Self trimming rehab, advice required

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Kezzabell2

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My horse has been lame for a while, tried a variety of different shoes, and each time he gets worse!

my vet and farrier are coming back tomorrow to take off the £200 shoes that were fitted last weekend! and my vet wants me to try this self trimming thing that they do at Rockley Farm. He has said that my horse isn't quite a write off yet, so he doesn't think he needs to go down there but he wants to follow their rehab principals to see whether we can get the poor sod sound!

so if anyone has any recommendations on how to do this, I would massively appreciate it! obviously ill be asking the vet tomorrow but im sure there will be things that I won't even know to ask about!

Like I assume that I will have to feed him differently? (currently he is on fast fibre)

How long do I leave him before I start walking him out, after having his shoes off!
 
Get him on one of the three no iron, high copper supplements that are available Pro hoof from ebay, forageplus from forageplus.co.uk or equivita.

Then walk on flat hard surfaces, from tomorrow, in hand if he is not sound ridden, for as long as he can manage up to an hour a day two days out of three. And walk. And walk. When sound and landing flat or heel first, ride and introduce more difficult surfaces, and go faster as and when he can take it.


It's not rocket science. it works a lot more often than not. Keep him moving as much as possible when not actually working. Watch for thrush like a hawk and treat anything suspicious immediately.

Do not attempt to shape his feet, accept whatever weird shapes he throws at you for at least six months, then review.

There are some horses who simply will not stop putting out more growth than they need. Of he turns out to be one these, you need very expert advice from someone on the spot.

You have a priceless vet!

Good luck!
 
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There are quite a few of us on the forum who have done barefoot rehab, so keep us informed and we will all hold your hand :)
 
lovely thank you!

Now I also have another decision to make! last November I moved him to a yard (I private rent a farm for my others and the was there) I needed a school and a walker whilst he was on box rest.

So do I keep him at the yard or do I move him home?

Yard he will have to be stabled from December, maybe earlier if its a wet winter.
the field is a good 8 mins walk from the stables, over grass and stoney tracks!
there is loads of off road hacking but if I go out on roads the first road is a busy rat run, with a few bends and not really somewhere I tend to like riding on unless its a quite sunday morning!

my other place, he can live out 24/7, I have a massive barn with a concrete floor, which would help with his feet? there is a lane which is half a mile long, some of it is quite stoney but the rest is soft ish! there are quitter country lanes out of one end and the busy village the other end, but its nice as the cars drive slower 30mph

he's currently very lame in his shoes, his coffin bone is on the wrong angle and we've been trying to raise his heel for a year to correct it! but its not worked

he grows a lot of toe but also when he walks he places his toe down first, so the vet thinks that he will wear that down on his own, which might help his heel raise naturally!

my vet is awesome, he's sent 6 horses to Rockley Farm, all write off, due to be PTS and they've all come back sound and one is even show jumping again!
 
OK. Movement is key. There are barefoot horses who go to Rockley and my experience of the one I know personally is that it was stabling over the winter that caused his problems. So I would take him home and keep him out as much as you can and in the barn when he has to be in. I too am lucky enough to have a barn and mine are never stables for longer than an hour or so. Having him walk around on concrete will be excellent IF he can cope, it's a tough surface. You might need to boot for tough surfaces at first, but that's fine.

Flat tarmac is the best surface to start with, not grass. You need wear on a consistent surface, unless you have access to the shale surfaces that Rockley are blessed with, having their own shale quarry on site!

You may be surprised how quickly he can come sound. I've done four and all have been cantering within three months and all ended up jumping and back to full work sound.

The toe first landing is VERY key to the issue. The toe first landing has been shown to create ddft lesions in the foot by Rooney. The walk work and turnout movement should change that to flat within weeks and heel first shortly after.
 
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Kezzabell great to hear your vet is open minded to both treatments for foot pain, I think both can have their place depending on the horse.

I rehabbed my boy barefoot last winter after he was diagnosed with caudal hoof pain and bi-laterally 1-2/10 lame in front. I can only tell you what I did, Ive only limited experience but it did work! I walked him in hand on smooth tarmac which is quite forgiving for newly unshod feet. I started doing 200 meters 3 times a day on tarmac and he was turned out as well, I gradually built it up for about 8 weeks until we were doing around a mile twice a day. Shoes came off at the start of November 2014 and I went for my first short ride just before Christmas as he was sound and comfortable on roads. Again gradually built up until we were going out for around an hour walk/trot (& occasionally an unintentional canter when he decided he was feeling frisky!) on roads completely bare. That took us to the start of April when the grass started growing and overnight he became uncomfortable. It was obviously a choice of no grass at all or using boots to ride and Im not willing from a welfare point of view not to let him graze for 6 months of the year. So after some trial and error I found boots that work for him and we haven't looked back.

To give you encouragement I rode probably less than 10 times in 2014 due to him being injured in one way or another, this year we have done 6 pleasure rides so far and so he has been trotted up in front of a vet before and after a reasonably fast 20-25km ride and Im delighted to say he has passed as sound every time. Tbh I find the whole barefoot & booting thing a bit of a PITA however it certainly seems to work for my horse so frankly I just need to suck it up and get on with it ;)

Good luck, really hope it works for you like it did for us, you'll find it fascinating watching his feet change shape and adapt!

Edited to add - I kept him self trimming until June when he had a whole new hoof capsule on the ground. At this point it was obvious that his toes were going to shoot out in front if not kept in check so my farrier now trims him never touches the heels or the sole just deals with the toes and any developing flare.
 
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'deals with developing flare '

alarm bells ringing for me there.

Flare is separation of the white line and can't be cured by trimming, only by feeding and growing out from higher up.

Other spreading of the foot at the bottom, if the white line is tight, is exactly the kind of deviation that Rockley would say is an adaptation of the hoof to a lack of straightness in the limb or body above it and should not be trimmed away. It depends whether the deviation is making the hoof look asymmetric from the underneath view. If the solar view has a central frog, it should definitely not be trimmed away, ime.
 
my horse is unshod behind and he defo gets flarey bits on his hoof, a week or two before he's due a trim! so I would expect he will get them at the front!

thanks for the advice, think I'll keep a little diary of how he's getting on and take regular pics etc!! I'm a bit nervous, I've always had a shod horse, so this is going to be a whole new game for me!

I can see how it might work though as I couldn't catch my mini pony for 2 years and his feet would look horrendous and then they'd sort themselves out from walking on the concrete in the barn!

I really hope this is going to work for my boy, he's only 5! he started really well in April last year then went lame in Sept, was off until Feb this year, was going amazingly until June then I got back from holiday and he had his hocks fused and has been lame in front since his shoes were re-done 5 weeks ago! new shoes a week ago and they've made him worse
 
ycbm said:
Get him on one of the three no iron, high copper supplements that are available Pro hoof from ebay, forageplus from forageplus.co.uk or equivita.

Then walk on flat hard surfaces, from tomorrow, in hand if he is not sound ridden, for as long as he can manage up to an hour a day two days out of three. And walk. And walk. When sound and landing flat or heel first, ride and introduce more difficult surfaces, and go faster as and when he can take it.


It's not rocket science. it works a lot more often than not. Keep him moving as much as possible when not actually working. Watch for thrush like a hawk and treat anything suspicious immediately.

Do not attempt to shape his feet, accept whatever weird shapes he throws at you for at least six months, then review.

There are some horses who simply will not stop putting out more growth than they need. Of he turns out to be one these, you need very expert advice from someone on the spot.

You have a priceless vet!

Good luck!
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Couldnt agree more with above advice and Wow for the Vet!
 
Kezzabell2 said:
my horse is unshod behind and he defo gets flarey bits on his hoof, a week or two before he's due a trim! so I would expect he will get them at the front!

thanks for the advice, think I'll keep a little diary of how he's getting on and take regular pics etc!! I'm a bit nervous, I've always had a shod horse, so this is going to be a whole new game for me!

I can see how it might work though as I couldn't catch my mini pony for 2 years and his feet would look horrendous and then they'd sort themselves out from walking on the concrete in the barn!

I really hope this is going to work for my boy, he's only 5! he started really well in April last year then went lame in Sept, was off until Feb this year, was going amazingly until June then I got back from holiday and he had his hocks fused and has been lame in front since his shoes were re-done 5 weeks ago! new shoes a week ago and they've made him worse
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You need to take pictures with the camera on the ground.

And you really do need to stop your farrier from trimming off 'flare' unless it is cracking off. Flare due to white line separation can't be improved except by feeding. Flare where the white line is tight is a deviation which the foot needs. If you trim it off and it comes back, the horse needs it.
 
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deicinmerlyn said:
Couldnt agree more with above advice and Wow for the Vet!
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is this shocking advice from a vet then?

He said he spoke to Nic from Rockley farm a few years back, when he sent the first horse, the owner wanted to give it ago! he was really surprised to agree with everything that she said!

He also suggested that farrier should be more like hoof care specialists and not be so keen to put shoes on every horse and to visit horses every 8 weeks to do a hoof assessment, watch horses move and offer a suitable service, rather than just turning up and whacking on a set of shoes!

I'm lucky I've used my vet for 14 yrs and my farrier for a long time and I'd class them both a friends, so I totally trust that they will do what is right for my horse! so my farrier will come out and check his feet for me but won't trim them unless absolutely necessary.

so if I feed this pro hoof, can I still give him his normal fast fibre feed?
 
Fast fibre is great. Just don't add anything with added sugar in it.

Your vet is VERY unusual, treasure him!

Get your farrier to have a chat with Nic at Rockley if he will, and she can advise him what to trim and what not to trim. She is generous with her time and her expertise.
 
ah brilliant, thanks so much! if I add anything else during the winter it will be molasses free hi fi! I guess apples and carrots are a no no then? they are the only treat that he does get
 
Super that you have a vet who's on board! :) A quick word of caution, when trying to do a Rockley-style rehab at home: British weather/ground conditions mean that to achieve a self-trimming horse can easily be more difficult than the individual circumstances of yard and management conditions, and the owner's ability for the considerable time investment, allow. If the going gets difficult, don't hesitate to call in a barehoof specialist who is experienced with rehab.

Also, don't beat yourself up if you achieve a sound, happy horse who isn't completely self-trimming, or who needs boots sometimes. I have a metabolic pony, who (like many here) lives in a muddy field and is expected to work on granite. I do what road work I can, but my work, my finances and the climate simply mean that I can't make the management really ideal. As an endurance horse, he's expected to do hours over often hard terrain at considerable speed, which our management can't completely prepare him for---so he wears boots when he does that, and a trimmer keeps an eye on the length of his hooves (which grow like weeds, probably not unrelated to his metabolic issues).

As for apples and carrots, in moderation they should be fine.
 
I thought so! I'm that first owner whose horse went to Rockley ;) He's now competing at BE90, BD and went hunting last week.

We must be local so if you wanted to have a local rehab person I'm more than happy to help. Tell CT that Buddy says hello!
 
Leg_end said:
I thought so! I'm that first owner whose horse went to Rockley ;) He's now competing at BE90, BD and went hunting last week.

We must be local so if you wanted to have a local rehab person I'm more than happy to help. Tell CT that Buddy says hello!
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Omg that would be totally amazing, thank you so much. I'm in Basingstoke, are you on Facebook?
 
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