Q for barefoot people please

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Portia QT

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My 5 yr old (6 in may) TB is barefoot and always has been.
I don’t do much road work due to the roads around here being a bit too busy/dangerous and so only go out at the weekends if at all. We do have a track onsite that is about 1 mile that i do often take him round.
We did a hack on Sunday which involved 3 miles of roads in total.
My farrier came out to last night just to tidy the feet up and because i was concerned about how short his feet had got. Farrier said that he is not actually sore at the moment he is very close to it (ie stay off the roads until they grow a bit more).
Now obviously i have seen that his feet grow a lot more in the summer than over the winter (as previously i have gone 5 months over the winter without needing the farrier compared to 2 months in the summer) but where he has donea bit more work over this winter compared to last winter (due to the snow last year) his feet really haven’t seemed to have grown enough to keep up with the work, even though he is only in light/medium work (certainly haven’t overdone it).

Is there anything that can been done to encourage the foot to grow quicker (apart from waiting for summer!)?

He is fed Alfa A molasses free, oats & balancer.

Thank you!
 
I've always found that as long as you plan it sensibly leading or riding barefoot horses on the roads helps stimulate growth. The spring grass coming through can affect some barefoot horses and what they can and cannot cope with during the initial flush.
 
Stop worrying - he won't wear his feet off. :D Chances are they look great. Is his frog hitting the ground first and slightly proud of his heels? - if so brilliant!!!

Maybe think about adding magnesium oxide, and thinking about swapping to the barefoot supportive diet - ask on the UKNHCP forum about it.

Not a great fan of Alfalfa tbh - I think it is too rich for many horses.
 
I have definitely planned it so that there has been no major increase. The farrier seemed concerned that he would end up walking too much on his sole (at the toe end of the feet) as the wall etc had worn down so much at the front. His frogs and the backs of the feet seem fine....
 
brucea - How does magox help? i though that this was good as a kind of calmer but don't understand what it does for the feet?

Also how is alfa a mol free too rich?

(sorry if the Q's are a bit dumb, just want to get a clear understanding!)

Thank you!
 
Hi Kara

Several points to deal with.

1 - Alfalfa is a legume. Some horses deal with legumes very well, others not so much. If your TB has thin soles, event lines, a stretched white line, poor horn quality or any gut discomfort I'd review the alfalfa, but if none of these are evident and he is otherwise well, then don't worry for now

2 - most UK forage (hay and grazing) is short of copper, zinc and magnesium (and sometimes other minerals too, but these are the top three). These are all required for metabolic purposes, shortages can cause problems, particularly with the metabolism of sugar.

3 - toe/hoof length we need to define too short. I always query this because far too many hooves are kept too long and we have become conditioned as a nation to expect hooves to be longer/taller than they need to be. What is the measurement from coronary band to tip of toe? Your horse won't wear his feet to stumps, he will stop long before that happens.

4 - toe wear? If horses are working hacking over road/concrete/tracks it is not unusual for them to wear a section of their toe more than the rest. It is not ideal, but is a consequence of how we are working them. A competent trimmer/farrier will know how to trim the foot to take off the 'corners' that haven't worn. A hoof which is progressing to a better state of health often needs to bring the toe back, and this can be one of the signs. Again your farrier just needs to even out the corners correctly.

5 - growth v wear - horses are very capable of matching hoof wear to growth, but it doesn't happen overnight. They need time to adjust. One of the most extreme examples I have seen is an endurance novice which had a sudden unplanned layoff and because the hooves had been 'trained' to expect a lot of wear, within a fortnight the horse was on stilts. And the reverse is true. If the hoof is not expecting a lot of wear it won't put out the foot to cope with a lot of wear. (NB - Some cobs put out quite a bit of quantity, but it is often not very dense horn, so when the work load ups it wears off quickly. When the same cob gets accustomed to a lot of work the horn gets denser and wears much more slowly.)


Kara if I were you I'd keep up with as much work as you and your horse can handle. If you are increasing the work as such a rate that the hooves are still in the lag phase (growth not yet caught up) then fit boots.

I've put links into a few posts below. These are not directly related to your case, but I thought it might be interesting to see some shorter (bare) hooves which are sound, even though most started with issues.

This foot is an example of a shorter domestic hoof. It could go shorter still. Although footy when I first met this horse, she has been sound within one or two trims. Even though her hoof shape has changed dramatically.

http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/deviated-hooves-and-abscess-updates.html

This horse is not the same as your guy - I took him on as a chronic tripper. But his hooves are now dramatically shorter than they were and he is fine. Struggling with thrush which is a PITA, but it is early days yet.

http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/first-trim-post-shoe-removal-from-very.html
http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/houston-we-have-touch-down.html

And another shorter hoof

http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/is-it-rain-weve-shrunk-another-one.html
 
His feet sound like they wear down quite quickly.But just wondering,how come the farrier needs to come out if he has quite worn feet?Maybe that also contributes if he wears them down anyway?just a suggestion.:)
 
I think theres a few different hoof growing creams/gels etc for the feet as well.equine america have one.Sorry though,i dont have much experience on this and i dont know if they work.:o
 
My Tb has been barefoot mostly for nearly 3yrs ( a few months in the summer with fronts on, not due to wear but other issues) and she doesn't seem to grow much and almost entirely self trims, she also wears more at the fronts but nolonger trips as she used to when shod. I can't add to anything already said except to reiterate that I think growth keeps up with movement if you give them a chance to.
 
LP - None of those are evident on his feet with the regards to alfa. (Also he has been fed alfa all his life and never had any of them issues).

Lenght of toe - i would say that his toe is shorter than any of those links. I don't know the measurement but can measure this evening. Will try and get pics (but not very good at downloading them to here!). His feet look good (they've never even been in a bad state). Its just i've noticed that over the last month or 2 they haven't seemed to have grown back as much as i would have expected for the work he is doing. Again, he hasn't ever been more than 3 miles on the road (and we usually go round the track at the yard twice 2-3 times a week which is why i would be surprised that he wouldn't be able to cope with 3 miles, its only 1 mile more max). Oh and i only took him on the 3 mile ride at the weekend and then previously 2 weeks before that and probably then 2 weeks before that one but his toes have just got shorter and shorter and shorter(but surely thats not drastic??).

Yes, the front of his (front) feet get very square looking.

use a name - i got the farrier out a) because my boy is off to an event rider next weekend for 6 weeks schooling and hopefully his first intro and so i wanted them checked before he went b) to take, as LP dexcribes it well, the corners off where his toe had gone squared shape. c) to ask his opinion on whether he thinks there is any sign of soreness in his feet
 
Kara

Re your last - that's great news! So much easier to deal with a horse that doesn't have any metabolic issues.

Re toe length from coronary band to toe tip - that is just to give us both some common ground. Not an absolute. The black hoof in the link is c. 2.75 inches. 'Fred' came down a good 1.5 in two weeks - but was only coming down to closer to where he needed to be. In a regularly hard working hoof they can get shorter still.

Next thing to do is to check your solar view. It is not a problem if the hoof wall is level with the sole*. There may be an issue if the whole thing is polished like a glass topped table with little/no collateral groove to speak of, or if the sole can be flexed with fingers.

This post is not directly related to your situation but I suggest this one just to show how feet change. http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/graces-feet.html

*Ideally the water line is the most distal point, but by fractions that you feel rather than see.

Trimming - as before 'corners' need to be rolled out. When/if the wall is dressed it is very important to ensure the foot is not scalped (ie the rasp doesn't shave off sole at the same time.

NB - as previous - some horses have a lot of dead sole which they have been unable to exfoliate for themselves (contracted hooves, environment or lack of movement) and this is easily recognised and does need easing out. This is not to be confused with sole paring which is a no no.
 
My horse doesn't have shoes on, he has only had a few of sets of fronts on in his life now 6. He seems to cope well without shoes and doesn't like being shod much so it works. I feed him alfa a oil and redigrass, speedibeet in winter. I do not buy into all the supplements to be honest.
If your horses feet are wearing down too quickly you could try hoof boots (I haven't but a friend had the same issue and the hoof boot rubber away skin at the bulb of his heel) or lay off on the roadwork for a couple of weeks, alternatively put shoes on this time then have them taken off when he has more growth.
If they can go without shoes its great but there is no point getting to the point where they are in pain.
 
Sorry but i'm not too technical... shallow collateral grooves... do you mean the space between the sides of the frog and the sole? the depth of this space?

My farrier was concerned that the front of the feet the wall was wearing more than the sole and that continuing like this he would soon be walking on just his sole. Equally he didn't want to have to take and sole off at the front.

I really will try and get some pics tonight.
 
Kara said:
Sorry but i'm not too technical... shallow collateral grooves... do you mean the space between the sides of the frog and the sole? the depth of this space?

My farrier was concerned that the front of the feet the wall was wearing more than the sole and that continuing like this he would soon be walking on just his sole. Equally he didn't want to have to take and sole off at the front.

I really will try and get some pics tonight.
Click to expand...

Photos would be most helpful.

Wall wearing more than sole - hmm - this can be subjective and can depend on point of view.

I have one horse that had 'cardboard' for hoof walls. This was a health issue which is being resolved and in the process the hoof walls have toughened up nicely and the wear is not currently an issue.

Equally sometimes the horse is trying to bring the breakover back and this can give the impression of excessive wall wear.

So photos would be great.

Yes collateral groove - the space down the side of the frog and its depth. Here is a post of a horse that went from no depth to reasonable depth

http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/one-year-on.html

This horse also disproved the vet who having looked at her x-rays thought she had 'genetically thin soles'. Fortunately the horse can't read :-)
 
okay then... i think he has plenty of space& depth in the collateral grove at the back (heel end) and this obviously less at the toe end of the collateral groove. Maybe there is not enough at the toe end but i am not sure how much there should be...

"I have one horse that had 'cardboard' for hoof walls. This was a health issue which is being resolved and in the process the hoof walls have toughened up nicely and the wear is not currently an issue."

can i ask how this is being resolved? i'm not saying this is what is needed for mine, but out of interest!
 
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