Recommended barefoot trimmer Leicestershire & advice please?

becca1305

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I did a quick google but nothing much came up and thought recommendations were probably best anyway :).

I want to go completely bf with my 16.2hh TB now since he's coped amazingly well since going bf behind. He's in very light work atm which will gradually be increased - he does DR. I will do some hacking with him but little road work. We have gravel, stones and concrete around the yard/field which he's been fine on bf behind (so a good start :)), and I've heard the gravels meant to be good for them when bf for their frogs/soles?

My current farrier is great with shoeing :) but suggested that as horse is slightly pigeon toed bf wouldn't work for him? :confused: did some research and learnt that supposedly correct bf trimming should aid in the correction of pigeon toes. So whilst he's great I don't think he's necessarily the right person to do the lad's bf trimming. Any recommendations for bf trimmers in the area? Leics -south notts way.

Anything else I should know? His diet I would think is pretty good for going bf - he's on average grazing, adlib haylage made off same fields, feed twice daily - recommended amount of feed balancer containing biotin, fistful badminton high fibre nuggets, and a fistful of molasses-free alfalfa. He's been on this diet since last spring (with the exception of haylage introduced after being stabled overnight in Oct/Nov).

Also out of interest (I know every horse is different) but was your horse completely comfortable the day after shoes removed to do some light work in manège? If not what kind of exercise buildup would you recommend as the norm? I am aware from threads on here that horses can go footy a few weeks in - is this less likely if horse has been okay when changed from shoes to bf on hinds? What is the best way to proceed exercise and hoof care wise if horse does go a bit footy?

Thanks for any responses and sorry for all the questions! :D
 

KSR

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http://www.northantsnaturally.co.uk/markjohnson.html

Mark Johnson comes extremely highly recommended.. I have spoken to him a few times recently when my smallest was abscesseing.. He is very knowelegeable and friendly and not at all patronising. If I wasn't moving to Devon I would be using him for 5 of my 6..

I have other names and numbers for the chap my instructor uses over in the quorn direction but I'll have to dig it out when I'm not I'm bed!!
 

unbalanced

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Anything else I should know? His diet I would think is pretty good for going bf - he's on average grazing, adlib haylage made off same fields, feed twice daily - recommended amount of feed balancer containing biotin, fistful badminton high fibre nuggets, and a fistful of molasses-free alfalfa. He's been on this diet since last spring (with the exception of haylage introduced after being stabled overnight in Oct/Nov).

Also out of interest (I know every horse is different) but was your horse completely comfortable the day after shoes removed to do some light work in manège? If not what kind of exercise buildup would you recommend as the norm? I am aware from threads on here that horses can go footy a few weeks in - is this less likely if horse has been okay when changed from shoes to bf on hinds? What is the best way to proceed exercise and hoof care wise if horse does go a bit footy?

Thanks for any responses and sorry for all the questions! :D[/QUOTE]

I thought my horse was going to be horribly footy when her shoes came off - which was two weeks ago - but she walked out of them sound. I haven't taken her off the farm yet though so she is just going out in the field every day and working in the school as I was advised to build it up very slowly initially. If you go too quickly then that is when you get an abscess at least that is my understanding.

Diet - you are feeding pretty much the same as what I was feeding, and I was told to chuck it all! Alfalfa causes sensitivities and inflammation and makes them more likely to go footy. Also I stopped feeding my balancer (which as blue chip lite so I thought that was fine at the time) and high fibre cubes as they contain wheat feed which is another nasty that causes inflamation. The wheatfeed doesn't actually do your horse any good - it's just a binder to stick the pellets together. Now I am feeding speedi beet (which is unmolassed) and micronised linseed and D&H surelimb but will just be on the surelimb for a month until I get the results of my hay analysis back.

Once you get a trimmer he/she will tell you what to do anyway as he/she will have met your horse and I'm telling you about my horse not yours. My trimmer has been amazingly specific about diet and exercise plans and she is always at the end of the phone if I am feeling thick or confused or my pony is doing something I don't think she should be - definitely more support there than I have personally experienced from a farrier as I am just used to farriers coming out and doing the feet job done (yes I know a remedial job they take as long as it takes and I'm not slagging farriers off at all here) but my trimmer was out twice in a week to look at my horse's feet, go through my feed room, talk to me and YO about grazing management, show me dissected horse feet, she probably spent five hours just on making sure I knew what to do with my horse in the first week.
 

LucyPriory

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Might be worth reading this:

http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/ouchiness-several-hours-post-shoe.html

Hooves are a window to your horse's health - if the feet are not on top form then neither is your equine pal.

Diet is a major contributor to poor hoof health. Horses evolved to range far and wide for very little in return and what they did get was low sugar/low starch.

Forage should be the foundation of any horse's diet - it is fermented in the hind gut and produces heat to keep them warm, all the B vits a horse could need (including Biotin) and volatile fatty acids which go straight into the blood stream giving your horse lots of steady energy rather than a vicious cycle of fizz/flat, fizz/flat (that you often get with high sugar/starch feeds).

Most diets will need some sort of mineral supplementation. It is well established that in the UK we typically have shortages of copper, zinc and magnesium and many areas are very high in iron and/or manganese which is unhelpful.

A lot of horses won't actually need a 'bucket' feed for calories, but you will need something to carry any supplements you need to feed and if your horse is hunting/eventing etc you may need to provide extra 'no chew' calories if your horse can't eat any more hay or is losing weight.

A good 'base' is a small quantity of unmolassed sugar beet and some micronised linseed. The quantities can be varied by horse and work load.

You may need some experienced help to get this right.

Avoid wheatfeed and the like. It's cheap, nasty, starchy, rubbish commonly glued together using molasses or sugar syrups. So out with the pony nuts and latest 'special offer' and discounted mixes.

And avoid linseed lozenges like the plague - its linseed meal (post extraction of the valuable oil) which has then been glued together with sugar syrup.

Alfalfa - I tend to avoid. Some horses do just great on it. A lot (including all the b's that have kicked me) don't. There isn't a huge amount of science as to why this is - but we know that alfalfa is a legume and horses and legumes frequently don't mix very well. We also know that alfalfa is high in bio available calcium and calcium and magnesium have to be in balance. If the alfalfa throws this balance out then your horse may be short in magnesium and this has a lot of not very nice side effects.

There is also some concern about how some alfalfa is grown. And far too often in the very small print on the white label stitched to the bag you will find it has been dressed with molasses. The feed companies will say the quantity is so small that it doesn't matter. But then they are not the ones suffering broken bones from being kicked by the horses that can't cope with any molasses no matter how small the amount. (three broken feet and two broken fingers plus any number of substantial bruises and that's just in the past 18 months for me alone - so yes I do have a bias........)

Personally I find the rewards of getting the diet right to be far beyond having great hooves - and no I don't mean just not getting kicked.

It can be a bit of a faff - but like anything - you get out what you put in and it is worth it.
 

becca1305

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Thanks :)

KSR those other numbers would be great as I am quorn way-ish :D

Wow Im surprised about the diet! I think I just generally kind of thought steering away from sugar was good, and my boy doesnt need extra calories. Swapping to speedibeet/unmolassed sugarbeet shouldnt be an issue. But what do you use instead of feed balancer for vit/mins? I could use a general purpose vit min supplement I suppose? I have had a soil anaylsis done in the past so could try to find the results of that (farmers friend did it and for some reason I dont think we got a bit of paper!) to feed specific supplements, I know the fields are low in nitrogen but thats now getting spread annually.

I would hope the amount of unmolassed alfalfa shouldnt cause too much of an issue- just a fistful for some 'chew' with his balancer, but will cut it out. :)

Thanks for all the advice and web link :)
 

paddy555

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Thanks :)

Swapping to speedibeet/unmolassed sugarbeet shouldnt be an issue. But what do you use instead of feed balancer for vit/mins? I could use a general purpose vit min supplement I suppose? I have had a soil anaylsis done in the past so could try to find the results of that (farmers friend did it and for some reason I dont think we got a bit of paper!) to feed specific supplements, I know the fields are low in nitrogen but thats now getting spread annually.

instead of balancer you could try equimins meta balance. It is not on their web site and you have to ring to order it. Cost when I last ordered was £54 for 5kg and you feed 60g pd for 500kg.

That is high zn and cu and is one of the few supplements with no iron.
It may be sufficient for your horse or if you are getting your hay and grazing from the same land you may wish to consider mineral balancing as if the land is short in something it will be reflected doubly ie in the hay and grazing.
You will probably even then need additional mg which can also be ordered from equimins (or you could get some calmag from your agricultural merchant)
 

LucyPriory

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I have had a soil anaylsis done in the past so could try to find the results of that (farmers friend did it and for some reason I dont think we got a bit of paper!) to feed specific supplements, I know the fields are low in nitrogen but thats now getting spread annually.


Thanks for all the advice and web link :)

Um - not quite sure how to put this. Might not be such a brilliant idea for horses.

Managing fields as though for cows is a leading cause of hoof health problems for horses.

You might be better off getting a forage analysis (Dengie is affordable) and then balancing the minerals fed against that.

You might need some help from someone who knows and understands how to apply the NRC guidelines to get this right.

Barefoot trimmers cost anything between £30 and £50. Price is not an indicator of ability though. Get references and ideally find one that can help you with your forage analysis.
 

becca1305

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thanks paddy. Think I will try to get hold of the soil analysis which was done/get a new forage analysis so I know what they need, but still useful to know particularly as not on website :). Also a very good point about their haylage coming off the same fields :).

Lucy - farmer also has horses so is managing it as such, the nitrogen has been spread as grazing was really deficient. Sorry didn't explain very well it was spread last year, will be again this year and then won't be done again for a few years if I understood him right. Grass isn't lush, and my laminitic cushings horse (got laminitis and then cushings years ago at a livery yard) has never looked better on his feet since getting it :). I think I will get a forage analysis though to know what I need to add :). Thanks for the price info :).

Will do some more research as Im not sure based on all the changes needed that it is practical to do with the lad as Im hoping to put him up for sale this year. But I also want to go bf with my mare in the future likely in autumn at the end of the eventing season (or earlier if she's having time off - awaiting chiro tomorrow and then possibly vet job :( ) so still all good to know :).
 
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