to restrict his grazing or get a mineral analysis of your forage and balance to that. Of course not everyone is in full control of their grazing and it isn't always as simple as it sounds.

Many farriers are now recommending a return to the management methods of old, where the horse has a period out of shoes every year.
 
i found to get mine really sound I had to cut out all hard feed, going for unmolassed chaff and a vit/min supplement. Also he had to have his grazing restricted and hay soaked, and no haylage at all. He is a good doer though!!! I painted his sole with keratex - I don;t know if this worked or not!
Don't worry too much because it took 6 months for him (all last autumn/winter) to be to be 100% comfortable. Hoof boots were necessary for riding on the road. Oh and their frogs look horrible and peely as they go through the 'transition'!
However this summer he has been great, hind feet look lovely and he is comfy on the roads without boots. I only put them on him if we are going for a 3 hour hack!
 
You sure discover some interesting things about your horse, his sensitivities, underlying issues he has been dealing with for ears, and personality when you go barefoot.
 
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