Different way of moving since going barefoot-reassurance needed

If you aren't willing to get a good podiatrist (or don't know of one) maybe you should get hold of Pete Ramey's book "Care and Rehabilitation of the Equine Foot". It isn't cheap and it isn't easy reading but it does plug you in to someone with the experience and expertise you need at this stage. No disrespect to your farrier but however interested they are in barefoot, it isn't adequately covered in their training and their fall back position is usually "put shoes on". Hang in there and educate yourself to the level you need (Pete Ramey has a very good website too while you are waiting for the book :) )
 
Thanks for that JillA - I will put it on my Christmas List - unless some kind person has a copy they would lend or hire for a small fee, to me for a month so I can read up a bit more. I've had a look at the website and found it interesting. I hope I don't find the book too difficult to understand lol.

I'll also look at the local libraries as they might have a copy that I could borrow.
 
nope sorry, I did have a copy of feet first (Nic Barker's) which is less comprehensive but still good but it did about 6 people and went missing :(
 
FfionWinnie said:
I've never had an EP or indeed a farrier I've done it all myself. There's a great scoring system and you've already got it - listening to the horse and doing what it can do comfortably.

I've taken loads BF now and I've realised its really not that complicated (leaving those with metabolic issues aside as that is going to be trickier to deal with). Their feet grow every day. You can alter their feet every day by a minimally tiny amount just by them walking around on them.

With your horse having such poor feet / no heels I would be tempted not to do much with boots on as you could easily over do it. I would do as much as he is comfortable with without boots, that might just be walking around the school in hand, daily. I would rather do 10 mins daily than 20 mins alternate days.

The sooner he can be turned out without boots the sooner he can start to really improve. It all takes time. However the more he can make his own feet, so comfy walking without boots on a surface which is abrasive enough to shorten his feet but not cause him pain (smooth tarmac ideal if you've got some) rather than have them dictated by the farrier, I think the better he will be. Even a sand school is abrasive to a point, gives mine a nice polish when we go there for a clinic!

Just my observations. Main thing is diet, consistency, avoiding pain, thrush and pain by trimming. Oh and not panicking.
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FfionWinnie - I have started walking him out in hand on the road for 10 minutes as from yesterday (is once a day enough or would it be better to do 2 x 10 minute walks morning then evening?), without boots on. The tarmac roads are smooth and he is happy to walk on this surface. Over the stoney drive I have to put his boots on. And the field is still rutted and hard, so I think outside of his comfort zone at the moment. Once we get a bit of rain and it softens then I will then be able to take his boots off for turnout. Our school is rubber on sand and the thickness of the rubber they don't really touch the sand so don't think this is abrasive enough to gain any benefit from.

My farrier will be very sympathetic with his trimming, it will be mainly a tidy up and checking progress when he comes on the 29th. I thought our visits would be closer together but he says they will be further apart due to self trimming.
 
AMP said:
FfionWinnie - I have started walking him out in hand on the road for 10 minutes as from yesterday (is once a day enough or would it be better to do 2 x 10 minute walks morning then evening?), without boots on. The tarmac roads are smooth and he is happy to walk on this surface. Over the stoney drive I have to put his boots on. And the field is still rutted and hard, so I think outside of his comfort zone at the moment. Once we get a bit of rain and it softens then I will then be able to take his boots off for turnout. Our school is rubber on sand and the thickness of the rubber they don't really touch the sand so don't think this is abrasive enough to gain any benefit from.

My farrier will be very sympathetic with his trimming, it will be mainly a tidy up and checking progress when he comes on the 29th. I thought our visits would be closer together but he says they will be further apart due to self trimming.
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if you think 10 mins x2 a day is going to be comfy then go for it. The idea is to build it up and the hoof reacts well to its environment so the stimulation will encourage growth of all the foot mechanism.

See, this is what I don't get about farriers who believe they are pro-barefoot... longer intervals is the complete opposite of what a foot needs when it's just coming out of shoes. It needs to be more regular, every four weeks to make sure the balance is level as the foot grows and to check there's no uneven growth e.g. Side-side balance and Toe-heel balance. If one cartilageaneous process gets stronger on one side it push the pedal bone up on that side therefore creating a tilt. So he needs to come back sooner to begin with. He won't want to though as he probably doesn't charge much for just a trim.
 
I'll see how he goes on the 1 x a day to start with, then increase it perhaps next week.

I'm not too worried about the visits being further apart, if there was any imbalances in growth then I would see them and call him out earlier. He will come back whenever I ask him to even just for a trim and also advise me if he thinks the interval should be shorter or longer depending on the growth.
 
I would just increase it gradually then. Add a minute a day or something and see how he goes. If he gets less than comfortable reduce it back again. Your farrier sounds like he has the right idea to me.
 
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