Front shoes are back on

J

Jingleballs

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and I'm feeling a bit miffed/disappointed.

I really wanted to keep C barefoot - that's how they are supposed to be IMO and plus it saves a fortune - £20 every 8 weeks - or so it should be!

This summer I have really struggled with C's feet - they have gotten cracked and chipped really easily - and I'm not talking about tiny chips - I mean huge chips!

In the last few months he's been trimmed about 6 times at least. Farrier kept saying to persevere and see if the wetter weather made them less brittle. I've also been using cornecresean (sp) and Kevin Bacon hoof dressing to try and keep the hooves moist and prevent chipping but to no avail!

He's on biotin and has been for years and other than the slightly drier summer nothing else has changed and we can't understand why this has happened!

Anyway, farrier was out today. I'd decided to give it one more chance before shoeing - farrier looked at the current damage and decided otherwise so for the first time in 2 years Casper is sporting a nice shiny new pair of front shoes and has to wear his hoof boots on the back for hacking.

I'm disappointed, I really wanted to keep him barefoot but seems it's not to be for now!

Farrier says to see how he goes over the winter - I'd ideally like to go barefoot again but realistically, it took a year for the transition and I doubt I'll be able to do that again only for his feet to start cracking/chipping again!

So I'm back to £37.50 every 6 weeks which IMO seems expensive for just a front set and a back trim - what do you think?

Sorry for the moan - I'm just a bit disappointed - firstly because I feel I've failed to properly resolve the issue and secondly because I only found out he'd been shod after it was done - I know I'd discussed it with the farrier but I'd have prefered to have been consulted before the final decision is made!

Hey ho, they're on now and not much I can do about it!

Incidentally, does anyone know if I should expect more problems hunting/XC with fronts and no backs? Even with studs on the front?
 
That's a shame, my horse has been barefoot for 6 yrs and this year is the first time he's managed to take chunks out of his feet too. One was so bad it exposed the lamanie and took 4 months to grow back to the ground he also managed to get pus in both front feet, but not once did my farrier suggest reshoeing.

I feed Biotin too and was using stockholm tar to keep out any infection. Hoof Moist and Rainmaker are both good for using in very dry conditions.
 
Thanks celfyddydau - yes the laminae were exposed on C's feet too :(

I just need to hope now that he keeps the shoes on - the reason he's barefoot in the first place was because he was pulling a shoe every week!
 
I can understand you are frustrated when it goes against what you hoped to do re: hoof management, but it seems like barefoot wasn't working for whatever reason. :( Price for fronts + trim sounds about right. I'm £74 for full set then extra for stud holes.

Not sure I'd put studs in front and not behind though, so would stick with no studs personally. If anything, folk would tend to stud behind and not in front.
 
Thanks guys - he's getting used to his new shoes - was a bit trippy/stumbly yesterday but much more forward walking down the road (I didn't ride just lead him down to the field) - he's got overreach boots on although they don't sit was well as I'd like due to his feathers. We'll see if the shoes are still on today!
 
I take my boys back shoes off for the winter and im £45 for fronts and a trim! Would love to take them all off but he has rubbish front feet so they have to stay on. During the event season Im £80 for a full set + stud holes + road nails. My farrier obviously saw me coming ;)

As for the slipping, I dont think he will have much less grip tbh. Last season I did Kirrie intro with no back shoes as hadnt had them slapped back on yet and we coped fine (and my lad is not the most co-ordinated at times!).
 
My unshod horses have had a hard summer as well - the ground was sooo hard and dry followed by this glut of grass - the only way I've been able to keep mine performant is to trim, trim, trim. I seemed to be rasping every two or three days after that rain came and made the grass shoot up! But it did the trick and helped the hooves stay nice and tight - there was minimal cracking.
 
MissTyc said:
My unshod horses have had a hard summer as well - the ground was sooo hard and dry followed by this glut of grass - the only way I've been able to keep mine performant is to trim, trim, trim. I seemed to be rasping every two or three days after that rain came and made the grass shoot up! But it did the trick and helped the hooves stay nice and tight - there was minimal cracking.
Click to expand...

My farrier gave me a rasp and a lesson on trimming but I just didn't feel confident doing it myself!
 
i'm very new to all this unshod stuff but apparently diet is a big part of it now and the thing to feed for good hooves is magnesium oxide, you have to feed salt along with it.
Might be worth seeing if you can find out more about that?
My retired boy is unshod but he did have to have 3 sets for front on over the summer as his feet were craking for the first time ever. We took them off in September and he was fine again straight away.
I don't think all horses can cope barefoot though and yours might be one of them. Good luck.
 
I've been feeding the 'barefoot mix' of magnesium oxide, linseed and brewers yeast (seaweed is also recommended but I have high iodine levels in soil already) for a year now and all three horses feet have grown in tighter. It might be worth doing this for the winter for yours and then the hoof quality should be better next spring. Have a look at 'Feet First' by Barker and Braithwaite for more stuff on diet.
 
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