Rubbish feet taking over my life

ycbm said:
I don't agree with this. You cannot tell whether the horse is one of those which just can't wear shoes until after you have optimised the diet.

And to remove the shoes on a horse whose diet is faulty is asking for a sore horse.
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Not sure about this as my welsh d and pb d live out on good grazing and only get fed hay, safe&sound and speedy beet in the winter. They are barefoot with no issues at all.
 
But we know that some horses are more sensitive to 1) grass, and 2) vitamin/mineral intake than others, and it has nothing to do with breed.
 
If it were my horse I would try him barefoot. My horse is barefoot now after being a long time in shoes and it was the best thing I ever did.

I am not rabidly pro barefoot, sometimes horses need shoes, but looking at the issues you're having I would be looking to remove them and try and let him fix the feet himself, with dietary and exercise help from yourself of course :)

Also can I ask why he is shod every 5 weeks? When mines was shod he would go 8 weeks between, I found that doing his feet any earlier than that resulted in lost shoes and the feet being a right mess. Now he is trimmed about three times a year with the amount of work he's in and his feet are brilliant. I started with removing the hind shoes of about 6 months then once he was comfortable and coping I took the back shoes off, this worked well for me :)

In regards to the feeding I would perhaps pop him on the aspero or the Agrobs muesli and add magnesium chloride and pure seasalt to his feed. The equimins supplement is excellent. If you add some water to the Agrobs muesli then go for a ride it swells and the rose hips and other herbs all plump up :) mine loves it.
 
I just wanted to thank everyone who has given helpful input, I've taken onboard some valuable information such as changing his diet as I now see that there was too much iron and maganese present in his feeds. I will also be looking into doing the cleantrax soak next time he is shod and see if that makes a difference. My farrier is one of the best, but my horses feet are difficult; i'm sure there is a reason he shoes him the way he does but I will discuss with him next time. I have I think I will now bow out befor this becomes too much barefoot focused, I have tried that in the past and it's just not been suitabe.
 
Crugeran Celt said:
Not sure about this as my welsh d and pb d live out on good grazing and only get fed hay, safe&sound and speedy beet in the winter. They are barefoot with no issues at all.
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You make my point for me. Your horses already have an optimum diet for their feet. The OPs horse may not. I've had two horses on exactly the same food and exercise who had different supplement needs in order to stay rock crunching.
 
ycbm said:
You make my point for me. Your horses already have an optimum diet for their feet. The OPs horse may not. I've had two horses on exactly the same food and exercise who had different supplement needs in order to stay rock crunching.
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Whenever I read about barefoot feeding it always involves special feeds and suppliments so assumed I was 'doing it wrong' but as my horses feet are really good and they are sound barefoot I have never introduced them to the feeds available.
 
Merlod said:
Yes, my thought has been bacterial - hence the daily hibiscrubing of the cracks and nail holes. He isn't due for 4 weeks now but I will look into cleantrax - does it absolutely have to be done with the shoe off to work properly?
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Yep, the shoes have to be off. And it takes about 30 mins so have your farrier whip the shoes off and do the Cleantrax while you make farrier a cuppa! You'll need to buy a soaking boot (or get inventive with a plastic feed bag and duct tape).
 
Our two mares are shod every four weeks on the dot to keep their toes nice and short. Also shod with quarter clips in front which I'm very much in favour of..

Could you try this for a couple of cycles to see if a shorter interval makes a difference. .

Fiona
 
ester said:
If your horses feet are really good you definitely aren't doing it wrong!
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Yes I am very lucky that all five of mine are barefoot and have good strong hooves. Three have never heen shod, one was shod until she had to be retired at the age of 7, now 23, the welsh d was shod when I bought him as a 5 year old and I kept him shod until my farrier recommended that I try him barefoot as he didn't think he was doing enough work to justify shoeing. Haven't looked back but they are all trimmed every 8 weeks.
 
Crugeran Celt said:
Whenever I read about barefoot feeding it always involves special feeds and suppliments so assumed I was 'doing it wrong' but as my horses feet are really good and they are sound barefoot I have never introduced them to the feeds available.
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There is no 'wrong' if the feet are good :)

You probably wouldn't have so little trouble if you had grazing and water sky high in manganese and iron like I do. I feed copper zinc magnesium and selenium to balance it and blood test to make sure I have it right. I wish I didn't have to but barefoot would be impossible for me with some horses if I didn't. Other horses seem to cope.
 
That is unfortunate ycbm, obviously it depends on the area you live. Many horses around me are barefoot infact I would say there are more unshod than shod must be down to the soil and type of grazing available. My old mare always struggled keeping shoes on and would have to be shod every few weeks but her feet have improved so much being barefoot and she is now sound more importantly. Saying that I really have to keep on top of trimming with her she can't go over 8 or 9 weeks.
 
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