Fitness from scratch and advice on shoeing

[LPL]

Hello me and R event at BE100 but going back to BE90 to start next season he has been off since October last year, shoes off and wild. His feet are not his best feature, two years ago having to be shod every 3/4weeks and pulling them off for fun. I took them off for winter and they got much better so I put his shoes back on. He managed a consistent 6-8 weeks throughout last year (different farrier), much better quality hoof but STILL pulling them off - mainly from standing on his own feet tbh and to make matters worse they just do not grow. Even when his shoes are off they don't grow.

So now he has had them off for 3 1/2 months and the nail holes have finally grown out. He hasn't had to have them trimmed or rasped around (farrier has looked) but he is still pretty sore on the rough. I am hoping to start walking him out in hand at weekends now just to get him moving again and then get back on board in feb half term (doing my teacher training so life is a bit hectic). My question is, to preserve his hoof a bit longer should I go buy some hoof boots and wait until a week or two before his first event to get him shod? Not sure how sore he will be doing fitness without his shoes. Or should I just get him shod and crack on? Risking shoes being pulled and hoof not being as strong?


Second question is how shall I get him fit? I've never turned him away completely for this amount of time. Like I said I'm planning on talking him for walks in hand at the weekends to get him out and about again but in feb when I get back on what do you recommend? I was going to hack out for 4 weeks then start schooling and bits of fitness work from there. Any tips?

 

[Primitive Pony]

Do you not think he could stay barefoot? - if not then yes, I would try some hoofboots, really helpful for transitioning my horse this summer. Have you tried something like a Forage plus foot supplement/balancer and is his feed ok for feet!? (I am not an expert on this at all but learnt a lot by starting to keep mine without shoes, and am hoping that we might be eventing barefoot.)

Fitness-wise, following, as figuring out similar for my horse after injury, but if he has been turned out all winter, you've probably got a good basis to start from!

 

[LeannePip]

Have you considered the shoe secure? the plastic mould secured to the shoe with studs so they can't stand on the back and rip them off?

http://www.shoesecure.com

if your worried about getting grit between the horse and the shoe secure, you could use something like these;

http://www.horsehealth.co.uk/equipment/boots-bandages/over-reach-boots/acavallo-gel-hoof-boots

as for getting fit, I'm sure some one far more experienced will be along but take it slow, several weeks of walking, walking up hill, before introducing trot, then canter etc

 

[LPL]

Thank you for your replies. He is currently fed on Alfa a oil, fibre beet, Micronised linseed, pro hoof supplement - twice a day. He used t struggle with his weight but he's perfect atm (touch wood!!!)

I am not sure he would cope barefoot permanently based on how sore he is now on the rough and the lack of hoof growth. But I'm going to see how it goes with his in hand walks.

Leanne pip - we actually have two pairs of shoe secures!! They are fantastic but he isn't so confident on the grass with them. The lovely Muriel even sent me some 'studs' to go in them as well but he is a huge heavy horse and just did not feel confident doing the faster work. But they are great for turnout.

 

[LeannePip]

sorry my suggestion was just for the turn out, i didn't know you could ride in them! does he often pull them off ridden too?

those acavello boots are really good, we just them for a horse who used to strike himself, not pull shoes so not sure how hard weaing they would be for a shoe puller!

 

[meesha]

I would look at shoeing more regularly, I do 5 weeks in summer and 6 in winter. Less chance of pulling off shoes.

 

[neddy man]

A possible way to prevent shoes being pulled off is the use of overreach boots .You will probably need 8 weeks to have him competition fit.

 

[LPL]

Yes I contacted Shoe secure and she made me some for riding in.

Yes I was looking at the Avacello ones. I'm going to measure up his feet tomorrow.
The only problem we found with showing him more often than every 6 weeks was that his feet had grown so little that we were struggling to find space to nail new holes in! He's a nightmare! He wears 2 pairs of Over teachers when he has shoes on. difficult customer aren't i... My farrier doesn't get much sleep!

 

[bollybop]

I might be wrong, but I think Alfa can make some horses "footy".

Might be worth researching a "barefoot friendly diet" to see if that may help his hooves?

My horse had back shoes off, without any transition period, and was happy doing at least six hours hacking a week, with a decent amount of road work.

 

[LPL]

Oh really I didn't know that. I'll have a look into that then! Thank you.

 

[3Beasties]

you will probably need 8 weeks to have him competition fit.

Is 8 weeks really long enough to get a horse competition fit?
I was always led to believe that they should do a weeks walking for every month they are off and then build up gradually from that. I am currently bringing my TB back into work after 4 months off so will be doing at least 4 weeks of walking before introducing trot.

 

[JDH01]

Not sure about completion fit - I would go to 10 weeks or 12. Start in walk at 10 mins a day and increase by 10 mins every day in walk only and on the road up to 2 hrs in walk then add short bursts of trot in 30 second bursts within an hour hack again on the road. Work up the intervals and the time in trot until the horse is at week 8. We then start school work. Then introduce short canters building up to galloping. There is an excellent book called getting horses fit by Pilliner & Davies which should be your bible on this.

 

[LPL]

Not sure about completion fit - I would go to 10 weeks or 12. Start in walk at 10 mins a day and increase by 10 mins every day in walk only and on the road up to 2 hrs in walk then add short bursts of trot in 30 second bursts within an hour hack again on the road. Work up the intervals and the time in trot until the horse is at week 8. We then start school work. Then introduce short canters building up to galloping. There is an excellent book called getting horses fit by Pilliner & Davies which should be your bible on this.

Brilliant, I'll have a look. Thank you

 

[JDH01]

It's a pleasure and good luck.

 

[amandaco2]

Factor in turnout too. Horses with regular turnout can easily do 30minutes walking from day 1.

 

[Dottie]

My horse used to throw shoes all the time, and his hoofs were very weak and brittle. He is now on Newmarket hoof supplement and Thunderbrooks base mix with soaked grass nuts and his feet are so much stronger! I'm not sure what product it is that's working but I daren't take him off either of them!
He wears over reach boot (heavy duty ones) when ever he is out or traveling.

 

[Rosesandhorses]

Have you tried feeding Biotin? I gave my horse a really cheap version and the farrier couldn't believe the improvement in hoof growth. It took a month or so to really kick in but was fantastic. I can't remember the make I used but it was in a white tub with red label and black lid- think it was about £10!

 

[Scarlett]

I might be wrong, but I think Alfa can make some horses "footy".

Might be worth researching a "barefoot friendly diet" to see if that may help his hooves?

My horse had back shoes off, without any transition period, and was happy doing at least six hours hacking a week, with a decent amount of road work.

There are a lot of barefoot horses out there who go footy on alfalfa - you may find that the footiness improves if you get rid of that and swap to a chopped straw or grass chaff. I have 3 TB's barefoot and all 3 have a bad reaction, albeit a different one, to anything alfalfa.

You may find that removing the alfalfa will help the hoof quality when you do reshoe.

 

[smac]

Sounds exactly like mine, I shoe him as it helps his balance/straightness behind. He has pro feet from NAF and had 7months off to allow his feet. I would let your farrier judge but I shod mine to bring him back in and he spends a lot of time in over reach boots- decent ones like Eskadron or Woof Kevlar - these are quite deep so work well) he is shod every 4 weeks bang on and his feet have never been better. good luck

 

[mainpower]

Re the shoeing, I had a Tb that was constantly pulling shoes off. He did it by standing on the inside of his shoe, not the back. So my farrier shod him with aluminium racing plates, fitted very flush to the foot so he couldn't tread on them. He also recommended the Naf pro feet, which worked really well and fast results too. Another thing I did was bring him in at the hottest time of day so he wasn't stamping at flies and weakening the foot that way. Although no need to worry about that yet....

 

[LPL]

Hmm some good ideas. We've talked about racing plates but he's a massive 17hh ISH and his normal shoes are like razor blades when he is due haha. He's really heavy on his feet. Anyway I got him shod last week. Farrier was impressed and said they were a lot stronger but he is a ticking time bomb and I have a finite amount of time until we are back to square one haha. On another note...2 days back riding and he gets a nasty kick and has a fat leg. Sod's law or what!!!

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

If you can do two short sessions per day you will accelerate fitness.
Add some salt to the diet, it might be worthwhile getting a mineral made up for him, requires forage analysis.
Make sure diet is hi in fibre low in sugars, it is worth managing him for this, he sounds as though he has a big belly to fill, and given the option he will opt for sweet grass.
Avoid putting him out if he has not had a good feed.