Horse with thin soles going barefoot?

[Myotto]

I'm interested in hearing people's experiences with horses going barefoot that have thin soles, arthritis etc.

My horse is a 10 year old warmblood gelding that I have owned for 3 years. He does mainly flatwork but was previously a showjumper.

He has always been fully shod and for the last 18 months his foot feet have also been in pads and gels as he has thin soles and gets bruises. His coffin joins and hocks have recently been medicated with arthramid and he's coming on well. He was diagnosed with EMS a couple of years ago but his recent levels were normal due to soaking hay and managing his diet and turnout. He's in at night and out during the day. His weight is not bad considering he has had quite a few months off work.

The issue I have now is that he keeps pulling shoes off (back and front). His feet are generally in good condition but he can be quite lively in the field and has pulled 3 off in the last month! I'm mainly worried about the damage he is doing to his feet and the rest of his body when he pulls them off!

Given his fondness for pulling off shoes and his arthritis etc, I'm considering the barefoot journey. I'm very nervous about doing it and would probably want to start with the hinds first and use boots initially.

I'm on a livery yard that I don't want to leave so my management options are naturally a bit limited.

Have people generally had good experiences with these types of horses?

 

[Mrs G]

My horse has been barefoot 8 years now. He'd come out of racing a few months before and was shod in front when I first got him. I kept him shod in front for the first 2/3 years of owning him but he would pull shoes off a lot and often take chunks of hoof with it or injure himself on the nails or twisted shoes. Eventually there wasn't much undamaged hoof to put a shoe on so I thought I'd leave the shoes off to let some hoof grow - even if it was just for a cycle or two. He acted like he was crippled at first just walking to his field and it was awful to see him like that and I def had doubts! I got hoof boots so he could walk to the field more comfortably and then used them when we hacked out. I still use boots in front for hacking now - he has thin soles and would never cope with our stoney hacking otherwise. But he is sound on most other surfaces and I remember once he had adjusted to being barefoot his movement improved dramatically - he developed a lovely big trot!
I have had issues with some of the farriers I've used - they would trim too much off - even though Id say time and again, but fortunately I found a good one eventually who's supportive about horses being barefoot and knows what my horse is like. The only issue I've had recently was at the end of last summer - it was so wet and my horse was out 24/7 and his hooves just got so soft, he was even ouchy on the arena surface (sand and rubber), fortunately it didnt last long once he started coming in again at night and his feet had chance to dry out a little. Ive also always fed lots of forage, low sugar/low starch, no cereals diet etc which is better for his feet as well as his stomach and his behaviour! I think its worth a try OP!

 

[Pinkvboots]

I did it with one of my Arab's about 5 years back I had to use boots and pads for work for about 9 months and then he was fine, he have shoes back on for a while then was diagnosed with coffin joint arthritis and was tripping in them so I took them off.

He was medicated with gel and steroid about 2 years ago and is barefoot and is 20 now, his still ridden and has been fine apart from on Tuesday he came in crippled with sore heels and soles but it's due to the wet weather, his been coming in for a good part of the day his looking much better so he will be fine once it dries up.

When you remove the shoes don't trim the hooves just rasp around the edges they will crack until the nail holes grow down but that's normal, I would get a small rasp and learn how to just tidy them up to start with.

Don't let the farrier trim the frog or sole at all ever or you will be back to square one.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

I’ve had my 14 year old WB pony since he was 3 and he has always had paper thin soles. He has been barefoot all his life apart from a year in shoes which just didn’t work, also has EMS and is on a low sugar starch diet. I track him in summer and he’s currently out at night and in during the day with a small amount of unsoaked meadow hay. He copes perfectly well with flat surfaces but still feels stones on the way to the field and has to be booted all round to be ridden unless on perfectly smooth tarmac.

I have tried every supplement going from Forage Plus and Equimins to try and increase the depth of the sole and nothing has ever worked so his feet are what they are and he copes fine. I also have a fully qualified farrier who specialises in only barefoot horses and he has never once made him sore by over trimming. Little and often is the key.

This is a really good time of year to try taking his shoes off as the ground is so soft but take it slowly. There are also two good hoof boot places to buy if you need to, one is the Hoof Boutique and the other is Urban Horse. Both provide excellent advice and service and the HB has a second hand page.

 

[splashgirl45]

Have you tried overreach boots on the fronts? I would try that while you take his back ones off so he doesn’t get sore all round .

 

[sbloom]

Put it all into context of compensatory movement patterns. Hocks, the coffin joints and so many other issues are, at least in part, caused by the way the horse moves, and it's widespread, as we know. The hocks are not "primary" in my mind, they're a symptom of something, not an "out of the blue" injury, and we need to change the way the horse is moving. The thin soles are reflective of hoof function which is massively influential in movement patterns - they affect each other in a virtuous or vicious cycle. He's now pulling shoes off - the hoof wall might be allowing it, but it's the movement pattern that's causing it. We can, and I see it regularly, change the way the horse moves, even in the field. We help them be more up in front so that the front feet are not grounded long enough, far enough back, for the hinds to pull the shoes off. We stop focusing on tracking up in ridden work too, it's not helping the horse move "better", just to move "more" and that can often be to the detriment.

I know it's a shift in position, understanding, but it's the context to where you are at right now. Better feet (barefoot with boots, the right trimmer/farrier, the right diet and movement, or much better shod, along the lines of The Equine Documentalist and others), bodywork from someone who understands movement (very few have it as a big part of their "lens") and then some focused ground and ridden work to help rebalance the horse, will all be needed. You may find that saddle and bridle, how you ride, perhaps ultimately even where you keep the horse, but those are decisions for down the line.

 

[Myotto]

I’ve had my 14 year old WB pony since he was 3 and he has always had paper thin soles. He has been barefoot all his life apart from a year in shoes which just didn’t work, also has EMS and is on a low sugar starch diet. I track him in summer and he’s currently out at night and in during the day with a small amount of unsoaked meadow hay. He copes perfectly well with flat surfaces but still feels stones on the way to the field and has to be booted all round to be ridden unless on perfectly smooth tarmac.

I have tried every supplement going from Forage Plus and Equimins to try and increase the depth of the sole and nothing has ever worked so his feet are what they are and he copes fine. I also have a fully qualified farrier who specialises in only barefoot horses and he has never once made him sore by over trimming. Little and often is the key.

This is a really good time of year to try taking his shoes off as the ground is so soft but take it slowly. There are also two good hoof boot places to buy if you need to, one is the Hoof Boutique and the other is Urban Horse. Both provide excellent advice and service and the HB has a second hand page.

Thanks. How does he cope on a school surface as that’s where we work?

 

[Myotto]

Have you tried overreach boots on the fronts? I would try that while you take his back ones off so he doesn’t get sore all round .

He has overreach boots on all 4 feet!

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Thanks. How does he cope on a school surface as that’s where we work?

I never go in the school now but when I did he was barefoot and absolutely fine.

 

[P.forpony]

Buckle up!
If you try you will doubt yourself thoroughly and repeatedly, but give it time.

My TB weaponises shoes. The degree of removal, hoof loss and leg wounds was ridiculous and he was spending so much time out of work because of shoe related injury I though it was worth a try.

Side note my farrier is amazing.
We took his hinds off 6 weeks before fronts, not planned he just pulled one off so we kept it off and made him match.
Even so he was utterly crippled it was awful even walking out to the field. When we took fronts off he spent 10 days on bute.
Farrier then put sole casts on which helped a lot short term.
I got boots fitted by the very nice travelling fitter chap which saved a lot of faf and meant we could actually start work again.

That's just over a year ago now.
100% worth it!
His feet have completely changed size and shape. His paper thin soles are now solid. We still use boots sometimes to prevent excessive wear as our hacking has a lot of roadwork, but he's perfectly comfortable without for short outings.

 

[Melody Grey]

I’ve only ever seen improvements taking horses barefoot- maybe I just got lucky?!

Little and often with the trimming

Hoof boots for ridden work and turnout if needed (good market for second hand hoof boots) some boots can have pads added if needed.

Don’t shell out a huge amount on boots initially though because feet will change size and shape wildly and you’ll learn which makes and styles work for you.

You can enjoy the saving…one of mine has a new set of cavallos every two years (£270)….was being remedially shod every five weeks at £175 a go previously.

 

[ihatework]

I would say with that type of horse and situation it may be very tough! Not impossible and if you can get to the other side it is likely to have a better longer term outcome.

Boots have come on a long way and I suspect you will be very reliant on them for a while.

 

[lynz88]

My TB was always barefoot back home and put shoes on when he came over here as he was struggling when all he needed was a sole hardener (hindsight is always so much easier). After major struggles and horrible farriery combined with major arthritis, against all advice I took shoes off. Changed diet first when I looked in detail what he was being fed (seriously...the horror!! Talk about JUNK FOOD!!). We have had ups and downs since but good boots (we use Flex) and Hoof Armour keeps him moving from a feet perspective (as well as a good balancer though am about to switch and see if a cheaper one will work either the same or better. I always know when I've run out of his balancer if the girls forget to tell me so I know it isn't money wasted).

Vet is always astonished at how much more he strides out since having shoes off, even if he is or can be iffy on stones. If only I never put them on or took them off quickly beforehand....

 

[lynz88]

I’ve had my 14 year old WB pony since he was 3 and he has always had paper thin soles. He has been barefoot all his life apart from a year in shoes which just didn’t work, also has EMS and is on a low sugar starch diet. I track him in summer and he’s currently out at night and in during the day with a small amount of unsoaked meadow hay. He copes perfectly well with flat surfaces but still feels stones on the way to the field and has to be booted all round to be ridden unless on perfectly smooth tarmac.

I have tried every supplement going from Forage Plus and Equimins to try and increase the depth of the sole and nothing has ever worked so his feet are what they are and he copes fine. I also have a fully qualified farrier who specialises in only barefoot horses and he has never once made him sore by over trimming. Little and often is the key.

This is a really good time of year to try taking his shoes off as the ground is so soft but take it slowly. There are also two good hoof boot places to buy if you need to, one is the Hoof Boutique and the other is Urban Horse. Both provide excellent advice and service and the HB has a second hand page.

Agree that it's still a good time to take shoes off with the ground however, because it is so, so, so wet still, the OPs horse may struggle quite a lot with already thin soles. I am finding great success with Hoof Armour

 

[Bellalily]

First of all find yourself a great barefoot trimmer. He/she will advise on diet before pulling shoes, unless he/she’s already on the correct diet. I’ve always followed what my trimmers have advised and not had any issues in 18 years.
Welcome to the ever growing barefoot clan, eventually shoes will be in the bin for all horses.

 

[ycbm]

I'm interested in hearing people's experiences with horses going barefoot that have thin soles, arthritis etc

Thin soles are generally a diet issue but there are horses who cannot go barefoot unless they also go grass free. You will struggle if yours is one.

Arthritis, barefoot reduces concussion on the joint and also allows the horse to grow exactly the foot that they need - provided that the trimmer allows them to do so. Horses with hock arthritis, for example, are sometimes shod with an extension to the outside of the hind feet. Barefoot, they will, if allowed, grow a flare on the outside of the foot and this must be left in place if the horse grew out because they need it.

A really knowledgeable trimmer (who could be a farrier) is essential for a horse like this.
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