Going barefoot

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deprezcl

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Hi, I have been having problems with my horses feet even though she has been on hoof supplements for over a year. Everytime my farrier drives a nail it goes in fin but when he tries to tighten the clench it just slices down through the foot. In consultation with my farrier and vet we have decided to let her go barefoot but because she has quite sensitive feet and goes lame if she is without shoes for more than one day we have decided to use equicast to help protect her feet until they harden.
Does anyone have any experience in how long it takes for a horses feet to harden up after going barefoot?
 
Mine was absolutely fine straight away, probably no help to you? He had been shod for 10 years and I decided to take him barefoot and have never looked back
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You need to do some research, just type in "barefoot horse" into google and you will get lots of information.

Pete Ramey and KC La Pierre and Jamie Jackson are the best known USA barefoot practicitioners, but there are some heart-warming stories of horses rescued from the brink of being PTS with foot problems on the UK websites as well.

It is a bit like saying you are starting organic farming. It isn't just a case of taking off the shoes (like not just stopping using sprays), it tends to be a whole system, although quite feasible.

My horse had excellent feet when barefoot. I put shoes back on this year, for showing, although I can see that the shape of his feet is getting worse, despite having a good farrier who is barefoot-friendly (some aren't) and he wants to take his shoes off for the winter.

Good luck.
 
My pony was sore for a few weeks, although it was in the middle of summer and the ground was hard. With the ground soft as it is at the moment it shouldn't cause her too many problems. Iv'e got Marquis Supergrip boots for him when I ride him on hard ground and the roads, although he is now up to trotting on the roads barefoot. They can wear the boots in the field if you want but not for too long (not 24 hours a day). We had to seperate my pony from my other horse for a while as she used to chase him round the field trying to get him to play and he was hobbling round like a cripple! He is fine now though, he used to get nail bind every time he was shod.

You may find that her feet will crack and look awful to start with but this is just the foot adjusting, once they have had a few trims they will be fine. So don't panic if they look awful to start with!
 
Def get some hoof boots to help with transition phase of taking off the shoes, they are great and will make horse comfy while the hooves get used to their new freedom!

marquis, boa, old macs etc are all good makes and some places let you hire before you buy.

agree with the post above too, even once fully comfy with barefoot the hooves may occasionally get a bit of a chip in them, this is normal and doesnt mean horse will come unstuck! if sharp or may catch you can rasp it off easily to just smooth it out.

good luck!!
 
Mine are barefoot - Cairo was too and for him this was the best thing ever - for the first time he stopped having thrush, hemorraging and other problems. Chancer has never had shoes. My old gypsy mare also had her shoes off and was happy to do several miles on the road weekly - but her feet were like iron. I have had Farra's shoes off - she had only worn them for about a year.

I feed black sunflower seeds - for mine it really does give strong fast growing feet.

You do get the odd chip, I just leave them or if showing, rasp it tidy myself. Mine don't do lots of roadwork so for them it works.

You could also use boots but you do need to also carefully work on toughening the feet up. Keratex hoof hardener is another excellent product.
 
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