Could my horse go barefoot?

Eriskayowner

Eriskayowner

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Jazz is a 17.2hh Cleveland Bay x Hanovarian 16 year old gelding. He's rested at the moment (due to an abscess) and the vet advised to take all of his shoes off whilt the sole heals from the abscess (it's actually going well :)) but I'm wondering whether it's worth keeping him unshod/barefoot when he returns to work.

He has had a habit of tripping when worked which I think should be a lot better if he wasn't shod as the hooves would be able to cope a lot better.

He's currently fed on (between 2 feeds) 2 scoops of chaff, 2 scoops of sugar beet, 1 scoop of Baileys no. 4 cubes, and biotin.

At the moment he's in 24/7 because of his hoof but he's usually out during the day but the field is very muddy. I want him checked over by a physio before he's ridden again but I'm wondering if it's worth trying him in work without shoes on. Most of the work he'll do is roadwork.

Any thoughts?
 
With my mare, I just walked her in-hand down the lane and she was sound on the tarmac. I then led her out further and she was still happy. I then plucked up some courage and rode her on that same route. She was fine. I built up the distance that we hacked very slowly and that worked very well. She never had any trouble coping by the time we were doing long rides over the hills and far away (and home again ;) ) but I don't think that she could have done 3hrs roadwork to start with.
 
Part of the trick is to build things up slowly, and if you encounter problems of too-fast wear, either boot for a little while, or slow down the rate at which you are building up the roadwork.
 
Thanks guys :) I do think that most of his tripping thing (always worse when he wasn't fit or was hollowing) was down to him not putting his foot down correctly (obviously) and allowing his legs/feet to move more easily might solve that. As above, got nothing to lose by trying it :)
 
If it's size you're wondering about, mine is a 17hh ISH and when he's not hobbling round with an abscess (he's all poulticed up just now - half of our field, shod and shoeless, are hobbling after the wet winter), he works happily barefoot. We don't really have any off road hacking, so all our hacking is on tarmac which he loves.

If we're doing anything more challenging (stoney tracks) or if the weather has been really wet (he lives out so feet never get a chance to dry out) he wears boots. Even then, I try to make sure he gets a decent amount of work bootless to keep his feet in trim.

As everybody has mentioned, if you build up slowly, the feet adapt very fast :)
 
Brightbay said:
If it's size you're wondering about, mine is a 17hh ISH and when he's not hobbling round with an abscess (he's all poulticed up just now - half of our field, shod and shoeless, are hobbling after the wet winter), he works happily barefoot. We don't really have any off road hacking, so all our hacking is on tarmac which he loves.

If we're doing anything more challenging (stoney tracks) or if the weather has been really wet (he lives out so feet never get a chance to dry out) he wears boots. Even then, I try to make sure he gets a decent amount of work bootless to keep his feet in trim.

As everybody has mentioned, if you build up slowly, the feet adapt very fast :)
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Thanks BB,

I can't believe the amount of mud in the field but the abscess isn't caused by the mud - his quarter clip slippe into the hoof wall and the abscess emerged due to the hole. The foot was reshod and he was turned out as normal but the pus couldn't drain as the new shoe was over the entrance so just built up. :(

The vet dug it all out nearly 3 weeks ago and it's been wet and dry poulticed and now being filled with gamgee and eucalyptus oil (on the vet's advice).

I think I'll start walking him out when it's closed over completely to see how he copes :)
 
his quarter clip slippe into the hoof wall and the abscess emerged due to the hole.
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lol, it was almost exactly this issue that caused me to take my boy's shoes off 6 years ago :D It was a nightmare! Vet was very cross that farrier had put shoes back on too soon, it took ages to clear up, and after that we just left shoes off.
 
Brightbay said:
lol, it was almost exactly this issue that caused me to take my boy's shoes off 6 years ago :D It was a nightmare! Vet was very cross that farrier had put shoes back on too soon, it took ages to clear up, and after that we just left shoes off.
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The vet said it was a really tough call for the farrier to make and didn't blame the farrier at all. I can live with that. It's just given me a chance to reassess the situation. :)
 
The only thing I'd add to the advice you've already had, is that you may struggle barefoot without some changes to his diet. He's getting a lot of sugar and starch, which horses aren't really cut out for - it really shows up in their feet. If you do encounter problems, the diet is the first thing to look at.
 
I think you should give barefoot a go. Try loosing as much starch and sugar as possible as neither are good. Use high quality fibre eg alfalfa , soya husks [rowan barbary feeds] micronised linseed is excellent for weight gain being a good protein and oily. [charnwood mills].
 
Unmolassed sugarbeet is good, low in sugar and starch and high in energy (13 mj/kg DE, which is the same as most conditioning feeds), and as HF1 says above, linseed is also very good. Oats, too, are surprisingly well tolerated in barefoot horses. Supplement-wise I usually recommend pro hoof or pro balance +. The forage plus balancers are also good.
 
Thanks guys - that's really helpful.

Jazz is seriously forward going so got to be slightly careful with his feed. Ironically, the chaff and (unmolassed) sugar beet works well temperament wise, but if it's not good for his feet then I'll change it.

I have read lots of information on here about linseed but I have tried to get hold of some in the stockists around me with no luck. I will carry on looking! I did supplement his feed with soya oil to add some more calories to his feed which seemed to work well.

I'm going to take him out for a walk tomorrow just so he can stretch his legs - will let you know how I get on!

E x
 
I would say you'd be fine barefoot but you will probably want to look at diet more closely.

I personally would switch over as you run out of things to:

Micronised linseed - it's Magic!
Unmollassed sugar beet - fibre, weight and carrier for supplements
Mollasses free hi-fi (I personally dont feed this but if you want to feed a chaff this would probably be my preference)
Coolstance copra - for the weight issue.
or D&H ERS pellets would also be good for weight.
Pro hoof or bro balance from progressive earth on ebay for all his vits and mins.
plenty of hay

I own a pure CB and he is increadibly sensitive to dietary sugars - I have to treat him as a laminitic - watch his weight, manage his grass intake and feed him very low sugar / starch feeds. He is on fast fibre, micrionised linseed, ERS pellets (for a bit of energy) and his minerals.

While newly barefoot you will need to build work up gradually - particularly on hard surfaces. perhaps boot every 2 rides out of 3 to begin with then only every one in 3 and then hopefully not at all! It's worth the effort and the perseverance in the long run!
 
Thanks CBFan!

That's really helpful. I took him for a stretch of legs today - just 15 minutes or so around the block and he was fab. He was much less tense than usual (despite being off work for 10 weeks and on box rest for the last 3) and hardly tripped at all. Was lovely. Definitely looking into the linseed - it's getting rave reviews on here :)
 
That sounds perfect! Keep thing short and sweet for now and build up gradually - remember that the hoof has to 'learn how much to grow' in order to keep up with the rate of wear which can take a little while to happen.

Linseed is worth the hastle of tryig to find somewhere that socks it... My bag lasts me about 3 or 4 months fed at a heaped mugful a day (my boy is 17.2hh) Try getting it from GW Titmuss. You may have to phone them to order it as it isn't on their wesite but you will probably find it cheaper than many places :)
 
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