Barefoot trial, foot sore horse, what should I do?

[paddy555]

I would guess he is sore very simply down to too much work too soon. The quarters need a trim and then a rasp round around the wall to make a smooth edge. If you want to ride a reasonable amount I would boot otherwise it will need patience to prevent him becoming sore. I would have someone lead him out for you on concrete and try to see how he is landing, ie toe first, flat or heel first? can you see anything else in the way his feet land?

I can't see any reason to put anything on the sole. What are you trying to treat? Horse's feet need treating if they have a problem you are trying to cure then stop treating when it is gone. They don't get treated in their natural environment.
If you poke the point of a hoof pick (being careful) into the central sulchus does the horse react?

 

[Leo Walker]

I have axle stands that do a reasonable job as hoof stands and cost me £15 for 2 so significantly cheaper. My trimmer recommended them.

 

[HBB]

I would guess he is sore very simply down to too much work too soon.

This ^^
You have to take things much slower, he has nearly had a year off work. Keep it simple, like the fitness plan I shared, walk him 6 days a week and slowly increase his workload 10 mins a week until 60mins, then add short bursts of trot. You are going to have a sore horse if you rush it.

 

[HashRouge]

This ^^
You have to take things much slower, he has nearly had a year off work. Keep it simple, like the fitness plan I shared, walk him 6 days a week and slowly increase his workload 10 mins a week until 60mins, then add short bursts of trot. You are going to have a sore horse if you rush it.

Yes I was going to say this - I'm not surprised he was a bit sore after his "long trot and canter". This isn't a criticism of you or the rider by the way, it's quite hard if you've not had experience of BF horses before. But you do need to be quite kind with the amount of work he does at the moment - if you build it up slowly, he will be less likely to be sore and his feet will get better and better (as others have said, I'm jealous of those frogs!).

 

[JennBags]

I would guess he is sore very simply down to too much work too soon. The quarters need a trim and then a rasp round around the wall to make a smooth edge. If you want to ride a reasonable amount I would boot otherwise it will need patience to prevent him becoming sore. I would have someone lead him out for you on concrete and try to see how he is landing, ie toe first, flat or heel first? can you see anything else in the way his feet land?

I can't see any reason to put anything on the sole. What are you trying to treat? Horse's feet need treating if they have a problem you are trying to cure then stop treating when it is gone. They don't get treated in their natural environment.
If you poke the point of a hoof pick (being careful) into the central sulchus does the horse react?

As it's recommended to measure for boots after trimming, I think I'll definitely hold off until farrier has been until I ride again.
I have been taking it slowly and I was surprised when my friend said she'd had a long trot as she is a barefoot advocate and pretty experienced. She's off games at the moment as her horse slipped on the road and went over on her foot, so it's only me riding now and I can control it better.
The only thing I'm putting on the sole is the sole cleanse as recommended to me on this thread to treat thrush.
Thanks all for kind words about the frogs, I had no idea they were good!

 

[Gloi]

As it's recommended to measure for boots after trimming, I think I'll definitely hold off until farrier has been until I ride again.
I have been taking it slowly and I was surprised when my friend said she'd had a long trot as she is a barefoot advocate and pretty experienced. She's off games at the moment as her horse slipped on the road and went over on her foot, so it's only me riding now and I can control it better.
The only thing I'm putting on the sole is the sole cleanse as recommended to me on this thread to treat thrush.
Thanks all for kind words about the frogs, I had no idea they were good!

I wouldn't particularly hold off once he stops being sore, just keep steady on reasonably smooth surfaces.

 

[HBB]

I wouldn't hold off either, just treat him as you would if you were rehabbing him. Look at the whole picture, lots of slow steady work will continue to stimulate his hoof capsule but will also condition and strengthen his back, ligaments and tendons. It will be so worth the wait.

 

[paddy555]

As it's recommended to measure for boots after trimming, I think I'll definitely hold off until farrier has been until I ride again.
I have been taking it slowly and I was surprised when my friend said she'd had a long trot as she is a barefoot advocate and pretty experienced. She's off games at the moment as her horse slipped on the road and went over on her foot, so it's only me riding now and I can control it better.
The only thing I'm putting on the sole is the sole cleanse as recommended to me on this thread to treat thrush.
Thanks all for kind words about the frogs, I had no idea they were good!

once he is no longer sore he would benefit from a small amount of road walking probably in hand to start conditioning his feet as well as riding booted. That way you can get your riding and he can start on his foot conditioning.
Don't forget to look at the tarmac. Not all tarmac is the same. It can be a very easy surface for a newly barefoot horse ie smooth worn down tarmac without gravel. Or a very difficult surface with lots of gravel and stones which they pick up into the WL and which also causes pin point sole pressure and therefore pain.
I appreciate why you are using sole cleanse. Do you actually have thrush.

 

[deicinmerlyn]

Personally I find the times when things are dry and the ground hard the feet are the best, they end up rock hard and wear less than in winter when they are wet.

OP have patience and once his diet is right build up the work gradually to give his hooves time to adjust to the work.

Agree with this. My TB is far better when the ground is hard and dry. When it’s wet, his feet soften and the dreaded Thrush has to be kept under control, otherwise he gets sore and starts walking toe first instead if heel first.

 

[JennBags]

I appreciate why you are using sole cleanse. Do you actually have thrush.

Not as far as I know but several people on here suggested he might have and treating it as though he does can't do any harm can it?

 

[JennBags]

Hello all an update and more questions. Nelson has now been back in consistent work for just over 7 weeks, he seems very comfortable except on stony/gravel surfaces. I need to get to grips with rasping and am going to get a radius rasp as I struggle with the farriers rasp, I have small hands and am not a very dexterous person anyway.

I am about to order some boots and would like some opinions and experiences - did try to call the Hoof Boutique but they had a recorded message saying they were too busy and not taking phone calls at the moment.

I will have to buy them new as I can't find any second-hand in the right size; I think I've decided on the Equine Fusion Active boots. Any experiences gratefully received. How simple are they to fit? Do horses just accept the hoof boots or do they find them awkward at first? Is there anything else I should look out for?

TIA as always

 

[Gloi]

I will have to buy them new as I can't find any second-hand in the right size; I think I've decided on the Equine Fusion Active boots. Any experiences gratefully received. How simple are they to fit? Do horses just accept the hoof boots or do they find them awkward at first? Is there anything else I should look out for?

TIA as always

Depends what you are doing. If you are mainly doing road work and walk and trot you will probably find the Equine Fusions adequate. The horses usually don't take long to get used to the boots, maybe have a lunge first if they are highly strung. Doing more you may want to move up to more of a less clumpy performance type boot.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Personally I wouldn’t use them as I prefer a boot with a heel captivator that moves with the horse and has less boot touching the skin but if all you are going to do is walk with the odd trot then they should be fine.

Do you know what size his feet are? There is a good second hand Facebook page called UK used hoof boots Cavallo, Renegades, Easycare and more for sale/exchange. Somebody is selling a pair of Renegades 145x145 for £150 brand new never used. They are bright orange though.

 

[milliepops]

just chiming in re the EF boots, I had some (different models) and found them fairly annoying not just because of the clumpiness but also because any fabric type boots take longer to dry out if you need to wash them off. I had some useful advice from The Saddlery Shop when I was looking so perhaps try some other companies if you want someone to advise about boots, I think there are quite a few that offer this.

 

[JennBags]

I knew you guys would come up trumps - glad I didn't order them in that case.
His feet are 159wx165l - bloody huge I know! Will have a look at the FB group thanks LLA.

 

[ester]

the saddlery shop/urban horse/equine podiatry supplies are all usually quite helpful too.

Nothing wrong with bright orange, easy to find if you loose one

 

[Goldenstar]

I got cavallos for H his feet are huge and flat
They are the best boot and horse combination I have had .

 

[Tiddlypom]

The hoof boutique lady is very helpful when you can get hold of her, but I do wonder if she fits it around another job as I have also found her slow (as in days) to reply in the past.

Urban Horse are good and also IME quick to respond.

I rate Cavallo treks as a starter boot, I have a selection of them in sizes 2 to 6 . Think they go up to a size 8 now. They fit generously.

ETA looks like the treks stop at size 6, but the Cavallo Big Foot goes up to a size 10.

ETA The Big Foot size 7s measure to fit width/length 158 - 165mm

 

[HappyHollyDays]

The hoof boutique lady is very helpful when you can get hold of her, but I do wonder if she fits it around another job as I have also found her slow (as in days) to reply in the past.

Liz has a young family and with lockdown I expect it is making it harder to devote time to the Hoof Boutique during the day. She did tell me even before lockdown that she worked a lot in the evenings presumably when they have gone to bed.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

I knew you guys would come up trumps - glad I didn't order them in that case.
His feet are 159wx165l - bloody huge I know! Will have a look at the FB group thanks LLA.

Wow they are huge. Have you sent Liz photos for her to check them? You really are restricted on what you can use if they really are that big. My first suggestion would have been Scoot boots but they don’t go that large and sadly you aren’t going to be able to squeeze his feet into them.

Edit to add. I have just looked at the Equine Fusion all terrain ultra boots which will fit him and they have a mesh body so won’t hold water if they get wet. Other than that you are going to be restricted to Easycare and Cavallos

 

[PapaverFollis]

They are even bigger than the Beast's hooves! Beast will fit Scoot boots now so I'm going to try them. I'm convinced they've added a couple of sizes as I remember thinking she'd only just squeeze in the biggest size last time I checked and her feet haven't got that much smaller...

But Nelson's hooves are impressively large!

 

[Chippers1]

I've used Cavallo's in the past (and i'm going to try them on Buzz today, the farrier seems to think him and my old pony have similar sized feet) and always found them good. I even went xc and hunting in them
Buzz seems to be coping ok so far but the stony path I have to go up to get to the tarmac is a bit of a pain so i'm hoping the boots will help.

 

[paddy555]

on that size you are limited to cavallos, equine fusions, G2's or epics size 5 would fit.
not a very inspiring choice. Except for the epics all will be clumpy.

 

[JennBags]

I took Nelson out yesterday and he was really slow, so I think he's sore again despite doing everything I can, so I've taken the decision to have front shoes put back on him, given my limited options with boots.