Feet constantly chipping- any advice in management?

I would be looking for a good barefoot trimmer (ask for recommendations to be PM'd to you) to mustang roll the walls without paring back beyond the white line. Overlaid bars could take a trim, and some of the pictures show thrush, and heel cracks. An issue with farriers that I have found, is that they are not allowed to diagnose - if you ask leading questions, you will mostly get a straight answer. Asking 'has my horse got thrush?' will probably get the answer 'yeah, there are some bits, but it's not too bad. They are all like that at the minute.' Which leads you to think that it's nothing to bother about. Overall, you are dealing with good feet. Good shape, no ridges, no flares. Agree with Red1 above, that gentle movement is needed to kickstart the transition to barefoot. Cavallo's Barefoot Trim video online is worth a look to see what you are aiming for.
 
they are good photos. :D
I too wouldn't despair. He seems to be every breed except connie but I get the point Red is making.



It seems that once they grow down there is good hoof coming down.

I would do nothing until the farrier has trimmed.. He will get rid of a lot of it for you. Then start every few days keeping them smooth and rounded. Rasp, sanding block whatever you feel comfortable with, Don't rasp the hoof wall, from the top. If it chips cut the chip off to stop it running up and tearing more. Sand it down to blend it in. This will remove very little of the valuable wall but help to control chipping. It will be a case of continually doing this to "nurse down" this old wall and preserve the new as it grows down. As you get more hoof wall you will be able to put a mustang roll on.
Talk to your farrier about a mustang roll, show him the link Ester posted, ask him to show you how to do this. It will take a while to get sufficient wall down to get a nice roll but it will be a start.

in the meantime it will help if you can keep him off stones which may chip the wall and I don't know how your sand arena will affect them. I had barefoot horses on a sandy track and it produced the most marvellous mustang roll but in your case it could be the sand is abrasive and not helping. Boot him if you have to go over stones to protect him from chipping. Sand in boots may not work well.

going back to the sand/rubber arena. I imagined it would be nice beach type soft/smooth yellow sand but maybe not. I have a friend with what some would describe as a sand arena but the sand is very coarse and I instantly thought a lot of barefeet wouldn't stand up well with that. Just a thought.

must stress, although I know it is a pain, it really will be a case of checking the feet every day for chipping and every couple of days keeping them rounded and smooth. The tiniest chip must be smoothed away.
 
SEL said:
Am I the only barefoot owner who just shrugs off a bit of self trimming? One of mine - lifelong barefoot - has had some impressive lumps crack off since the weather changed. My farrier tidied it all up today.
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I don't think I could although I did have one totally self trimming for all of his life. Mine are kept constantly rolled and rounded and small chips are dealt with when they happen. Possibly the difference is that there is no nice farrier to sort it out, I trim them so it is up to me and I hate to see them not looking cared for.. OTOH I do appreciate "get a life" comes to mind 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
 
Thanks for everyone’s input. I’m going to try to implement as many as possible. Some will be difficult as I’ve got my horses on two separate yards after having moved twice since my yard of 14yrs closed down last year. Makes things logistically difficult and time consuming.

He has been barefoot for over 18 months fronts - 2 years backs so I guess I was hoping they’d be pretty solid by now rather than needing micro-managing. I’ve just restarted him after dealing with some very challenging behaviour so I’m keen to keep that going.

I’ll update progress over the next few weeks. Thanks again ☺️
 
Just a thought, but a good barefoot trim would take off the excess wall that is chipping, take the toe back, and rasp a bevel. If your farrier is doing a pasture trim, that's different. A pasture trim just levels the bottom of the hoof and takes off the rough edged around the walls. In time, the toes start to lengthen......and break away. If he's difficult with the trimmer/farrier, then work him barefoot on tarmac. My old cob has always been barefoot and gets a full trim every six weeks, with a tidy up from me in between.
 
So I spoke to farrier about mustang rolls and sent him the link Ester gave me. He said he did know about them. He was a bit reluctant to do them as he felt it would make him footsore as weight would be taken by the soles alone. I did say that as they were so chipped would it be that different. As you can see though he has appeared to roll them to some extent. I guess now I need to see how he feels.

I’ve put him back on the PE platinum hoof balancer. I had him measured for hind boots as well. He’s already got Fusions for the fronts and will get some for his hinds.
 
They look good, nothing else needs touching, he’s not walking on his soles ;), he’s going to shed some of his sole off himself when it next rains anyway ;)

Now if you could just stop him rasping quite so high up the wall he could move up from an A to and A* 😅😅

Def interested in how you get on :)
 
I think he's done a good job in getting rid of the chipping for you. What has to happen now is he has to grow some feet and in the meantime to boot him over rough ground to protect his feet (chipping) and also to very regularly round them yourself. It may be easier for you with a radius rasp every 4/5 days. At the slightest sign of a chip smooth it out. If you can keep that up for the next 6 weeks you will have very different feet and the farrier can then put a good roll on and it will be easier for you to maintain.
 
paddy555 said:
I think he's done a good job in getting rid of the chipping for you. What has to happen now is he has to grow some feet and in the meantime to boot him over rough ground to protect his feet (chipping) and also to very regularly round them yourself. It may be easier for you with a radius rasp every 4/5 days. At the slightest sign of a chip smooth it out. If you can keep that up for the next 6 weeks you will have very different feet and the farrier can then put a good roll on and it will be easier for you to maintain.
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I do agree with keeping things tidy and smoothed out between trims. If you have a good rasp, it doesn't take too much effort.
 
I’ve ordered fine and coarse radial rasps. Was thinking of getting a knife to take off any sharp bits that sometimes stick out. Any recommendations or should I just use the rasps/ something else?
 
Sussexbythesea said:
I’ve ordered fine and coarse radial rasps. Was thinking of getting a knife to take off any sharp bits that sometimes stick out. Any recommendations or should I just use the rasps/ something else?
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I would use a fine rasp and smooth it. Almost sandpaper it, to keep it staying smoothly rounded, that is what you are trying to achieve to ease/help this old, not very good wall to grow down and out. You don't want it to be sufficiently chipped to be possible to cut with a knife. There are already some sharp edges on your pics that could use smoothing to prevent them tearing upwards.

Landcruiser said:
a little overthinned at the toes for my taste.
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the problem is the farrier will probably only visit every 5/6 weeks or so. Whereas you or I may just do a small bit every few days the farrier can't.
 
They look much better the only thing I would add is some protein to the diet. The way the photos reveal the inner hoof which looks almost stringy is a good indication they are lacking it. My farrier recommended pea and potato protein powder mixed for my two when they looked similar and it’s giving better results than just pea on it’s own. Rowan Barbary are cheaper than Forage Plus. The frogs are lovely and I’m very jealous as DP’s are crap.
 
HappyHollyDays said:
They look much better the only thing I would add is some protein to the diet. The way the photos reveal the inner hoof which looks almost stringy is a good indication they are lacking it. My farrier recommended pea and potato protein powder mixed for my two when they looked similar and it’s giving better results than just pea on it’s own. Rowan Barbary are cheaper than Forage Plus. The frogs are lovely and I’m very jealous as DP’s are crap.
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Do you mean the hoof supplement from Rowan Barbary?
 
Just an update. Feet are looking really good since the mustang rolls were done 🤞 very little chipping and any little snags I’ve used a radial rasp to smooth. It’s been consistently dry for the last few weeks but it’s raining again so hopefully his feet won’t be adversely affected.
 
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