he going barefoot so i need boot recomendatoins. and barefoot info

china

china

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weve made the decision to try my tb barefoot, he is constantly pulling his shoes off and making a complete mess of his feet so today i just said to my farrier and vet (he has navicular) what is the point in me paying for them when he is comstantly pulling them off and destroying his feet! so were going to give it a bash!
iv looked at these cavalo boots which look good. what are you recomendations?

ok and for the info needed part.
my tb has NEVER gone barefoot, hes always been shod and has held shoes well, but recently his hocks and back were injected so he is much free-er behind and is always pulling them off, now he has navicular that is under treatment with navilox and remedial shoeing and this is going great! he is going really well so its important i dont agrevate this!
he is stabled overnight on rubber matting, he has 2 winter paddocks, one sand and one gravel (small gravel) now the farrier says he wont cope going on their which i agree as he will be hopping for a while as hes very footy, abit like us walking on hot coals footy! now would i be right in putting him in this gravel paddock for a few hours a day to help strengthen his feet? his feet are currently in a bad way with him pulling his shoes off ( il pop a pick up of what he did last week) he is very flat footed so the farrier isnt to keen on letting him go barefoot completely unless it goes really well that is and i want him to stay that way!

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I use cavallo boots on my tb, the only thing I didnt like was that the pastern wraps moved but as they didnt seem to rub him I just stopped using them. The boots stay put and are really quick and easy to put on. I used easy boots before and they were really awkward to get on.
 
Easyboot Gloves for boots would be my number one choice. Slim fitting, very little hardwear. They don't do them big enough for my lad so we use Old Macs when needed which are clumpier but do the job well.

I think you'll need to look at his diet if you are going to successfully keep him barefoot. What's he eating now?

I'd also talk to a barefoot trimmer who has successfully rehabbed hooves at least for advice on what's best to do to get those hooves improving.

Also take a look at the UKNHCP forum - lots of discussion and info on there :)

Best of luck :)
 
From those event lines he clearly has lots of dietary issues that you will need to address if you want him to go successfully barefoot. It isn't just a case of removing the shoes in all but a few cases. If your farrier can't talk to you about suitable diet then there's loads of info on the internet or talk to a barefoot trimmer. If you let us know whereabouts you are I can probably recommend someone. I've helped transition quite a few thoroughbreds - it's a myth that they can't have great feet. You just need the right advice to get there. Going barefoot should also help his navicular but again you need to manage diet and environment. The gravel turnout sounds perfect!
 
I can't help you with barefoot boots, but my barefoot trimmer is amazing and may be able to give you some info as to what might be best for your horse. Pm me if you want her contact details.
 
he is fed on nuts and showshine chaff ( he is difficult to keep weight on but isnt in enough work to go on any conditioning food or he blows his top!) he is looking fantastic on this at the mo. he has also just started on equine america top form pellets (balancer)
he also gets pro feet hoof rub on his coronet band regularly.
i would be happy to change his diet but he isnt the easiest. if its to conditioning its like riding a rocking horse! but if its not the right food he will look like a hat rack. oh he has ad lib haylage, hes looking the best this winter than any other winter.
 
I use the easyboot gloves on mine, have used the old macs also but like the other poster said they are a bit clumpy, they did the job i needed though. Good luck
 
he is very close infront so would this easy boot be ideal? my only concern of the cavallo boot is its looks large and he is going to go arse over tit brushing his front feet together.
 
Get a proper, qualified barefoot trimmer. They know what they are talking about and you will need specialist advice. If you are in the east anglian area PM me and I'll give you details of mine. It is so easy having them barefoot and, although you'll probably neeed to give it some time, eventually you'll have a horse with much better overall feet. My horse has now been barefoot for 9 months and his feet are brilliant...and it is much cheaper than having them shod (and re-shod) all the time. Good luck and stick with it..there will be no quick fix here.
 
china said:
he is fed on nuts and showshine chaff ( he is difficult to keep weight on but isnt in enough work to go on any conditioning food or he blows his top!) he is looking fantastic on this at the mo. he has also just started on equine america top form pellets (balancer)
he also gets pro feet hoof rub on his coronet band regularly.
i would be happy to change his diet but he isnt the easiest. if its to conditioning its like riding a rocking horse! but if its not the right food he will look like a hat rack. oh he has ad lib haylage, hes looking the best this winter than any other winter.
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He might look fantastic but his feet don't! And that is down to diet. Showshine Chaff is packed full of molasses, as I suspect are the nuts you are feeding him (most are). In order to heal his feet he'll need to be on a low sugar/starch diet - pick feeds that don't contain molasses. Dengie have just come out with two new molasses free chops - Alfa-A Molasses Free and HiFi Molasses Free. Another feed I often recommend is Fast Fibre. If you are worried about him losing condition than it is far healthier to add condition through feeding oil based feeds than sugar based feeds. The easiest and cheapest way is to use micronised linseed. Add a mug or two in each feed.

Other feeds that I've used with success are Calm & Condition and the Winergy Equilibrium Lowe Energy mix - that one does contain Molglo, which is a derivative of molasses but about 5% of the sugar content of regular molasses. Not used personally but I know people whose horses have fabulous feet being fed Saracen Releve and EquiJewel Rice Bran. Another feed company you may find interesting to look into are Thunderbrook Horse Feeds - check out their website. It's very enllightening on big brand commercial horse feeds and what goes into them: http://www.thunderbrook.co.uk/
 
I have Old Mac G2s, bought to transition my two from living shoeless on soft, soggy ground to shoeless in a rocky desert. They now only use them if we are hacking out for any length of time to avoid any potential damage, but usually they are fine without them.

They have stood up well to the rigours of the terrain around here (rock, sand, gravel, scree, mud, water) and I can recommend them as transition boots.

I would agree your horse's diet is probably too sugary. Mine live on soaked oats, oat straw, alfalfa occasionally and the Anglo is supplemented with oil to keep his condition on.
 
My advice (as always) is get a 'good' experienced Trimmer involved in his care and listen to the dietry advice etc. A basic low sugar high fibre diet is essential imo. Failing that do loads of reading about diet on the barefoot sites.
'Feet first' book by Nic Barker and Sarah Braithwaite is a good buy.
 
thank you for the advice. oh he is also on alfa beet aswell, forgot to mention that one. he was on soya oil last year.
so i was thinking of putting him back on the hifi, either fast fibre. what about hifibre nuts? once the top form balancer has ran out i will put him on top spec balancer.
to be fair he used to just been on hifi and balancer and i could just add the oil and pro feet to it and leave the nuts out. sound any good?
 
My TB went barefoot for the same reason about 10 weeks ago. The first few weeks he was very footy, but is now loads better even on stoney ground. I ride him in Cavallo Simple boots which are amazing. We've done everything in them from plodding round the block to hunt rides, galloping, wading through mud and rivers and they've never rubbed once. I thoroughly recommend them.

I'd also recommend getting a barefoot trimmer, my farrier was fantastic, but my barefoot trimmer has worked wonders. I've also changed his food to Allen & Page Calm & Condition which is mollases free. He's quite difficult to keep condition on without getting fizzy but the A&P has been great and has helped his transition to barefoot too.

Going barefoot is the best thing I've done for him. I hope it all works out just as well for you :)
 
Hi,
I use the old mac boots I have 2 horses both barefoot now. I have the original old macs on my gelding that has been barefoot for 7yrs and the new design old macs on my other horse whom has been barefoot for 18 months. I only use them on the fronts if I am going on a particular hack that is seriously stoney, otherwise they are fine without. Have a look at Nic Barker's website Rockley farm. She lives in my area but hold lecture demos everywhere.

Most farriers have not been trained to trim correctly to barefoot so be careful how it is done. I am fortunate that my farrier is superb and have had no problems other than the initial 'footy' type when they first started barefoot. Diet is very important and if you see on Nic's website she too has a gravel paddock as part of her rehab strategy.

Good luck and stick with it as it wont happen over night but 12 months down the line you should have a happy horse.
 
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