Following on from the barefoot debate...

Cadfael&Coffee

Cadfael&Coffee

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My horse is barefoot at the moment due to a general lack of work, and I usually put his shoes back on around march, which Is when stoney ground begins to be an issue (especially when we do a hell of a lot of hacking)

If I can keep his shoes off for longer I will, can I harden up his feet another way?

I've tried keratex, which helps a bit, and am considering mac boots, but for the cost of mac boots I may as well shoe him!!

A change of diet is out of the question, though I will consider supplements.

Any other tips?
 
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There are other options - Easy Gloves, Bares, RX as well as Macs and others

Yes - they are expensive at about £100 a pair - but you probably only need fronts and the last pair I bought for the big lad lasted over a year so a bit of a bargain beside £75 every 6 weeks for shoes eh?
 
Can you do any roadwork? Helps toughen them up; maybe you can start with that before heading for the stony bits!
Out of curiosity, why is a change of diet out of the question?
 
The diet is purely because he is on a feed that suits him perfectly, so I'm not willing to alter it to save shoeing :-)

Tho, if you can suggest a supplement I'm happy to try it!!

And I do miles of roadwork- makes little/ no difference, he's still crippled when he hits stones or rough roads (there's a lot of gravelly ones up here)
 
Obviously, I have no idea what your horse eats, or how much grazing he gets, but footiness in spring, I'm told, is often correlated with sugar in grass...oversimplifying here, but maybe the grass is just a slight bit too good? If you can't change the grazing situation, boots might be the answer to get you over the rocky bit. Literally and figuratively! Mine have lasted for well over a year; I only put them on him when I plan to go somewhere that he might find difficult (big sharp gravel).
 
The diet is purely because he is on a feed that suits him perfectly, so I'm not willing to alter it to save shoeing :-)

Tho, if you can suggest a supplement I'm happy to try it!!

And I do miles of roadwork- makes little/ no difference, he's still crippled when he hits stones or rough roads (there's a lot of gravelly ones up here)
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If this is the case then there is still something that is causing his feet to be compromised - and diet is very much the one that we look at first. What are you feeding him at the moment?

There is also the question of how he is trimmed - if the farrier is doing a straight trim they may be taking off too much, scraping/scooping the sole, cuttting the frogs - all of which you don't want to on a horse that is barefoot becuase he needs everything he has between him and the ground.

I wouldn't use the Keratex to be honest - I don't like putting formaldehyde on the hooves and it'ds not really solving the underlying problem which is his failure to grow a hoof that is tough enough for the job in hand.

You're in the Aberdeen area - you're more than welcome to visit my 4 barefoot boys (we're out Kingswells way) and see how I feed them and how their feet look and perform. We have lamis too and they present a bit of a challenge. The other option is also to get Anni Stonebridge to visit him and she can give you an overall evaluation and way forward. Anni's very good.
 
Hi

I'm up in Aberdeen too and have just gone barefoot courtesy of the farrier situation. I don't feed hard feed at all, just ad lib haylage at the mo. He seems fine - big woodchip and stones OK too. Mind you I've only ridden once in 6 weeks but it was pretty rough. Sounds to me like you might be having too much taken off the foot.

Does anybody know if you can jump with no shoes? I've been shod for 30 years now so completely new to this

Good luck
 
I jump without shoes. On a surface and on grass. The only time I won't jump on grass is if it's wet as he slips. That's as much to do with him being a big lanky baby as his feet though.
 
CadfaelSportHorse said:
My horse is barefoot at the moment due to a general lack of work, and I usually put his shoes back on around march, which Is when stoney ground begins to be an issue (especially when we do a hell of a lot of hacking)
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The stoney ground becomes an issue just as spring hits and the grass starts to grow, chances are thats part of your problem? Can you restrict his grazing? Why not see Bruce or Annie just to check out your options?

scarymare - Yep, no problem with jumping, eventing, hunting etc etc most horses feel more secure and sure footed once they've readjusted.
 
Wow

Well in that case I'll have a go at barefoot i think. I was really shocked at how well he went in my big woodchip school (and he's not readjusted or anything). Also out 24/7 in frozen fields and believe me he does plenty of galloping so he can't be sore. I just never would have considered it before. The farrier who eventually I managed to beg to come out and take his shoes off doesn't think he would be able to go barefoot indefinitely but I'm not so sure. TBH, I only really jump tiny fences on surfaces anyway. Bruce I believe you do endurance, do you wear boots for this?
 
I assume this post will attract the barefoot experienced so I have a question too and this is the only reason I would put shoes on my girl (she is barefoot at the moment and I intent to keep her so for as long as possible) - slipping when jumping - it is more, same - what do you do?

As for the OP - feed is a key part to going barefoot - you need to try to accept that fact and bend a little in this respect. I believe reducing sugars is key to a sound barefoot horse but I am sure there are others on here that know far more than me....
 
Lots and lots of roadwork will toughen feet up. My boy had to have his diet completely changed. He was having way too much sugar in his diet causing deep sulcus infections which in turn caused him to become footy on stoney surfaces. Diet is also a very important factor too look at when your horse goes barefoot. I also find seaweed is a good supplement to use.
 
BonneMaman said:
I assume this post will attract the barefoot experienced so I have a question too and this is the only reason I would put shoes on my girl (she is barefoot at the moment and I intent to keep her so for as long as possible) - slipping when jumping - it is more, same - what do you do?

As for the OP - feed is a key part to going barefoot - you need to try to accept that fact and bend a little in this respect. I believe reducing sugars is key to a sound barefoot horse but I am sure there are others on here that know far more than me....
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Totally agree that a little flexibility in feeding goes a long way. A small amount of Spring grass can make a rock cruncher footy if they are sensitive and a too powerful wormer made my rock crunching TB very footy. Hardening the outer surface of a hoof with kertatex isn't going to get over that much bigger issue.

With regards to slipping it does depend upon the horse, my small footed slightly bambi like Tb is not good on short dry grass or slippery hard surfaces (rain on hard ground), and is much better with fronts on, but my pony is good on most surfaces and I shall be hunting him barefoot soon (as are my 3 barefoot liveries).
 
i dont' know about other horses but i had a TB who was raced (hurdling and before i had her) barefoot, she never had a problem and the other horses on the yard are raced barefoot with no problems.
 
I've had Boas and Old Macs that have lasted two or three years, hacking over stony Aberdeenshire tracks! I have three barefoot, one of whom I'm currently failing to get rock-crunching, but the boots mean he can be happily barefoot - he wears them for hacking, and tends to prefer to jump in them too.
 
riding_high said:
i dont' know about other horses but i had a TB who was raced (hurdling and before i had her) barefoot, she never had a problem and the other horses on the yard are raced barefoot with no problems.
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I have a tbxwb. He evented for almost 20yrs barefoot. Any horse can go barefoot, just not all owners can!
 
He's feed on wingergy equilibrium, which is balanced without excess starch etc.

It keeps weight on him and gives him enough energy for whatever I want to do. I've tried many feeds over the years, but this one suits him best.

I don't believe grass is too much of a problem, as if I leave his shoes off he is as footy in march as he is august or January.

I'm very happy To try different boots tho, if anyone can recommend a set!!!

And brucea that sounds like a good idea actually- my lad isn't far from kingswells so thats very close!!
 
I swear by the mac boots, have some for my ex lammi who has thin soles and they are a god send, dont see how its cheaper having shoes - you pay a one off payment for the boots, mine have lasted me 3 years. Thinking how much i have saved in those 3 years.
 
bensababy said:
I swear by the mac boots, have some for my ex lammi who has thin soles and they are a god send, dont see how its cheaper having shoes - you pay a one off payment for the boots, mine have lasted me 3 years. Thinking how much i have saved in those 3 years.
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It would be expensive because for some unknown reason we wear the back feet down more than the fronts, so I'd need a full set... I think it's due to the type of hill work on roads we do tbh (we really do miles and miles on the roads- an average summer hack is about 10 or so miles for us)

Also are you able to compete in macs? Are they allowed in BE etc?
 
I would say to ANYONE who is considering leaving shoes off and working their horse that they should buy a copy of Feet First and read it from cover to cover. It gives you the theory and will mean that you get the corrrect advice. There isn't a lot about hoof boots, but there are various suppliers who know the characteristics of the boots and could assess which make would be appropriate for your horse, depending on hoof size and more important, shape.

The good thing about boots is that they only have to wear them while being ridden.

However, if you have had your horse without shoes for several weeks, you have given his feet a rest, so don't feel bad about putting metal shoes back on again if he is OK.
Having a working, barefoot horse needs quite a commmitment from the owner, and an understanding about what is happening to the feet, although it is very rewarding and undoubtedly has great benefits to the horse when they have transitioned correctly and can do the work you require without being sore at all.
 
Just one thing to add to the feed issue.
In my TB's case balancing the minerals to the grass helped loads. Our pasture was well as being low in some things was also high in others so feeding a off the peg supplement meant I was adding even more of the elements he was already getting too much of.

And once you've had the initial outlay for getting it done, it works out really cheap compared to buying a balancer or broad spectrum supplement.
 
Just a suggestion - He was with us for about 8 years with no issues with his feet at all (only since you moved area) so I'd maybe think about the problems with and caused by your last farrier ??????????
Suggest you do as you always used to and see how it goes first.
Don't change too many things at once or you can't tell what has worked and what hasn't.
 
It would be expensive because for some unknown reason we wear the back feet down more than the fronts, so I'd need a full set... I think it's due to the type of hill work on roads we do tbh (we really do miles and miles on the roads- an average summer hack is about 10 or so miles for us)
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And it is for me too - I am into long hacks. At first my gelding really wore his feet and then as he grew accustomed to it he grew the right quality of hoof.

Work makes a well fed hoof tougher and more functional.

They wear what hey grow and grow what they wear. It is the wear that is the stimulus for growth.
 
Chloe-V said:
Just a suggestion - He was with us for about 8 years with no issues with his feet at all (only since you moved area) so I'd maybe think about the problems with and caused by your last farrier ??????????
Suggest you do as you always used to and see how it goes first.
Don't change too many things at once or you can't tell what has worked and what hasn't.
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That's my plan thus far mum :-D

And yeah I blame the last farrier too!!! Glad I swapped!!
 
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