Going back to shoes after barefoot

[Goldenstar]

Haven't had a problem with putting shoes back on an unshod horse, they're fine straight away.

Currently have two unshod working horses and I do sympathise with you about soft ground. The continual wet weather makes it very difficult to keep feet in good condition.

It's really difficult at the moment .

 

[Ranyhyn]

Our grazing is almost always softer anyway, which doesn't help. She's dreadfully uncomfy on hardcore, sore/footy on concrete.
Interesting what you say about the concussive forces though!

 

[eahotson]

I had a horse barefoot for 3 or 4 months.He came to me with only fronts on and I thought I would try it.Had bare foot trimmer.It just didn't work for him.The very minute his fronts went back on he looked happier and more comfortable.

 

[dafthoss]

dh frank is happier on the hardcore in the yard than he is with those little gritty pointy stones on the tarmac.. I did threaten to do and sweep it after the road flooded.

Ah ok never had a problem with any ground with YP he stomps over any thing but often lurk on the bf threads and have a nosey.

 

[Lady La La]

Not really barefoot, just reshoeing a shod horse.

No, it's re shoeing an unshod horse. An unshod horse is a barefooted one.

Given her history, and taking into account what has been advised by your vet and various other professionals, if it were me, I would be shoeing too. Doesn't mean there wont be an option to try barefoot again in the future

 

[martlin]

No, it's re shoeing an unshod horse. An unshod horse is a barefooted one.

Given her history, and taking into account what has been advised by your vet and various other professionals, if it were me, I would be shoeing too. Doesn't mean there wont be an option to try barefoot again in the future

This^^^^
Just shoe her, Kitty, and be done with it

 

[aimsymc]

Surely the lack of shoes mean the feet are bare = barefoot?? If my horse wasnt adjusted within this time id put shoes on too. Should be no probs doing it. Horse at my yard just had shoes back on after 2 years off as a broodmare.

 

[Nocturnal]

But if that 23 hours, they are on soft ground and in that one hour they are completely cushioned from feeling anything hard/abrasive - how are they getting any exposure to the surface in order to make their feet stronger in their first place?

As I understand it, the pads in boots provide stimulation to the sole and frog, and aid the development of the internal and external structures. In fact in feet like your horse's (judging by previous photos), many trimmers would strongly recommend not excercising them on tough surfaces without boots, until the feet are stronger.

Shoes stop or reduce the function of the foot 24/7/365, so to me there seems to be a huge difference between the two. But it is, of course, your call .

 

[Cortez]

I think your title is a little misleading. Your horse hasn't been "barefoot" in my terminology, which is that barefoot horses are working just like horses with shoes on. He/she's been turned away with no shoes on. I opened this thread expecting to sympathise with you for finding that your horse is footie without shoes on and that you want to shoe her again. But it seems that you always intended to shoe again after turning him/her away (for injury or foaling, I guess).

Have you thought of not putting shoes on and seeing what happens? Cortez's experience of a mare sore for a year is not normal, and can usually be corrected with changes of diet and/or management unless the horse has an underlying metabolic problem. This is somtimes easier to say than do for people in livery yards.

As for the answer to your question, just put shoes on. I too have never seen a horse have a problem with being shod either first time or after a break.

Just to make clear - my mare was not "sore for a year", she was unshod for a year, and then started becoming sore in the last week or 10 days, shod yesterday and walked away sound. She does work for a living (display and movie horse) and I reckon all the wet weather and soft ground has just caused her hooves to soften and wear more than usual. Before you all start doing an amateur analysis of her diet, she is NOT out on lavish pasture, fed silly sugary stuff or overweight.

 

[Ibblebibble]

i can't see it would be a problem at all putting shoes on after a period of nakedness
But is that what you want to do? if you would actually prefer to keep her barefoot then boots would be the way forward for the times when she needs protection. As i see it a shoe not only protects the foot but also restricts it, you only have to compare the teeny shrivelled frogs of shod horses to unshod horses to see the difference

I am one of those lucky ones who doesn't make any special effort with my barefoot horses, no pasture analysis or 50 shades of supplements, just grass turnout and they are all capable of coping with the stony farm track. if any of them get uncomfortable on the track i would try boots first over shoes. you can take the shoes off at the end of a ride and they are barefoot again, you can't do that with shoes
At the end of the day though it is your decision, and no one has the right to berate you for which choice you make

 

[MerrySherryRider]

i can't see it would be a problem at all putting shoes on after a period of nakedness
But is that what you want to do? if you would actually prefer to keep her barefoot then boots would be the way forward for the times when she needs protection. As i see it a shoe not only protects the foot but also restricts it, you only have to compare the teeny shrivelled frogs of shod horses to unshod horses to see the difference

I am one of those lucky ones who doesn't make any special effort with my barefoot horses, no pasture analysis or 50 shades of supplements, just grass turnout and they are all capable of coping with the stony farm track. if any of them get uncomfortable on the track i would try boots first over shoes. you can take the shoes off at the end of a ride and they are barefoot again, you can't do that with shoes
At the end of the day though it is your decision, and no one has the right to berate you for which choice you make

Those of you who use boots on a regular basis, is there an increased incidence of bacterial infections or delaying healing in a thrushy frog ?
I'm currently keeping one off work because I don't want gravel getting caught in there.

 

[TwoStroke]

Those of you who use boots on a regular basis, is there an increased incidence of bacterial infections or delaying healing in a thrushy frog ?
I'm currently keeping one off work because I don't want gravel getting caught in there.

If you keep the feet and boots clean, and treat the thrush regularly then there shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Ranyhyn]

What I need is the horse working comfortably, I'm not overly concerned how it's achieved, I am no barefoot or shoeing evangelist I have no huge feelings each way.

However it was to my knowledge, that in order to achieve a happy barefoot horse, you need to go through a conditioning period - which we are not able to do effectively. Therefore, limiting her progress.

 

[paddy555]

But if that 23 hours, they are on soft ground and in that one hour they are completely cushioned from feeling anything hard/abrasive - how are they getting any exposure to the surface in order to make their feet stronger in their first place?

you don't condition your horse to walk on tarmac or over stones. He should be able to be led in from the field and do that automatically sound. You then condition him to be able to walk over more stones, more tarmac, to trot over them etc by more exposure to the surface. You don't condition a footsore horse. You have to get him sound before conditioning him.

If he cannot cope with walking over tarmac and stones then I would suggest something is going wrong and that is either diet, over trimming or lack of minerals such as magnesium. All this stuff about the wet weather being the cause of the problem is rubbish as well. Yes the feet are softer but that is all. Ours are wet, we have to hose the mud off them whenever we want to find the feet yet they are still able to walk over their hard track to the field. They regularly trot and canter up and down that track of their own accord.


As an example when I bring our pasture pets in from the fields they happily walk over the stoney track and then back again the following morning. They haven't been on a tarmac road for may years but I could take any of them for an hours walk around the lanes with no footy problems. That is the stage from which you start to condition feet.

Someone mentioned the cost of the barefoot diet. Mine is £19.50 pm for a supplement, about £6 for Spillers nuts and about £1 for calmag and salt. All in for around £26 for a 500kg horse. Hardly breaks the bank. Obviously if I wanted to do serious endurance or hunting that would need more feed but it would if they were shod.

As for boots, what are shoes doing to protect your feet? Boots don't delay healing from thrush in fact they enhance it. If you put sudocrem on your frogs before booting and ride for a couple of hours on a relatively dry road your feet stay clean to benefit from the treatment.
Boots have a lot more going for them. To start with your feet are able to function barefoot for the remainder of the day. When riding over stones the boots actually protect the feet. Shoes don't. Plenty of shod horses get stone bruises.
Someone mentioned grip on mud. Sure if you use old macs they will slip. If you use a performance boot eg gloves or renegades they will be fine.

The title of this thread gives the impression that barefoot is to blame, although it probably isn't intended to. Barefoot is not to blame, nor is the horse.

 

[Nightmare before Christmas]

Bloody hell, just stick shoes on it and get on with it. My mare is barefoot at the moment - she has no shoes! She is going in foal for the next few years - no shoes. She will someday have shoes on! OMG I am going to be shoeing a barefoot horse.

Big deal? no

 

[MerrySherryRider]

Thanks paddy555, didn't think of sudocreme in conjuction with the boots. I use sudocreme so a bit daft of me not to think of that.

However, for me, the wet weather has been a problem with feet. Partly because the feet are permently saturated, frogs are softer and the boy has got thrush, plus the rain has lessened the amount of miles we would usually do.

 

[Goldenstar]

There is a difference between a barefoot horse out of work in a field and a barefoot horse in work.
It's up to OP want she does with her horse if it where me I would try boots .

 

[Ranyhyn]

you don't condition your horse to walk on tarmac or over stones. He should be able to be led in from the field and do that automatically sound.

Yes, she does that....

You then condition him to be able to walk over more stones, more tarmac, to trot over them etc by more exposure to the surface.

More? More than what? You're assuming I have stones/tarmac on the way in from the field. I don't.

And doesn't that directly contradict what you just said above? more

 

[TigerTail]

I would be booting too - mainly because if the horse is STILL lame after 7 months there is a problem with those hooves. To bang nails into an already weakened structure WILL bite you in the arse down the line, just depends how long it takes.

Re the boots not doing the conditioning - what you would need to do is get some solemates pads to go IN the boots. These are tough pads that you cut to fit the hoof, and then they squish up into the hoof as the horse weight bears on to them. This will help stimulate the hoof to grow better.

Do you have a sand school or access to one? Theyre great for conditioning.

You could walk her around a small loop and take the boots off 5 mins from home, and the next week do it 10 mins from home etc. Yes she may be sore - howerver its like me walking on my gravel drive in barefeet to get the post in - its hurts a bit but it aint killing me and its the long term health at stake here.

I wouldnt use sudocrem in boots purely because u will have a big mess lol Id pick the feet out spray with silvetrasol and spray the pads with silvetrasol after use and hang to dry somewhere

 

[Ranyhyn]

I would be booting too - mainly because if the horse is STILL lame after 7 months there is a problem with those hooves. To bang nails into an already weakened structure WILL bite you in the arse down the line, just depends how long it takes.

Sorry I must have mis posted somewhere, she's footy not lame, both my podiatrist and my physio agree on that. If she was lame, no boot in the world would make her not lame surely?

Do you have a sand school or access to one? Theyre great for conditioning.

No I don't. Hence my comment about not being able to effectively condition her to not having shoes on, hence the advice from these professionals to put shoes on.

You could walk her around a small loop and take the boots off 5 mins from home, and the next week do it 10 mins from home etc.

There is nowhere to walk her in a loop.

 

[Goldenstar]

Just put shoes on.

 

[Ranyhyn]

^^ lol this is where this is going! I was interested to hear if there were any special precautions then it took this bizarre turn where it became about why rather than the actual question in the OP

 

[Goldenstar]

In my life BBF ( before barefoot ) I left my horses out of shoes twelve weeks a year when I wanted to ride the horse again I called the farrier caught the horse and had the shoes put on .
Your mistake was to put the BF word in your title it has a strange effect on people, have fun with your horse.

 

[TigerTail]

sorry somewhere i picked up lame!

Um if you've now where to take her why do you need shoes on?! or am i being really dim doesnt have to be a loop but you get what i mean. As I said the pads in boots give similar effect to sand arena.

 

[siennamum]

Mine has had no shoes for about 6 months, he was coping fine, but has started wearing his toes down. He is having shoes on next week. He will start striding out again, he always does when he has shoes back on and I know that he is more confident about where he is putting his feet.
i really don't think it's either/ or, and get frustrated that it is seen as such a shocking thing to do when the outcome is a happy horse, that can be ridden.

I'll take mine's shoes off again in a few months I suspect, but am missing the long hacks we used to manage and haven't been able to for a while.

OP I have been alternating between shoes and not for a couple of years with him according to his workload, he never minds just having them back on with no fuss.

 

[Ranyhyn]

I haven't anywhere to take her for the conditioning work to be done properly, but she does need to not be footy on stones etc.
Say for instance I trailer her out for bridleway hacking, I don't want her uncomfortable on stones etc and it was the vet and the physio's opinion that she should have shoes back on unless I can go through the long process of conditioning her.

 

[Ranyhyn]

he always does when he has shoes back on and I know that he is more confident about where he is putting his feet.
.

This is kind of what people have been getting at, who have been to see her, it's almost bordering on a confidence thing! Thank you I haven't done a sustained break from shoes for any length of time, nor had the particular issues I'm having at present with hardening up her feet, so it's nice to hear I don't have to worry when I put shoes back on

 

[Goldenstar]

I haven't anywhere to take her for the conditioning work to be done properly, but she does need to not be footy on stones etc.
Say for instance I trailer her out for bridleway hacking, I don't want her uncomfortable on stones etc and it was the vet and the physio's opinion that she should have shoes back on unless I can go through the long process of conditioning her.

You don't need to justify your desision to anyone just get on with enjoying your horse .

 

[paddy555]

Yes, she does that....



More? More than what? You're assuming I have stones/tarmac on the way in from the field. I don't.

And doesn't that directly contradict what you just said above? more

your unshod, horse, whatever you have on the way to your field should be capable of being led out on stones and tarmac and be sound. Footy = lame to me.
If you don't have stones on the way to the field nor a loop to lead around what stones or tarmac do you want to go on?

To answer your original question. The effect on mine was that the shoes were fine to start with. Three months later I had to remove them as the horse was l lame/unsound and moved very badly as I had not solved the real problem. Once I removed the shoes, resolved the problem he was sound unshod.

 

[Ranyhyn]

You don't need to justify your desision to anyone just get on with enjoying your horse .

thank you GS. I don't mind answering the BFT's questions, even if they are completely unrelated to the OP