Going Barefoot

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forever broke

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First of all, this is my first post so 'Hi'! :p
I have a 14.1 welsh X who's just turned 6. He's currently shod but due to money I've been wondering about having his shoes off. We do road hacking, a few days a week, with some schooling and jumping on a sirface in winter. In summer we hack and ride in our field which can get very hard when its hot and dry. He was unshod when first brought into work, but came in with bruised soles after trotting work in the field on hard ground. This was about six months after surviving grass sickness so his feet weren't great quality at the time. Does this mean that he's unlikely to cope barefoot? I had him shod after that and he has been ever since. I'm currently unable to get him off the yard for at least six weeks and ours field is a swamp so going to get his shoes off soon anyway. I thought it would be the ideal time to try to introduce barefoot if I was going to do it.
thanks,
 
Go for it! You can always use hoof boots in front if you are going to be doing a lot of road work. None of my horses are shod, including the TB ex-racehorse who arrived with dreadful TB feet - his hooves are hard with no cracks in now, and we finally cured his thrush (copper sulphate). He always has front boots on to go out on the road because of his soles being rather flat so he feels every stone, but works in the school barefoot. The others are barefoot all the time. I'd only put shoes on if I was jumping and needed studs, but I'm too old for all that now! One of the big advantages of barefoot is that they don't slip on the terribly slippery road surfaces we have round here - even road studs didn't stop a horse going over last summer on the steep road past our field when she was spooked and ended up on her side in the ditch - luckily only winded!
 
Thats another question I had actually, I've only ever seen the boots used in front, but my boy was bruised on his hind feet. Can you use them behind as well? And what about jumping?
 
Yes, you can use them behind, but a horse carries a higher percentage of weight on his front legs, so it's his front feet that wear down the fastest on roads. When I ride long distances on holidays (I stay at B&Bs with grazing for the horse and we do about 18-20 miles a day) I always put back boots on - simply because I don't know what the going will be like - could be flinty which would faze even an Arab!

You can jump in boots - I have out hacking, but if I were to be doing a lot of jumping, personally I'd have my horse shod so that I could use studs, although I believe that some hoof boots can have studs in. Best thing to do would be to contact www.thesaddleryshop.co.uk since they have a massive choice of hoof boots and would know more about using studs with hoof boots. The pair of hoof boots I'm using atm on my horse (who only has them on if she's just been trimmed, or if we're going to do a LOT of road work on a ride) are 2 years old now, and still like new, so it's been a really cheap option for me.
 
Op don't think barefoot is automatically cheaper. Horses that have problems may need boots. pads, extra minerals, grass restricting even soaked hay. Do lots of research yourself about hooves and barefoot.
I suggest you also do a search on barefoot here to get some ideas of what might be involved and work out some costs from there. Road work is usually good for barefoot horses but you need to listen to your horse and take things slow/at his pace at first. Think about how you would manage if he is unable to canter on hard ground in summer? Can you work round this, boots, reduce/change work etc. if needed?
If your horse has thinish soles etc. then looking at his diet and making changes a good couple of months before shoes removed is a good step to help him. Have a chat with your farrier, his support would be helpful, though of course not essential.
Join this forum and have a good read. http://phoenixhorse.myfastforum.org/index.php
 
I tried to do a bit of research on my own but felt a bit swamped! Will have a look on that forum thank you. I can't change his diet and tbh I would rather not try barefoot if I was going to have to mess his feeding about. He has an extremely delicate gut due to the grass sickness and can colic at the drop of a hat, he can't chew and swallow hay so can only manage haylage and he drops weight very easily. I'd be perfectly happy to get boots and take things steady when neccessary to help him adapt. Can you use your normal farrier though or does it have to be a specialist as I dont think we have any near me? Also, how do you manage if you need to use the boots in winter? The ones I've seen go up round the pasterns, I couldn't keep his legs dry enough to put these on when needed!
 
I would recommend you buy "Feet First" by Nic Barker and Sarah Braithwaite, before you do anything - it's my bible tbh. The most important element is diet.

Also do lots of searches on here and read as much as you can, there really is a lot to learn. After several years barefoot, I've just bought boots for Shy, as things do change all the time with hooves.

Good luck :)
 
Yes, it can be very overwhelming. The basics are low sugar/carb high forage diet with good levels of minerals, lots of comfortable exercize over varying terrain increasing at the horses pace. If he spends most of his time in a field and stable don't expect him to cope with rough surfaces without gradually building up over time or use boots for difficult surfaces.

I totally understand his diet issues and if haylage suits him, no problem. He may need a decent balancer and gut support if not already on them.

Re your farrier, it depends. lol. It may be wise to remove shoes when due to be reshod and not trim at all for two to three cycles. Chat to farrier and see what he says and ask if he has any working barefoot horses on his books, the latter is key. Check for thrush and treat if needed.

Here's sheet produced by a very sensible vet practice http://gallery.myff.org/gallery/1257585/barefoot.pdf

Getting hold of a copy of Feet First is a good idea.
 
Dont go barefoot because of cost but if it is right for your horse. It doesn't suit all. My 6 year old Arab has always been barefooted. However I do use hoofboots (renegades) for long distance road work. We do about 70 miles a week out hacking on all terrain. Boots can be pain- especially in all this mud- no fun retrieving lost boot from 8 inches of mud and water! so i tend to pop them on for the roads, but dont use all the time- depends how hoofs are wearing
Bare foot is not always a cheaper option, I use a hoof trimmer every 6 weeks £45 a time- plus with the amount of miles I do wear through boots- good boots that stay on are about £80 each. I reckon save some money but not a lot. I only use boots on fronts. However the wet weather has meant hoofs softer than usual and had some bruising because of this- dry weather= hard hoofs, wet weather=softer hoofs. As others have mentioned low sugar diet is best.
 
forever broke said:
I I can't change his diet and tbh I would rather not try barefoot if I was going to have to mess his feeding about. He has an extremely delicate gut due to the grass sickness and can colic at the drop of a hat, he can't chew and swallow hay so can only manage haylage and he drops weight very easily.
Click to expand...

I'm no expert but I think you might find that a barefoot diet could suit him very well. I think there are many barfoot horses who do just fine on haylage.

I've found the trick with the diet is to find what works for you. The minerals can be really helpful too.
 
Thank you all for your advice, I need to save all these links and take some time to go through everything I think. One of the things that concerned me was that one of the first things I saw about diet said hay not haylage, which I can't do, and not alfalfa. I've just changed him onto a alfalfa chaff with added stuff to support his gut so don't want to change that again! He's fed ad-lib haylage with healthy tummy chaff and speedi-beet so actually think that's not bad from what you guys have said. I'm sure I'll be back with questions once Ive read all your links!
 
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