Sol
Well-Known Member
Kind of following on from my post yesterday... Please bear with me and my still intrigued/clueless-ish posts... I tend to prefer being able to just ask someone questions as it feels a lot safer than trying to work out if I've definitely understood something I've read, and most texts don't give simple, definite answers! I tend to worry about these things 
So. I had a look at Dan's feet today
His back feet look really nice? (please keep in mind this is just going off my inexperienced opinion, but then, I am used to looking at my own horses feet!). They're pretty symmetrical, the soles & frogs look great & when I looked at the angle of the wall and how it was growing, it seemed to be growing at the angle it wanted to all the way down pretty much which I take to be a good thing! They seem pretty solid and even with the road work are only a tad rough looking at the bottom, but he IS definitely due for a trim - and since all the reading I've done yesterday it appears 'barefoot' horses do infact need trimming more regularly even? This does sort of make sense tbh
His front feet though are quite perculiar! Again, the soles & frogs look good, the hoof itself though seems to be slightly more splayed/wider at the base/longer than the new growth when I got down on the wet ground (lovely weather here
) and had a good look. Interestingly, the new growth is a bit steeper, and actually appears to better match the angle of his pasterns than the older stuff which isnt so great. Also, looking at the foot when picked up, they are growing in a rather odd shape 
Not symmetrical at all and not 'round' really? Previously I'd have considered this awful, but from what I've read.... it isn't so bad? Is it worth just 'letting him grow the feet that work best for him' as such?
As I've said before, he certainly seems happy enough, even on the roads etc. Also feel much safer hacking in the rain, as we did yesterday, on roads I know to be slippy yet even in the rein... no slipping!
I would be interested to hear how other people, especially on livery yards, manage their barefoot horses and if they do anything 'differently'
Thanks, Sol x
So. I had a look at Dan's feet today
His back feet look really nice? (please keep in mind this is just going off my inexperienced opinion, but then, I am used to looking at my own horses feet!). They're pretty symmetrical, the soles & frogs look great & when I looked at the angle of the wall and how it was growing, it seemed to be growing at the angle it wanted to all the way down pretty much which I take to be a good thing! They seem pretty solid and even with the road work are only a tad rough looking at the bottom, but he IS definitely due for a trim - and since all the reading I've done yesterday it appears 'barefoot' horses do infact need trimming more regularly even? This does sort of make sense tbh His front feet though are quite perculiar! Again, the soles & frogs look good, the hoof itself though seems to be slightly more splayed/wider at the base/longer than the new growth when I got down on the wet ground (lovely weather here
) and had a good look. Interestingly, the new growth is a bit steeper, and actually appears to better match the angle of his pasterns than the older stuff which isnt so great. Also, looking at the foot when picked up, they are growing in a rather odd shape Not symmetrical at all and not 'round' really? Previously I'd have considered this awful, but from what I've read.... it isn't so bad? Is it worth just 'letting him grow the feet that work best for him' as such? As I've said before, he certainly seems happy enough, even on the roads etc. Also feel much safer hacking in the rain, as we did yesterday, on roads I know to be slippy yet even in the rein... no slipping!
I would be interested to hear how other people, especially on livery yards, manage their barefoot horses and if they do anything 'differently'
Thanks, Sol x
