Shod to barefoot photos

[IrishMilo]

This isn't a shod vs. barefoot debate...

Sharing as I know there are a few of us who love a foot journey. Context - 7 y/o ex racer, shod since 2 y/o and barefoot since 13th Jan 2022. I haven't really touched the hinds as they aren't too bad aside from a few chips in the wall and have been pretty conservative with what I'm taking off. Trimmer coming this week.

Day before shoes came off.

Couple of days later, before I touched them.

Worst of the four.

After first trim. I rasped the heels back to where I wanted them but that was it. Took a lot of the toe off and rolled the edge. Haven't touched the frogs throughout. They get a spray with ACV most days.

Taken today.

 

[Red-1]

I think he will have wonderful feet when you are done.

 

[PurBee]

It’ll be interesting to see them transform.
Look good underneath ratio wise, nice frogs…good basis to start the bf journey.

My gelding has 1 black and 1 white front hooves - a visual anomaly occurs where they rarely ‘look’ the same size, despite measuring them to be exactly the same at trimming, they always look like a mis-matched pair of front hooves! The white one always looks bigger.

 

[Goldenstar]

Looking so much better .

 

[ycbm]

I think he will have wonderful feet when you are done.

So do I.

 

[IrishMilo]

Meant to say other peoples' photos very welcome!

 

[Jayzee]

This is so interesting! Will be lovely to follow his progress, I really want to learn more about barefoot transitioning

 

[Widgeon]

I was quite surprised at how much better they looked after just one trim. But then I was also quite shocked by the first photo (having said that I often have that reaction when I see TB feet, they are so very unlike the native types I grew up on!) I was also surprised by how relatively good the undersides of his feet look compared to the side view.

One question - in the first picture his shoes look much wider than his feet. Is this a normal way of shoeing racehorses? If so, why? And if not, how had he ended up shod like that? It looks odd to me. Please excuse my many questions, I'm sure there'll be more where that came from.

 

[IrishMilo]

I was quite surprised at how much better they looked after just one trim. But then I was also quite shocked by the first photo (having said that I often have that reaction when I see TB feet, they are so very unlike the native types I grew up on!) I was also surprised by how relatively good the undersides of his feet look compared to the side view.

One question - in the first picture his shoes look much wider than his feet. Is this a normal way of shoeing racehorses? If so, why? And if not, how had he ended up shod like that? It looks odd to me. Please excuse my many questions, I'm sure there'll be more where that came from.

Questions are good! I doubt they were intentionally shod with the shoe being wider than the foot. I imagine that's just the way they fitted given his long toe but worn/weak horn (outer wall). Because they are so chipped it would be hard to get a shoe to fit that is perfectly level.

It could be tempting to rasp the walls to make them look perfectly round but I don't (aside from a very minor bevel and to get rid of any flare) as I don't want to make it any weaker. The chips will be gone in a few months. ?

 

[McGrools]

Hi there, i’m also transitioning a racehorse to barefoot. Your progress looks a lot quicker than mine. My fella has tiny little feet and very underrun heels. I’m about 8 weeks in. He has been uncomfortable on anything other than the grass but i have just started using some keratex and it seems to be helping him a lot. I can see the new growth coming in but i’m thinking it will be early summer before we have better functioning feet.

 

[ycbm]

One question - in the first picture his shoes look much wider than his feet. Is this a normal way of shoeing racehorses? If so, why? And if not, how had he ended up shod like that? It looks odd to me.

This is the recommended way of shoeing to support the heels, especially if they are underrun as those are. There are farriers and vets who believe all horses should be shod wide and long at the back. Many farriers don't do it because it makes them a lot easier to tread off and lose them.

 

[ycbm]

Hi there, i’m also transitioning a racehorse to barefoot. Your progress looks a lot quicker than mine. My fella has tiny little feet and very underrun heels. I’m about 8 weeks in. He has been uncomfortable on anything other than the grass but i have just started using some keratex and it seems to be helping him a lot. I can see the new growth coming in but i’m thinking it will be early summer before we have better functioning feet.

Have you got his diet tuned McGrools? Low carbs, no added iron, lots of copper and zinc?

You've got a lovely angle change at the top, they'll change hugely in 6 months.

 

[McGrools]

Thankyou ycbm. Yes he is on winter grass 24/7, additional hay or haylage, pro earth platinum, conditioning mash and micronised linseed.

 

[McGrools]

Irishmilo, how is your horse coping on various surfaces since the shoes can off? Mine is very sore and i’m acutely aware that if i kept him at livery as opposed to at home i would have a lot of pressure from all to get him shod.

 

[ycbm]

Thankyou ycbm. Yes he is on winter grass 24/7, additional hay or haylage, pro earth platinum, conditioning mash and micronised linseed.

Excellent
.

 

[deicinmerlyn]

Having a BF Tb myself, I’m rather jealous of those frogs!

 

[charlotte0916]

I’d love to transition mine to BF but struggled previously with a combo of heavy clay soil (so v wet constantly) and turnout and hacking that’s seriously stony. She got a cracking abscess very quickly once it got wet and was told by vet and farrier to get the shoes back on asap. Has anyone had similar conditions and managed to do this transition?

 

[IrishMilo]

Irishmilo, how is your horse coping on various surfaces since the shoes can off? Mine is very sore and i’m acutely aware that if i kept him at livery as opposed to at home i would have a lot of pressure from all to get him shod.

Much, much better within the last week. He's now walking on concrete and hard mud/gravel no problem (for the most part).

Initially he was - and I'm not exaggerating - crippled. He didn't want to walk at all and when he did limped along. It was really hard to watch but he was going from his stable to the field and that was it and I genuinely felt I needed to be cruel to be kind longterm. I knew it was not going to be an easy transition as he basically doesn't know any different. Putting the shoes back on would have been such an easy quick fix but IMO it's the ones who are the most crippled out of shoes who benefit the most from coming out of them.

 

[IrishMilo]

I’d love to transition mine to BF but struggled previously with a combo of heavy clay soil (so v wet constantly) and turnout and hacking that’s seriously stony. She got a cracking abscess very quickly once it got wet and was told by vet and farrier to get the shoes back on asap. Has anyone had similar conditions and managed to do this transition?

The soil around me is clay. I'd personally write off working the horse for a couple of months if you want to transition and know she'll struggle. You need to give the sole time to thicken and callous otherwise she'll just become bruised and miserable and stop using the feet in a functional way. Ideally you need to keep them moving gently and I personally prefer to not use boots as I feel it just delays the process (unless you have to walk the horse on a lot of stony ground). I've had some horses step out of shoes and crunch over gravel like nothing's different and some like this one who are really going to need a lot of time to be fully OK. If you have any photos that would be good!

 

[emilylou]

I have a question, my horse has made the transition to barefoot following a big abcess in august and then subsequent mild navicular diagnosis. He’s been out of work since then, out 24/7 in a big field with a herd. Came sound after 2 months and comfortable on roads after 4. I’ve taken him on the occasional hack through January and he has coped fine. I’m now looking to properly bring him back into work and stay barefoot. I’m worried about his feet wearing down and making him sore again. At what point do you need to start wearing protective boots? And is there anything special I will need to do when bringing back into work now he is barefoot?
I’ll try and dig out some before and after pictures…

 

[Surbie]

Mine was similarly uncomfortable just out of shoes. Although it made us the butt of many a joke, I put nappies on my horse's feet for the walk to and from the field, and made sure he walked on the softer verge and at his own pace. We're about 4 months into the transition and he is doing really well - not that I can ride at the moment so he's having a very slow adjustment.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

I’d love to transition mine to BF but struggled previously with a combo of heavy clay soil (so v wet constantly) and turnout and hacking that’s seriously stony. She got a cracking abscess very quickly once it got wet and was told by vet and farrier to get the shoes back on asap. Has anyone had similar conditions and managed to do this transition?

I am on clay soil which can get very thick in winter so I started B off in the summer. I wish I had taken photos of his feet as soon as his shoes came off but it’s a bit late now. They are naturally very narrow with straight walls and no growth which made shoeing difficult but we are about 7 months in and I placed his last set of shoes over his feet last week to see if there was any difference and the heels have expanded by 1/2 inch either side.

To start with he was sore on anything but a deep thick bed so I got him some boots so he could go out. The only issues I had were thrush and sand cracks which he had when he had shoes on so I wasn’t surprised when they came back. A good dose of Red Horse products have cleared up everything and now he strides out over almost everything but the sharpest of ground and I’ve ridden both with and without boots to see how he was. I’m so pleased I took the plunge with him and even though it has been fairly straightforward I wasn’t sure I’d done the right thing for a while.

I now have two barefoot ponies ?

 

[McGrools]

IMO it's the ones who are the most crippled out of shoes who benefit the most from coming out of them.

Agree totally, shoes mask allsorts of problems. I really think you cannot understand your horses properly

 

[McGrools]

Until the shoes come off and you learn how the feet relate to health of the whole horse x
Website keeps crashing!!

 

[charlotte0916]

The soil around me is clay. I'd personally write off working the horse for a couple of months if you want to transition and know she'll struggle. You need to give the sole time to thicken and callous otherwise she'll just become bruised and miserable and stop using the feet in a functional way. Ideally you need to keep them moving gently and I personally prefer to not use boots as I feel it just delays the process (unless you have to walk the horse on a lot of stony ground). I've had some horses step out of shoes and crunch over gravel like nothing's different and some like this one who are really going to need a lot of time to be fully OK. If you have any photos that would be good!

I’ll try and get photos tomorrow morning, it’d be interesting to get opinions on her feet currently!

Unfortunately being out of work wouldn’t suit her (she really needs it mentally and had 4 months off last year for injury and was really unhappy through the time off and subsequent light work stages). She seemed to get on okay last summer when she had her backs off for 5 months and was happy on gravel/roads/TO but as soon as it got wet she went through to the rock in her field and the mud/wet/rock combo wasn’t ideal.
Good to know it can be done if you can find a way through it though!

 

[charlotte0916]

The soil around me is clay. I'd personally write off working the horse for a couple of months if you want to transition and know she'll struggle. You need to give the sole time to thicken and callous otherwise she'll just become bruised and miserable and stop using the feet in a functional way. Ideally you need to keep them moving gently and I personally prefer to not use boots as I feel it just delays the process (unless you have to walk the horse on a lot of stony ground). I've had some horses step out of shoes and crunch over gravel like nothing's different and some like this one who are really going to need a lot of time to be fully OK. If you have any photos that would be good!

These are the feet we’ve got currently - thoughts welcome!

 

[IrishMilo]

These are the feet we’ve got currently - thoughts welcome!

Impossible to comment from those angels/quality, sorry! You need to take them like I have - camera to the ground, up close. That is a really nice, functional frog, though!

 

[Surbie]

These are my horse's, though as you can tell, he's not a TB.

We're doing a 4-weekly trim/check with my farrier at the moment. I can't ride atm, the horse hasn't been off the yard since September. Shoes came off in October. These photos were taken yesterday, 2 weeks after his last trim.

He still has some white line distortion from a very bad abcess 3 years ago in LF, but it is miles better than it used to be.

I tried to do the snazzy line thing on one of the photos, but I don't think I got it right.

 

[charlotte0916]

Impossible to comment from those angels/quality, sorry! You need to take them like I have - camera to the ground, up close. That is a really nice, functional frog, though!

Poor attempts before work this morning, I’ll try to get better ones this weekend! Thank you, good to hear the frogs look decent to others, I’ve spent a fair amount of time over them this winter trying to keep them as healthy as possible being 16 hours a day on a clay field. We have a good farrier too!

 

[McGrools]

These are my horse's, though as you can tell, he's not a TB.

We're doing a 4-weekly trim/check with my farrier at the moment. I can't ride atm, the horse hasn't been off the yard since September. Shoes came off in October. These photos were taken yesterday, 2 weeks after his last trim.

He still has some white line distortion from a very bad abcess 3 years ago in LF, but it is miles better than it used to be.

I tried to do the snazzy line thing on one of the photos, but I don't think I got it right.


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They look pretty amazing to me with my little experience. Huge fat frog and great beefed up back of the foot. ??