day 1 of my barefoot journey, and any tips?

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ghostie

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So, yesterday Spider's hinds were taken off and we began the long road towards trying to get him happy and sound without shoes. As I'm a beginner at this I've decided to take things slowly and get him sorted behind before I brave taking the fronts off too :D

I couldn't be there for the farrier, but he was lovely and called me up about it. He left his soles and frog alone, but took a little bit on his toes because they were too long and just tidied the rest.

I confess I was very nervous this morning that he was going to be hopping lame (he is often footy after he's been shod), but was pleasantly surprised.

He was a bit footy on concrete and wasn't best pleased about having to come off the mats in his stable and stand on the concrete to be groomed, but not actually lame. I took him in the indoor school with the intention of giving him a bit of a gentle walk on the lunge to get the blood flowing on a soft surface but he was in a bit of a hyper mood - so I turned him loose and he proceeded to have a mad twenty minutes cantering and bucking his way around until he was thoroughly knackerd :o so he clearly isn't too traumatised or in too much pain.

Annoyingly the fields have been shut because of all the rain, so he'll be stood in today when I'd rather have had him out on the soft grass. Roll on moving to my new yard where they don't shut the fields for a bit of drizzle!

Any tips for helping him in the first few weeks? Is there anything in particular I should do for his feet other than picking them out regularly?
 
No help I'm afraid but will follow this thread as I'm hoping to take me TB's hinds off for the first time tomorrow.

He lost a shoe out hacking yesterday and seemed fine without it so I thought it may be worth a try, if he struggles they can always go back on :)
 
Have you got the diet all sorted?

Hoof boots and pads can be very useful to enable you to excercise the horse whilst keeping it comfortable in the early days.

Good luck :)
 
Spider has dreadful TB feet with sunken heels, so it is all a bit daunting!

Re diet, he's been on a high fibre and low sugar diet for a few months now since he was diagnosed with ulcers.

He has ad lib hay, a little bit of chaff three times a day and handful of pony nuts - mostly so that we can get his supplements into him! He has a calmer and NAF Pink Powder. At the moment he isn't getting much grass, although once we move yards he will get a lot more so I'll have to keep an eye on how that impacts him.

Once I move yards in three weeks time I'm planning to change his diet as I'll be able to provide my own food for him - having a bit of a muse about what is the best option, so any suggestions gratefully received on that front!
 
ghostie said:
Spider has dreadful TB feet with sunken heels, so it is all a bit daunting!

Re diet, he's been on a high fibre and low sugar diet for a few months now since he was diagnosed with ulcers.

He has ad lib hay, a little bit of chaff three times a day and handful of pony nuts - mostly so that we can get his supplements into him! He has a calmer and NAF Pink Powder. At the moment he isn't getting much grass, although once we move yards he will get a lot more so I'll have to keep an eye on how that impacts him.

Once I move yards in three weeks time I'm planning to change his diet as I'll be able to provide my own food for him - having a bit of a muse about what is the best option, so any suggestions gratefully received on that front!
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I expect you'll see some improvements when you're able to provide your own feed :). An analysis on your forage would be the best way to find out which minerals you need to supplement, but there are a few ready mixed supps that seem to do a good job. They are the Forage Plus balancers, Pro-hoof/Pro-Balance+, and Equimins META Balance. The latter is available to order by phone from Equimins, the former is available from the Forage Plus website, and Pro hoof can be bought on the Progressive Horse ebay site.

If you can feed a pro biotic such as yea sacc, and some magnesium oxide before you move, you may find he tolerates the increase in grass better :).
 
Nocturnal said:
I expect you'll see some improvements when you're able to provide your own feed :). An analysis on your forage would be the best way to find out which minerals you need to supplement, but there are a few ready mixed supps that seem to do a good job. They are the Forage Plus balancers, Pro-hoof/Pro-Balance+, and Equimins META Balance. The latter is available to order by phone from Equimins, the former is available from the Forage Plus website, and Pro hoof can be bought on the Progressive Horse ebay site.

If you can feed a pro biotic such as yea sacc, and some magnesium oxide before you move, you may find he tolerates the increase in grass better :).
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Fab, thanks. Just been looking at the forage analysis stuff on the Forage Plus website and I'm really confused! If your horse is eating hay and grass do you have to do a hay analysis, a grass analysis and buy a bespoke feeding plan? What about their hard feed? Sorry, I'm probably being a complete numpty....

Guess it's probably best to switch to a read mixed balancer until I've moved, and then do a forage analysis after that.
 
re analysis our grass and hay come off the same fields and my trimmer did the feeding plan (which does take into account what they are getting hard feed wise). If I was buying in hay I would chosen to use the forageplus or other barefoot friendly balancers instead.

Good luck, we are very much just starters ourselves!
 
Don't worry too much and over complicate unless you need to.
Buy a copy of feet first NIc Barkers book it gives a great overview.
Get a set of boots having them is invaluable.
I am on seventh week with my TB it's been easier than I thought we will try riding next week
feed some Mag ox from now and get the supplementation sorted I have not done forage analysis but think I dont need to as I have one BF nine months now and one two months and the TB and all progressing well without complicated feeding stuff I give a general supplement mag ox and a hoof supplement to the TB and the ID my other horses are growing plenty of foot so don't get a hoof supplement both of mine won't entertain Pro hoof so only get a little one to check he will eat it if you go that route.
 
Ditto ester^. My hay is bought in, and though you could have an analysis done on both grass and hay, it would be expensive. You would probably be better off feeding one of the general supplements I mentioned, at least to start with.

Hard feed wise... I don't really feed much of that these days. Even my TB who loses weight at the drop of a hat is looking rather well on just a smidge of beet and his micro linseed :).
 
I had my ISH mares back shoes taken off 4 weeks ago. She has daytime turnout and in at night. I just carried on as normal. I have ridden her on all different surfaces and she has been great. I had her feet checked last Thursday when the trimmer came to do our cob and she was very happy with them. My mare is fed ad lib hay at night and grass through the day and has a token feed of a handful of high fibre nuts to mix in her supplements, summer garlic and glucosamine and winter probiotic and glucosamine. My trimmer recommended keratex hoof hardener but as yet I haven't used any. My plan is to take off her fronts next spring as the weather is too unpredictable and so is our turnout!
 
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