Shod to barefoot transition advice

Twinkley Lights

Twinkley Lights

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Hi all I'm delighted to say that Ellie my new Haffie mare arrived today. She is shod having done endurance with her prev owner and my others are barefoot and I'd like to keep her barefoot too if I can.

Ellie arrived with 3 shoes so I will need to call my farrier tomorrow in any case. At the moment I'm considering whether to have her shoes removed tomorrow or to keep her shod until she has settled in her new home and hacked out a few times locally etc. If I keep the shoes on I will have them removed at the next visit.

My logic was that this way all things are equal for the time being until she settles then the more significant change which I can feed (biotin & keratex etc and plan for.

Any thoughts appreciated.
 
Is she feeling the hoof without a shoe? If she seems good on it , I personally would take all the shoes off and see how she goes, you can always re-shoe or better still boot up if there is an issue. Easyboot gloves fit my haffy really well (I happily hunt in them).
 
Personally I would leave her shoes on for six weeks so you can sort out her diet and make sure there is no thrush and so on. Set yourself and Ellie up for success. Congrats on the new horse btw.
 
Thanks so much Clava and Unbalanced, I can't tell if she is feeling the shoe loss as its all mud and soggy grass so hard to see she walked in ok tonight but it was slow steps as all new. Maybe I can see tomorrow and trot her up. I'm really in two minds 're: the shoes but don't want her to be footy and sensitive whilst she is getting used to new home turf and my riding style etc.

Well I will have to decide pdq tomorrow once farrier arrives!!!!
 
Yay you bought her congratulations!

My haffy has great back feet but not so good front feet as they are slow growing. She has no shoes on currently as I am just really busy so no point, have taken her out in hand to see how she is and managed an hour hack on 2/3 tarmac and 1/3 grass today. She is ok mostly on tarmac but on stones she is crippled, so unless all your hacks and riding will be on tarmac, grass and nice tracks, I would have fronts on, if you are blessed with such nice surfaces I would give it a go! You can always change your mind next time :-)
 
If she is going to be out with your other ponies I would certainly remove her hind shoes....and if the missing one is a front shoe, then removing the other one makes sense...I am sure you'll get her diet organised asap and a few weeks without shoes before her first trim will actually be beneficial!! Good luck.
 
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