Barefoot what to feed

cassie summers

cassie summers

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there is a man on our yard who has a nice 17 hand TB he is off work at the moment and has had his shoes removed because he is a nightmare to shoe and completely stressed at the moment due to losing his freind and i remember reading on here a couple of weeks ago that its down to what you feed if you go barefoot TBH his feet are not to bad for TB but he is on completely the wrong feed anyway for his temperment(alfa oil and some oat mix) and really needs to put on a little weight so i told the man i would ask on here as there seemed to be quite a few going barefoot i have a shire x so no point me advising him as she has completely different needs
 
A good barefoot diet is just the same as a good diet for the horse - it is just that when the shoes are off any niggles with the diet become painfully clear to see. So, basically low sugar/starch and high fibre and a good vit/min balance.

Some horses will do very well on a pretty plain diet - eg fast fibre, with added linseed if needed for cals. Others will be much more sensitive to imbalances in their minerals. If the horse in question doesn't improve for a diet overhaul (and there is no thrush or other issues) then it is worth taking a close look at the mineral composition of the forage, then use this to work out what minerals are lacking or in excess.

Best of luck! UKNHCP forums are really helpful too, and have a feed ingredients sticky which is invaluable!
 
Hi fibre, low starch is what you need.

I have a TB mare who used to be skinny and is now obese and is also barefoot.
For breakfast she gets a small handful of readigrass with some speedibeet (unmollassed sugarbeet) and in the evening she gets a small handful of readigrass with some Spillers high fibre cubes. She gets a small teaspoon of magnesium oxide, the same of brewers yeast about and about 100g of micronised linseed in one of the feeds - generally the evening feed as she is more keen to eat in the evening.

If the TB is skinny then ad lib haylage/hay is the answer - not lots of cereals and hard feed.

Good luck!
 
I have an unshod TB who is slightly on the slim side. She gets 3/4 a scoop each of soaked grass nuts, wheat middlings and speedibeet, a scoop of readigrass and 1 mug of micronised linseed AM + PM with roughly 8kg of hay overnight. She looks well on this and whilst she is still a little footy over some of the tracks on the yard (rubble :rolleyes:) she is fine everywhere else.
 
My arab mare only has haylage when shes in at night with a few carrots - shes off work for christmas and a pretty good doer.

My 3/4 TB has haylage at night and just a balancer to make sure he has all the vits/ mins etc he needs (hes only 3.5) but he again is a good doer.

Both got rock hard feet, I just try to keep their diets pretty simple being honest.
 
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