Do TB's always have awful feet??

Ben2684

Ben2684

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Going to look at an ISH this weekend that is pretty much 7/8 TB.
All sounds amazing however during the initial conversations it came up that *when she got him* he had awful flat feet however in the last five years these have been greatly improved with diet and correct farriery.

Good friend of mine has had a bad experience with a full TB and feet and she has told me not to go near him with a barge pole. I'm inclined to at least go and have a look!!

What do people think? I've had a TB in the past with good feet, surely it's as much about management and diet as well breed/type?
 
I've only owned one tb, and her feet were truly awful. I'm sure they don't all have terrible feet, but mine certainly did and it has put me off having another.
 
Mt first TB came to be with dreadful feet that where quite literally held together by super glue!! However, after a lot of hard work with correct feeding and farriery his feet got a lot better. He did suffer with bruised soles a lot though.
My current full TB youngster has great feet and happily hacks out with no shoes. He is getting his first set on today though as he is hopefully going to have his work load upped this winter.
I think when managed correctly their feet should be no worse than any other breed/horse.

P.S. I fed mine Limestone flour which seemed to work wonders. I get it for about £5 for a 25kg bag from mole valley. I get it from the warehouse and it is so much cheaper than buying it in a branded tub like they sell in the shop.
 
I used to hack out young colts and race horses which had come back to the owner to rest out of season as a teen. (Yes I know eh wasn't a top end type of racehorse owner lol). Anyway they were all unshod and their feet were certainly not terrible by any stretch.
 
Charlie007 said:
I have a wb and a Tb. WB feet are worse. Tb only really have bad feet because of the amount of times they are shod during their racing career.
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But they can grow a whole new foot in about 3 months under optimum conditions and concavity can be changed in weeks so why would the number of times shod while racing affect them later on?
 
Run in a pair of heavy working boots run in a pair of light running shoes which is easier ?
TB's have light feet with thin walls verses heavier breeds this disposes them to shoeing issues .
They come into work young and have often been feed huge amounts of grain based food to get them ready to race young.
They are often broken young and shod before they have finished growing
The stallions are picked by performance when young so indicators for long term soundness are not important .
Here you have the perfect storm for poor feet .
Not a reason not to view a ISH though .
 
I wish TB's didnt have this kind of reputation it really does them no favours :( Hooves grow constantly which to me means if you keep them right and feed them right you are pretty soon going to have a TB with good feet.

Ignore your friend, go see the horse. Good luck :)
 
Nope... I know more exracers with good feet than bad feet.

My own is currently competing affiliated PSG with scores in the mid 60's... He jumps, hacks, goes to the beach and the gallops. No problems.
 
One if mine had awful feet when in training - muckle big sand cracks that had to be stapled together due to his work load. Out of training, 6 months vox rest due to leg injury and a year of quiet work rebuilding said leg strength and he can now rock crunch with the best of them! All you need is time, patience and a little thought.

My other lad is French bred and apart from being slightly flat footed his feet have always been rock solid and could rival a shetlands!
 
I have a 7/8 TBx. When he came he went through a period of ripping shoes off, but always managed to leave his foot mostly intact so it was just a case of reattaching the offending piece of metal.

ETA shoe-ripping-off is more to do with his conformation (short back) and lack of muscle making him forge, rather than a foot issue.
 
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Had my tb for 10 years. He's never had shoes on his hinds. Had issues 12 months ago due to poor diet. Shoes came off and have been barefoot using boots since. Had a few problems but overall he has good little feet.
 
Thank you for all the replies-I do think it's a bit unfair when certain breeds or types get labelled. Hence the question. Apparently as we do lots of road work they will fall apart within weeks of me getting him home (if I like/buy him) I think I will definitely go and have a look and make my own assumptions :)
 
I worked in NH racing and only one had bad feet, and he won quite a few races, the feet were balanced.
When I go to the races [flat] I see so many with long toes I despair, it is regarded as the norm, but it is bad farriery imho, nothing to do with the breed, well only in as much any TB is a bit needy.
 
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Llee94 said:
Mt first TB came to be with dreadful feet that where quite literally held together by super glue!! However, after a lot of hard work with correct feeding and farriery his feet got a lot better. He did suffer with bruised soles a lot though.
My current full TB youngster has great feet and happily hacks out with no shoes. He is getting his first set on today though as he is hopefully going to have his work load upped this winter.
I think when managed correctly their feet should be no worse than any other breed/horse.
Aha,,, this was my thinking before I learned about "barefoot", so I used to shoe my horses be4 they went into serious work, ..... wrong ............... keep building up the workload progressively.
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No, the old TB has brilliant feet. Mr B, who is 7/8th TB came badly shod, long toes and collapsed heels, he's now sorted and his feet look great and he's never lost a shoe, he does, however, need to be shod very regularly (but don't they all?)
 
Ben2684 said:
Apparently as we do lots of road work they will fall apart within weeks of me getting him home (if I like/buy him)
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I think on the basis of this statement I would rule out the opinion of whoever said this. Road work is not bad for feet.

The horses I've known with terrible feet have been shod young and continuously, given little turnout and worked in bursts rather than plenty of gentle exercise so their feet get little stimulation, and fed too much sugar and starch. IME being shod very young in particular can be hard to recover from to ever have really good feet. I expect TB's tend to suffer with this type of upbringing more than, say, native ponies.
 
Nah they don't all have bad feet. The tb I had on loan before my horse had better hooves. If I wasn't so ashamed of how bad my horses hoof got over 2 days after removing his shoe himself I would post pictures of the bad state he left it in for the farrier to fix today. Thankfully the farrier is great and did a really good job on what he had to work with which wasn't much. This horse is half Connie too so you would think he would be hardy but oh no.

Just go and see it and make your own judgement. To be honest even if they look like crap that doesn't mean they always will be. Proper care and time can improve most situations. The issues with my horse are thanks to the dry weather and are just cosmetic as such. No matter how much hoof cream I put on though it doesn't make a big difference. Need to get the tar again I think.
 
Ben2684 said:
Thank you for all the replies-I do think it's a bit unfair when certain breeds or types get labelled. Hence the question. Apparently as we do lots of road work they will fall apart within weeks of me getting him home (if I like/buy him) I think I will definitely go and have a look and make my own assumptions :)
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I trust that was tongue in cheek, road work is good for horses, it is the standard prep for hunters.
 
Mine has excellent feet, and I've seen another ex racer go from having ghastly cracked pancakes on the end if its legs to proper native-pony style feet in a few months with a decent farrier.

I'm sure plenty have very difficult feet, but your friend is just going to make herself look silly with sweeping generalisations like that!
 
I was on a funride on Saturday trying to keep up with a barefoot TB who jig jogged over stony tracks and refused to walk at any point. Previously diagnosed with navicular when shod, barefoot rehab early this year.
 
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