Hooves, barefoot & Devils Claw??

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WishfulThinker

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Ok, My boy has recently had his shoes off as he only had them put on as he was doing lots of comps last year with his loanee. He was shod before and had tiny feet for a rather largly built cob type. These have now rather nicely spread out - except his hind feet which are still realtively small (so said farrier). These 2 feet are white - could this be why they are not spreading out as much??

All 4 however are nicely concave and so he doesnt have much of his sole on the ground, but he is of course a little foot sore - and I know he will be for a while longer. I am considering adding Devils Claw into his feed for the next month or 2 just to take the edge off as we have to go over a stoney area to get to the school and to the field, and same for hacking - they are stoney tracks.

I do not really wish to have shoes back on him as he is always more of a handful when he has them on (bizarre link I know!) and LOVES to trot like mad on the roads and kick things and generally hear himself make a racket. Am considering fronts though as he is croup high and back feet are more concave than front.


Anyway..............if I put him on Devils Claw will it jsut mean that it will still be sensitive when I stop it? Or will his feet do as I expect and harden?
 
I wouldn't have thought that they are spreading out less as they are white.

You know Devil's claw is actually aspirin, so that will serve as a pain killer and also help blood flow. If he only has to cross that stony area and not stay on it, and the rest of the time he is comfy then perhaps not bother with it?

If you trust your farrier then let him decide whether to have shoes on or not at the front. They know best after all....
 
a couple of good tips for hardening and strengthening (long and short term)
1) seaweed in the food is great for coat feet etc... i have used it myself and can vouch for the effects.
2) in the short term Keratex hoof hardener is like ronseal (it does exactly what it say on the tin!) if you paint it on the hoof wall and sole (not the coronet band or the frog) you will see a marked improvement in the hardness of your cobs hooves within a week. My mare had awfull t/b type feet when i got her and had never been shod it took us months to get her farrier friendly but with keratex i was able to ride her 4 time a week on hacks without her being sore.
i would 100% reccomend it.
 
Being white should make no difference to the hooves, it's just colour, nothing more. I'm not sure I would use a drug - even a natural one - but I can also recommend Keratex, but not for too long. It should get you over the transitional period though.
 
You could always invest in some hoof boots. They do tend to come in handy, even when thru transition. And last for ages.

Old Mac G2s are especially good.
 
This is quite a sad post.

You want to feed your horse Devils claw as he is in pain from having no shoes on. This is also demonstrated by the comment

'I do not really wish to have shoes back on him as he is always more of a handful when he has them on (bizarre link I know!)'

It is not a bizarre link - he's in pain, of course he's not going to behave normally if every step he takes is hurting him.

So feed him Devils claw and maybe he'll go back to his true character, but then you won't want to ride him as he'll be a handful.
 
I decided to try my TB barefoot after a friend of mine went through it. I was adamant that no way could my horse with the worst hooves in the world go barefoot........................ well I was wrong!

I know there are varied thoughts and opinions on barefoot, but I can only tell you what I did. Please bear in mind that I only ever want the best for my horse and love him very much so I wouldn't do anything to hurt or harm him.

The transition to barefoot didn't take my horse Cardiff very long and we were very lucky in not having an abcess. Throughout this time I fed him Seaweed to help his hooves - you can also feed magnesium, but this tends to have a calming effect too. Each time I rode I came back and throughly cleaned his soles with watered down milton fluid.

Anyway....... I'm going off track here. To help hoof growth and strength I used Seaweed and Keratex hoof hardner.

Hope this helps.
 
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