Hoof boots on youngster?

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Darkwater

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I have a NF x who is 4 this year - she is barefoot (never shod) and although fine in the school, fields, yard etc seems quite foot sore when out on the road. She is fed adlib hay and a balancer which contains a hoof supplement, nothing else other than poor winter grazing. She had quite poor feet when I bought her 9 months ago as she had quite bad line disease and it took us most of last summer to get on top of it, but my farrier agrees they are in great condition now. I was hoping that as I built up her road work (all in hand/long reining at the moment) her feet would harden up a bit and she would lose some of the sensitivity but if anything she seems to be getting worse and it has got to the point that she is reluctant to go up and down the drive because it is quite stony and she obviously finds it painful. I really don't want her to lose her confidence for hacking out so I think I need to try a different approach but I am not really sure what the best option would be. My old mare wears hoof boots so my first thought was to try some front boots on her to see if this helps but I was wondering if anyone else had any suggestions or thoughts on what would be best for her? I also considered trying something like Keratex hoof hardener first but her feet aren't at all soft or weak, so I am not sure if it would be beneficial? I really don't want to shoe her if I can help it.
 
What balancer is she on? Would you consider swapping the balancer for something like the Forage Plus supplements?

I think that hoof boots are a good idea.
 
She has Topspec Lite - Her feet have improved drastically since she came to me and her started her on it but I will definitely consider Forage Plus, it's not something i've really looked at before so i'll do some reading, thanks. I think hoof boots might be the best way forward, I might just try them on her fronts first but I'm not sure which to try as she has tiny feet! My old mare has Cavallo simples which I really rate but I don't think their size 0's will be small enough.. I will have to get my tape measure out tonight.
 
mine was like that.. now 6yrs... also on top spec lite ;) I did lots of walking on the roads and she's actually fine now, never foot sore at all hacking- unless we come to 'gravel'.
I use naf hoof moist, but not that regularly really.
 
I would be looking to soaking her hay-have you had it analysed at all? I have Exmoors and I know my hay is 13.5% WSC-its also high in iron so I soak hay whenever they are on more than a token amount (about now, grass is also coming through now up here) and feed Pro Hoof. I think hoof boots are always a good idea to have anyway :)
 
I would try removing TS lite for a month and see if there is any improvement. TS balancer and TS comprehensive kept my horse foot sore for a long time before I realised.
 
Darkwater said:
She has Topspec Lite - Her feet have improved drastically since she came to me and her started her on it but I will definitely consider Forage Plus, it's not something i've really looked at before so i'll do some reading, thanks. I think hoof boots might be the best way forward, I might just try them on her fronts first but I'm not sure which to try as she has tiny feet! My old mare has Cavallo simples which I really rate but I don't think their size 0's will be small enough.. I will have to get my tape measure out tonight.
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Topspec seems to have a rep for being bad for bf horses - I haven't had a bad experience with it but when I was using topspec my mare wasn't in work at all.
Either something like the forage plus or you could look at a different balancer - I use the blue chip lamilight for my cob mare, she does really well on it, it's cheaper than the equivilant topspec product and has a lot more in it (plus you get every 9th bag free :-) )
 
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