Shoe or stay barefoot?

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littlen

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My horse has been barefoot for around a year but hasnt been ridden much. He recently had lami and as a result is needing to be worked daily. He has fab feet but seems to be struggling on hard or stoney ground. He flinches when standing on a rock or stone and on roads he walks very slowly as if uncomfy.
He is sound on all other surfaces.

I am concdering putting front shoes on him to stop this. Has anyone had experiences of going barefoot to shod and how did it work for you?

Other people at my yard think im crazy and say i will ruin his feet and i will have to start again. They are also of the opinion that I should wait until next summer and just leave him as i wont be riding in winter, but then again how else will i keep his weight down?

Another option is hoof boots but again how practical is this option. I mean they are very expensive and how do i know if they will suit him or not? Which ones would I go for etc?
Also what if his foot changes shape/grows and then the boot dosent fit.
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I like the look of the easyboots but which one is best as there are so many to pick from and I have heard they are impossible to size correctly?
 
First thing to do is speak to your farrier and see what they say. It may just be he is still a bit sore from the lami and needs some time for his feet to sort themselves out again.
Don't go straight from barefoot to shod all round - as you mention try fronts first. You won't 'ruin' his feet - you woul be ruining them by leaving shoes off when they really need it. My boy has fronts on as without them they grow down to quickly (given his weight) and he goes footsore. The farrier mentions everytime that his feet are excellent, certainly not ruined.
Have a chat with your farrier and see what they say. And don't listen to tittle tattle from others - do what is best for your horse.
 
I too have had this problem with my mare, the walls of her feet are like concrete yet her sole bruises easily. We tried going bare-foot and to begin with & Belle seemed fine, however alot of the off-road hacking is on stony/un-even ground and she soon became foot sore.

To start with my farrier was very reluctant to put shoes on her, said it was such a shame to ruin good feet. My mare has been shod since then & her feet are still as hard as concrete & she has never been foot sore since
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Thanks all.

I have spoken to farrier already and he has said it is my decision because at the moment his feet are fine and he has no problems keeping him barefoot, he can go ten weeks without even a chip appearing yet is lame from 1 stone so I dont know what to do. Farrier said if it was his horse he would leave alone for cost and practical reasons, but then again if he is sore im not so sure. I dont know it may be remnants of the lami i have never had a lami horse before and I am pretty confused by it all?

How often will his shoes etc need replacing if i was to shoe him on the front?
 
Depends completely on his feet and the workload tbh. Some will only go 4 weeks, others 8, but the norm is around 6. I know my boy goes around 6 1/2 to 7 and my farrier is happy with that.
 
We've just had our youngster shod for the 1st time & despite what others may say, we did all 4 in one go as she was very chilled.

If your horse is footsore, then you must do something to prevent any further suffering.

Either stop riding on stoney ground / roads etc or put shoes on.
 
Do you have x-rays of the affected feet? If there has been rotation of the pedal bone or founder has occurred then the bone will be much closer to the floor than it was pre-laminitis. What did your vet/farrier advise when the laminitis occurred with regard to remedial shoeing, etc.? I presume the horse is/was completely sound prior to you starting work?
 
I was persuaded to go barefoot with my horses and one of them ended up with laminitis too! I totally blame the barefoot system. I have had him since he was 3 , now he is 14 and I had never had any trouble with his feet until going barefoot.

I had the vet and the farrier out straight away and thanks to their prompt treatment and remedial shoeing he is now sound and back in work. Get the shoes back on! That way you can keep him in work and in comfort.
 
Hoof boots work really well as long as you get the correct size and shape for your horse. If you don't, they'll be a nightmare. Have a look at the EasyCare website which has a big selection of boots and some downloadable charts for sizing. I use Boas, Old Macs G1's and Old Macs G2's on my three horses as they all have slightly different foot shapes. The boots are initially expensive, but all of mine has lasted two years at the very least with reasonable use - some of them are four years old now. If you compare that with the cost of shoeing it's pretty good, although obviously there is still the cost of the trim. If your horse is happy the rest of the time without shoes, go for the boots. If you don't like them you can always then go for the shoeing option - there is a good market for used boots on eBay (which also isn't a bad place to start if you want to try different types of boot).
 
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Thanks all.

I have spoken to farrier already and he has said it is my decision because at the moment his feet are fine and he has no problems keeping him barefoot, he can go ten weeks without even a chip appearing yet is lame from 1 stone so I dont know what to do. Farrier said if it was his horse he would leave alone for cost and practical reasons, but then again if he is sore im not so sure. I dont know it may be remnants of the lami i have never had a lami horse before and I am pretty confused by it all?


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Do you know what triggered the lami? It does sound like your horse is still feeling the effects. What is his diet right now? Have you eliminated all sugar from what you feed him? That's where I'd start as successful barefooting is 85% about getting the diet right. Check your feed ingredients - remove anything that has any sugar or molasses. How much grass is he getting? Again you might need to remove him from grazing altogether and provide all his fibre from hay or very low protein haylage. Have to say I'm bemused by the OP who thought going barefoot caused her pony to get laminitis
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If that were true then every pony in the wild would be affected. Shoeing can disguise low grade laminitis but that doesn't mean it isn't there!

If you can read the book Feet First by Sarah Braithwaite and Nic Barker. It'll help you a lot. Personally I wouldn't put shoes back on now because although your pony might then look sound on rough going it won't change the fact that his feet are still suffering from the affects of his laminitic attack. It's like sticking a plaster over an infected wound. You can't see the wound anymore but it's still infected underneath.
 
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It really sounds to me as if your farrier thinks you should keep your horse unshod, but, ultimately, any choice has to be yours. I do agree with above poster that he may still be a little sore as an after effect of the lami.
 
my old girl went barefoot in January and as a cob she has rock hard feet, but like your horse she finds it impossible to walk over stony ground. We hoped this would improve after a period of adjustment but it didn't so I bought a pair of Old Mac G2s for her front feet and I think they are fab. We can hack out again and they are very easy to put on. They do make allowances for the hroses feet growing and advise you to measure immediatly after a trim.
 
maxedup don't fool yourself! Your horse still has laminitis (why would he not have, you haven't changed his diet?), only his shoes mask the pain by numbing his feet.

Barefoot is not to blame for the fact that you allowed your horse's diet to give him laminitis!
 
I have front boots for mine (Easyboot Gloves), because he had an area of infection where stones were getting stuck in what remained of his originally badly-flared hoof. He's supposed to wear them for hacking until the cut-away area of hoof wall grows back down. Excepting our incident in deep sucking mud 2 weeks ago, they're brilliant. The initial purchase price may seem stiff, but they're supposed to last a long time!
 
Shoes numbing the pain?! Horses diet ?!? Perhaps you just need more of the facts before you make assumptions.

Firstly the pain can be judged by the pulse in the fetlock and the horse was not shod until this came back to normal. Also full x-rays were taken of the foot concerned both before and after treatment so that a proper assessment could be made before shoeing. Plastic shoes were used until the condition improved sufficiently to allow traditional shoeing.

Only one foot was seriously affected by the laminitis , and whilst weight was becoming an issue, this I believe was caused by the inability to work him because he was "footsore". The "barefoot trimmer" , ( not a fully trained farrier) advocated that the horse needed to ' work through the pain' as this was like us getting pins and needles and was a result of increased blood flow into the feet as a result of the 'restrictive shoes' being removed. All sounded very convincing!

I am not against horses being without shoes , of my other horses , all the youngstock are barefoot but now trimmed by a professional and fully trained farrier, and another being ridden only has fronts on.

All I know is that my horse DOES NOT now have laminitis---medically proven. He can be turned out , is not on restricted grazing, although he has never been turned out full time, and he is now sound and in full work. My only regret is that I put him at risk by following the fad of barefoot trimming and it cost him pain and me substantial vet and farrier bills to get him right.
 
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