First set of shoes tomorrow :-(

mynutmeg

mynutmeg

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Roo has never had shoes on the entire time I've had her (6 years) as she's never needed them despite doing several hours at a time road work hacks etc but she's been out of work for a couple of years due to injury and we moved counties in september, going from dry sandstone fields to wet, boggy clay and her feet just aren't coping - she was ok until she went out in a rutted frozen field and galloped around (she's done that lots before with no problem) and has bruised her front feet badly (she's 7/10th lame on both fronts :-( ) so farrier is coming tomorrow to put fronts on her :-(
It's the best thing for her but am sad it's come to this as much prefer no shoes. Hopefully once the fields dry up in the sping and she's back in work properly I'll be able to pull them and build her feet back up - they've gone very soft and thin soled.
 
Golly, 7/10ths is very lame, I'd be concerned that there was more going on (eg frozen grass and laminitis). If it really is just bruising then hopefully she'll be much happier in shoes. I'm the same as you as I'm reluctant to shoe these days, but the comfort of the horse comes first.
 
Obviously your need to have her shod with fronts at the moment is for a good reason, if you prefer barefoot (ours are all barefoot), I would try her with hoof boots as an alternative to shoes, we have them for our ridden horses and have had great success with them.
 
yeh she's not happy at all (it is on a hard surface, much, much better on soft)
I did wonder a bit about whether she might be a bit laminetic but she's never had before and while she was out on the frozen ground it was only for half an hour or so as there was only one accessable field between about 20 horses (the lane was frozen and not safe to try and take them up), she's landing toe first (again not normal for her) and my understand of laminitis is that they go back onto their heels.
She's also beginning to get quite a lot of black coming through now.
Vet's coming anyway on tuesday to do shots and a dental so if there isn't a massive improvement he'll be doing a lameness work up as well - jsut really really hoping that it is just bruising and the shoes help.
Princess Rosie - yeh my plan was to get some boots when I take the shoes off in the summer to start with and gradually wean her off them - the whole 6 years I've had her she's had rock hard feet and only ever struggled on really rough, sharp ground like new laid hardcore roads/flint etc even doing 15/20km on the roads in one go was no bother - if she's not in work I normally have to trim every 3-4 weeks in the summer cause she normally grows so much foot but obv the lack of work/stimulation combined with sopping wet fields hasn't helped at all.
On a good note we move fields at the weekend - there's an empty one at the back thats much drier that she's going in with a couple of others, only downside is it hasn't been grazed for a year - short session only to start with as otherwise I think we will get laminitis (she's a podgy type cob)
 
mynutmeg, I would consider carefully about taking the shoes back off, my boy was always barefoot, but the vet said he needed shoes, which he had for 12 months, took the shoes backoff again and he could not bare it! we did manage in the end, but not without a massive drama and much panicking on my behalf.
 
My old cob came with shoes on, well one on! I had him shod all round when his feet were long enough (before I knew about barefoot), after two years I took shoes off. He was bare for 6 years, then needed remedial shoes due to hock spavin. He had them on a year then took them off again. Never took a gimpy step (unrelated to the spavin!). Though he was trimmed and shod by the same (excellent) farrier, it was really surprising how much his frogs deteriourated over the year he had shoes on.

Apart from that he switched between the two without a blink.
 
Well she's much happier now - haven't trotted her up but she was striding out in walk much better and landing heel first again. Shall see how she goes over the next week or so now. She had such a confused look on her face when he was doing the burning thing but was very good for all of it.

mjcssjw2 said:
mynutmeg, I would consider carefully about taking the shoes back off, my boy was always barefoot, but the vet said he needed shoes, which he had for 12 months, took the shoes backoff again and he could not bare it! we did manage in the end, but not without a massive drama and much panicking on my behalf.
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We will be careful - probably try without and see how she gets on but if she's too uncomfortable then she'll have them back on - I won't leave her in pain / soreness.
 
mynutmeg said:
Well she's much happier now - haven't trotted her up but she was striding out in walk much better and landing heel first again. Shall see how she goes over the next week or so now. She had such a confused look on her face when he was doing the burning thing but was very good for all of it.
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Don't feel guilty OP, sometimes shoes are a necessity. I had to reshoe my gelding this summer after a wet winter left him with convex soles and he was lame and miserable. I felt guilty and like I'd failed at the time but I can see now that I was doing the right thing!
 
NellRosk said:
Don't feel guilty OP, sometimes shoes are a necessity. I had to reshoe my gelding this summer after a wet winter left him with convex soles and he was lame and miserable. I felt guilty and like I'd failed at the time but I can see now that I was doing the right thing!
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I'm not much guilty as sad - plus it costs more :-p While I very definately prefer barefoot I'm in the camp of sometimes they do actually need shoes (even if thats because we can't have them in ideal conditions cause of this daft weather we keep having) and in that case it's cruel not to put them on.
 
mynutmeg said:
I'm not much guilty as sad - plus it costs more :-p While I very definately prefer barefoot I'm in the camp of sometimes they do actually need shoes (even if thats because we can't have them in ideal conditions cause of this daft weather we keep having) and in that case it's cruel not to put them on.
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Lol there's always that! Very true, I was in completely the same boat and couldn't provide the environment he needed for healthy feet and so he needed shoes. I know some people that are so pro bf that they will struggle on for years with a footy horse and I don't think that's particularly fair.
 
I's rather see a sset of shoes on than a horse struggling to walk soundly across a paddock, after all we wouldn't walk to work barefoot just because it was natural, and our feet would harden eventually.
 
NellRosk said:
Lol there's always that! Very true, I was in completely the same boat and couldn't provide the environment he needed for healthy feet and so he needed shoes. I know some people that are so pro bf that they will struggle on for years with a footy horse and I don't think that's particularly fair.
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orionstar said:
I's rather see a sset of shoes on than a horse struggling to walk soundly across a paddock, after all we wouldn't walk to work barefoot just because it was natural, and our feet would harden eventually.
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exactly - she wasn't exactly lame in the field but she wasn't right which isn't fair to her - hopefully she'll look loads better when I trot her up in a few days, I want to give her a chance to get used to them first
 
on the sole round her toes - she has fab frogs, definately not thrush, we fight that battle with my sisters cob who is very prone to it
 
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