Barefooters,opinions on barefoot to prevent/heal ligament injury

milliepops

milliepops

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*sigh*
nearly 12 months since getting the go ahead to start ridden work after Millie injured her RF check ligament, she's now done the left fore. It's a small injury to the edge of the CL, but enough to still be 1/10 lame after a week of rest. She's done this in the field somehow, can't believe it.

Anyway. Something that has been rolling around in my head this week is whether to take her shoes off at this point and go barefoot with her. We are on steeply sloping undulating ground and she has a propensity to put her feet in fences etc, so I'm thinking that if nothing else, she might be less inclined to fubar herself just pottering about outdoors without shoes on, plus I'm assuming she'd have better proprioception, frog support etc.

We have very sharp stoney tracks for hacking here, so I would have to boot all round to ride. At present I'm expecting to start walk exercise in 4 weeks, going on today's scan pictures.

Millie has been shod all round for 12 years, so this would be a big change. She's always been on a high fibre, low sugar diet as I tend to feed that way anyway and I'm happy to add the other necessary supps.

Does anyone have experience of taking shoes off while rehabbing, and is there any reason not to? I was told to keep the heel support on shoes for the last one, but that was a big traumatic injury whereas this seems to be a lot smaller and the prognosis is better.
 
When I took the shoes off my chestnut mare on the advice of my (then) new farrier after the previous farrier had altered her hoof balance for the worse, she had a mild check ligament issue. She was also turned out on a steep welsh hillside. Her hoof angle improved greatly and all the heat and swelling went from the check ligament very quickly, so it worked out really well.
 
Oh no :(

We took Mum's mares shoes off when she was on box rest but being half hour walked in hand daily for her suspensory issue, though she is shod again now as mum wasn't up for the boots option.
Frank was lame (foot induced though) when I took his shoes off and started rehabbing. - at 19 having been shod I guess since 5, definitely since 8. I moved him here (stonier tracks etc) 18 months after the shoes came off and I think he improved again over the following 6 months (when I did boot if hacking on the tracks with others so he had to keep up) and been pretty fab since then- hinds have never had an issue with the tracks though.

I don't think it is a bad thing for them to have the best foot they can if they are having issues elsewhere, and heel support in shoes seems to be one of those things mentioned but the mechanics of the support not always clear.

I definitely think it is worth some consideration and age is no barrier- and that boots have come on a lot. Most issues seem to be if a horse twists a foot when it lands.
 
thanks all. Food for thought. Think I will call farrier to pull shoes next week.

I've booted my little cob behind (she's shod in front) for the last 12 months and that's worked well, even though there's only one kind that fit her ginorma-hooves, so I'm not averse to doing that. Only problem I've had is that they pop off occasionally when cantering after squelching through mud, but Millie doesn't DO mud so that won't happen anyway.
 
Oh dear so sorry to hear this. Must be so frustrating.

I am surprised that you kept shoes on through the 12 months... the vets we used for a tendon injury said that she was taught shoes off for all soft tissue injuries. Indeed the mare was on boxrest and walked out in boots and it healed well (ddft tear with plasma therapy). However I can sort of see the logic of keeping shoes on and maybe she had weak heels that would not support the back of the leg.

I would definitely say yes to your question as long term, it would benefit. Make sure you do extensive research first though and find someone who is experienced with barefoot horses that perform. It makes a huge difference than "just trimming" believe me. You need someone to take you through building up the back of the foot for proper support to the tendons and ligaments especially after a healed injury and be prepared to invest in some boots to begin with so that you build up the hoof strength whilst providing some comfort.

You never know, she may just take to it like duck to water! Some thrive straight away.
 
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