Riding shoe-less...

grandmaweloveyou

grandmaweloveyou

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Hi. My horses feet are in a bad way. I am not going to go into why on here - but you can draw your own conclusions - so I am asking the farrier to take the shoes off today. What do I do about riding him shoeless? He has been without back ones before, I just want to have a couple of weeks, max a month to let them recover before the new farrier putting some on.
I am really upset, his front ones have chipped off loads and are not even round anymore. Can I still ride him out if I am considerate? Also I dont want to let my sharer down
frown.gif

PS If the shoes were only put on last week and 1 has been lost already - would you ask for a refund?
 
Farrier problems? There are things that can bo done, new products you can use to keep the shoes on AND improve the quality of the feet.

It sounds like you want to keep the shoes on but think you cant?

If the feet are already in a state and you take the shoes off you risk the farrier not being able to get them back on when you want them put back on as they tend to get much worse before they get better...
 
I have taken one of my boy's back shoes off but I can't ride him out as he goes sore so I just take him in the school at the mo and he is fine in there, I'm just waiting for the farrier to come back.

I wouldn't ask for a refund if my horses feet were that bad, a farrier can only do so much, perhaps he will come back and take the other one off for nothing?
 
ps in my opinion there is not enough hoof left to nail the shoe into and its the second front one its now happened to and im scared if another shoe is put on itll rip more off and do damage. god damn it haha x
 
The lovely cob? Cobs normally have great feet. What are you doing to help the condition of them? Are you putting anything on them? It sounds like they are very dry. Try Hoof Heal at about £9 a bottle you cant really loose.

Also Hoof Cast will help with keeping the shoes on.

Are you feeding him anything?

Why do you think its a farrier error here? what has changed with the horse that it goes from holding its shoes well to this?
 
It sounds like you should try hoof cast as taking the shoes off may not be the best choice here. Not unless you are willing to keep them off for as long as it takes for the feet to sort themselves out. Taking them off now you may find there really is nothing to nail to when you want them put back on
 
You would be amazed at what a good farrier can get a shoe on without damaging the foot more. If there's not enough hoof a farrier will tell you and should be able to advise on what to do next, how long to leave it etc. Being native he might be fine without fronts (most horses are fine without hinds tbh) you could only try and see, unlikely he'd be crippled but he may not be ok to ride on roads or gravel.

Hope you get it sorted, I would suggest hoof boots but it's a large expense if you are only looking to go shoeless short term.
 
You'd be surprised how well a good farrier can nail a shoe into 'nothing'. I've often thought theres no way a shoe is going onto that foot and yet it has. I wouldn't give up yet.

What I'd be more concerned about is whats happened to cause this if your horse used to have such good feet. New farrier, new field, new feed or could it be these dry weather conditions that are new?

Also I'd be concerned that with no hoof wall left your horse will probably be lame if without shoes.
 
well its a new farrier and i really like him and he is fabulously available and accommodating and lovely and we get on so well and i want to stay wtih him but ive never had this problem before so maybe its an amalgamation of things. ohhhhhh im so miserable about it tho its been ongoing for about 2-3 months. ok so going shoeless seems not to be the option, thanks guys, and im definitely going to buy the bits you all recommend cos at the moment im only using hoof oil.
 
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