Given up with barefoot?

Hoof_Prints

Hoof_Prints

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After three years of being barefoot I had my horse shod yesterday. I was always firmly on the side of "any horse could benefit from going barefoot and cope with the correct management and time" but now I see it's not always possible. My farrier was reeling off stories of hoof conditions that require shoes, often ones that I always thought improved with the barefoot route.. but now I'm reconsidering. For what reasons have you had to shoe your horses? Or what have you worked through without shoes? I have taken one of mine barefoot for tendon issues and tried to keep my others barefoot since.

Horse had a crack in his hoof , farrier said it just needed cutting away and leaving to grow out but it broke away in a big square at the bottom, so shoes were put on within the hour and now keeping them on.

Just pondering and wanting to expand my hoof knowledge now I'm not in the barefoot brigade !
 
what have you worked through without shoes
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I have worked through navicular (several times), unstable cracks, collapsed heels, severe imbalance, underrun heels, desperately thin soles, huge spread feet, narrow contracted heels, sheared heels. The only things I can imagine going back to shoes for are a broken foot bone or metabolic disease that can't be managed with weight loss and/or drugs.

Can I ask if yours was on a no-iron high-copper mineral supplement with yeast with a low sugar high fibre diet? Do you have a photo of the crack, it would be interesting to see it?
 
horses do seem to cope well with some pretty big chunks of outer hoof wall missing. Was this your coloured chap HP?

we've only done coffin joint DJD, reverse rotated pedal bones + under run heels- horse was in shoes and came out of them because of it as shoes weren't working. It would be interesting to know your farriers list as I too would think broken pedal bone or metabolic issues really need shoeing? - Although I have had issues getting people on some barefoot groups to agree with even the former.
 
I'm also a fan of barefoot and would keep all of mine without shoes if I could as I do think it's generally better for them. However last year I took on a mare who'd been left in a field of lush grass, her feet hadn't been trimmed for months and months and were horribly splayed and cracked and brittle. I got farrier to put front shoes on her initially just so she could walk comfortably and allow her feet time to grow stronger whilst I adjusted her diet etc. I thought I'd keep her bare behind but she was really struggling to balance in canter when ridden, particularly on turns, she's a big moving horse, I persevered without hind shoes for ages thinking that with schooling she'd get better, she did a bit but eventually I decided to try hind shoes just to see if it would help and the difference it's made has been massive, she is so much more balanced now and so much more confident, so I'm afraid the shoes are staying on! I plan to event her all summer so want to use studs for grip (my previous horse I evented barefoot and he was fine but he was more of a nippy pony type where as she is a big moving unbalanced young warmblood). I'd love to be able to take her shoes off again one day but don't really know when as I plan to hunt her in the winter (I know you can hunt without shoes but she won't get much of a transition period and a lot of the ground near us is quite stoney/rough). Anyway it's an on-going dilemma, I feel she needs the shoes for grip though in an ideal world I'd love for her not to need them. I have two other horses who have both been barefoot for years and cope fine but it just doesn't work for this one.
 
I shod one of mine again a few weeks ago. She's been barefoot for years after a navicular diagnosis & a hideous experience with various rounds of remedial shoeing. In recent years, though, she's developed EMS &, in spite of managing her diet, meds, etc, her soles have got progressively thinner & her soundness issues worse (she's only in light work, when sound enough). Without going into the whole giant headache that has confounded 3 farriers, an EP, & two vet practices, I took a shot in the dark & stuck bog standard fronts back on her. So far, she's doing a lot better than she was! Other mare still has naked feet & no plans to change that.
 
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I've had mine barefoot and in work 18 months now. This was after PSD, tenosynovitis and tendonitis, all in different legs. He now has a wonderfully wonky hind hoof on the PSD leg. His hind feet have always done pretty well, but his fronts I'm not so sure. I think he got some thrush in winter, but he is still on/off footy on them a fair bit and its frustrating.

He's on grass 24/7 now, being fed high fibre cubes, pro balance, linseed and spearmint (to taste!) and thats it. Physically his feet look great, never really had any cracks or anything, even when the nail holes were there, and his frogs have improved hugely too, no deep central sulcus or contracted heels. I wear renegades on front sometimes, but am not confident in them all the time, and they have slipped a couple of times.

I want to compete this summer if I can - RC eventing hopefully, and I think the next round of shoeing I will have to have some fronts put on. I need to do more work with him, and atm I just can't. I can't really manage him differently, although I will be putting him in during the day if and when I can when the grass takes off! If I put fronts on for just 1 or 2 shoeings I think I will be able to have a great summer and then take them off again.
 
ester said:
horses do seem to cope well with some pretty big chunks of outer hoof wall missing. Was this your coloured chap HP?

we've only done coffin joint DJD, reverse rotated pedal bones + under run heels- horse was in shoes and came out of them because of it as shoes weren't working. It would be interesting to know your farriers list as I too would think broken pedal bone or metabolic issues really need shoeing? - Although I have had issues getting people on some barefoot groups to agree with even the former.
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Yes was the coloured, just under 3 years ago when I bought him he has his shoes taken straight off (interesting DIY irish shoeing!) to get them back in shape. He coped well and hunted two seasons with them off, and went xc training for hours jumping on gravel landings but this time the crack was going all the way up and I think it would have kept getting worse. Luckily it was dry but you could easily poke a finger in to the squishy bit inside. He was confused when he clip-clopped and looked at his feet for a minute or two as he walked! I have to admit that I was disappointed to put them back on, he mostly referred to the laminitic we have on the yard, I tried to take him barefoot as he is under my care and he has little foot left and I hoped it would encourage healthy growth. His feet grew really strong but he just couldn't walk without pain and had shoes back on, he does have full healthy looking feet though after the attempt. I wish I could remember all he said but I was concentrating on making sure Finn was ok with the smoke as I've never seen him shod before. He said he had seen lots of cracks due to the dry weather and put shoes on a few other horses.

Paint it Lucky, the transition period is my problem too if I wanted to take them off again. By the time the crack has grown out, we will be hunting and I highly doubt his feet will stand up to it with the nail holes, I have never studded up before i'm considering it for team chasing this autumn.

That's interesting wyrdsister. From my understanding shoes can mask problems, but as long as the horse is comfortable and other routes have been tried, I can't see the problem. Horse being comfortable is the important thing ! I imagine a similar thing is going on with the lami pony at my yard.
 
ycbm said:
I have worked through navicular (several times), unstable cracks, collapsed heels, severe imbalance, underrun heels, desperately thin soles, huge spread feet, narrow contracted heels, sheared heels. The only things I can imagine going back to shoes for are a broken foot bone or metabolic disease that can't be managed with weight loss and/or drugs.

Can I ask if yours was on a no-iron high-copper mineral supplement with yeast with a low sugar high fibre diet? Do you have a photo of the crack, it would be interesting to see it?
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I wish I could have worked through it without shoes as I have one who tore a tendon wearing fronts and has been 110% since going barefoot- my horse has a couple of big splints on his fronts and the idea of trotting along wearing metal is making me feel a bit uneasy !

His diet was and is speedibeet, mollichaff calmer (low sugar I believe), linseed oil, some safe and sound chaff and recently a vit and mineral omega supplement just because I was given it and it needed using. His coat was scurfy and had dry skin so the linseed worked well. I'm not sure what the levels of iron and copper are in those, we have very good grazing and he has to be muzzled in the spring or he gets fat quickly, he is a very good weight and on the leaner side. He eats little hay as he lives out but has ad lib when in the stable for a few hours a day.

I will get a photo of the crack tomorrow, although now the shoe is on you won't see from underneath where it went back in to the foot.

Thanks for the replies
 
I tried my lad barefoot after he came from Ireland with shoes 2 sizes to small on and corns underneath! (Shudder to think how they got them on him as he was not even halter broken when he arrived or why they put them on at all since he was barefoot in his field in Ireland)
Unfortunately he ended up nearly crippled, threw a huge splint on the outside of a front leg, wore away all his toe pawing at the floor in his stable and Ended up with no toe, crippled just standing in his stable, extremely upright pasterns and a turned in hoof.
Farrier really struggled to get shoes on him at all as he had so little foot left! But instantly sound horse after shoes went on and 3 sessions later splint has gone, leg has untwisted and pasterns are returning to a far more normal angle. I won't be taking them off him again!
Prior to this one I have successfully kept most of my horses barefoot and competed them that way for the last 15+ years. So it's not through inexperience or lack of will.
I even managed my Connies crumbly feet without shoes but it just couldn't be done this time
 
Showing my age, but before 'going barefoot' was the fashion, we used to shoe things that needed it and not shoe those that didn't (usually for financial reasons) e.g. some thin-soled flat-footed thoroughbreds can never go barefoot as they just go lame (even with no roadwork); others with good shaped hooves and normal soles never needed shoeing until jumping bigger fences (anti-slipping). A friend of mine that does endurance riding has an Arabian/Appaloosa cross that would be crippled without shoes (he also needs tungsten added), whereas others are fine competing without shoes their whole life. As said earlier, some can be fine with just shoes in front and none behind, whereas one horse i had used to slip in the dressage arena without shoes and studs behind (dressage on grass) but was fine for jumping without shoes. They are all individuals.
A good farrier is happy to recommend when a horse as suitable to go without shoes, while a good barefoot trimmer will tell you when your horse needs shoes. I do admit though that there are some farriers that will shoe everything and some trimmers who will tell you that nothing needs shoeing. But then the reason that the Romans invented shoes and shoeing was because they couldn't keep their army horses sound without shoes and they wouldn't have gone to the hassle if they didn't need to!
 
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Mine goes in and out of shoes as it suits me. He had 3 months out of shoes late last year and earlier this year. Sometimes he just has fronts, sometimes he has no shoes, sometimes he is shod all round, and for part of that time he'll have stud holes in for eventing.
I don't really have the time or patience to take him fully BF and TBH I have always found it incredibly stressful when I've tried. My routine of giving shoeing breaks seems to work.
 
ester said:
horses do seem to cope well with some pretty big chunks of outer hoof wall missing.
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They really can. This was my mare shortly after her shoes were taken off and she was completely sound on all surfaces bar big stones.

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If she had to be shod again (and boots didn't work), I would, but I do hope that it doesn't happen as it would indicate that something had changed for the worse, eg metabolic issues.
 
It might have been interesting to get your grazing tested OP, though it does seem to be that some are more sensitive to mineral situations than others.

wyrdsister I do think if they are struggling because of metabolic issues shoeing is the right thing to do. Stencilface if Frank was younger and I had transport and I wanted to do summer jumping on grass, and having resolved the lameness I'd think about shoeing so I could stud then they would come off for the winter.

HP I'd just see how you go with regards to taking them off again or not.
 
Another ex-BFer, my TB mare is so much happier after I was talked into shoeing her on the fronts, admittedly I had let her get too fat due to a hind suspensory injury so I agreed to shoe her to get her moving again, it worked and we are back in work again. I will hopefully go back regularly to BF in winter and keep her weight down. She had navicular as a 7 yo and BF/Rockley did get her sound but then her hind suspensories went, I had a knee replacement and lack of exercise meant the weight went up. I just think it can help at some times, but other time they appreciate soles/frogs being off the ground, they are not all the same.

BTW her diet is still the same, minerals etc balanced.
 
HP, I agree that shoes can mask problems. In our case, we know what the problem is, what we can't do is fix it (and yes, we've moved heavens & earth trying), so it's become a case of managing the symptoms & keeping her comfortable.

Ester, useful to hear that metabolic issues can make barefoot impossible. It's been a very useful journey for us & definitely helped reverse some of the navi damage she had, but it's no longer helping her & my priority is that she doesn't hurt! It's also meant I've kept my youngster unshod & her feet are ace.

HP, I guess what I've learned out of this is how vital it is to be flexible & listen to what the horse seems to need at any given moment. It's also proved easier to go in & out of shoes as needed. In the last year I've had mine barefoot, in Siward clogs, in boots 24/7 & now reshod (in no particular order) & the transition process has never been as challenging as the first time we went barefoot 6+ years ago.
 
wkiwi said:
... the reason that the Romans invented shoes and shoeing was because they couldn't keep their army horses sound without shoes and they wouldn't have gone to the hassle if they didn't need to!
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Romans did not use nailed shoes; they were not available at that time. Their hipposandal was a lace up medical shoe to keep the horse moving as a temporary measure following injury.

They were able to ride their barefoot horses 20 miles a day for as many days as necessary on all surfaces.
 
I was recommended by my farrier to leave my welsh d barefoot, he thought as I wasn't doing much with him and when I rode it was usually on the mountain anyway he would benefit from no shoes. It took two years to get him completely sound over any surface and I did use boots at the start. I am very glad I persevered but completely understand why people go back to shoeing. I am not anti shoes but if you can I do think barefoot is better for the horse. I have five horses and they are all barefoot.
 
Ronalda said:
Romans did not use nailed shoes; they were not available at that time. Their hipposandal was a lace up medical shoe to keep the horse moving as a temporary measure following injury.

They were able to ride their barefoot horses 20 miles a day for as many days as necessary on all surfaces.
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Thanks, I stand partially corrected. There are some historians that believe that the Romans invented the mule shoe, but it is not confirmed if this was nailed on or not (some reference indicates it may be around 50-100BC), but it certainly wasn't widespread then. I think also from what i have read that not all roman horses stayed sound with the work, but some of that must have also been due to other things (it would be great to know what they used as veterinary treatment back then), and I doubt they would have kept using a flat-footed horse that didn't stay sound. A quick google search claims many different countries invented it around 400-1000AD, so who knows maybe it was one of those situations where a new idea cropped up simultaneously. Evidence for shoes with nail holes around 400 AD, but it was the Normans not the Romans (maybe my brain got them muddled -should have done more history when young ha ha) that are believed to have made it widespread.
 
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Yes, the Normans brought their castles with them when they moved in.

Their horses were then confined in small areas and stood in their own mess. It was probably this change of use that brought about the introduction of the nailed shoe rather than the perception that wear rate exceeded growth.
 
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