Not sure what to do (hooves)

RubysGold

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Jimmy is 8 this year. Our hacking is miles and miles of hard tracks (like the canal) and Jimmys feet wear down making him footy. At the moment. He has huge frogs and then a tiny bit of foot before it bends round from the breakover (hard to explain)
Anyway, last year I had front shoes put on for summer. They helped him a lot for ridden work. But he takes them off!! Literally I can see him in the morning, shoes on perfectly, by the afternoon the inside nails will be hanging out where he has stood on the inside of his shoe and I have the task of pulling the outside nails out to get the shoe off (which is hard!!)
He always does that in the field within a couple of weeks.

I had the shoes off for winter. Now I either need to work out how to make him keep shoes on. Or find a way to make his feet stay hoof shape so he can be sound :-/

Any ideas???
I know you can get hoof boots but I don't know much about them
 

Mrs G

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I was really nervous about going barefoot because I knew I'd need hoof boots for hacking. I was worried about the expense and if I got the wrong size, or wrong type, or they rubbed or they fell off! I took measurements and loads of pics of his hooves and described what I wanted the boots for and emailed Liz at Hoof Bootique and she was very helpful and so far so good! X
 

Bernster

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I've been reading up a bit on barefoot, but haven't quite made the leap yet for my boy, but he also stands on his inside hoof. Not as bad as yours seems to, as he doesn't take the shoe off, but it does move the nail and was starting to weaken his hoof wall. He's currently in glue on aluminium shoes temporarily. They are a bit fiddly to put on, and expensive, but they don't get pulled off and no nail holes to catch on to. They aren't as hard wearing as normal shoes apparently so not great if you do loads of roadwork but I've found them fine and we hack along lots of tracks etc.

It does sound like boots would be worth a try if you're keen on barefoot.
 

soloequestrian

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Hoof boots seem expensive to start, especially as you might need to try a few different types before you find the right ones. They last really well though - I've had Old Macs that lasted several years hacking on hard forestry tracks, so they end up being much cheaper than shoes in the long run.
 

ycbm

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'Very little foot' with huge frogs is a description of a really good foot. The footiness isn't, though. What is he eating?

If you have him on a good mineral supplement, and yeast, and can't restrict his grazing, then boots sound like the right option to me.
 

FfionWinnie

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As ybcm says look at the diet.

I would also check for thrush.

My horse does 70-100kms hard work on roads and stoney tracks per week. She stands on a hardcore surface 24/7 (never grazes grass as she has a muscle myopathy which is controlled by diet). She is never footy over the roughest ground and never wears her feet out either.
 

Pedantic

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Daughter had hoof boots on the front feet for her Arab, he was 26, not had shoes for years, never had boots in his life, he was a bit footy on the front so with consulting with farrier she got some, brilliant, I rode him out on his maiden voyage, it was like he had them all his life, I can def recommend them.
 
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