Front shoes off advice please

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Finlib

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I have had my younger horses front shoes off yesterday and he looks a little sore on the concrete bringing him in.
Bit of background:
Basically now its winter I ride out less only 2/3 times a week and I tend to ride my cob as accompanying my husband on his anglo arab he is calmer and more easy going when it is cold /wet /windy .
My younger horse I hack in summer but he can be set off and join in if the anglo get a bit fresh.
My husband is in his late sixties and enjoys a quite but not sedate hack 2/3 times a week with cantering and if his anglo gets a bit fresh my cob is calming and calms him down.
My younger horse is T/B X Andalusian so will ready join in high jinx .
I have decided that for the winter I will only ride the T/BX Andalusian in the outdoor arena (rubber chip )and in the indoor sand school and on our fields which are well drained and flat.
SO I decided to have his front shoes off (he has only ever had fronts ) In the past I have just left him shod in front
However it seems mad to shoe him when he won't do any road or track work until April.now I am getting older I don't ride as much and may consider keeping him barefoot as long as he can cope in summer too.
This morning he looks a bit tentative is there anything I can do to help. He is a good doer has plenty of grass fed a handfull of Happy Hoof as all the others are fed .They live out 24/7 with an open barn bedded down with a deep straw bed with good grass and hay as required .
I want to still ride him in the fields and the indoor and outdoor schools . I wont do anything with him until he looks comfortable but just wondered if I can help the transition to no shoes .
 
Give him 2 weeks complete rest on soft surfaces then reassess. It takes about this long for them to adjust to being unshod. After that if he's looking sound commence work on firmer surfaces gently.
 
Thanks I was thinking he would probably have a week off but will leave him for 2 weeks.
He was only shod in front when I did a lot more road work with him as when ridden 5/6 times a week on roads and tracks he was getting foot sore.
He has always been barefoot on his hinds as he has good feet.
His fronts were fine unshod when he was in lighter work.
I looked at him tonight and he trotted across the field sound so it is just on the rougher going he takes the odd shorter step.
I feel a bit mean but honestly do feel its best for him to go back to barefoot. I was working him a lot when I was starting to get him going, up until he was nearly 6 he was barefoot .He is now 8 and I don't feel the need to put the time in as he is going really well and doesn't need to work every day to keep him up together. This is my hobby I don't want to be under pressure to ride everyday now!
I enjoy my riding but now want to take it a little easier now.
 
Happy hoof isnt great for feet. You are much better off feeding a straw chop or fast fibre etc and adding a good balancer like progressive earth/forage plus/equivita, plus salt and posssibly added magnesium. Linseed is good for feet and coats etc as well. Diet is key for horses being totally sound barefoot. You also need to make sure there is no thrush etc. Anything like that can be masked in shoes but painful barefoot. And make sure who ever is trimming him is doing so with the view that he will be ridden without shoes
 
He gets the recommended measures of magnesium and of powdered linseed and the amount of happy hoof is really very minimum literally what you can clasp in one hand with non molassed sugar beet again one hand full (after soaking) . He really does so well on minimum feed and has a really beautiful shiny coat.
.He doesn't have thrush the farrier has checked him carefully after removing his shoes and is fully aware that I intent to ride him barefoot. He is happy that his feet and frogs don't have any problems.
The grass quality is good and I have good quality meadow available in the open barn for them as well (made from our own meadows not fertilised .
Thanks for the help will monitor how he goes.
 
horselib said:
He gets the recommended measures of magnesium and of powdered linseed and the amount of happy hoof is really very minimum literally what you can clasp in one hand with non molassed sugar beet again one hand full (after soaking) . He really does so well on minimum feed and has a really beautiful shiny coat.
.He doesn't have thrush the farrier has checked him carefully after removing his shoes and is fully aware that I intent to ride him barefoot. He is happy that his feet and frogs don't have any problems.
The grass quality is good and I have good quality meadow available in the open barn for them as well (made from our own meadows not fertilised .
Thanks for the help will monitor how he goes.
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Zinc and copper are pretty important for feet, he wont be getting enough of those. He will look shiny due to the linseed. It would def be worth while looking at decent balancer, they dont work out too expensive, my equivita one costs me £12 a month. I am a bit wary of farriers and barefoot feet, as I've never had one mention stretched white lines or thrush etc, but hopefully yours is on the ball :) Good quality grass can be a problem though, even now the grass here is flushing and quite lush and would be wrecking my horses feet if they werent in over night and feed mineral balancer

Might be worth posting pics of his feet. there are a LOT of people on here that really know their stuff :)
 
My farrier is a star and knows his stuff he has also attended training in barefoot trimming and is qualified in barefoot trimming.
We were chatting about how shoeing affects the white line when he removed the shoes and he always checks all my horses feet for thrush and white line disease when he shoes/trims.
I never stable overnight I find all my horses (particularly the 20 and 27 year old) do best allowed to come and go as they please and they all regularly put themselves in the open barn to eat hay overnight which is freely available to them. I would never want to stable for extended periods they only come in when I want to ride or to give a groom and check over each day.
I am not worried about how his feet look the hoof is sound and there are no chips or cracks he just takes the odd ouchy step on rough going .The shoes have only been off for 12 hours so I am not that concerned just trawling for peoples opinions on getting over the first few days/weeks.
He was sound and unshod when he was backed and ridden at 4 and still barefoot and' sound as a pound' on the same routine so I am happy he can go back to unshod again. In fact he wasn't shod in front until he was nearly 6 when I began to do more road work with him.
Will look at a balancer for him Thanks
 
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