Going barefoot before planned ... Advice and Help please

[Antw23uk]

Hi All ... apologies in advance for the long post

I've brought my 10 yr old 16.2 ISH home after a year on loan (He is now at home rather than on livery) and unfortunately his feet are'nt in the best shape .. nothing to do with his care which was perfect and a brilliant loan experience all round .... They are very brittle and cracked which everyone keeps telling me is down to the weather.

I had planned to take his shoes off at the end of October and turn him away to give his feet a much needed break with the potential to actually keep going and keep him barefoot which im currently in the process of researching.

He was shod the other week and already a nail has come out which i ended up removing on the advise of my farrier. Last night he came in and his hind shoe has slipped! Its not drastic, its pretty secure and my farrier is due out Wednesday to sort it out. The thing is i honestly cant see how he is going to get a shoe back on him with his feet in such a poor state. I know he will work his magic, hes a great farrier and i trust him and we have discussed the shoes coming off end of October and he thinks its a great idea.

I'm still trying to get my head round the whole barefoot thing with the talk of tracks and poor grass, hay and changing all his feed to some expensive brand .. hoof boots, adding sand and gravel to my field .. ect confusing ect ....

Selfishly part of me doesnt want to remove the shoes now (if it is possible!) I've just got my riding mojo back and we are having such a blast exploring our new area and me wanting to get back into regular weekly lessons to improve my riding etc

Do i say to my farrier tomorrow to take them all off and turn him out for a break?
Will his feet actually be able to cope without the couple of months feed/ supplement i had planned before the shoes come off? (I guess my farrier will answer this)
Is there a hoof supplement i can add to his feed now?

He is currently on a nominal feed of Dengie AlfaA and some pony nuts and I've just started adding pink powder .. annoyingly i have like two sacks of each (two open obviously) which i guess i could try and sell and then buy some Thunderbrooks stuff?

I read an interesting article the other day about spooky behaviour being down to a magnesium deficiency because he is rather spooky right now which ive put down to the move, new area ect!

All in all pretty deflated and confused right now so any help would be much appreciated. Ant.

 

[stencilface]

If he can be left in a field for a couple of months to sort his feet should cope with the change. If turning him away now is an option then I'd go for it, he's obviously telling you he doesn't want shoes on anymore

I feed probalance, salt, magnesium and linseed along with hi fibre cubes and thats it. Yes its good to keep them off the grass a bit if there's too much of the good stuff out there, but you don't need tracks or anything fancy. Good walking in hand on some nice tarmac is great for their feet.

I take my boy off the grass during the day as otherwise he gets pulses in his feet, and a puffy sheath and generally a bit fat! But not bringing him off the grass that much at all at the minute as they're basically living off a paddock of fresh air they've eaten it that much.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

You absolutely do not need to feed any branded expensive feeds just to take them barefoot! Low sugar and starch is all that required, with maybe a balancer to check they're getting all they need. Mine are fed (or not at all at this time of year) Alpha A molasses free, grass nuts, rolled oats, micronised linseed and then one of the Pro Earth balancer's. However all of that is only to keep weight on in winter, currently they are all podgy and in good health from the summer grass so aside from the cushings one, they aren't being fed!

They have a salt lick, but no salt in their feeds as they just wouldn't eat it. The dressage horse we tried MgOx supplements but now don't bother, schooling more than supplements has helped the spooking .

Also it will really depend on the horse in question how much you can do once the shoes are removed, our dressage horse walked out of shoes and didn't notice. She is in the same work, hacking, jumping, dressage, etc, as she was when in shoes, we made sure we paid attention to her feet though and gradually built up the work on hard ground just to make sure we didn't do too much too soon for the first 4-6 weeks.

My oldie Cushings horse was much more difficult but as she is only in light work we kept that up but just added hoof boots to help her over stony ground as she is footsore over them.

Talk it through with your farrier and see what can be done, but cheer up it's not rocket science taking their shoes off and remember they can always go back on .

 

[ester]

Right don't panic
A lot of those things are for those more sensitive to grass intake not all horses are like that. Or they are management that we have come across to find suit our horses anyway. Though equally tracks aren't rocket science either- I literally just have a circle of fencing in the middle of my paddock currently. It suits us as it keeps him moving and limits intake- he is an old welsh cob, I don't do it for his feet these days.

Feeding him isn't any more expensive than it used to be and shock horror, most pony nuts seem to be fine .

Have a chat with your farrier and see what he thinks. If the horse is likely to feel the ground now might not be the best time while it is hard, though sometimes they are fine to start and feel their feet about 6 weeks later and it will likely be softer then.

 

[Antw23uk]

Thanks guys i will speak with the farrier later. He has some warmth in his ill fitting shod hoof this morning but thats probably from being on awkwardly!