Fully barefoot day 1

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jessieblue

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These are my boys feet. All shoes off today, fronts were off 2 weeks ago for x rays and mri. He was sore in front had hoof boots on for a week. They rubbed his heels some, so took them off and he managed ok. Obviously not as comfortable as I would like but ok. Smooth tarmac and in the field and on gravel he seems comfy, just on more rough stony paths when leading out to the field he has the odd hop. Seems ok on the backs so far. Its a shame the farrier carved his frogs so much as I know we need to grow more tissue there, but hopefully last time that will happen. So my barefoot journey begins. It is very scary as I have little support. Vet and farrier are wholly against me going barefoot. Heartbars and box rest has been prescribed, but I feel in my heart the barefoot route is the only option of recovery. Im sticking to it for now, not sure for how long before I get scared with no help, but we will see. I can be very strong minded! I just wonder what your thoughts are and if you think he looks like he will cope barefoot. I intend to walk on pea gravel and tarmac daily and just see how it goes. The ground is so damn hard its not ideal at the moment but doing the best I can. He is on prohoof and I will add linseed now too. I have also emailed rockley to see how long the wait list is! Hope the pics come out ok.
 
Yes I included them all in the second post when I realised they didnt work!! Duh, Im not great with this stuff lol Last time the pics came up but not so this time sigh!
 
Ok, so you have under-run heels and carved frogs but there is a lot to be happy with. I can see a new hoof angle growing in and you said that your horse is already coping on tarmac and grass. :)
 
Well done for sticking to your guns :). Imo the hooves look like they should do well barefoot, so long as you can manage the diet, and stick within the horses comfort when working. The basic structures are ok imo, and the hooves look like they will improve quickly. I'm on my phone so its difficult to spot any subtle issues, but it looks like the horse may be landing medially on the front left... Are there any issues in that leg that you're aware of?
 
Yes, thanks for rplying. He has inflammation of the collateral ligaments in both fronts, hence I wont be working him for a very long time anyway. Well apart from any in hand walking that I may need to do. In my opinion he will be pretty doomed unless I do something drastic. His hinds arent too bad to start with but then hes not lame on the hinds! The fronts, however are not so good, but in actual fact I can see a definite improvement in the 2 weeks they have been shoeless. I dont know why this is, I can only imagine it is a slight plumping of the digital cushion giving a very slightly better angle. I did post pics previously when my horse first went lame and his feet looked awful at that time. Better with shoes on but very poor without! I am sure there is already small improvement which is why I am so determined to stick to it for now. Its a worry having no back up and my farrier today actually said he felt sorry for him as he is supposed to walk on the hoof wall but he has none!! The ligament damage he has is interesting in that he had damaged the collateral ligament on the lateral side of one foot and the medial side of the other suggesting it is unevenly loaded! It looks like chronic strain rather than an acute injury as well. The diet is difficult, I have him on prohoof but he wont eat fast fibre so he has it in some happy hoof currently. He is on grass during the night and soaked haylage by day.
 
my farrier today actually said he felt sorry for him as he is supposed to walk on the hoof wall but he has none!!
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What are they teaching Farriers?

Unshod horses should weightbear on a combination of the frog, heels, sole and hoof wall. The sole should be concave, but they should have contact with the ground at the toe and a toe callus.
 
I know, didnt really know what to say. There is a huge grey area here where if you are not supposed to use a barefoot trimmer and the farriers and vets dont know how to adise on barefoot hoofcare, then who can you get information from and who will suffer if you dont? The horse. Thank god for this forum, because I really wouldnt have had a clue about this stuff otherwise. I am learning day by day but there is a lot to take in!
 
I HIGHLY recommend UKNHCP trimmers, they are a well regulated training school and IVe used two of their trimmers and theyre both amazing.

http://www.barefoot4horses.co.uk

As the owner of your horse you are his advocate, the vet may have his opinion on barefoot but remember at vet school they do about 6 weeks on horse hooves, my sister is a vet so I know ;) all of it is on remedial shoeing, barefoot isnt mentioned at all. Unless they have a personal interest in BF and go and do other courses and research they dont have any knowledge.

So basically do your research, choose a trimmer/farrier with personal recommendations from people with sound barefoot horses. Buy books dvds etc etc so you take on the responsibility yourself rather than relying on professionals.
 
was flicking through the photos and wow is that you pole dancing!? impressive

We're also fairly recently unshod after lameness and egg bar shoes, since his shoes have been remove he has never taken a lame step. If you have no joy with fast fibre try speedi beet or kwikbeet if you contact the companies they will send you a sample.
 
jessieblue said:
The diet is difficult, I have him on prohoof but he wont eat fast fibre so he has it in some happy hoof currently. He is on grass during the night and soaked haylage by day.
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My Arab would go mad for Fast Fibre from September - Feb/March. From Oct/Nov he would go mad for Speedibeet added to the Fast Fibre (again until Feb/March).

Then he would refuse to look at it.

From Feb/March - September he would go mad for Spiller's High Fibre Cubes (wet or dry) but he would refuse those bang on September in preference for Fast Fibre. Around December time he would allow the Spiller's Cubes but ONLY dry and ONLY in a seperate bucket :rolleyes:

It was an annual pattern.

The Spiller's High Fibre Cubes and the Dodson and Horrell ERS Pellets seem to be well tolerated by even metabolically sensitive BF horses.

Happy Hoof on the other hand does not - even though it appears 'better' on paper.
 
Hi Jessie

I just posted a comment on the UK laws on hoof trimming post in response to your post on there, clearly put it in the wrong place but has some websites on there that might be useful to you. Well done for being so brave, just give you and your horse time for it to start working and don't panic if you have a sticky moment around week 11/12 which I've just had! I have gone down this route because I am devasted at the lack of care and knowledge shown to my horse by local farriers and now do not trust them to care for him with shoes on, sometimes your instincts tell you what is right, I have decided to give my horse a good 6months to start to grow a decent new foot with correct heels, if he really struggles through the winter I will review it, but for now my horse is telling me I have done absolutely the right thing. Good luck, let us know how you get on, there is a lot of support happily given on this forum, so use it and let us know how you get on - yet again my horse has taught me so much over the last few months!
 
Thank you. I tried the link you suggested. Sadly I am just on the outside of her area covered! There are no other UKNHCP trimmers on the page of members that cover essex! Argh! This is not proving to be easy. Maybe I need to move!!
 
Thank you Beth, I will check the other thread. Any pointers are so helpful! Really appreciate it. Thanks Oberon, thats very helpful. I will maybe try spillers high fibre cubes and see how they go down. He wasnt a particularly fussy eater but I guess the hoof supplement doesnt tast the best in whatever medium! Interesting about the seasonal change in taste your horse had. I will bear that in mind too in case he goes back to ff later on. (Damn 2 bags wasted as only keeps for 1 month!!) Victoria, yes me pole dancing!! I used to teach pole for fitness at a few gyms!
 
jessieblue said:
Thank you Beth, I will check the other thread. Any pointers are so helpful! Really appreciate it.
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Looking at the pictures (and this is all based on what I see from the pics...which may not be reliable) I would say you have plenty of time before you need to worry about trimming.
Your horse looks to be wearing at the toe wall a little more than I'd like - which could indicate landing on the toes too much. If that's the case, I imagine it would be because the frogs have been pared when they were already weak. This will mean the horse won't want to walk on them and will put more weight on the front of the hoof instead - which can cause too much wear.

Looking at the hoof - yes they are longer than ideal BUT I would say to just hold off trimming for one cycle at least. Let the hoof have some time to rebalance and lay tissue down where he needs it. Yes it's not textbook and yes it will look ugly with bits of hoof chipping off.....but it will give him time to grow a robust hoof in comfort (like a scab over a wound).

Once we get the hoof strong - the horse will be able to load it correctly - then the rest of the limb and body will follow.
There will be a time to trim - but not right now. Trimming is low on the list of priorities for a BF horse - less is more and it's easy with tools to do more harm than good.

jessieblue said:
Thanks Oberon, thats very helpful. I will maybe try spillers high fibre cubes and see how they go down. He wasnt a particularly fussy eater but I guess the hoof supplement doesnt tast the best in whatever medium! Interesting about the seasonal change in taste your horse had. I will bear that in mind too in case he goes back to ff later on. (Damn 2 bags wasted as only keeps for 1 month!!)
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It can take a while for horses to get used to the minerals. Sometimes adding it in small measures at first. If you've ever gone from tea with 2 sugars to tea with no sugar.....you can understand why he'd be hesitant ;)

jessieblue said:
Victoria, yes me pole dancing!! I used to teach pole for fitness at a few gyms!
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I'd like to know about Pole.....I'd like to get more core strength and learn gain some gymnastic ability....would Pole help? We have a class locally that seems popular but I'm REALLY a beginner.......
 
Oberon, thank you. I have managed to get the first bag of minerals down him. Ok maybe not in the ideal diet, but I will try to improve that and as you said maybe he will get used to in time. So thanks for the tip I think he may go for the spillers cubes as he does enjoy a high fibre cube. I hear what you say about trimming and agree. I guess I just wanted a professional onside to cast an eye and tell me he was coping ok more than anything else. The frogs are very carved. Something Im not happy about, but for the last time! Im walking him in pea shingle daily for 10 mins, its deep and hes very comfy in this. Will add a little in the sand menage too. Anything I can do to help him I will!

With regards to pole. Yes you should definitely try it! I used to teach, I taught myself, went on a couple of courses and started my own classes. Soon after local gyms were approaching me to take classes there! It was a passion for me, not the dance side of it but the strength/gymnastic side. I have never been so strong and toned. I was no spring chicken when I started either! Some of my clients were the most amazing women, not young, but determined and brave. Still keep in touch with them now. I loved teaching them and seeing them get stronger. Very empowering. Wish I was in your area I would love to help you, but sont be afraid, you will find many women of all ages go to pole classes. Whereabouts are you based?
 
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