Hoof Critique *Oberon & Barefoot Taliban* please

[fidleyspromise]

Hi,
Sorry for the pic overload. What do you think of these hooves? What would you do to improve them?

Horse is: exercised 3-4 x a week, hacked on roads and forest tracks/schooled in outdoor arena.
Diet: Bare paddock and ad lib hay. She was on formula4feet but (I don't think) her feet have had any improvement with it.
Breed: Highland Age: 10yrs old
Farrier is out every 6 weeks (although this time will be seven weeks). They're due to be done now!!

Left Fore:

Right Fore:

Left Hind:

Right Hind:

A few more at: http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b280/mishaspey/2012 - Ponies/?start=all

 

[cptrayes]

Your horse is shod (no! ) why are you asking the Barefoot Taliban, we don't believe in shoes

Happy to help, but if you do need comments, we need to see the feet when they are not overdue for shoeing.

 

[moorman]

I have found that Highlands with feet like those go through transition very well.
You have conflict between the nail and the hoof, hence the cracks from the nail down, in the more upright foot such as these it is usually due to the time between shoeing.
I would not hesitate if you were my client to advise you to go barefoot, I think the caudal 1/3 of all the feet are crying out to do it!
There is separation of the periople at the heels which is a sign of lack of expansion and contraction in motion, another good reason to go BF.
The farrier has used nice broad shoes so there may be some bearing on the waterline which will help with the transition but you will still have to wait for the new foot to grow down before the true shape, strength, and health of the feet are in action.

 

[rosie-ellie]

Its look weird seeing a set of hooves with shoes on after being barefoot/unshod for a few years. Glad i did my re-search and decided to remove my mares shoes.

 

[fidleyspromise]

Sorry We will be making the transition but want to get diet etc in place before just taking shoes off (that was my problem last time = it didn't go well).

Lol CPTrayes - can you tell she is shod

I'm going to wait until Autumn so I can work on getting her weight down to ideal, it then won't matter if she has time off while letting her feet have time to settle.

Thanks Moorman Farriers so far have advised she has to have shoes (that's 3 for 3 now).

Yep Rosie, I want to make sure I get it right before taking shoes off.

 

[cptrayes]

Aah, got it! Well they look like a good set of feet to go barefoot to me. I don't see any problems with doing it provided you get the weight off like you intend to and start in the autumn when the grass is dying off (but watch out for the October flush, my vet once told me they get more cases in October than in spring)

Low sugar, high fibre diet. Plenty of movement. I recommend yeast and magnesium oxide as a minimum for supplements. If she stays footie think about testing your grazing and hay for mineral balances, low copper/high iron/high manganese is a very common problem that will often cause footiness.

Good luck!


ps you do realise Moorman is a farrier, don't you? Just thought I'd point it out in case you don't

pps two farriers told me that my first barefoot horse would never be able to go shoeless. He evented affiliated ten months later.

 

[fidleyspromise]

I had realised that 1 out of 4 has recommended BF That's a better stat!

Thanks CPT. One thing I hadn't mentioned is her white line is weak and she had seedy toe last Autumn.

It is good to hear the stories on here where people have managed to get horses to go BF, when others have insisted they wouldn't. - same with the "all TBs have bad feet" and yet seeing the posts of TBs that had "bad feet" that have improved no end.

I'm going to put her on Fast Fibre and magnesium - will look into Yeast (where do you get it from)?

 

[cptrayes]

I feed yea-sacc now because I had trouble with extreme variability in brewers yeast. yea-sacc is a live yeast and you need less of it - 15g for a big horse. It's available on eBay but I actually feed it in Naf Haylage Balancer because I like the other mins and vits and the digestive stuff in it.

Weak white line will be a diet issue which will be why barefoot did not work for you first time round. If you are addressing her weight, you should have a lot more success this time.

 

[Oberon]

I've pm'd you .