Losing shoes.. farrier or foot?

MoonlitArcher

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Hey everyone :)

Both mine and my sisters horses are constantly throwing shoes.. in fact I can't remember a time they have gone the full 7 weeks without losing at least one each! Some times they lose shoes twice in that time and it is always the front shoes. Both have worn over reach boots in the field which haven't been much use. These horses are best friends and their days are usually spent playing, rearing, chasing each other around so I can understand the odd shoe coming off but not at the rate that they have been. I am just wondering if anyone else has had this problem and whether they believe that the farrier is to blame or could it be an issue with the foot itself?

Brief shoeing history.. mine is only 6 and has been shod for around a year and a half now. He is an ID x-breed (not sure what to be honest) and has quite flat feet and not a great heel. My sisters horse is an appaloosa x cob that she bought last summer. He is 12 now but we found out that he wasn't broken until he was 9 so it is unlikely that he was shod until that time.. his feet look pretty nice apart from being a little pigeon toed.

We have both just had all their shoes taken off as have been getting frustrated with such frequent farrier visits, as lovely as he is. What are peoples thoughts.. would you change farrier? Or trust that he can rectify the problem.. as he has said he can shoe them a little tighter to stop them over-reaching. I am also very open to the idea of leaving them barefoot as neither appear sore and to be honest its a big weight off my mind not worrying about shoes for a bit. My only worry with barefoot is as my boy needs heel support will he become sore/ lame over time?

All thoughts and opinions welcome :)
 

ester

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shoeing tighter is not a good idea long term, been there, done that, ended up with badly underun heels and a lame horse.

If your horse needs heel support barefoot will likely be the best thing for him ;). If you are open to the idea I would explore that further and certainly some time out of shoes won't do the likelihood of future shoes staying on any harm ;).

Otherwise I'd say they might be better going 5-6 weeks not 7.
 

Red-1

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7 weeks is not a good idea, especially if the heels are underrun. The feet will be off balance and the connection in the hoof will be compromised (if you look without a shoe it will have a stretched white line).

If a hoof needs work for being underrun I do them every 4 - 5 weeks max so the farrier can keep bringing them back. Long toes affect the breakover, so the front foot does not leave the floor as quickly, thus the front feet are likely to have their shoes pulled off by the backs catching them. Long toes and underrun heels go with shoeing intervals that are too long.

If they have got bad, then I would say that a period barefoot would help. But, the utrition has to be good, the trimming has to be expert and the horse needs walking on the roads to help re-model.

Alternatively switch to a much tighter shoeing schedule, but this will take longer.
 

splashgirl45

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why not try without shoes and see how they get on....how much do you ride , you may need hoof boots for ridden work if they are not happy without shoes. horses are all different so you need to make your decisions based on your horse and not others. there are many threads on here giving advice on feeding and management of horses without shoes they may help you to do the best for your horse..but you are not a failure if it doesnt work but i think it may be a good idea to shoe more often as 7 weeks is a long time IMO...you may have to change farrier if more frequent shoeing doesnt help as they shouldnt be losing shoes so often.
 

Shay

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7 weeks is far too long for a shoeing interval. Especially with under run heels / flat feet. Going barefoot is a possibility - although I suspect would not suit at least your horse. But that won't reduce the farrier visits - you need a barefoot trimmer to come out regularly. Particualrly in the early stages.

If it were me - reduce the shoeing interval to 3/4 weeks initially, hoping to get to 5/6 by summer. Look at the diet and make sure there is sufficient bio available biotin (long term solution that will take 6 - 8 months to show a result). Look into using something like Keratex Hoof Hardener.

But the thing that will be most effective in stopping the loss of shoes is shortening your shoeing interval!
 

ester

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Why would it not suit her horse? It is often the best thing to improve flat feet with poor heels?

Healthy horses should really be making enough of their own biotin, it certainly isn't considered the most important thing to supplement.
 

bubsqueaks

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Stick at barefoot but get yourself a very good trimmer out every 6 weeks - you will need to look at diet & management very closely & the care of the feet is more time consuming than when shod.
Our trimmer looks at the whole horse not just the feet - if only farriers were that concerned!
There's a very good facebook page - barefoot horse owners & a lot of info of Rockley Farm, but you have to work at the transition, give it time & close management, but hopefully the payback will be a healthier & happier horse & the added bonus of no more lost shoes or dealing with the farrier who sadly in our experience have been very lacking in knowledge & care.
Good luck & stick with it.
 

Mrs G

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My horse pulling shoes so often was the catalyst for me taking him barefoot. We got very adept at removing twisted and half-pulled off shoes but of course there were the risks of him injuring himself on them, abscesses, damaging the hoof each time etc. I decided to give his feet a break from shoes and see how we got on; depending on how he coped I was happy to either just leave shoes off for a while to let some hoof grow or try barefoot. This was about 4 years ago now and hes been barefoot ever since. We use hoof boots for hacking (for fronts) but he can cope on most surfaces barr the very stony. As said; you will need to look at your horses diet and lifestyle too to give your horse the best chance and a good farrier or trimmer is essential.
 

MoonlitArcher

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Thanks for everyone's advice. I didn't realise 7 weeks was such a long time to leave shoes.. that is just when my farrier books us in for. My older horse who's now retired was always shod at 6 weeks and never any issues with shoes coming off, but that was a different farrier. Good to know for the future!

I think I'll go with the barefoot option for now, which brings me to my next question then.. anyone know of a good barefoot trimmer in the south wales area? Thanks
 

bubsqueaks

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If you go on the facebook page barefoot horse owners they will be forthcoming with recommendations
Good luck I am loving the whole learning curve of going barefoot.
 
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