Shoeless - hoof condition help

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Brandy

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I have just taken the shoes off my native pony. Or rather my excellent farrier has. He manages without shoes in that he is not sore or footy etc unless he treads on stones which is no real surprise. The problem I have is that the feet wear very quickly.

One of the reasons for this I think is the sand school. However, he will be working less (2 - 3 times a week) so I am hoping that he will be able to remain shoeless.

Is there any advice anyone can give about hoof wear? I would rather not resort to boots - kind of defeats the object I feel. Also, a couple of friends have used them recently, and they are very expensive, and don't seem to last.

The feet do not crack or anything like that, they simply wear quickly.

There are several EP's in the area but i've seen the work of one and tbh its put me off. I would rather stick with my farrier. Maybe I should tar all with the same brush but a bad experience goes a long way unfortunately!

Thanks
 
Not much advice I can give as mine can wear quite quickly if doing fair bit in the school.

Isn't that cornucresent(sp?) stuff supposed to make their feet grow quicker? I've used the moisturiser and that helped with condition but there is a tar which I think it you put around the coronet it acts like an irritant and the horn grows quicker - could be all made up though, not sure!
 
If you do a search on here you'll get lots on going barefoot! The general theory is that as the horse gets used to the level of work it's feet are required to do, it will grow horn accordingly. This means that you have to do a bit of conditioning work to begin with, and you might have to use boots for some of the time while the feet catch up with the work. For many horses, you can then stop using boots.
There are threads on differences between farrier trims and trimmer trims too - the big difference I've seem is that farriers will remove the sole callous even on a horse that is to remain barefoot, while trimmers leave this well alone. I was a bit wary of getting a trimmer to my horses at first so I asked the lady in question if I could come out and watch her work for an afternoon. I did that, learned a lot from her, and was then happy to have her come and do my horses feet.
I'm getting a sand school soon (yay!) and I'm looking forward to having a nice abrasive surface to work their feet on - it means less in the way of trimming is needed!
EasyCare is the best site for boot information if you need some.
 
cornecresine will help with foot growth if applied daily to the coronet band (and your nails will grow too) effol is good for the rest of the feet and a good supplement for feet will help the condition of the growing hoof (you will need to feed for at least 6 months to get the benefits. it does take time for them to adjust to barefoot but most natives can work barefoot and cope with roadwork. i am not a fan of EP and like my trained farrier, he will give you plenty of good advice. listen to your pony as well he will soon let you know if he is uncomfortable!
 
Thank you so much 'ofcourseyoucan'. I really don't want to use an EP, in fact I won't. Again, do not want to tar all with same brush but have seen some terrioble work by 'qualified' EP's.

I think I will try some cornucrescine and a good supplement for the feet - off to research!
 
My school is grit. I had it deliberately to wear the feet because wear is good for barefoot. Barefoot feet are supposed to be very short and unless your pony is lame then nothing is wrong however short they look to you.
 
Brandy said:
How about if you pick the foot up and the sole if completely flat? Worn flat?
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If there is no concavity after a few weeks barefoot, then the diet is incorrect. You cannot wear a proper barefoot foot flat unless the pedal bone is not suspended correctly inside the hoof capsule. It is not possible. If you tried, by working the horse to excess, then you would have a ring of bleeding hoof all around the outside and a frog way higher than the sole and probably bleeding too.

You need to find out why there is no concavity - almost always diet - and correct it, or shoe the horse if you want a quick fix. The sensitivity to stones is the same problem and will likely reduce or disappear with the corrected diet.

Some are very difficult. IR and EPMS can be absolute swines to manage barefoot. You may simply have done too much too soon with a horse newly out of shoes, but if the flat feet don't start to concave up in a month, start reducing sugar/molasses/corn syrup/wheat syrup in your horse's food, soak hay and restrict access to spring grass and see what happens then.
 
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Thanks for your reply. No not done anything at all yet work wise! This is what happened before hind shoes were put on a couple of years ago. Started with none, then fronts, then full set due to work levels. However, haven't the time for that amount of work now (nor the need now that he behaves himself when not ridden every day!)

Re the feed - no sugar/mollases/syrup of any sort. Hay already soaked and grazing restricted as he is a fattie native. Would be grateful for suggestions of supplement or hoof dressing you think may help? Or am I barking up the wrong tree with these?

What do IR and EPMS mean?

thanks
 
Hoof dressings won't help I'm afraid, you need to get it right from inside. Lots of us find 25g a day of magnesium oxide is very helpful and 50g a day of brewer's yeast better than the commercial balancers. My friend has to feed Copper-trition too to get hers rock crunching, because she has mineral imbalances in her land.

Do a bit of googling on Insulin Resistance and Equine Metabolic Polysaccharride Myopathy (sorry!) My flatfoot hasn't concaved up until I put him on large quantities of oil and vitamin E, which is the EPMS regime. Lots of fattie natives seem to have have one or the other and they both produce low grade laminitis even on a low sugar diet, and soft and flat feet.

Does he gobble his hay like he's starving?
 
I would echo the other advice and sugest that he is lacking something in his diet. maybe feeding something like formula 4 feet or topspec anti-lam would help him? what works for one may not work for another.

My boy's feet were wearing away quicker than they'd grow so I added a supplement to his feed and started using keratex hoof hardner on his soles and kevin bacon hoof dressing on the wall, right up to corronet and his horn growth has really improved.
 
Thanks again for the replies.

He so far has had no signs of laminitis - I have another native that has previously suffered with it and am used to a lifetime or prevention!

He doesn't gobble his hay up like he's starving - would this indicate a problem?

I think his feet go 'flat' due to wear rather than anything else. By flat I mean that they wear flat - they don't look flat as in how a TB feet might look. Hope that makes sense!!

He currently is fine to walk on gravel, paths made of small stones etc and also on the hard ground in the paddock which is a little lumpy in places. I think one of the major plus point will be when his nail holes have grown out! I'm prepared to give it time and will look into a feed supplement. Already use Kevin Bacon and I'm sure I already have some keratex too.......
 
Gobbling food is a sign of insulin overproduction in response to eating food - so they eat, and it makes them ravenous. That's what Insulin Resistance is. It doesn't sound like your boy has it because he would be footy on the stones and bumps. If he's not, then it sounds like his feet are fine even though they look flat. If he's not worried about it, I wouldn't either:)
 
Ah thanks. No he actually has been known to leave hay at times! He only worried about big stones but then I think thats fairly normal. He is cantering and trotting about the hard field ok too, and chooses to walk on the gravelly path rather than the grass bits to the field so I think he's feeling ok.

Good, feel less like a cruel mum now!
 
If he chooses to walk the gravel path you have no problems whatsoever! :) Well done in having a sound barefoot horse, enjoy the non-slip roadwork :)
 
Well that sounds promising, thanks! I just hope that with light work his feet dont' wear too quickly.
 
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