should i take my horse barefoot?

[Firewell]

My horse is an 8yr old TB mare with a touch of seedy toe at the mo

Im moving livery yards and my farrier cannot travel to keep shoeing her. She can be tricky to shoe and we have managed so far by getting her feet done two at a time while bribing her with food. Its the banging in of the nails she doesnt like and despite me hitting her shoes with a small hammer every night for 3 years (shes absolutly desensitised to me doing it now) she still flinches when the farrier does it. Sometimes she can keep pulling her leg away and occassionaly she can lash out with her back legs and rear and pull back with the fronts.

Obviously this makes it hard for my farrier to shoe her as well as he would like (hence the seedy toe) and because they are always banged on rather hurridly she has to be shod every 4/5 weeks!

Anyway no other decent farrier will take her on as they say they are too busy to take on something tricky.

I have a number of options:-

1. Take all her shoes off, leave her feet to harden and hope for the best.

2. take her hinds off and just have her fronts shod, hopefully I will persuade a new farrier if he knows hes only doing the fronts (much safer for the farrier)

3. dont tell the the new farrier shes difficult, dose her up with sedalin and sneak her polos when the farrier is doing the 'banging'.

Shes a competition horse normally so will have to cope with sj/odd xc and dressage if i take her shoes off. Also I love hacking. Ive been told she has quite hard walls and soles but her feet break up because my farrier has to hurridly put the shoes on.

Also ive heard of formula 4 feet, maybe this will harden them up more?

Any opinions?? Does anyone else have a TB they compete barefoot?? My horse is normally footsore over stones when a shoe falls off.

Im feeling a bit stuck as to wot to do at the mo!

Thanks

 

[Spotsrock]

there is not a horse on our yard with back shoes on. We jump most weekends, (only trailblazer sort of level at mo) and have no problems.

I don't have a TB but I do have a TB X who has shoes on just the front. She can't walk on pebbles barefoot but it does seem to be completely ok when shod infront. She hacks out just fine and the only problems she has with jumping are psychlolgical so no problem with shoes there!!

I would mention to the blacksmith that you are sedating her but suggest it is because she gets upset and sweats loads, he will write you off as neurotic pony owner, but atleast you have warned him!!!

I'd definately go for fronts only, less stress on horse and you still get to make full use of it, afterall, we have to earn our keep, your horse should be able to too!! Trying it for few weeks won't harm your horse long term even if it doesn't take to barefoot, but at least you'll get a foot in the door (no pun intended!!) with a new blacksmith. Try and find out who comes to the yard anyway as they're more likely to slap fronts on when there than come out specially. its cheaper too.

My mom call it wearing slippers,

Good luck

 

[brightmount]

I have 2 horses, one is shod and one is barefoot. The barefoot one had her shoes taken off for theapeutic reasons as she has navicular, and it was the best thing we ever did for her. There are many reasons barefoot is worthwhile for horses allowing their foot to function naturally. However as so much we do with horses is unnatural, it may not be the ideal choice in every situation. Hence I have one horse who is shod, she competes and works regularly. Guess which horse gives me the biggest headache with her feet - yes, the shod one!!

If you are tempted to try barefoot don't imagine it's just a case of taking the shoes off and carrying on as normal. It involves a period of conditioning that varies depending on the horse, its breeding and its starting point as far as the feet are concerned. I wouldn't attempt it with a TB unless you can get hold of a qualified DAEP to guide you through the conditioning stage, and keep the hooves trimmed, which may be every 3 weeks to start with.

My shod horse is naughty for the farrier, so I now give her 2ml of Sedalin an hour before each shoeing and it has made a significant difference. It just takes the edge off her, and the farrier can place the nails without having to cope with a moving target. This may be your best option if you want to carry on with your current level of competition.

 

[Silverspring]

Have you thought about hoof boots? there have been a few threads on here recently discussing the pros and cons of them, I suppose it depends if she'd let you put them on

 

[DaisyMae]

Tryed my Thoroughbred with front shoes only when i first got her but she felt lame and the blacksmith said that her back feet were very worn so she has to have shoes on all four unless shes out of work. Most other horses i know only have front shoes and are fine but thinking Thoroughbreds are more sensitive in everyway, unless its just mine which wouldn't suprise me lol

 

[Firewell]

prob not just yours daisymae mine is pretty high maintenence

Thanks for your comments its very interesting TBH I havent tried sedalin b4 so next time my farrier comes (not moving for a month) im going to give her some and get him to practice doing all 4 before I go. If that doesnt work I'll discuss taking her back shoes off with him.

If the seadlin it works it will be so great, it will save all my probs.

Thank you

 

[nuffield]

personally i'd get the shoes taken off, but be prepared for a long wait until the feet are hard enough for the horse to do work.