Holly Hocks
Well-Known Member
My mare is going to have her shoes taken off in a few weeks. She has been diagnosed with navicular and after reading all the great stuff on here about barefoot, I'm going to give it a go.
She is a 9 year old TB who had lived on the fell for a few months before I got her. Her feet were amazing. She had no shoes on but had a bit of a trim the day before they delivered her from the racing yard. I hacked for ages with no shoes, and it was only when she did a trot up at a vet school that they told me she needed shoes on. So I put them on, she has not been sound since.
Anyway - that's too much information. Basically, she has been on Fast Fibre for a few weeks and now I've started to add magox and brewer's yeast and micronised linseed, in order to prepare for barefoot. She now won't touch it. I don't want to add molasses because of the sugar content. Tonight, I chopped an apple so small, it was almost grated, with one carrot in equally small almost invisible pieces. She spent 45 minutes picking every bit of carrot and apple out, but wouldn't touch the Fast Fibre which had the supplement in. Due to a ligamant problem, she is having the rest of winter off work - daytime turnout and in at night, and she only has one feed a day as she won't eat in the mornings because all she wants to do is get to the field. So all I want her to do, is eat one small feed in the evening, and she has as much haylage as she wants. I tried Turmeric as my old boy loved that - she wouldn't touch it. Any other non-sugar ideas? She is a diva - it's like watching a supermodel push a salad round their plate, watching her eat!
She is a 9 year old TB who had lived on the fell for a few months before I got her. Her feet were amazing. She had no shoes on but had a bit of a trim the day before they delivered her from the racing yard. I hacked for ages with no shoes, and it was only when she did a trot up at a vet school that they told me she needed shoes on. So I put them on, she has not been sound since.
Anyway - that's too much information. Basically, she has been on Fast Fibre for a few weeks and now I've started to add magox and brewer's yeast and micronised linseed, in order to prepare for barefoot. She now won't touch it. I don't want to add molasses because of the sugar content. Tonight, I chopped an apple so small, it was almost grated, with one carrot in equally small almost invisible pieces. She spent 45 minutes picking every bit of carrot and apple out, but wouldn't touch the Fast Fibre which had the supplement in. Due to a ligamant problem, she is having the rest of winter off work - daytime turnout and in at night, and she only has one feed a day as she won't eat in the mornings because all she wants to do is get to the field. So all I want her to do, is eat one small feed in the evening, and she has as much haylage as she wants. I tried Turmeric as my old boy loved that - she wouldn't touch it. Any other non-sugar ideas? She is a diva - it's like watching a supermodel push a salad round their plate, watching her eat!
