Massive difference in my horses feet. Viva la barefoot

dressagelove

dressagelove

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Hi all!

I hardly post on here anymore, but I was just sharing an update on phoenix forum and thought I simply must share my barefoot progress on here because I honestly can't believe how far Ive come. I have been rasping and rubbing all the boys feet every 10 days or so, and in my fight to get them all sound through BF, this regular rasping has been the key. I have been fighting hard for two years now to improve their feet, and I have seen more improvement in their feet in the last three months than in the last two years through regular rasping. Anyone who doesn't believe in barefootedness Just show them this thread! Ha!

In shoes:




In the summer: this is what I had been fighting to achieve and it wasn't improving!!


This was last month:


And tonight, sorry the quality isn't great, I'm living my life in the dark atm!


Very happy and sound lot right now and I am so thrilled!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!xx
 
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That's an amazing change. I can see why you are so pleased. Well done. Please can I ask about the rasping? Does this stimulate growth?
 
To be honest, I don't know the science behind why it is working, but personally I think yes it stimulates growth, and I think a dramatic angle change ever 6-8 weeks is too sudden for a hoof. Regular rasping imitates natural wearing down and keeping the hoof in the right shape so it can begin to maintain weight distribution properly where needed. If that makes sense?!
 
Fantastic improvement!!! I have had the same results with my TB, I have to thank CPtrayes for her help and advice on this forum.
 
I am at a total loss to understand why rasping every ten days was necessary to improve your horse's feet. Are you sure that the key is not that you changed the diet some time ago and that good horn has now reached the floor?
 
dressagelove said:
To be honest, I don't know the science behind why it is working, but personally I think yes it stimulates growth, and I think a dramatic angle change ever 6-8 weeks is too sudden for a hoof. Regular rasping imitates natural wearing down and keeping the hoof in the right shape so it can begin to maintain weight distribution properly where needed. If that makes sense?!
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Thank you. That does make sense. I'm going to pass that bit of info on to my friend.
 
cptrayes said:
I am at a total loss to understand why rasping every ten days was necessary to improve your horse's feet. Are you sure that the key is not that you changed the diet some time ago and that good horn has now reached the floor?
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I don't think so, diet has stayed the same.... the only other big thing that happened was that I switched from old trimmer and used a podiatrist who came and took all flare away and rasped sole down at the toe to force the heels to load.
Other than that, the regular rasping is the only thing I have been doing differently...
 
dressagelove said:
I don't think so, diet has stayed the same.... the only other big thing that happened was that I switched from old trimmer and used a podiatrist who came and took all flare away and rasped sole down at the toe to force the heels to load.
Other than that, the regular rasping is the only thing I have been doing differently...
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I completely support little and often if you do need to trim, but for me the change of trimmer is more likely to have been the major influence. The earlier one sounds disastrous, it's a TERRIBLE way to go about loading the heels!!!
 
cptrayes said:
I completely support little and often if you do need to trim, but for me the change of trimmer is more likely to have been the major influence. The earlier one sounds disastrous, it's a TERRIBLE way to go about loading the heels!!!
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No I used the trimmer before, and the podiatrist after, if you mean rasping the sole to load the heels sounds a bad idea. And that technique has made a huge difference in both my horses feet, so I'm not so sure how terrible it is...
 
dressagelove said:
No I used the trimmer before, and the podiatrist after, if you mean rasping the sole to load the heels sounds a bad idea. And that technique has made a huge difference in both my horses feet, so I'm not so sure how terrible it is...
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Beats me :)

I've seen it done to correct negative coffin bone angle, but in fact the horse had body issues and it grew back on a six week trim cycle. That horse has been put down, but in other horses I've seen, when the body issues are corrected the feet resolve anyway.

Has yours had bodywork?

Great improvement in your horse's feet, by the way, you must be chuffed. Is it sound on all surfaces?


PS I think that biomechanically, unless the toe is taken non ground bearing, lowering the toe will increase the weight taken on the toe, not the heel.
 
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cptrayes said:
Beats me :)

I've seen it done to correct negative coffin bone angle, but in fact the horse had body issues and it grew back on a six week trim cycle. That horse has been put down, but in other horses I've seen, when the body issues are corrected the feet resolve anyway.

Has yours had bodywork?

Great improvement in your horse's feet, by the way, you must be chuffed. Is it sound on all surfaces?


PS I think that biomechanically, unless the toe is taken non ground bearing, lowering the toe will increase the weight taken on the toe, not the heel.
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Yes he is, although Im still riding out with boots on, but he's doing well in the arena. Still slightly unlevel on his lame rein at times though... Huge improvement to what he was though! I have him sound enough to be building up his flatwork and am working on lifting his forehand and getting him stepping under which should relieve the forefeet further... Yes I am very chuffed. Not sure which piece of the puzzle was the key, but it must be one of those two options because it has done exactly the same to my other horse who was also showing very slow progress, so I'm pleased as long as it continues, fingers crossed :)

He hasn't had any body work either just fyi lol
 
dressagelove said:
Hi all!

I hardly post on here anymore, but I was just sharing an update on phoenix forum and thought I simply must share my barefoot progress on here because I honestly can't believe how far Ive come. I have been rasping and rubbing all the boys feet every 10 days or so, and in my fight to get them all sound through BF, this regular rasping has been the key. I have been fighting hard for two years now to improve their feet, and I have seen more improvement in their feet in the last three months than in the last two years through regular rasping. Anyone who doesn't believe in barefootedness Just show them this thread! Ha!

In shoes:

IMG00134-20111203-1321.jpg

IMG00136-20111203-1321.jpg


In the summer: this is what I had been fighting to achieve and it wasn't improving!!
1240394_10151760664998700_1325855127_n_zps40e1be5d.jpg


This was last month:
photo3_zps1108040e.jpg


And tonight, sorry the quality isn't great, I'm living my life in the dark atm!
photo8_zpsefc8dc6e.jpg


Very happy and sound lot right now and I am so thrilled!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!xx
Click to expand...

Just thought I'd post them here for ease!
 
Gosh that shoeing is terrible! Poor horse has no heel support at all. Well done with your rasping. I have a rasp and was having a bit of a go myself, though I need some more lessons from my sister I think.
 
Wagtail said:
Just thought I'd post them here for ease!
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Very interesting to see them properly wagtail thanks.

Dressagelove , there appears to be a marked difference in hoof quality , particularly at the coronet band between the summer and now. Can you identify any reason why that might be so? It will be interesting to see if she retains all the improvements you've made when back on a summer routine next year.
 
Can't help also noticing that the trimmer you had at the time was rasping right to the very top of the foot. What was that about?
 
Pleased barefoot is working for you - doesn't solve everything. My lad used to be barefoot (5 years) but would never do it again with him. Shod has saved his life!
 
cptrayes said:
Very interesting to see them properly wagtail thanks.

Dressagelove , there appears to be a marked difference in hoof quality , particularly at the coronet band between the summer and now. Can you identify any reason why that might be so? It will be interesting to see if she retains all the improvements you've made when back on a summer routine next year.
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Only thing I can think is he started on Topspec lite balancer. He was overweight and I was bringing him back into work so he went onto the balancer to maintain the muscle while he lost some weight... he also started getting regular turnout, up until that point he stayed in a self enclosed area as he went lame when he hooynied around the field.
 
EllenJay said:
Pleased barefoot is working for you - doesn't solve everything. My lad used to be barefoot (5 years) but would never do it again with him. Shod has saved his life!
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I'm not sure anyone said it did solve everything? It is hard to take any information from your comment though without further details.
 
ester said:
Nice pics OP, how is titch doing too?
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Titch is doing well too thanks ester. No up to date pics im afraid, no time atm! He had a big crack in his hoof but it is growing out now and he is developing a lovely chunky digital cushion at the back. His heels are looking so much stronger too, so very happy and barefeet all doing very well for me :) Will never go back!
 
dressagelove said:
Only thing I can think is he started on Topspec lite balancer. He was overweight and I was bringing him back into work so he went onto the balancer to maintain the muscle while he lost some weight... he also started getting regular turnout, up until that point he stayed in a self enclosed area as he went lame when he hooynied around the field.
Click to expand...

Overweight to thinner and/or movement will do the trick to resolve quality issues in a lot of horses. That makes things much clearer thank you.
 
Fantastic progression (particularly in the last couple of months) for you dressagelove, long may it stay on the road to improvement for your horse!

The last post from you now makes sense as i too was wondering what had changed in the last few weeks to see the definite marked difference in the quality of horn growing down now from the coronet band (you can see the tell tale 'rings of change'!).

And Yes,..echo cptrayes,..The loss of weight and more movement with regular turnout will go a long way to improving your horse's feet.

I bet your horse moves more fluently now from the shoulder and is more confident striding out and going down hill too??!!,...i know i found this to be vastly improved when i removed my boy's two front shoes some three years ago now (he's always been BF on the back).

Merry Christmas to you too! :)
 
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What a difference! When one of mine was BF, and received more turnout, the quality of growth was noticeably different (in a good way), think it was due to the improved blood flow.
 
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