ho hum.. the joys of not having shoes on after a long time being shod

Good on you blood_magik. Being older he may well have weaker hooves internally (longer in shoes) than a younger horse so just take your time and go with the flow. You have to think of it as a rehab period imo and there isn't a way of predicting how fast or slow it will go for an individual horse. Keeping him comfortable is a priority so boots and pads will be needed by the sound of it for him. The hooves need to be able to gradually get stronger without being over worked before they're strong enough if possible. A bit like physio...

Best of luck. x
 
Hi 16+is quite high starch *around 23% I think. Try d&h ers pellets they r 7% starch . U should b looking for under 10%ideally. Also Baileys ouydhine is good for weight gain and The oil vit E and selinium have already been balanced! X
 
he's on hifi senior, Alfa-beet and DH 16+
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I'd try and cut out all molasses from his diet, I've had to do that with my girl to get her feet good and strong. So the alfa-beet would be okay but I'd personally have him on HiFi molasses free, veteran vitality if he's showing his age or fast fibre if he isn't, and micronised linseed. You could also ad mag ox if you think he could benefit from it.

If you do eventually want to go barefoot with him anyway then there is no point putting shoes back on now without giving it a go at least as you'd probably still have these problems later
 
Hi, as you can see from the replies you have got so far, the focus is on diet. Everyone who takes the barefoot route soon finds that finding an appropriate diet with little or no sugar and starch, with a fibre from forage base is the key to a successful transition from shod to barefoot.
The boot suggestions are also key.
The management of a barefoot horse is in my view, more complex as every little change in environment, like weather, grazing etc will be reflected in the feet and you need to be flexible and aware enough to cope with this yourself.
If you feel you can do this and have everything in place, the horse will benefit greatly and be fine.
If however, you feel it is too challenging then the horse is better shod.
I hope you take up the challenge and have fun with it. There is nothing so empowering for a horse owner to be intimately aware of their horses feet and what affects them so much.
Good luck.
 
Many farriers can supply boots now... Skippys Mum on here (also west of scotland) got her Cavallo boots from the Ferries ;) They could also give advice on fitting and pads.
 
Waltzing Matilda said:
All these things affect shod horses too, just less lightly to show signs as the hoof Is damages by the shoe and restricted blood supply! !! Don't b fooled! !
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Thats true, but because the horse cannot feel whats going on, it doesn't suffer the same.

I'm not saying its right, I'd like to see barefoot the norm, where horses are well managed and comfortable with rock crunching self maintaining feet, but I don't think its going to happen any time soon.
 
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