going barefoot thoughts and fears

[lilly1]

I'm debating taking shoes off my mare. It would be after the summer when the ground is less hard and her workload less.

She has thin soles and for that reason has always had fronts on all year round and back shoes on in the summer when we do more hacking. I've known this mare since a yearling and owned her for several years. Even as a yearling she was sore (footy)on rough ground and she's had shoes since a 4yo when she was backed. She's now 11.

This winter she has coped well without back shoes and I think her hooves, frogs in particular, look better for it. Compared to her front feet the frogs on her back are much wider and more prominent. I think the bulbs look more robust too. My long-term farrier and I have always been of the view she would not manage without front shoes but the more I read the more I've started to question if its the right thing to do. I'm thinking long-term soundness here and wondering if shoes off are best. I'm scared though as even with fronts on she gets sore on stony ground and will peck on landing if she steps on something a bit sharp.

Lifestyle wise she has turnout 24/7 summer and in at night during the winter. The field has a dense woodland patch in the middle and the 1/2 mile track to the field is rough hardcore / stone. Adding any other surface to the field is not an option. Hacking is all off road and the terrain varied; hard or stony ground is not uncommon. We hack most weekends, more in the summer. We school on a good menage surface 3/4 times per week. We compete at riding club level in all disciplines on surface and grass.

Hoof boots are a bit of a minefield and with the cost of them I don't want to make too many mistakes. Would I need an interim type boot before moving on to something like Scoots for instance?

Is there anything I could start doing now to help prepare if this is something I decide to do? Obviously I wouldn't just take them off and carry on as normal. I think if I do it I'll try it for 6 months and would hope at the end of this to see improvements. Would this be a realistic time table to work towards?

I have some pics of her feet if helpful but don't want to turn this into a farrier debate. I have no issues with how she is shod at all; just wondering if there is a better way.

 

[Nugget La Poneh]

You don't say what you feed her?

And sometimes you have to just take the plunge. Soles will only thicken up with the right feeding and with exercise and exposure to the right surfaces (which it sounds like you have). There are a couple of places, like the hoof boutique (think that's what it is called) that offer advice on boots. Ultimately, boots don't really cost more than shoes for the average horse that does average amount of riding over their life time.

 

[FfionWinnie]

Have you got her diet right?

Hoof boots I've always bought second hand and not lost anything on them. You need the right boot for her feet and personally I prefer the types which attach to the foot like renegades and easy boots rather than round the pastern like cavallos from a rubbing perspective. Also the more advanced boots are better grip wise but with thin soles you are probably going to need pads so you'll need to work that out.

 

[lilly1]

She's fed a high fibre diet consisting of alfaalfa, high fibre cubes and equilibra balancer. When the grass starts comes through I'll swap the alfa to fast fibre but through the winter she needs more calories. She has adlib hay when in at night and good grazing during the summer. During peak grazing season she just gets the balancer and a bit of fast fibre. She is in a reasonable level of work at the moment.

 

[twiggy2]

To give yourself the best chance of success you will need to change her diet as soon as you can so you have quality hoof growing over the summer, unmolassed sugar beet, unmolassed straw chaff ( I don't worry giving this), salt (a good tablespoon), micronised linseed (a cup full more if extra weight/energy needed), a good supplement - pro hoof or forage plus seem to always cone out ad the top 2 choices for these.
The best grazing is actually what we see as poor and unfertilised, you need to reduce sugars as much as possible. I would get hoof boots to start her off and reduce the use of them over time, I find people are more likely to persevere if they can keep the horse ticking over and hoof boots can enable that.
You could also try putting an area of pea shingle down now somewhere that she spends time as that will stimulate the soles and frogs even with shoes on and increase blood flow and also good growth.
Good luck

 

[diamondrockharvey]

I never thought my mare would go barefoot on the front but she has and we average 30 miles a week of roadwork and her feet are amazing! When we got her 2 years ago she was shod all round and her heels were very low and feet a bit flat and long in the toe. But they are nothing like that now.
We gave it a year of front shoes only and her back feet came on so well we decided to take the plunge with the front. It has taken about 6 months of building up the roadwork to get to the level we are at now. I started by riding mainly on the verges and letting her choose the softer ground when she wanted to, but she never does now, she is more than happy on the road! She very rarely complains about her feet now at all even on stony tracks.
Our horses have a hardcore yard where we feed adlib hay all year round and where the water trough is so she has to walk on and off here many times each day to go from the field to the water/hay. They have free access to salt and she is fed Top Spec Anti Lam balancer, nothing else. The only other thing I use is Keratex Hoof Hardener. I used to apply every day for a while but only use once a week on the fronts now, I don't put anything on her hind feet.
Also, she hardly needs trimming these days, sometimes just smoothing the rough bits off when the farrier comes to do the others, so works out much cheaper too!
She used to live in overreach boots as she would often ping her shoes off, but not she doesn't need to and I haven't noticed her over reach in a long time.
Anyway, just thought you might be interested to hear a success story and I wish you the best of luck with your pony!!!

 

[annunziata]

I took the plunge last year when my big horse was out on injury (basically too tight to pay for shoes while he has a tendon injury, lack of shoes did not effect his recovery) it took him a good 6 months to adjust and not be too footy, he came back into work this Jan from his 6 months off SOUND and actually with some descent amount of foot. I did do a lot of work with him on the road with his rehab so I did buy him a set of boots ( we call them his nike strikes ) these are fabulous for when we go long hacks, he will have been out of shoes a year in july and its the best thing I could have done for him. His feet are strong his frogs are awesome. I think you have to give it a good year before you can actually how the adjustment has gone