Going "barefoot" without any fancy diets/transitioning?

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wench

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Just after opinions really. I'm all for saving a bit of cash, and now I've got two horses, I'm thinking even more slim line than before.

Both horses only have front shoes on, cope perfectly fine behind without. My old horse is perfectly sound in the school when she pulls a front shoe off, however hoof tends to get chipped a bit.

I'd probably have one more set of fronts on them both, then just get trims done. Currently they are out during the day and stabled over night, will be going out 24/7 soon. Mainly used in school with hacking consisting of roads and fields
 
TBH if you don't take care with it you are setting yourself up to fail. There isn't a lot to the diet, just low sugar/starch, but to avoid them being footsore you do need to encourage their soles to harden and callous. Bit like yourself going barefoot without time around the house to get your feet used to it.
 
The diet isn't fancy and the transitioning is common sense. If you are mainly in the school which from your posts is my impression, they may not need shoes anyway.

If you do a vast amount of hacking on stoney ground, it ain't going to work without careful preparation for that ground.

My cob however had her shoes off and walked away 16 months ago and hasn't been touched by anything since. Her feet are often remarked upon by the vet as being superb and she does 70-100km a week on rough stone tracks and is kept on hardcore. Her diet is ultra low sugar and starch for other reasons. She is certainly not cheap to keep but her feet are free and she has not cast one before an important event so that is always a bonus
 
Mine is barefoot but always has been. She hasn't been on roads much though, so even with a 6 year barefoot horse, I'm going to have to take time to make sure her soles cope (we have several stony tracks on hacks, unfortunately - if it weren't for these, I wouldn't be worried).

She's never had a special diet (24/7 turnout for years) and according to the farrier, her hooves are great.

She's now on a low sugar diet (her hooves were fine but her body score was pretty much obese!), so I don't think it's necessary to feed a special diet as such but I will be looking into 'pro hoof' or a similar supplement, now that she's with me and coming into work.
 
My sister and I have 5 between us.

3 are completely barefoot (1 trak, 1 14.3 cob and a a 15.3 proper hw cob!), her tb has shoes in front as he's HUGE (18hh at the wither, though not full up thankfully!) and his feet spread a little without, but he's fine if he pulls one to do anything with. My boy is a 16hh wb x something irish and has tiny feet compared to his size. He goes without shoes all winter, but needs them back on when the ground gets hard. We do hack on really flinty/gravelly type tracks, if they were nicer he'd probably not need them either, certainly not backs.

They are all nice riding club all-rounders and do 4-7 days work a week each, which is varied.

They live out, they are fed chaff and nuts depending on workload, have access to salt and mineral licks and get fed hay and straw in the field all winter. That's the extent of our special diet, but it is horse dependent.
 
some horses can manage without fancy diets, some can't. However you do need to feed the horse enough nutrients, minerals and protein, to get sufficient quality hoof growth.

As for going barefoot without transitioning then you will simply set yourself up to fail. You cannot possibly expect feet immediately out of shoes to have the same quality, depth and hardness of sole as transitioned barefoot ones. They have to do gradual work to get to that state but not too much work on incorrect surfaces which will wear them too much before growth learns to keep up with wear.

back feet usually have few problems, fronts can be a whole new ball game! I don't think barefoot to save cash is a very good idea.
 
I'm agreeing with those above, of my three:

Topaz had front's on when we got her and has periodically been bare/ shod in front for the past 6 years, she literally steps out of shoes without a second thought, 'fancy' diet or any transitioning. However to start with she is young and healthy (well now 13 but at her prime), has very good feet, isn't ever fed a lot and is worked on a variety of surfaces but not worked hard on hard stoney ground. If we wanted to start hunting her we would have to do a lot more to condition her feet.

Skylla has always been bare, she's raising four and in very light work. I cannot imagine she was feed too much hard feed before I got her (age 2) so her diet has always been bare friendly and is the most 'rock' crunching out of all of them. She doesn't require anything special but then I will have to see how she goes as she gets older and her work increases.

Doodle, well she is old (23), has cushings, wonky feet and an old injury from last year. She is requiring all the help I can give her to transition, special diet (although been low starch and sugar for a couple of years anyway) she is now on a supplement to try and help. She has boots, and is on her second pair as her feet are chaging shape so rapidly, first set cost £180 but managed to get her next pair for a fab £55! She requires methodical hoof care, with keeping on top of any thrush or white line disease as well as being time consuming with lots of small walks on appropriate surfaces. I knew she would be tricky how could she not with her issues, but then I didn't choose it for cost saving with her but to hopefully prolong her life.

Really it will depend on the horses in front of you, how healthy they are, what their feet are like and the set up/ management you can give them. Topaz and Skylla are very cheap as they are now self trimming, so not even booked in with the farrier as he said to just keep an eye on them (previously trimmed every 7 weeks), but it cannot be gaurenteed that they will all be cheap barefoot.
 
'Fancy barefoot diets' aren't necessarily the expensive option. If you go back to straights (plain straw chaff, hay or grass chop, unmolassed sugarbeet, oats,linseed) you'll probably pay less than a mix or branded chaff. Add something like Progressive Earth's Pro Mineral or one of the Equivita range for a budget mineral supplement to make sure they are getting the minimum requirement of minerals and that's it.
 
From what I've seen, there seem to be two types of horses (or maybe it's the owners that are being reflected in this as well to some degree?), and not much in between. Some horses walk out of shoes, never take a wrong step (or were maybe never shod in the first place) and seem to cope pretty much regardless of what they are feed or how they are kept. Some need very careful "micromanaging" in terms of diet, exercise, access to grass etc. to make it work. I can't think of any case I know personally where making just a moderate change (say, swapping regular pony nuts for low sugar/starch nuts) by itself made much of a difference either way.
I think what's in your favour is that most work is either on a surface, or on tarmac/fields which is on the "easier" side for most horses (as opposed to rocky, gravelly hacking). I think if you're lucky and your horses are generally pretty robust hoof-wise, you may be just fine taking front shoes off and continuing as more or less as before. I'd make sure the farrier doesn't trim (much) when taking shoes off so that you have plenty of material on the hoof (particular sole and frog, but also some wall left standing) and I'd probably do my road work in walk for a while, both to limit wear (let the hoof adapt over time) and because it's probably the hardest/most concussive surface you'll be riding on from what it sounds. I think those would be minimal concessions to make during "transition".
If you find your horses don't cope well and are short-striding, then you'd probably have to do some detective work on why they are not coping, and potentially make more changes to their lifestyle, diet etc., or compromise in some way (use boots) to make it work.
IMO, a good diet is always worth it for overall horse health, and as above, doesn't have to be either complicated or expensive.
 
Both mine are fed low sugar/low starch diet, both basically live out 24/7 365, cob was easy to transition as long as you avoided flinty ground.

Pony would go literally hopping lame if she lost a shoe. She's been shod her whole life so 25 years.

Two years ago I moved yards and had her shoes taken off, for the first couple of months she was a bit sore on our hard core drive but otherwise has been perfect.

However both have only been in light work since removing the shoes.

It absolutely can be done using common sense and correct nutrition.
 
None of it is fancy, I'd be feeding the same regardless as it is also good for the rest of him but it does have to be approached with a bit of common sense with regards to listening to the horse and not assuming they will be able to do everything just the same straight away.
 
Depends on the horse, "transitioned" one of mine on chaff and mix no problem until spring grass came through but even then not bad but my rehab is very sensitive and have to get things right. Generally the more factors you have right the more consistent they'll be but some horses are just really easy and some aren't.
The one who's easy didn't even need his work reducing when his shoes came off but he did always have scruffy feet until we got a stone track and minerals balanced.
 
My lot just get hay and grass with one having magnesium for a skin issue and are fine.

One of my other transitioned on the above with just a vit and min supplement and boots a bit and was fine.
 
Mr H went barefoot with very little issue or change in routine. We took roadwork steady for a few weeks, and that was it: no special diet; no nothing. However, he's a Highland (there's a reason they're renowned for their feet) and there's very little in the way of stony hacking near us; so he was always at an advantage in that regard.

Your best bet is to have a proper chat with your farrier before you go about taking shoes off - they're the best-placed person to tell you how you should go about managing your horse in particular over the transition to barefoot. Every horse is slightly different: some will need next to no help; some will need an awful lot; and for some it just isn't feasible. It isn't a sure-fire way to save money, by any means.
 
Personally, I think the barefoot concept is one of those things that people can get carried away with, sometimes unnecessarily. Whilst I keep my horses barefoot, I am quite relaxed about the whole thing, however as others have said I think you do need a low-ish sugar diet, and a degree of work to get good feet.

I ended up unwittingly doing a barefoot rehab with my horse after he pulled both front shoes off and stood on the toe clip and puncturing his sole. He made such a mess of his feet, leaving very little hoof left, so I wanted to allow them to grow before putting shoes back on. Due to wet conditions, the cut wouldn't heel if he was turned out so he had to stay in and the only means of exercise (whilst keeping the hoof clean) was to walk in hand on tarmac. Also because he is a big hungry horse, i'd opted to feed him large feeds based on hifi lite and sugar beet with no hard feed to keep him entertained. So I ended up doing a BF transition without realising! After a couple of weeks his feet improved dramatically and at this point i questioned the need for shoes...got a trimmer...and realised i'd done most the work already.

I've since taken my youngster barefoot, again with no issues. It does work out a little cheaper, but I find the biggest benefit is not having to worry about lost shoes on critical days (always when you've made plans!). The only time i'd shoe is to compete on grass.
 
pennandh said:
Your best bet is to have a proper chat with your farrier before you go about taking shoes off - they're the best-placed person to tell you how you should go about managing your horse in particular over the transition to barefoot.
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I'm sorry but this isn't included in the standard training for farriers and I would guess that more than half farriers have not got a clue about transitioning a horse from shod to barefoot unless it's one of the ones which never notice the shoes have been taken off. Some are very good but you cannot assume they will be unless they have a lot of working unshod horses on their books.

My friend is hunting a horse tomorrow. Her farrier told her five months ago that there was no way in the world that his feet would cope without shoes. As it happens, not only do they, but it has also resolved navicular lameness that has plagued him for nearly two years. And when he met her the other day, he did not want to know anything about it. He's not a one off, unfortunately, farriers like him are still more common than not, ime.
 
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My FWCF was absolutely brilliant when I decided to retire my ex-eventer, who then became my ex-hunter and then (I thought) my ex-happy hacker. He advised me as to the timing of year/quality of feet and at first we just removed hinds. Nine months on we removed fronts as well - as part of the process he encouraged me to continue light hacking, albeit just around the farm. If we are both honest, the day he was put down (due to neurological issues) was the day he probably had the best quality feet of his life. Don't tar all farriers with the same brush.
 
gunnergundog said:
My FWCF was absolutely brilliant when I decided to retire my ex-eventer, who then became my ex-hunter and then (I thought) my ex-happy hacker. He advised me as to the timing of year/quality of feet and at first we just removed hinds. Nine months on we removed fronts as well - as part of the process he encouraged me to continue light hacking, albeit just around the farm. If we are both honest, the day he was put down (due to neurological issues) was the day he probably had the best quality feet of his life. Don't tar all farriers with the same brush.
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If this comment is aimed at my post, I didn't.
 
Well I must be doing it all wrong if I dont have fancy diets and specialist trimmers! Jeff hasn't worn shoes for 6 years. He is an exracehorse. He has never had an issue since taking them off. Gray is another exracer who has awful feet in training and now rock crunches with the best of the Shetlands without shoes on.

No one was transitioned, no one got fed anything different. They still don't. They mostly self trim though I will rasp around to tidy up once in a while.

How my horses aren't dead or have no feet left I will never know seeing as I didn't do it properly and am not paying £60 per trim from some so called professional that didn't spend 6 hears at Farrier school.
 
EKW please do not look down on those of us who don't have your balanced grazing and your healthy horses. You could not do what you have done if you had my land instead of yours, or if you had other peoples metabolically challenged horses instead of yours.
 
It Depends.

Just saying.

Mine live on lots of grass and also get fed Lucerne chaff, oats and hemp seed cake. My two Arabians, who did endurance have never had a problem. My TB/Clydie cross, who lives in the same paddock and eats the same food as the other two and doesn't do endurance is proving to be a bit of a challenge necessitating some out of the box thinking from both myself and my trimmer.

No two horses are alike and every ones situation will be different.
 
When I was a child, the riding school ponies would all have their shoes off for their holidays. They would just whip them off, turn them out for 6 weeks and leave them be. None seemed to suffer any ill effects.

My thb mare went barefoot very easily, also without much notice. The farrier just gave up trying to shoe her. She did have a very carefully thought out, energy-controlled diet anyway though and varied but relatively flat surfaces at the yard.
 
ycbm said:
EKW please do not look down on those of us who don't have your balanced grazing and your healthy horses. You could not do what you have done if you had my land instead of yours, or if you had other peoples metabolically challenged horses instead of yours.
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This. Lucky you EKW, adn everyone else saying how easy it is!

Mine was bf for two years before coming lame with ddft damage (navicular syndrome) in both front feet. He was fed appropriately and didn't often need a trim (from the farrier). Turns out he must have been walking toe first, his heels slipped forwards and I have a lame horse.

Going forwards I am going to have to put a lot of effort into managing his grass intake as he is affected by it, and trying to make sure it doesn't happen again. I won't be using my farrier for this, I will be getting a recommended trimmer to come, who will look at hi gait, his landing and the angles of his hooves. Instead of rasping them nicely so they look pretty.
 
ester said:
When is he due back SF?
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Friday! :biggrin3:

Spent yesterday rigging up some more fencing to keep him on the gravel, need to get hold of a wheelie bin so I can give him hay in something thats easy to fill/move. Then I'll spend the rest of my life arguing with my family over why its important to do this ;)

I'm really hoping I get the 3.5T hire box and not the 4T one thats limited to 56. 56mph is deadly on the horseless journey, 300 miles takes a long time at that speed!
 
EKW said:
Well I must be doing it all wrong if I dont have fancy diets and specialist trimmers! Jeff hasn't worn shoes for 6 years. He is an exracehorse. He has never had an issue since taking them off. Gray is another exracer who has awful feet in training and now rock crunches with the best of the Shetlands without shoes on.

No one was transitioned, no one got fed anything different. They still don't. They mostly self trim though I will rasp around to tidy up once in a while.

How my horses aren't dead or have no feet left I will never know seeing as I didn't do it properly and am not paying £60 per trim from some so called professional that didn't spend 6 hears at Farrier school.
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about 12 years ago I could have written your post. I had had lots of barefoot horses over many years, no problems, all dead easy, cost me nothing etc etc. What on earth was the fuss all about.

Then I got one that wasn't. That was a revelation. I became a lot more sympathetic to people struggling after that!!.
 
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