Barefoot

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tobyiscool

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My horse has always been barefoot with no problems until recently. his hooves have been dry and cracked, and when i got him in from the field there was a huge chunk missing from one of them, he is sound but it was pretty alarming. Ideally i would like him not to be shod, but am thinking this is the only way forward. Does anyone have aany advice on how i should be caring for his feet to prevent further damage, and stop them cracking?
 
This may be a stupid question, but are his feet trimmed regularly? My three are all barefoot and they get trimmed around every 3-4 weeks (by me with checks every now and then from a professional barefoot trimmer) - their feet have all gradually got less prone to cracking since they had their shoes removed (several years ago now).
 
in summer my barefoot mares feet wear more natrually as the ground is harder and bits of hoof to fall away but she is trimmed by the farrier more regularly in summer to assist with this and when she is trimmed they look great again, its probably natural wear and tear but keratex hoof hardener is great stuff if his hooves are a little soft.
 
Years ago I noticed my shod horses feet started to get very dry and cracked. My vet at that time put it down to nutrition and said it had nothing to do with trimming.

Of course as they were good doers I had cut back their feed in the summer. My vet was right when I started feeding again their feet improved.

Now I feed all the year and have min licks out in the field.
 
I would try stay off the shoes being as your horse seems happy without.
It is probably due to the very hot dry weather we had lately, perhaps try feeding sunflower seeds and applying something like kevin bacon hoof treatment, both are cheap enough to buy, i am sure these things will help prevent further cracks, worth a try before popping shoes on
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You can't really prevent it
We are having exactly the same problem with 1 of ours. The farrier happened to be at ours and he had a look.
He said because the weather keeps going wet dry wet dry their feet are struggling to cope but they will be fine
 
Try soaking his feet in water daily on dry days, it will moisturise them and help keep them more flexible. Don't do it on wet days, otheriwe you will be increasing the difference in water levels again.
For best advice, ask Thefarrier on here, he is the only professional on hoof care here.
 
Do you have any pics of your horse's feet?

I wouldn't really be too concerned about the odd chip here and there as they often look worse than they actually are, but often it is due to flaring and/or imbalance that you get these chips, particularly in the spring when you can get growth spurts, so it would be interesting to see some photos (although you can't ever be too accurate with pictures!) to see if that may be the cause.

I certainly wouldn't rush in to putting shoes on, particularly as he isn't lame with these chips. If you look at wild mustangs for example they often have 'scooped' quarters, which is basically nature's way of dealing with flaring (I do just want to point out that I am not saying it should be like that!
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It is to do with the changes in weather. I got some sound advice once before and quickly from Keratex how to condition hooves and how they react to the weather (ultimately of course using their products to help but if it helps not to resort to shoes I would prefer that anytime...) - my mare went barefoot for a long time until she kept having bruised soles due to the grounds around here and more roadwork she has now got the fronts shod and we are much happier.
 
the weather is probably the main cause- very dry and hot
if its superficial chips it should be fine and only natural.
prehaps the farrier/trimmer needs to do her more frequently until the weather gets more steady?
the hoof on the ground now has taken 9 months or so to grow down from the top, so take that into account when looking at the horses diet....
 
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