Shoes off for TB's Winter break- worth it for only 8 wks?

Goldenstar, that's what I alwasy did with my previous horse- shoes off after eventing in October and back on in March ready for XC schooling but this one is going to be much different. Previous horse was TBxID x SFxQH and has terrific feet, take the shoes off one day, walking over stony ground fine the next.

My little TB is not going to find the whole process so easy because of her thin soles but I hope I can do everything to help her in the long run.
 
My horses feet are unrecognisable from those I bought him with but I need to carefull and keep giving breaks out of shoes.
In the year without shoes he grew one and half ' new ' feet.
I have a great farrier now whose very pro shoeing breaks .
One piece of advise get the farrier to remove the shoe one nail at a time rather than prise them off it reduces the amount of breaking back you get from the wall a bit.

And I would get boots and pads for her it's a big help.
She certainly could start walking work in boots after her holiday this would prolong the break for the feet and she should be happy in the school with no shoes if you increase the work gradually clearly you don't have time for a full BF transformation but you certainly can make a difference.
 
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I'd keep shoes on personally, and start feeding farriers formula or hoof first or similar.
If you are chucking her out for 8 weeks the ground is going to be very soft/wet so her soles are going to become very soft, at least with shoes on there is some protection.

I would also do lots and lots of hacking to stimulate growth of hoof as well, and plenty of cornucresine rubbed into the coronet band (we use a toothbrush).
 
I will just add my own experience as I took my then 4 yr old TB's shoes off last year at the end of August as he had awful feet, thin soles, long toes, very underrun, crumbly wall etc. He was fine barefoot from the start on surfaces and grass, struggled on gravel and stony ground.

We had soft tissue damage in December which took a month to get right, that is when I started him on the forage plus hoof balancer, he'd already been on a barefoot diet for about 3/4 months.

I gave him from Sept to Jan off work to chill and grow (which he did, another 2 inches). Started work end of Jan and as he was still bit toe first landing we did about 6-8 weeks of walk work, gradually building up. By April he was super heel first landing and starting schooing, fittening work, jumping etc.

Since then his feet have got stronger and the angle changes have been quite dramatic, heels are getting stronger and frog is developing, I would say for the last 2-3 months he's coped with all ground well.

I'd always planned to have mine barefoot and wile we still have about 2 months of poorer growth to grow out by spring he will have amazing feet and I cannot wait to get to that point.

But barefoot is hard work and takes time, I'll be eventing my boy next year and while I could have got him going sooner with shoes, as I'll own him for life there is no rush for me to get out and start competing sooner, it has been worth the long slog to get his feet right.

I can't see how in 8 weeks you'll see much difference
 
I have started two on BF this time of year no problems I stable at night so their feet dry out and of course you need good beds and good hygiene but that's the same for all horses shod or not
Op will need to lead the horse about on different surfaces from the beginning but that does not take long and the soft ground in the field helps as they can be turned out in comfort which can be an issue in the summer when the ground is hard .
 
Anytime without shoes is good, but to encourage hoof growth get the feet trimmed regularly every 4 weeks they will grow quicker it is natures way to replace what is lost. Change her diet. You can get artimud to put on her soles which wil help her on the stones and seal the cracks in the white line during the transition period. If your farrier is so good then why are her feet so bad?
 
putasocinit said:
Anytime without shoes is good, but to encourage hoof growth get the feet trimmed regularly every 4 weeks they will grow quicker it is natures way to replace what is lost. Change her diet. You can get artimud to put on her soles which wil help her on the stones and seal the cracks in the white line during the transition period. If your farrier is so good then why are her feet so bad?
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Its not possible to keep every horses feet right in shoes no matter how good the farrier is
TBs have everything weighted agaisnt them they tend to have an unfriendly diet to feet from an early age as they need to mature fast to race young they are shod young while they are still growing .
Often are stabled a lot as well restricting movement while they develop they grow up eating rich grass .
Their breeding is devised to produce horses that run fast not to be long term sound , running fast is easiest with light feet so they have naturally thinner walls than more cold blooded types.
Blaming the farrier for the state of a horses feet is just to simple so many factors are in play of course there are some awful farriers out there.
 
JVB said:
But barefoot is hard work and takes time, I'll be eventing my boy next year and while I could have got him going sooner with shoes, as I'll own him for life there is no rush for me to get out and start competing sooner, it has been worth the long slog to get his feet right.
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*applauds*
 
We have 250 racehorses in training and yes i am well aware of how a tb's feet are and why, but i can also say that those who are having problems e.g. 1/4 cracks or knocking themselves get their shoes taken off and they work barefoot until the foot has sorted itself out, we also have tb who get turned out at the end of the season and their shoes come off and they get turned out and they are not footsore, i also have a friend whose tb had terrible feet was 12 years of age at the time had been a steeple chase, kept losing shoes, same farrier for years, changed farrier and now the horse goes 6-8 weeks instead of 4 between shoeings, has never lost a shoe since changing farrier. There are always two sides to an argument. Suggest OP asks her farrier what to do as he is the qualified one and we are all just idiots with nothing better to do but argue on a forum about who knows more than who.
 
Why not take her shoes off and only put them back on when you need them? I used to take my eventers shoes off after the last event in October and then turned him away for a holiday. I brought him back into work doing indoor BSJA (on a surface) and then had his shoes put back on come Spring and the first BE event. He loved having his shoes off.
 
Sorry putasocinit, I didn't mean to cause offence- it certainly wasn't meant to come across like that anyway. Thank you for your input and experiences, very interesting to hear.

Hopefully I'll be able to do what you did Magicmelon- did that with my previous horse and loved it.

Thanks all :)
 
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