In which the Grey Donkey goes barefoot . . . again

[PolarSkye]

This won't be a long post, but . . . as I have now officially retired Kali I didn't see the point in him wearing shoes . . . where we are has a variety of ground for him to walk over and he really is a feral bog pony - long mane (it's never EVER been this long), hairy (well as hairy as he gets) and blissed out. Plus, saves me money - always a plus .

He's been without hind shoes for a very long time (aside from a brief spell over a year ago) and his back feet are proper rock crunchers (and now self trimming) so I know he grows great horn. So today, after a bit of a tussle with various farriers (it's a long story, PM me if you want to know the whole sorry saga), his front shoes are now OFF. For good. Farrier was very pleased with the horn, did minimal trimming (just tidied up the crumbly bits and checked his sole) and said he's optimistic he'll do just fine. He hasn't had any hard feed for a good two and a half months (doesn't need it given the quality of the grass and the hay and the lack of work), but as he drops weight/condition in the winter I'll be keeping a weather eye on him, his joints and his feet and feed accordingly (all low sugar/starch/barefoot recommended stuff).

I haven't bought boots for him - want to hold off until I see how he copes - but I do have a rasp so I can tackle any crumbly bits in between farrier visits. Very curious to see what sort of feet he grows now without the shoes . . . farrier commented that he definitely loads on the inside of his left fore (his non club foot) so I'm expecting some flare there . . . but we'll be erring on the side of interfering as little as possible. Also, I'm hoping that his fronts will be much less thrushy without the darned bar shoes - although he has surprisingly healthy frogs for having those wretched shoes on!

I have plenty of silvetrasol (from the first time we tried this) and more knowledge now . . . and I'm hopeful that the shoes are NOT going back on . Oh and lovely YO and her YM have bent over backwards to create a way for him to get to his field without going over the very sharp motorway scalpings (for now - in a perfect world, he'd have proper rock crunchers in front that could cope with 400 yards of rough gravel - just not right now). It's all good.

P

 

[tallyho!]

Nice one.

I will never understand why people retire horses shod all round.. so odd. Where I came from, if your horse wasn't in work, you didn't shoe. Period.

Down here, you shoe anything with a foot and you'd shoe the dog if you could an 'all. You only took shoes off once it's dead.

If you're not intending to work the horse, provide a good balance, a good diet and leave well alone. Those feet will be fine in no time.

 

[Goldenstar]

It's the best way for most retired horses .
It's always interesting to see the feet they grow for them selves when they don't have shoes .