My mares newly barefoot tootsies

Roasted Chestnuts

Roasted Chestnuts

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Ok my mare went bare on Tuesday. here are her first set of pics, her feet as soo flat that farrier didnt have much to work with so he has left them a bit longer than he normally would and is coming in four weeks to look again :)

Fronts
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Here are her hinds

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Aidey said:
The second to last pic .. is it just because it is so close up or are her feet HUGEEE :eek: :D
Click to expand...

i think I was a bit overzealous with the close ups lol!! She actually doesn ahve very large feet :)

Just looking for opinions on what we have to work with. With her tendon injury farrier didnt just want to bang the feet into the rough shape so she will be seen every 4 weeks for the forseeable until things are the way we want them :)
 
Am no expert but it looks like you have a touch of thrush in all her frogs.

The flatness will sort over time with patience and the right diet, as will the length - Did with my mare

good luck on your journey.
 
You will do fine, they look like feet that want to go barefoot.
Please Please make sure the nutrition and condition is going to back-up the work you are going to do with the feet.
Enjoy the ride!
 
OK here's my thoughts..

The fores you can see the angle of the wall from the coronet down changes .. much gentler angle in lower portion.. if you run an imaginary line down from the steeper (true angle that he hoof would like to be ideally) higher portion to the ground this shows where the toes should be.

The heals look under-run.. they need to move back

Looking at the hooves from underneath you can see the widest part of the hoof is forward of where it needs to be .. should move backwards to somewhere only just infront of the heals.

Looking at the frog yes does look like you need to get ontop of some bugs / fungii.. it looks as if your farrier has trimmed the frog to expose the infected bits.. I would work really really hard at beating the bugs / fungii as ideally it is really best not to trim frogs at all but to let them shed dead bits in their own time. Any sensitivity in the frog caused by infection or artificial removal of "dead bits" will prevent the frogs from functioning properly and hinder the correct heal first landing of the hoof.

Hinds look better .. they often do..

It's a great idea to keep a weekly photo diary of hooves and how they develop.

all the best
 
Probably worth looking at the various hoofboots to... as a stop gap to help keep your mare active.. correct movement crucial to improving hooves.. if her frogs / heals are sore then she will be reluctant to use her self correctly.

there are quite few different makes and models.. Easyboot range (my favs are the gloves but are not the cheapest.. I use them for the 6 - 8 weeks of the year when the grass is doing its worst as we have some very aggressively surfaced tracks we hack on).

There are cheaper options within the easyboot range and also worth looking at are Renegades (super funky colours) and Cavellos .. it really depends what you use them for.. simply as means to cross some agressive surface when turning in or out then something cheap and chearful (easyboot trail or cavellos 2nd hand) or full blown hoof boot for 100k endurance ride (gloves / renegades)..

once you've got an idea about which boot and size you can hunt down 2nd hand ones on the net (ebay or the uknhcp forum.. also good for barefoot help and advice.)
 
I think you've been given some good feedback already.

Re the thrush, get some Milton (baby bottle serilising liquid) and dilute 1 part milton to 2 parts water in a spray bottle. spray onto he frogs daily and scrub with a hard brush. If it is wet and muddy you will probably have to hose and scrub her feet out first. Make sure she has a nice deep bed and you pick feet out morning and night.

take a look at her diet and make sure it is as low in sugar as possible. no mixes, no mollassed chaffs etc and possibly look at supplements to support hoof growth like magnesium, biotin and brewers yeast. obviously introduce one at a time and give it a chance to take effect.
 
Thanks peeps

diet wise - she is on (twice a day)

1x round scoop of readigrass
2 cups of Veteran Vitality Soaked (8 cups of water)
1/2 x round scoop of barley
1 x 50ml measure of linseed
1 x round scoop of beetpulp.

Also getting 4 large haynets of haylege through the day as stabled with SDFT injury. The barley will be stopping once the bag is finished as shes looking a better weight and we arent competiting :)

I have treated the frogs with bactakil but when that is finished I will purchase some milton, thnaks :)
 
I genuinely think you've done the right thing and i will be very interested to see the progression. Best of luck and please keep us updated.

Also, don't forget to do the odd full body shot. Her posture will likely change too and that is not so noticeable on a day to day basis.

Good luck
Trina x
 
Not being a fan of prepared (commercial) foods, and not knowing your work load I maybe of no help.
But I would love to know the weight of your horse and the exact weight of the food you give, that is all of it, hay, hard food and any little things!!
If you are going barefoot proper you will have to start to think about maybe having a selection of more basic foods to get the system balanced, also have your hay tested.
Good hay is where it all has to start.
Take good independent advice and don't perform any quick changes in diet.
 
you will be amazed at how they change! Take photos after each trim :-) I cant recomened easy boot gloves enough! if you have a look through my threads i have some photos of the gloves on my barefoot tb!
good luck!
 
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