Hoof Boots - why?

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Sprig

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I am interested to know why some people use hoof boots instead of just being barefoot. Is it simply the case that those horses can't cope (maybe temporarily) with what they are being asked to do with no shoes on? I have a TB who has always struggled with his thin soles and bruises easily. I am thinking that going barefoot may help him as his soles will thoughen up and he will be less prone to bruising. I do worry though that he will never cope with stony going for example. He has had a few years off but before that we did endurance and would like to go back to that. Would his best option be to go barefoot with a view using hoof boots and and when required and wean him off them if possible? I now have a small child and work 3 days a week so will probably get somebody to help with riding him so may nto necessarily be able to proscribe the exact variety of exercise he gets, road work etc. Thanks
 
This thread of mine may help
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=593986

My young TB is barefoot and his feet are slowly coming right. I've decided not to use hoof boots as on reading the Rockley farm info it's possible that hoof boots may almost cause the horse to do too much before it's ready and I've found some studies that show they don't help much with concussion.

Also on advice on that thread it seems he's probably outgrow them quite quickly anyway.

I have used boots in the past but that was with my old mare when she had lami and it helped her to and from the field over stony ground. They are a pain in the bum to use I find.

If you search you'll find loads of threads on barefoot and boots and which are the best ones to use if you decide to go that route
 
I use them because I don't work Ben enough to go barefoot; I hack out usually about three times a week for about 2 hours, for him to be comfortable on all surfaces ( he's fine on the road) I need to build it up really, I'm just too lazy! Plus he's had problems with frogs this year beacause of the wet weather

He's been in them for over two years now, I love them, he loves them, its cheaper than having him shod and I can take them off after our ride :) He's 22 years old now and still has the joints of a pony half his age, no supplements just magnesium/salt/linseed and FF

I don't find them a pain in the bum, takes all of 5 mins to put them on
 
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Angie, I think that might be my problem that he will not get enough work on the right surfaces to buil up the foot. Do you find yours is OK barefoot in the field? I am concerned that if he is not doing the work to thicken the sole (not sure if that is the right term) then he will still be prone to bruising in the field and I may be better off sticking with shoes anyway, or do you find that going barefoot except from riding has made a difference to the hoof? Out of interest what boots do you use? What breed is your horse?

JVB I will look at your thread, thanks.
 
your horses soles will thicken with correct trimming. Farriers like to scrape away the sole when shoeing, but when they do a barefoot trim, they should leave the sole well alone. My old horse, a 27yr old wb x tb, successfully went barefoot aged 24 (he was only shod on front from aged 20) and he had rock crunching feet. i did consider hoof boots, but i changed his diet a little more (so there was next to no sugar in it at all) and he improved greatly. He would happily work on any surface.
 
ive a youngster who has recently gone barefoot, my trimmer has offered to lend me some hoof boots if he needs them but im going to do my best not to need any by building his feet up slowly on hard ground. I think the idea of the hoof boots is to get the horse confidently using his feet the right way until they are good enough to go it alone. PS with regards to no shoes in the field Ive got 5 with no shoes and they've never had a problem.
 
I don't think there would be any issues in the field with no boots. I find them handy at the start of the season when conditions are wet and the grass is starting to be very sugary just for our stony tracks. After a few weeks I don't use them at all but I do think they are useful to have.
 
Sprig, he has no problem at all on the field or any surface other than stoney. He goes like a rocket on the beach without boots on :)

I use Cavallo's, suits his hooves really well, stay put and are the cheapest! I do use Easyboot gaitors with them though not the ones they come with, they are next to useless. He's a Welsh X , was shod for the best part of 15 years.

I guess some people are lucky; I know people who have overweight horses, fed all sorts of mixes ridden every now and then and still have hooves to die for!
 
Sprig said:
I am interested to know why some people use hoof boots instead of just being barefoot. Is it simply the case that those horses can't cope (maybe temporarily) with what they are being asked to do with no shoes on? I have a TB who has always struggled with his thin soles and bruises easily. I am thinking that going barefoot may help him as his soles will thoughen up and he will be less prone to bruising. I do worry though that he will never cope with stony going for example. He has had a few years off but before that we did endurance and would like to go back to that. Would his best option be to go barefoot with a view using hoof boots and and when required and wean him off them if possible? I now have a small child and work 3 days a week so will probably get somebody to help with riding him so may nto necessarily be able to proscribe the exact variety of exercise he gets, road work etc. Thanks
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Hoof boots are a tool to use.

Circumstances where they can come in helpful are;

Horses transitioning from shod to bare who don't have access to comfortable surfaces. Work transforms hooves but some horses need help to be able to work comfortably - hence boots (and pads) being great in this circumstance.

Metabolically challenged horses (my Cushing's chap has thin spots to his soles despite meds and diet).

Horses who's diet lends them to being uncomfortable on hard surfaces (some owners would rather use boots than change the diet).

Horses living in soft/wet ground who's owner wants to go for a longer hack than usual.

Horses who's frogs have been eaten by thrush.

Horses doing high level endurance who's owners feel boots are needed.

I can send you some generic advice on going barefoot via pms :).
 
Thanks for the PMs Oberon.

I think we are OK on the diet front as he lives out but has acess to the concrete yard where he has as a large haynet at night. He generally does not require supplementary feed but if he does he gets high fibre nuts and Alfa-oil (I gather this may cause issues for some, not others). We are shortly going to move from having him at home to livery so I imagine he will be in at night, at least in winter. Hacking at the new house is likely to be almost all open grassland and grass tracks with no stone and little road work hence wondering if his feet are ever going to improve enough for no boots.
I may have the option of sending him to Rockley to start him off. Any general thoughts and also is there much point if once he come home i am unlikely to be able to give him much work on varied surfaces?
 
Sprig said:
I am interested to know why some people use hoof boots instead of just being barefoot. Is it simply the case that those horses can't cope (maybe temporarily) with what they are being asked to do with no shoes on? I have a TB who has always struggled with his thin soles and bruises easily. I am thinking that going barefoot may help him as his soles will thoughen up and he will be less prone to bruising. I do worry though that he will never cope with stony going for example. He has had a few years off but before that we did endurance and would like to go back to that. Would his best option be to go barefoot with a view using hoof boots and and when required and wean him off them if possible? I now have a small child and work 3 days a week so will probably get somebody to help with riding him so may nto necessarily be able to proscribe the exact variety of exercise he gets, road work etc. Thanks
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Well now he is shod all round. But before he was barefoot on the yard but hacking I had front hoof boots on as he found it more comfortable with them on then barefoot. Back feet were barefoot too and only had boots while we were doing some corrective shoeing.


Turned out we had to go the shoe route now, as things did not work out barefoot anymore.
 
Leviathan said:
And sometimes diet has nothing to do with it and the horse is still uncomfortable on stony ground so you need the boots.:)
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I believe that diet rarely has nothing to do with horses being uncomfortable on stony ground.

I reckon that almost all horses could, with the right work, the right diet and if they are not fat, be perfectly sound on all surfaces but some of them would require complete removal from any fresh green food. Not surprisingly, many owners think it is better to shoe than to go to that extreme if the feet are the only issue.

It's also my belief that the overwhelming majority of horses that cannot be made comfortable on stony ground with what appears to be a reasonable diet and exercise regime would, if tested, show positive for one of the metabolic diseases.
 
cptrayes said:
I believe that diet rarely has nothing to do with horses being uncomfortable on stony ground.

I reckon that almost all horses could, with the right work, the right diet and if they are not fat, be perfectly sound on all surfaces but some of them would require complete removal from any fresh green food. Not surprisingly, many owners think it is better to shoe than to go to that extreme if the feet are the only issue.

It's also my belief that the overwhelming majority of horses that cannot be made comfortable on stony ground with what appears to be a reasonable diet and exercise regime would, if tested, show positive for one of the metabolic diseases.
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I know you know your thing but we covered every aspect before we shod. We went along time barefoot but due to his change in work load since his mum illness the sponsored rides we go on are highly flinty stony fields.

Diet was the first thing we changed (even just been in touch with D&H in the last 5 mins we tweaked his diet again)Even the tailored diet had no effect on his footy he isnt footy normaly its when we go on stony bridle paths he tried to climb the banks onto the soft bits. He has always had hard strong feet which he got from his mum. The farriers always said how they have to sharpen their tools before they do them. But on stony flinty ground he found it hard sometimes (not every stride)



So in our circumstance shoeing was the only way. If you we closer CP/Oberon you could gladly help but I have to go by my farrier and nutrition person.:)

The main issue was a farrier who trimmed him 5 years ago *cked his feet and his mums. His feet now grow more on the insides so he walks like a cowboy the last week before trimming / shoeing, this was the main reason for the action which also cause his back to go out. He would wear feet out this way we tried 5 years to correct them. He never had an issue before then (tho still didn't like big flints). I even had his feet done 4 -5 weeks to stop the insides growing this way . That farrier has a lot to answer for .:(
 
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Well until we find the route cause of my horses low grade lami (suspect metabolic issues) then I am told my horse will always need to be booted to be ridden. But booting to me is preferable to shoeing as I can put the boots on and ride her and then take them off when she out in the field etc, cant do that with shoes ;)

I havent ruled out shoeing again in the future at some point even if just for the worst of the grass growing period but hope I dont need to.
 
Leviathan said:
I know you know your thing but we covered every aspect before we shod.
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I am not suggesting that you should have done, but did you try removing him from grass completely for 6 months? Most horses would come right on that regime but most owners would not be prepared or able to keep their horse that way.

The main issue was a farrier who trimmed him 5 years ago *cked his feet and his mums. His feet now grow more on the insides so he walks like a cowboy the last week before trimming / shoeing, this was the main reason for the action which also cause his back to go out. He would wear feet out this way we tried 5 years to correct them. He never had an issue before then (tho still didn't like big flints). I even had his feet done 4 -5 weeks to stop the insides growing this way . That farrier has a lot to answer for .:(
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I'm sorry Leviathan but I find it completely impossible to believe that a trimmer 5 years ago is responsible for your horse's unbalanced feet today. In my own experience, and in all my research, feet are far more adaptable than that and would put themselves right in that time if allowed to.

Perhaps the corrections that your farrier tried for 5 years to make his feet accept were simply not the way he needed his feet to be? If a horse grows one side of his feet more than another the reason is usually an imbalance somewhere else in his body. I have a rehab hunting for his second week running tomorrow with feet that are completely odd and unbalanced looking. He is, of course, sound or he would not be going out. But for the past 4 years he has been lame while different farriers tried to impose upon him the symmetric feet that they thought he should have.

It would have been very interesting to see what happened to your horse if he had been kept barefoot, worked precisely the amount he needed to work to self trim, and allowed to grow the shape of feet that he was trying to.

Of course it is always possible that your horse was an exception, but I think he would have been a rare one.
 
cptrayes said:
I'm sorry Leviathan but I find it completely impossible to believe that a trimmer 5 years ago is responsible for your horse's unbalanced feet today. In my own experience, and in all my research, feet are far more adaptable than that and would put themselves right in that time if allowed to.


Of course it is always possible that your horse was an exception, but I think he would have been a rare one.
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Well sorry to say but Mr SG is responsible for his feet, the farrier has a nick name which I cannot say on here as it is similar to his real name but I know many people who have said he has done a bad job on the feet of the horse. I had him for about a year then got rid of him. He was not a barefoot trimmer but a farrier.


So he must be a rare one, I have had many farriers since most move on to new pastures, all have said the same thing. All I know is my boy had normal feet before this guy touched them.
Also my mare got corns after he shod her the first time, and got corns intermittently after. Once I got rid of the farrier she never had a corn again. I guess when this guy first started my boy was young, bones not finished knitting together etc, a very impressionable time. Which In no doubt has had an influence in his gate.


I then had a barefoot trimmer for a while who was very good - she also said the same thing. Sadly the other barefoot horse left the yard and she would not come just for one.. She did spectrum pictures each time
 
I've no idea what a spectrum picture is?

How old was your horse when the bad farrier started to do him, and how old when he finished? Just curiosity as to how he managed to wreck a horse for life.
 
CPTrayes - re Spectrum pictures - so glad you asked! :-) I've no idea either.....

Before I had to take some time out I had over 200 horses on the books. A very small number of them were more than usually problematic and struggled with stoney going in the longer term. Mostly they had obviously thin soles. Probably about 50% were found to be Cushings and about 30% had liver problems. The soles on these improvd when the metabolic problem was allievated satisfactorily. Maybe 2 obviously had some sort of metabolic issue but the vets were at a loss to identify it, I suspect one of them had an intolerance to Rape Seed or the chemicals used to grow it but was surrounded on all sides by the stuff. These also had sick soles. The problematic ones benefited hugely from the judicious use of boots and common sense by their carers.

A further 2 had permanent internal damage to one front hoof, but neither of these particularly had sole pain. The soles were excellent on one and a work in progress on the other.

In my dreams I wish for a future where vets push the boundaries of whole horse investigation/diagnosis. There may be a good profit stream for the pharma co.s and switched on vets when they have a mind for it. And if it helps the horses then within reason I'm all for it.
 
Lucy hi! I am so glad that you are still with us on HHO and feeling well enough to comment on the forum. Your stats seem to agee with my gut feeling and I completely agree with you regarding "whole horse" veterinary care.




Leviathan can I clarify a bit where my thoughts are going? A horse may well be trimmed unbalanced when young enough for that to cause the growth plates to produce uneven leg development. (Though I believe the window for that kind of adjustment is when the horse is very young.) If that happened, then in my experience the horse would subsequently produce asymmetric hoof growth to compensate for the legs not being straight. It so, it would be quite likely to be highly detrimental to have someone continually removing the adaptations the horse is trying hard to make, possibly even to the point of lameness.
 
In case Leviathan doesn't come back to us on this one, I think I know what a spectrum picture may be. K C la Pierre (Equine Podiatry) uses a "spectrum of use" scale to tell owners how well their horses are doing.

My problem with that spectrum is that I know of many horses who simply didn't agree with their spectrum of use scale. My favourite example was a friend of mine whose EP trimmer did her horse for the first time and advised her that on the basis of his spectrum of use the horse should be walking in boots and pads. There was only one problem with this. The horse was already hunting barefoot half a dozen times a month :D
 
Hiya CPTrayes - thank you! :-) I've got another week/10 days of 'freedom' then a couple more months of the 'cosh' and then post recovery from that should be back on the road!

Yes - I think you are right re the Spectrum reference. I have problems with it too - and the model used in the NB barefoot trim.

Re human induced wonkiness

I've personally worked on a successful ex racehorse who must have been shod at not much more than 6 months - judging by the size and shape of his hooves which were most definitely more resembling foal feet than fully grown 16hh+ mature horse. Very definitely distorted by shoeing from an early age and when I came across them the trimming (for shoeing) was 'unsympathetic' to say the least.

The hooves over many many months have changed tremendously - but they will never be normal. However the horse is sound and in significant work.

I have also worked on a pony with a fairly extreme birth defect. To compensate one front foot is effectively rotated round by 90 degrees. First time I met pony was when it was prancing through long grass and my first impression was 'what beautiful movement'. The wonky foot is exactly what the pony needs and according to the owner previous attempts by others to straighten the foot had left the pony crippled. This pony does need very regular and careful trimming the wonky foot grows like a weed, faster than the other three and can make the overall limb longer than the pony can cope with. Probably my oddest case, but a very satisfying one.

And then there was my old horse (still miss her dreadfully) who due to accident as a youngster had one forelimb slightly shorter than the other. She grew an extra tall foot on that side to compensate - it looked the same as the other fore - just taller.
 
Lucy I have just found this picture of my rehab hunting last Saturday. He is the chestnut with the big white face. Just to recap, he was unsound for most of 4 years including with bar wedges and a period of a year in the field without shoes on. I don't see how any farrier can shoe for a deviation like this - which as it happens only appears at speed, not at walk or trot. And yet the horse at nearly ten years old has produced adaptations that have brought him stonkingly sound.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/harwood-images/8460800570/in/photostream
 
Is his leg really as bent as it looks in that pic cp or is it the pic? He is looking great, well done you, you must be so proud.

Is he yours or will he go back to his previous life?
 
Fantastic! - what a beautiful boy :-) (but he will have to try harder to match wonky pony :-) )

I forgot to mention the racehorse had been abcessing continuously on both fronts for six months before I met his owner (who is the most amazing horseperson). Largely due to the unsympathetic shoeing/trimming which had allowed the internal structures to become badly damaged as a consequence.

Due to the circumstances boots were vital to his recovery - trad style livery so no surfaces etc and no chance of and horse was in a cycle of every time hooves were used (even on soft surfaces) they got damaged. The boots (Cavallos with pads) broke the cycle.

BTW - the Cavallos from above now look extremely worn, resembling the sorting hat from Harry Potter, but they are still intact and are now being used to rehab another extreme case.
 
FfionWinnie said:
Is his leg really as bent as it looks in that pic cp or is it the pic? He is looking great, well done you, you must be so proud.

Is he yours or will he go back to his previous life?
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He really is bent. It doesn't show unless you look very closely when he is stood up, walking or trotting. But in fact he doesn't have a straight leg on his body. They twist very subtley in all directions. That particular leg, as I recall, is a straight line from the elbow to the fetlock, but the top twists one way and the cannon the other, and then the fetlock, as you can see, deviates considerably, but only desperately noticeably in canter.

I believe that's why he was unsound for so long. He was shod to xrays (twice by two different farriers I believe) but how do you shoe for that level of deviation at speed? Luckily he knows exactly how to build a foot that fits his legs.

I'll be quite honest, I am thrilled to bits with his soundness.

He's mine, I was given him. I offered him back but his old owner's change of circumstances mean that she isn't in any position to take him. That's why she gave him to me in the first place, but I felt honour bound to offer him back since he has come good so well and so soon. She wants me to keep him. I plan a summer of arena eventing with him - he jumps - his father was a Grand prix showjumper - and he has a very decent action for dressage as well. Oh and he's a teddy bear in the stable, too :D
 
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