Shoes off for foaling?

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Caitlinr27

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Hi everyone, first time poster and could really use some advice!
our tb mare, Lady, is due her first foal (and ours!) in April and she is currently fully shod.
I have had Lady for 8 years and she has always had fairly poor, typical tb feet with not much heel and has always been fully shod. We have attended multiple courses and webinars surround foaling and the general consensus is that shoes should come off for foaling.
I have the farrier out tomorrow for a routine appointment for both my girls and I am planning to just take the backs off for Lady and leave her fronts. Whenever Lady has lost a shoe in the past she will quickly go lame or sore if not dealt with. We are very lucky to have a farrier who is always quick to replace a pulled shoe so we have not had much bother the last few years and her feet are the best they have ever been.
I would like to hear people’s opinions on just taking backs off and would also like to know how long they should be off for?
Thank you :)
 
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When B dropped her unexpected item from the bagging area, she was fully shod all round (indeed, some will recall she had been at a jumping lesson 2 days before and hacked the day before).
Farrier came out promptly within 3 hours of foaling and whipped the shoes off, they stayed off till weaning completed.

I've never kept any shoes on in the last 4 to 6 weeks of pregnancy. Usually mine were unshod anyway but the odd one who was shod for medical reasons still had them off before full term.
 
Mares can stand on foals so easily, damage with a shod foot doesn’t bare thinking about. Also remember the safety of your vet should foaling intervention be needed. I can’t recall anyone breeding and keeping shoes on apart from the elite mare Soviet Star who had glue on shoes as she could not stand up without them and ultimately lost her life due to the state of her feet.
 
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spacefaer said:
Definitely no shoes and maybe you should have spent her pregnancy transitioning her to barefoot.

Bit of an academic question at this point, but should a mare with such poor feet actually have been bred from?
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Many times it isn’t a genetic thing but poor management. Many tb get fed massively high sugar diet from birth and shoes on as standard, which will create poor feet in any horse. Op has already said they’re the best they’ve ever been and got better year on year.
 
Preferably no shoes - however we did have a few mares that were shod in front to foal down. This was fine and much better than making the mare suffer if she cannot cope without shoes in front. The ones I looked after were all TBs and none of them broke their foals legs, it is obviously a risk but the welfare of the mare is very important.
 
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Hi all!
thank you for all of your advice. Farrier has been this morning and taken all four off and now she is out grazing in the field! I think I may have been overthinking everything as my farrier has assured me her feet are strong and the best they’ve ever been. Her feet were poor when I got her and have spent a long time getting them to where they are today so I need to stop worrying so much about her and trust that she will be okay. For those who wanted a picture, this was taken 6 days ago. She is getting rather big now! I will update with a picture of the foal when it arrives! Thank you ?
 

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Caitlinr27 said:
Hi all!
thank you for all of your advice. Farrier has been this morning and taken all four off and now she is out grazing in the field! I think I may have been overthinking everything as my farrier has assured me her feet are strong and the best they’ve ever been. Her feet were poor when I got her and have spent a long time getting them to where they are today so I need to stop worrying so much about her and trust that she will be okay. For those who wanted a picture, this was taken 6 days ago. She is getting rather big now! I will update with a picture of the foal when it arrives! Thank you ?
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Good luck and looking forward to baby pictures!!!
 
Don't be surprised if she is more sore in a few weeks time than she is now, that's common. Hopefully the ground will stay a bit soft for a while and allow her to get through it, but you might need to be ready to buy some boots.

Good luck for an easy birth and a healthy foal.
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