Query for the barefoot gurus

[paddy555]

Can't answer the question, but I would love to hear case studies of any horses with that exact issue, got 7 horses on the property with only 2 pairs of shoes between them and one is for that very reason.

He's 12, and has been shod since 4yo when he started walking with a distinct twisting action to his hind legs and rapidly wore down the outside edge of both hooves. Vets advice was to shoe behind to prevent the excess wear and gently work him to build up proper musculature and straight movement. It definitely helped and he lost most of the twist over time but continued to wear the outside edge of his shoes down to a knife edge.
Whole body conformation has always been poor but regular physio and plenty of fitness kept him looking quite good overall but never resolved the hind leg issue. I tried taking his shoes off over winter one year and he wore them down into little wedges very quickly.
Now he's retired (bone spur in coffin joint and navicular) and barefoot in front which has really helped the navicular, but still shod behind and still wearing them wonky.

I'm definitely pro-barefoot but in this particular case he's going to stay shod unless someone shows me a pretty compelling case study! Poor sod has just got multiple issues stacking up against him, yes shoeing is unnatural but i'm pretty sure he'd die in the wild. I figure it's like everything with horses, there is no one answer that suits 100% of cases.

I have one identical to the one you are discussing ie with a hind twist.

 

[Highmileagecob]

I suppose you have to consider that veterinary training allows for lectures and short periods of 'show and tell' with a qualified expert in the subject, whether it be small animal practice, calving cows, dentistry or farriery - add your own speciality here. Hoof care will be taught by a farrier, and what he or she says will be taken as gospel. It wasn't until Jaime Jackson, and later Pete Ramey started to challenge the farriery teaching that changes began to emerge. Dr Robert Bowker from Maryland University took an interest in their work and subsequently proved their theories mostly correct. The UK is far more tradition led than the USA, and not as open to change, or admitting that something is now outdated. Over a hundred years ago horses were routinely shod, worked hard for ten years or so and then disposed of as a broken down horse. Hoof care per se didn't come into it, but keeping the horse on it's feet and working was the goal. My vet has a poor opinion of barefoot horses, even though he can see perfect feet on my rising 29y.o. Keep the faith - if you throw enough mud at something, some will eventually stick.

 

[Boulty]

Wish I had the answers to this one… Fuzzball has sidebone in both front feet for no massively identifiable reason other than his breed / type (certainly not from actually doing any work!). He also lands laterally on both fronts & the back of his foot on the lateral side of both is better developed than the medial side. How much he lands like this does vary although doesn’t seem to follow any real logic.

He does seem to have a fairly narrow chest for his type and I’ve always lived in hope of a bit more development in that area as I think it would help the issue.

He’s had other issues with soreness in a few lumbar vertebrae due to conformational weakness. Massively improved with osteo, endless inhand work, polework, long reining and then attempting to insist on him carrying himself properly during ridden work.

He moved to a track system a year or so ago (sadly not surfaced, which would be the icing on the cake), lost a lot of weight & improved in every other way. My wallet has lost a considerable amount of weight as well!

Whatever I do I can not get him to move completely straight in front though.

Trimmer has cautioned against trying to do drastic things with his foot balance to force him to change how he moves as he’s pretty sure it will lame him & we’ve spent years trying to encourage him to find his own balance. Cosmetically for the most part his feet do look better than they did a few years ago.

Currently lame in front for the second time this year. (First time I’ll allow him as I think was due to doing a bit too much on hard ground). Struggling to figure out what else I can change / try / whether to image every inch of the damn creature/ whether persisting in trying to have him in work is sensible. (Buuuuut being in work helps his back & his waistline & keeps him out of trouble)

 

[paddy555]

I suppose you have to consider that veterinary training allows for lectures and short periods of 'show and tell' with a qualified expert in the subject, whether it be small animal practice, calving cows, dentistry or farriery - add your own speciality here. Hoof care will be taught by a farrier, and what he or she says will be taken as gospel. It wasn't until Jaime Jackson, and later Pete Ramey started to challenge the farriery teaching that changes began to emerge. Dr Robert Bowker from Maryland University took an interest in their work and subsequently proved their theories mostly correct. The UK is far more tradition led than the USA, and not as open to change, or admitting that something is now outdated. Over a hundred years ago horses were routinely shod, worked hard for ten years or so and then disposed of as a broken down horse. Hoof care per se didn't come into it, but keeping the horse on it's feet and working was the goal. My vet has a poor opinion of barefoot horses, even though he can see perfect feet on my rising 29y.o. Keep the faith - if you throw enough mud at something, some will eventually stick.

I remember Pete Ramey say back around 2005 that you won't get any praise from vets for the 99 horses you save with BF, it is only the 1 that fails that will count.

 

[tda]

Our ponies, all Dales, all have wide chests, and I was always told because of that, that some of them do wear their front hooves more on the inside/get flare on the inside, but interestingly mainly happens with the unworked ones
I do try and let them have the hoof they grow and don't regularly trim to make them match or look straight.