Going "barefoot" without any fancy diets/transitioning?

Praying along with you for the 3.5 ton stencilface as like you say it's a hell of a journey in a car nvm a box with a limiter on it! Very jealous of your gravel area btw... currently trying to talk my YO into letting me fence off part of her woods for mine to go in during the day for the next few months to try and avoid stabling. I feel like I spend my life thinking up new and ingenius ideas to get enough calories into mine to prevent weight loss whilst minimising grass (and sugar intake) without stabling (horse gets stressy if in too much which totally kills the whole avoiding weight loss idea!). Cushings and associated weight loss coupled with grass sensitivity and nativeness is such fun!

I envy those whose horses cope with less than ideal management and stay sound. I'd like to order one of those as my next horse please as current model is far too breakable! (And to those who would say "Well shoe the blooming thing then!" trust me he's a lot sounder and happier without them and no doubt all his previous farriers are all very happy they don't have the deal with him any more!)
 
FfionWinnie said:
I was trying to see him too but couldn't see a recent update!

Come on SF what's the story? Good I hope.
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paddy555 said:
SF, what is he doing now? is he ridden etc? I could look on the Rockley blog if I knew his name!!
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There's been no update for a while, but I imagine there might be one when he goes? He is ready to be ridden now I think as has been doing lots of in hand work. He is Norman on there.

I visited a few weeks back and he was not pleased to see me the little toe rag, refused to be caught. I think he's having far too much fun with Nic and his bff Josh.

Boulty - its our access track so isn't particularly ideal with getting in and out, but he can access the stable area where there's a bit of grass and some scrubby tress. I'm thinking of cutting one back so he can walk through the rubbish hawthorn/elder thats there for a bit of novelty - its not a big area! We are with any luck having an arena put in next to the yard in the next couple of months so it might be a bit slap dash if there's diggers etc around, and he might have to be stabled some days or just turned out every so often in the day. I'm planning on letting him out with the herd overnight, but fencing him on gravel with my fat WHW pony in the day.

I blame the fact that he's a 1/2 Luso 1/4 TB and 1/4 NF on the fact that he can't seem to eat grass without blowing up like balloon, and I wouldn't even consider our grass to be that rich, there's lots of herbage (well, thistles,nettles, birds foot trefoil, selfheal, buttercups) as well as grass and lots of browse. And it hasn't had fertiliser (bar horse poo obviously ;) ) on it for over 25 years.

This time I'm taking my dad for company, he can't drive the box but I just need someone there to keep me awake. I had to stop for a nap on the way back in my car a few weeks ago! :o
 
It is very individual.
My old girl went from fully shod to just in front when she was 7 months in foal and barefoot completely 6 weeks later. Never had a sore step and was ridden lightly in walk to 9½ months preggers (including on stony ground). when she came back into work post foaling I didn't shoe her again and she competed PSG/Inter I to the age of 19yo. Still barefoot and happy at 27yo.

My other mare struggled mightily without shoes and ended up putting her foreshoes back on when the foal was 3 months old. She was in eggbars due to a desmotomy op some years previously and she plain didn't cope without them. tried to keep her barefoot behind but even with boots didn't cope, so after 12 months I gave in and put her hinds back on.

Both fed the same (all mine are on low starch/low sugar diet).
My three homebreds are all barefoot including the whitefooted chestnut
 
Mine walked straight out of shoes without any diet change, transitioning etc. I took them off to help with his tripping, not to save money.

Things changed the following spring though and I had to make a decision to shoe or go down the "fancy" route. I had to get front boots (which were really difficult to find for my boy) and make some big changes to his diet and management. He has a history of being allowed to get very obese in the past, so I expect is slightly insulin resistant, and spring grass wrecks him. If your horse is healthy, sound, well shod with good hooves, already on a good low sugar and high fibre diet etc then it may well be easy, you won't really know till you try. You just have to apply some common sense in the beginning with work load and surfaces.

Remember a lot of the transitioning stories you hear are horses who are going barefoot because they have issues.
 
I keep mine barefoot (barefoot trimmed, not just unshod and done by the farrier). I have never followed a specific "barefoot" diet. Mine all vary, two have never been shod so they're fine, one was shod his whole life and one was shod during eventing season then his shoes were taken off over the winter. So a varied lot. I've never done anything different and all seem fine and I have no issues. Mine are fed normal cubes (although I generally try to keep their feed low sugar just for their general health more than because their barefoot), get ab lib hay and live out 24/7. Two are retired but the other two compete barefoot - both hacking out and competing on a surface and on grass.
 
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