Barefoot

[sprytzer]

My youngster is 3 in May, how do I go about keeping her barefoot?
It's totally alien to me as only ever shod.
At the moment her diet only consists of grass and hay, do I need to start feeding a specific diet or go on as I am, her weight is good, not fat nor thin.
Do I use my normal Farrier or do I have to look for a barefoot trimmer?
Can anyone point me towards the FB barefoot page or anywhere where I can read up to see if it's for us or not.

 

[FfionWinnie]

At 3 you are best placed to have success because you'll be fitting her gradually which also ties in with working her feet correctly for optimum success.

I don't do anything special with mine other than feed hay all year round and a Rocky chelated mineral block. Some need more help but for me it's been simple (well until I bought a thicko warmblood but it's his brain -lack of- not his feet that are the main problem with him!).

You want to habituate her to walking on easy surfaces to start with then build up the duration and roughness of the terrain.

 

[ycbm]

My youngster is 3 in May, how do I go about keeping her barefoot?
It's totally alien to me as only ever shod.
At the moment her diet only consists of grass and hay, do I need to start feeding a specific diet or go on as I am, her weight is good, not fat nor thin.
Do I use my normal Farrier or do I have to look for a barefoot trimmer?
Can anyone point me towards the FB barefoot page or anywhere where I can read up to see if it's for us or not.

OK. People shoe newly broken horses for these reasons:

- the horse has done little work to the point that it is broken, and people suddenly expect it to work and the foot is not conditioned to grow at the required rate. Answer, increase the work slowly.

- the horse has largely finished growing, its energy needs have gone right down, the spring grass has come through, and it's got grass sensitivity, not sore soles from being worked with no shoes on. Answer, cut the grass

- because the feet are getting 'too short', not being aware of how short barefoot feet often look . 'Too short' is never too short unless the horse is sore.

- because that's what you do, isn't it?

There's a great new book out by Nic Barker, barefoot rehabilitation specialist, on Amazon for £2.99 It's also a good read.

I rate anything by Pete Ramey, and most of it is on his website, hoofrehab.com

You don't need a special diet unless your horse stays sensitive to stones. Then the first port of call is low sugar, high fibre, followed by minerals in a general supplement, escalating to bespoke minerals for the really tough ones (or for skinflints like me who don't want to pay for more than they really need).

 

[sprytzer]

Great, thanks for the replies, she isn't destined for anything other than being a spoilt light hack, therefore I was just trying to think ahead as to do the " shoe or not to shoe" thing.
Hacking around me will consist of about a mile or two of tarmac at the start and end of each ride, then mainly off-road tracks.
I've plenty of time yet to decide I guess as I'll not be thinking of backing her till later in the summer then she will be a lady of leisure all winter.

 

[ycbm]

Tarmac is your friend, it's a great conditioning/trimming surface. With that routine, you might never need to have her trimmed. 'Self-trimming' is the pinnacle of barefoot most of us would like to be able to achieve

 

[paddy555]

I've plenty of time yet to decide I guess as I'll not be thinking of backing her till later in the summer then she will be a lady of leisure all winter.

now is the time to start conditioning the feet not leaving it till you back her. Mine is 1 yr 10 months and already doing roadwork and stoney tracks to condition his feet.

 

[ycbm]

now is the time to start conditioning the feet not leaving it till you back her. Mine is 1 yr 10 months and already doing roadwork and stoney tracks to condition his feet.

Good point.

My friend's unbroken three year old is doing ride & lead twice a week on the roads in preparation for backing late this year or spring next (depending on how she matures).

 

[FfionWinnie]

I agree. Get her on the road now as part of her education and future foot health. The slower you built it up the easier it will be.

Mine all self trim (apart from the WB who specialises in self harming instead!) and while I've had various health issues with horses outside my control there has never been a foot issue or a joint issue and I feel sure that is largely because they are all BF and most have been their whole lives.