Pictures I think it's time to go barefoot...what do you think of these feet?

[Chippers1]

I do think that barefoot is best if the horse will tolerate it so looking forward to giving it a go There's so much more information out there than when I took my old ponies off so it is a little overwhelming. It's great to have support on here though and I will probably keep popping in and updating as I find the other threads that do this so interesting.

I'm hoping that he will be ok, whenever he loses a shoe (which is quite often when I think back!) he seems to walk fine on the bare foot. I've only kept him shod in front as that's what he came with

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

I took my boy's front shoes off on Tuesday. This new yard has a farm ride which is sand and grass. There is a lovely soft carpet fibre gallops for the racehorse yard.

I'd been thinking about taking the fronts off for a while. When I took his rears off he coped well and his back feet are great, he occasionally gets a flare on the inside from not moving correctly. In terms of feeding, he gets a minimum amount of Dengie Alfa A (about 3 quarters of a Stubbs scoop twice a day), simply to contain his Forageplus balancer. We're in Cheshire so there is salt in the ground and he no longer wants a salt lick. I've given him extra shavings for an extra dry, soft bed overnight.

On Wednesday we just did a gentle walk around the gallops and he moved nicely if occasionally a little 'careful'. Yesterday I walked him up on concrete and he walked nicely with no discomfort, just a little unsure of his feet (like learning to walk without stilettos on) so we went around the farm ride on the grass and sand. He was good and seems much more confident downhill.

I'm using keratex hoof hardener on the bottom of his feet (recommended by farrier) and I'll put some Kevin Bacon around the old nail holes.

So far so good. I hope our story helps OP. I'm completely prepared to put shoes back on if he needs them.

 

[Chippers1]

Sounds like he's well I would also be willing to put shoes back on if it doesn't work out. Equimins will be here on Monday so hopefully he'll eat it. I couldn't get a sample of grass nuts due to coronavirus they are all working at home so can't package any up! I should have known so I will see how it goes down on it's own first then maybe buy a bag.

 

[Chippers1]

The Equimins and the paste came today. First thoughts are that the Equimins stink the smell makes me feel slightly sick so I was a bit worried about what Buzz would think. I took some over to him in the little scoop (as you have to introduce gradually) and put a polo in there to try and mask the smell but he ate them! I'm counting this as a little win but not holding out any hope for when the amount increases but we shall see. He does however love the taste of the paste I cleaned as much as I could off my hands with my limited resources in his field but he still was licking my hands, he has literally never done that - disclaimer, I didn't let him for long as i'm not sure they should be eating it! But I know there's honey and eucalyptus in there so maybe I could try either one of those (well some kind of eucalyptus, not sure on that one yet!) when he doesn't eat his feed but for day 1 i'm impressed so far. The paste does smell amazing!

 

[wildandwoolly]

Re the Equimins Advance pellets - one of mine eats it happily but the other (normally the greediest) will always leave it if it is mixed with his token feed of Speedibeet and a handful of oat straw chaff and salt. However, I have recently discovered that he will eat it if I mix his Equimins with a tiny handful of High Fibre cubes and nothing else. I wondered if it was the damp Speedibeet feed which made the Equimins smell even more strong! Anyway, it's taken me ages to suss this out and be able to get No 2 pony to eat his vits and mins but thought it might be worth bearing in mind for yours. It's too expensive to waste! Good luck.

 

[Leo Walker]

Equimins are brilliant. Its usually next day delivery. Emerald green are the ones who do the grass nuts that are lower sugar. They send out samples if you message them. Mine loves them. She gets those, pink mash, salt and equimins.

 

[Chippers1]

Ah I will try Emerald green, thanks!

 

[Chippers1]

So Buzz has finally stopped eating the equimins ? BUT he has just moved into the side of the summer field which has a lot of grass so I'm (hopefully) putting it down to that. He likes the grass nuts but again only ate them when there was less grass but it's a really good shout for a winter feed for him. Today he just had equimins with grated carrot and he had a tiny mouthful then wouldn't eat any more.
I'll keep trying but might cut the amount down again so I feed a tiny amount by hand rather than the feed bowl.
Shoes come off on Thursday

 

[ITPersonnage]

I used to tempt my girl with spearmint ? No extra calories but might just mask the taste enough? ETA In pink mash.

 

[Chippers1]

Yes I could try that, good idea. He had pink mash over winter this year but didn't really enjoy it and only ate it if he was really hungry!

 

[emilylou]

Yes, I’d give it a go for sure. I haven’t read all of the advice but I want to highly recommended Red Horse hoof products. Their range is fantastic and in my opinion essential for transitioning to barefoot.

 

[Chippers1]

The shoes are off! Walked ok without them but he's just in the field. Slathered then completely in the field paste and will go from there. The equimins saga is ongoing, I have dropped the amount down so I can give him them as a 'treat' when I go to catch him and that seems to be working for now, at least he's getting some rather than none.
Hope I've done the right thing!

 

[awelshandawarmblood]

Mine won't eat the equimins but happily eats Formula 4 Feet with a scoop of msg ox, rosehips & seaweed!

 

[Chippers1]

He seems to like the taste of them, just won't eat them in a bucket if he's not hungry ??‍ he's luckily still eating them by hand though.

I guess my question now is what do I do next? He looks perfectly sound in his field and today I took him for a short walk down the concrete path that runs next to his field (not stony) should I walk him up and down that a few times a day? He's pottery over stones which is understandable so I can avoid the stony areas for now until his feet get stronger. If I wanted to ride I can ride in the field he is in (it's sectioned into two, they eat one side down then move to the other and vice versa) so he doesn't have to go anywhere but I don't want to be riding him yet. When would I be able to consider it?
Yesterday when I picked his feet up to paste them he wasn't too happy standing for a long time on one front but today he was fine.
His back feet have developed some big rings where you can see when I started feeding the equimins!

 

[Gloi]

If the concrete is smooth or you have some smooth tarmac I'd be happy walking him on that but keep him off anything he finds uncomfortable. Wherever he is happy to walk freely I'd get on and see how he is and if he's okay ride him in walk . Keep an eye on his feet and the wear and don't overdo it to the point he stars to get sore. If you want to do more with him before his feet are stronger, buy him some boots, at least for the front.

 

[paddy555]

I would turn him out in the field for a fortnight (or bring in at night if that is what you do) and leave him to adjust and get on with it. The reassess in 2 weeks.

 

[Chippers1]

The concrete is smooth, unfortunately the nice smooth tarmac is further away up the stony path now so I can't easily get to it which is a shame as it would be perfect! I have some boots on the yard (my farrier thinks that Buzz and my old pony have similar size feet and the boots may fit him) but unfortunately I can't get on there at the moment to fetch them, I'd try them on him before spending so hopefully we can get back on soon. If they don't fit then I will look into buying some if he needs them

I would turn him out in the field for a fortnight (or bring in at night if that is what you do) and leave him to adjust and get on with it. The reassess in 2 weeks.

He lives out 24/7 so easy enough to do

 

[lilly1]

I've just took the plunge with mine. Already visually her feet look better, she has been sore though and this has increased as she's self trimmed. Tried fusion joggers on her this evening and the transformation was instant. From pottery to rock crunching straight away. I think its going to be a long road though and the sugars in the grass aren't helping at the moment. Good luck.

 

[Chippers1]

I took him for a longer walk today, up to the tarmac road via the edge of a field. He's absolutely fine on grass and the tarmac and to be honest he was ok over the small patch of stones we had to walk across, just a stumble if he stood on a bigger, sharper stone so fingers crossed he'll be ok. I'm keeping a very close eye on him though, I've seen on here that some horses have a set back after a few weeks so I'm being extra vigilant. I'd like the yard to open again so I can try my old cavallos on him but not in any rush!
He was a bit of an arse pratting around yesterday and that didn't seem to affect his feet today ?
The ongoing equimins saga is that he didn't want them at all today ? he ate the full amount yesterday!

 

[Chippers1]

I've taken a couple of videos on different surfaces (sorry they're not great, was trying to keep him moving and film at the same time!) Let me know what you think of how he is moving etc. He had his shoes off a week ago today.
First is the concrete path outside his field:

Second is the tarmac road:

Third is a small section of the stony path. When we got further down where the stones are bigger he walked to the edge where the field is rather than the path (unfortunately i couldn't avoid walking down this path today as the farm has ploughed the field I would have normally used to avoid it):

Thanks for having a look if you do!

 

[Chippers1]

Urgh I've just realised how fat he looks in the videos ? I would say it's the angle but he is unfortunately looking rather rotund at the moment which isn't great, luckily he tends to lose weight quickly so once he's in work again he'll look better!

 

[mavandkaz]

My girl is now at week 7. It was a snap decision due to lockdown so I'm learning as we go. She started off really well and seemed fine walking to/from the field over concrete and stoney ground. We mainly kept to the school with the odd walk around the field. She was coping really well, so hacked out a bit - short bits of roadwork but kept to the verges as much as possible, and then fields and bridleways. Perfectly happy and forward.

The last 10 days or so she has been a bit sore over the stoney track. Unfortunately the ground has gotten really hard again and so she is still wearing down her toes rather then growing

She's still perfectly happy in the school so will keep to that for a bit, and dug out some old boa hoof boots which seem to fit her ok (tried them this evening and are fractionally big, but she was happy to stomp across the stoney car park) so hopefully they will be ok to at least walk around the field so she doesn't get school sour. And hopefully if she can just grow a bit off toe...some rain would be nice too to soften the ground!

She did so well in the first 5 weeks I obviously did too much too soon - am kicking myself

 

[Gloi]

She's still perfectly happy in the school so will keep to that for a bit, and dug out some old boa hoof boots which seem to fit her ok (tried them this evening and are fractionally big, but she was happy to stomp across the stoney car park) so hopefully they will be ok to at least walk around the field so she doesn't get school sour. And hopefully if she can just grow a bit off toe...some rain would be nice too to soften the ground!

That hard ground is really good for conditioning their hooves. Make the most of it and don't worry about the toes. Bits of footiness could well be to do with the sugars in the grass.

 

[mavandkaz]

That hard ground is really good for conditioning their hooves. Make the most of it and don't worry about the toes. Bits of footiness could well be to do with the sugars in the grass.

Well as of the weekend she will be out on it overnight, and she seems happy enough to trot over the hard poached areas. The soles of her feet seem to be rock hard, there have been times I've had to remove stones and you never would have known they are there. But her toes have shortened even more over the last few days, so am keeping an eye out. I have also wondered about sugars, and I sectioned off her field 2 weeks ago, so again will just have to wait and see.

 

[Gloi]

Well as of the weekend she will be out on it overnight, and she seems happy enough to trot over the hard poached areas. The soles of her feet seem to be rock hard, there have been times I've had to remove stones and you never would have known they are there. But her toes have shortened even more over the last few days, so am keeping an eye out. I have also wondered about sugars, and I sectioned off her field 2 weeks ago, so again will just have to wait and see.

Have you any pictures of her toes now. They can look surprisingly short but still be functioning correctly.

 

[mavandkaz]

Have you any pictures of her toes now. They can look surprisingly short but still be functioning correctly.

No, but might take some tomorrow...

 

[Chippers1]

Oh no sorry to hear that she's sore the ground is pretty hard at the moment. I'm also kind of winging it too with lockdown making my decision. Sticking with the equimins and field paste and seeing how it goes really!

 

[Chippers1]

Today I decided to get on in the field and see how he was, plan was to walk around and get a feel of how he was feeling. Buzz didn't listen to the plan and decided cantering and jumping imaginary jumps was much more exciting ? at least he feels good about himself but I will be taking it slow with him

 

[Chippers1]

This is more of a diary for me I guess but here's another video...I think he's walking pretty well over the stones

 

[Chippers1]

Sorry for the odd angle!