BF TB's, what does yours do.

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flirtygerty

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As title really, to prove a point, I need to know if there's TB's out there successfully BF, prone to abcesses due to being BF and what work they do, I have a difference of opinion going on with someone who thinks my BF TB should be in shoes.
I really hope I get the replies I need
Thanks in advance
 
What do you mean what do they do? Work wise?

My mare has been barefoot for 18 months now, awful feet that two farriers refused to shoe. Much better feet, real frogs and no longer under run heels.
Work wise, she does 6 days a week, since Christmas has competed in ODE, RC area SJ and dressage.
She plays international HorseBall
Oh and she is 20yrs old!

That sort of thing you looking for?
 
Thanks for your replies, my lad is doing ok BF, farrier has said his feet are looking good, he did have the start of an abcess, farrier put it down to wet conditions, he is also 20 yrs old and still a bit footy on really gravelly terrain after 7 months, he has boots, but I tend to use nappies as light protection and he walks out fine, I'm sure with him it's remembered discomfort, as initially he was very uncomfortable and I did wonder if I was doing the right thing..
Problem is a friend rides for me, and has been talking to a vet, who gave her the usual poor feet on TB's spiel, but basically she wants him back in shoes, not happening, if I can show her in black and white, the success stories she should accept the fact it can and does work, I did suggest she looked at the Rockley blog.
Sorry for the essay, but thats the situation
 
flirtygerty said:
Problem is a friend rides for me
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That is just it she rides for you, your horse your choice. Personally my horse is shod but I wouldn't have a sharer, friend or otherwise tell me they want shoes on or off my horse.

Re abscess it is very wet this year and I know a lot of horses who have had abscess. I would carry on and see were you are when the weather drys out. Also have you looked at his diet? As that can cause them to be footy.
 
Thanks for your reply, all four of mine are on low sugar, unmollassed diets, 3 are BF, although atm they are just on ad lib hay and a token feed of easy beet, linseed and chaff, this TB was gifted back to me last June, with feet that wouldn't hold a shoe, passport said 12 yrs old, but dentist put him at 20 yrs old, even I can see a difference in his feet, I am riddled with arthritis so can't ride as often as I would like, hence my friend riding, but she is young and very impatient
 
Mine is shod in front only, but if you want to see amazing unshod TBs search on here for princesssparkle and nmt aka the Sparkle sisters who compete both their TBs to high level.
 
If I had a friend that rode for me tell me what to do with my horses feet, I'd show them the door lol as long as the horse is not suffering then it should be up to you to decide what happens! Even if they are a bit footy, there's plenty you can change to sort that out without resorting to shoes, which it sounds as though you are doing anyway :) I've seen such a difference in my horses feet since the shoes came off, there's no way I'd put them back on now
 
Like I said, she's young and impatient, she knows who owns the horses, she just sees shoes are a quick fix to her getting back to fast work, currently restricted to walk and trot getting them fit, I just need her to realise TB's are not born with poor feet
 
My TB had a few abscesses as we were transitioning I used to do Eventing, Endurance, Dressage, trekking Hunting and SJ successfully.

He was 11 when I got him had been in a paddock with little attention for up to 4 years, raced as a five year old and then evented to novice in shoes (had a season off with SI injury) - there were a fair few issues which needed resolving but we got there. Unfortunatly new owner plans to shoe him but at least his feet are starting in a good place.
 
flirtygerty said:
Thanks for your replies, my lad is doing ok BF, farrier has said his feet are looking good, he did have the start of an abcess, farrier put it down to wet conditions, he is also 20 yrs old and still a bit footy on really gravelly terrain after 7 months, he has boots, but I tend to use nappies as light protection and he walks out fine, I'm sure with him it's remembered discomfort, as initially he was very uncomfortable and I did wonder if I was doing the right thing..
Problem is a friend rides for me, and has been talking to a vet, who gave her the usual poor feet on TB's spiel, but basically she wants him back in shoes, not happening, if I can show her in black and white, the success stories she should accept the fact it can and does work, I did suggest she looked at the Rockley blog.
Sorry for the essay, but thats the situation
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As said by others, your horse your choice! If she has a different opinion she has 2 choices....keep quiet and keep in riding barefoot, or go ride another horse!!
 
xgemmax said:
If I had a friend that rode for me tell me what to do with my horses feet, I'd show them the door lol as long as the horse is not suffering then it should be up to you to decide what happens! Even if they are a bit footy, there's plenty you can change to sort that out without resorting to shoes, which it sounds as though you are doing anyway :) I've seen such a difference in my horses feet since the shoes came off, there's no way I'd put them back on now
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This is a great post!
 
flirtygerty said:
Like I said, she's young and impatient, she knows who owns the horses, she just sees shoes are a quick fix to her getting back to fast work, currently restricted to walk and trot getting them fit, I just need her to realise TB's are not born with poor feet
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Excellent! Poor feet are created from a young age by high sugar feeds and early shoeing.....
 
Alyth said:
Excellent! Poor feet are created from a young age by high sugar feeds and early shoeing.....
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I dont think its that simple.

too much high sugar feed(in relation to work) and poor quality shoeing at any stage but not neccesarily as simple as you make out.

CS and Fig both raced, so both shod as 2yo until the ages of 4yo and nearly 8yo respectively.....yet they are both rock crunching sound over any surface, stones, gravel, grit, pebbles, crappy broken up builders rubble masquerading as a car park etc!

They were sound on tarmac, grass, sand, gravel, from the day the shoes came off too BTW.

Fig hacks for up to an hour on the road with no probs (and no boots). CS does less hacking due his mental state rather than anything else lol.

They both eat a commercial diet with no fannying, faffing, hay soaking,weighing etc-ad lib haylage, dairy pasture and then Fig gets Winergy Condition, Mollichaff Calmer, linseed and soaked oats, and CS: Havens Slobbermash, Alfa a oil, soaked oats, Winergy High energy and linseed.

and why do i think we *get away* with this? Because they work, hard, use their calories, and sweat! They are in a proper schedule of work and work they do, so many people i see dont get the horse actually using its feet or its food!


CS is about to do his first Inter 1 and is schooling GP and Fig is competing Medium and schooling Advanced.
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
I dont think its that simple.

too much high sugar feed(in relation to work) and poor quality shoeing at any stage but not neccesarily as simple as you make out.

CS and Fig both raced, so both shod as 2yo until the ages of 4yo and nearly 8yo respectively.....yet they are both rock crunching sound over any surface, stones, gravel, grit, pebbles, crappy broken up builders rubble masquerading as a car park etc!

They were sound on tarmac, grass, sand, gravel, from the day the shoes came off too BTW.

Fig hacks for up to an hour on the road with no probs (and no boots). CS does less hacking due his mental state rather than anything else lol.

They both eat a commercial diet with no fannying, faffing, hay soaking,weighing etc-ad lib haylage, dairy pasture and then Fig gets Winergy Condition, Mollichaff Calmer, linseed and soaked oats, and CS: Havens Slobbermash, Alfa a oil, soaked oats, Winergy High energy and linseed.

and why do i think we *get away* with this? Because they work, hard, use their calories, and sweat! They are in a proper schedule of work and work they do, so many people i see dont get the horse actually using its feet or its food!


CS is about to do his first Inter 1 and is schooling GP and Fig is competing Medium and schooling Advanced.
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That's great that your tbs are doing so well! How long were they shod for and how long did it take to transition? Creating poor feet doesn't mean they have poor hooves for life, just that they have to transition, unlike horses that have been lucky enough to be barefoot all their lives!
 
Thanks all, your replies did the trick, I sat her down and read her the riot act, she will now ride my horses with respect, listen and do what's asked, not go galloping around other peoples fields, or bring back the young un sweated up at dusk, why do young ones think they know it all, she's on her final warning, sorry for the rant, but this girl has been driving me mad, I'm busy with a new business, not in the best of health just now and sick of my horses being lame, never in four years have I had so many lameness issues, I will end up driving the two that can and have two field ornaments, anyone in the Morpeth area likes happy hacking?
Thanks again everyone
 
she will now ride my horses with respect, listen and do what's asked, not go galloping around other peoples fields, or bring back the young un sweated up at dusk
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That's terrible - I hope that she respects your wishes from now on. If not, then she's only got herself to blame when you stop the arrangement.
 
Just to add, though it seems you have already got it sorted - I have a 25 y/o TB who has been barefoot since she was 12- since shoes came off, she has never had a hoof related lameness. Whilst shod her hooves were appalling, and she was often lame. She happily hunted, huntertrial end, SJ 'd barefoot etc long before barefoot was acceptable.

I also have her 10y/o TB son , who has been barefoot all his life, and has pretty much self trimmed since he has been in work. His feet are amazing!
 
I've done a number of ex racers, and some don't notice the shoes are gone and some are positively crippled. Some have feet and digestive system that cope with early shoeing and carb overload, but IME more don't., hence the 'typical tb feet' mantra. The ones with smaller, tighter, more upright, feet tend to find it easier.

A lot will also depend on your grazing. Some people have less trouble than others because they have grazing that is well mineral balanced, and forage the same. Many areas of the country are badly overloaded with iron and/or manganese and unless this is corrected for by supplementing other minerals, the result is often footiness and/or abscesses.

I have evented a barefoot TB affiliated at Intro level. I know others do much bigger stuff than that with them.
 
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NellRosk said:
Wow I didn't realise their tbs were unshod!!
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Why are you so surprised? The Sparkle horses get fantastic results because they are well trained and well ridden, but almost any unshod horse can work on arena surfaces. In fact, many horses move better unshod.
 
thank you CPT :)

i guess they are still somewhat of an anomaly (sp?) in affiliated dressage-you see a few at prelim/nov and one or two others a year above that but i cant recall seeing any other BF horses at PSG in CS's classes.

until people see it happening and start to believe in it, no one else will dare try it, a self perpetuating sort of circle!

people are still VERY suprised when they notice (at shows) so the tide is not quite turning yet , at least not in the world of BD but we continue to try and educate anyone who shows interest.
 
cptrayes said:
Why are you so surprised? The Sparkle horses get fantastic results because they are well trained and well ridden, but almost any unshod horse can work on arena surfaces. In fact, many horses move better unshod.
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I don't know, I'd just never heard it mentioned before. And I just presumed they'd have shoes on like the majority of other high end dressage horses. And I know they often move better unshod, I have 2 of my own. :)
 
There is no way my horse would cope barefoot, we hack every day and it's a lot of road work. He's shod every 6 weeks and there's never much shoe left, so definitely there wouldn't be much foot left! But I don't have a school, and the tracks to and from the field are VERY stoney. It just wouldn't be fair to put him through it.

He was barefoot behind for a while and was sound but they wore down quickly and he struggled terribly with grip on wet grass. But that's just my experience :)
 
Girlracer said:
There is no way my horse would cope barefoot, we hack every day and it's a lot of road work. He's shod every 6 weeks and there's never much shoe left, so definitely there wouldn't be much foot left! But I don't have a school, and the tracks to and from the field are VERY stoney. It just wouldn't be fair to put him through it.

He was barefoot behind for a while and was sound but they wore down quickly and he struggled terribly with grip on wet grass. But that's just my experience :)
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Shoes don't grow, feet do :)

Also, materials scientists will tell you that although it seems very bizarre to the rest of us, it is frequently the harder material which wears away, not the softer. A great example of this is that a leather strap can be used to sharpen a cutthroat razor.

Roadwork is great for bare feet and loads of people hack a lot in the circumstances that you describe. Until recently, I hunted.

I agree with you about slip on wet grass, especially if it is dry underneath, but I find the much better grip on tarmac more than compensates for having to keep the horse better balanced on wet grass.
 
im not sure if emma hindle actually managed to stay barefoot though? does anyone know for sure?

i do think its much harder to transition succesfully/easily/quickly when on livery ie when at the mercy of a YO who wont let you do XYZ whenever you want, where you cant bung some gravel down or improve the surfaces they work on,strip graze or set up a track system etc.

i guess CPT's hunter is another example of a horse having to use his feet too-working hard, working his feet hard, stimulating more growth.

imo work is as important as trim and feed.
 
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