Should you pick out horses feet every day?

I'm another with barefoot ponies who doesn't generally have to bother. We're always either on grass or tarmac, so stones aren't usually an issue, and even on the gravel at home the stones don't get stuck like they do with shoes. I make a point of picking up the youngsters feet, so that they are mannerly, but the older ones are only usually lifted either for a trim, or to train young riders how to pick out.
 
I think you should "check" feet everyday but if there's nothing to remove then I just leave well alone. Shod or unshod.
 
mine are all bare, all out 24/7 presently. They are checked twice a day because I check for pulses twice a day this time of year, the youngster is done daily because he cam e with very bad thrush and not so good with his hind legs so its practice for him. It's been so dry there's not been much to do of late but they get a good brush out regularly.

When they are in, they get done before turnout/exercise. Their foot health when they are in has greatly improved since taking them off pelleted beds and putting them on chopped straw.
 
sydney02 said:
I have always thought you should and I do mine 3 times a day (when she comes out of her stable first thing, after she's been worked, and when she comes in from the field). She can get really kicky with her legs being touched when she's in season so I like to keep doing them in our routine.

I was talking to someone on my yard and she said that she could bring my horse in for me so she'd get longer out and I said no because I want her to have her feet done before she goes to bed, and the person said they don't have to be done everyday..

I would always do them at least once a day, even if my horse was barefoot.

What are your opinions...?
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I truly don't understand why anyone would clean the mud out of their horses feet when they bring it in at night so that it can stand on a bed and replace the compacted mud with dung and urine. That seems totally crazy to me. On the very rare occasions that I do pick them out which is to trim them I immediately put them back in the field to compact some more mud back in them. That also gives support to the back of the foot.

I clean the WL daily on the ridden barefoot horses to make sure there is no gravel stuck but apart from that nothing gets it's feet cleaned. I have used this regime for a long time and far less thrush problems that way.

I ride the barefoot horses over stoney tracks daily and that "rasps" the frogs.
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What you should do and what you actually do varies - most mine are bare foot or shoes only in front I don't pick them out often. The livery horses get picked out daily some will criticize but that is my choice - they are on in hand walking due to illness/ injury and by the time we come back off the walk on the road they are all clean.

Horses in the wild don't have them picked out - so It comes out naturally as they move about.
 
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As an aside, last year with all the flooding, mine spent 6 months in a smallish clay paddock. I checked their feet periodically, as I was worried about the mud. I have never seen them looking better. The clay seemed to clean their frog, leaving it flexible but firm, and without even the slightest smell or nasty.
I have an old veterinary book which advises clay for a number of hoof problems, and I now know why.
 
I dont know why people who have unshod, or barefoot horses think they dont have to pick their feet out so often as shod ones!
I used to pick my horses feet out once a day, while grooming, and before riding - thought that was fine.
Until a few weeks ago an unshod youngster was picked out groomed ridden and put back in stable. The following morning, following my usual routine, groom, pick out- and there was a screw stuck in the bottom of his hoof! It had been there all night, luckily it was only 1/2 inch long and hasnt caused any major damage though he did get an abscess which is now ok. So now Im paranoid - pick out before riding, after riding, and check between times! Better safe than sorry.
 
I don't do mine everyday now they are out for the summer. However, why when there is a two acre paddock do they manage to stand in poo! (the field is poo picked!)
 
When I had my horse, my farrier (for 15 years) preferred me NOT to pick out hooves. His reasoning, which made sense to me was that when a horse comes in from the field with hooves packed with good clean mud, then it will be providing frog and sole support, will slow down the process of the feet drying out when put into a dry shavings bed, and reduce the amount of contact with dung and wet bedding. I always checked the hooves for any obvious stones etc and I was very lucky that I never found any foreign bodies such as screws or nails or glass in there.

When I brought my horse out of the stable in the morning, I would pick off the dung/straw/shavings from the layer of dried mud to stop the yard getting messy. The farrier was also of the opinion that when turning out in the morning, the dried-in mud would slow down the process of the feet getting wet again in dewy or rain-soaked fields. He felt that the continous wet-dry cycle was not good for hoof health over the winter months on a typical in-at-night-out-during-the-day livery yard routine. Obviously this is less relevant to those horses who are out 24/7 and/or barefoot.

As I said, maybe I was lucky not to have a puncture wound or abcess during the 23 years I owned my horse, but it did provide me with an alternative thought process to challenge a long-standing practice!
 
stormox said:
I dont know why people who have unshod, or barefoot horses think they dont have to pick their feet out so often as shod ones!
I used to pick my horses feet out once a day, while grooming, and before riding - thought that was fine.
Until a few weeks ago an unshod youngster was picked out groomed ridden and put back in stable. The following morning, following my usual routine, groom, pick out- and there was a screw stuck in the bottom of his hoof! It had been there all night, luckily it was only 1/2 inch long and hasnt caused any major damage though he did get an abscess which is now ok. So now Im paranoid - pick out before riding, after riding, and check between times! Better safe than sorry.
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If he comes in from the field with full feet of mud I don't pick mine out because there is an argument that it might go someway to increasing sole concavity- it is also better than him reversing into his droppings in the stable and getting them full of that instead as above! I might just check his frog cleft depending on how they are at the time. Also usually if an unshod horse has a stone/similar they let you know about it more than a shod horse and there are fewer spaces for something to get stuck compared to when there is a shoe there.
 
stormox said:
I dont know why people who have unshod, or barefoot horses think they dont have to pick their feet out so often as shod ones!
I used to pick my horses feet out once a day, while grooming, and before riding - thought that was fine.
Until a few weeks ago an unshod youngster was picked out groomed ridden and put back in stable. The following morning, following my usual routine, groom, pick out- and there was a screw stuck in the bottom of his hoof!
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I'm pretty sure that most of us (including me) who said we don't pick our barefoot horses feet out very often did say that the one exception was to always check / pick out their feet AFTER they were ridden ;)
 
Garnet said:
When I had my horse, my farrier (for 15 years) preferred me NOT to pick out hooves. His reasoning, which made sense to me was that when a horse comes in from the field with hooves packed with good clean mud, then it will be providing frog and sole support, will slow down the process of the feet drying out when put into a dry shavings bed, and reduce the amount of contact with dung and wet bedding. I always checked the hooves for any obvious stones etc and I was very lucky that I never found any foreign bodies such as screws or nails or glass in there.

When I brought my horse out of the stable in the morning, I would pick off the dung/straw/shavings from the layer of dried mud to stop the yard getting messy. The farrier was also of the opinion that when turning out in the morning, the dried-in mud would slow down the process of the feet getting wet again in dewy or rain-soaked fields. He felt that the continous wet-dry cycle was not good for hoof health over the winter months on a typical in-at-night-out-during-the-day livery yard routine. Obviously this is less relevant to those horses who are out 24/7 and/or barefoot.
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Never pick out my horses feet for exactly this reason. Farrier much preferred mud packed hooves and even had me walk her around in the mud after she was shod rather than put her straight back in the stable to stand in poo and wet overnight.

Current horse has pads anyway so can't pick them out even if I wanted to.
 
stormox said:
I dont know why people who have unshod, or barefoot horses think they dont have to pick their feet out so often as shod ones!
I used to pick my horses feet out once a day, while grooming, and before riding - thought that was fine.
Until a few weeks ago an unshod youngster was picked out groomed ridden and put back in stable. The following morning, following my usual routine, groom, pick out- and there was a screw stuck in the bottom of his hoof! It had been there all night, luckily it was only 1/2 inch long and hasnt caused any major damage though he did get an abscess which is now ok. So now Im paranoid - pick out before riding, after riding, and check between times! Better safe than sorry.
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I know within one stride whether my horses have anything wrong with their feet. I know their stride length, the precise way their feet land etc etc and I don't need to pick a foot up to confirm that all's ok.
 
PoppyAnderson said:
I don't.
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Me either unless I hear a stone in here or horse lame, also for some who said they did not understand why people who our barefoot don't pick out feet well free roaming horses are in the same boat, I assume they get the odd stone but manage to loose it. Also as others say I would rather my horse go to bed with mud in there protecting his soles from poo and urine soaked bed to rot his feet. He has never had thrush or smelly feet and he is 13
 
Well actually I prefer a dry bed, horses get thrush due to dirty bedding. I would be mortified if farrier suggested horse did not have a clean dry bed, it would not happen.
I had this happen with my first ever horse, and it never happened again.
 
PoppyAnderson said:
I know within one stride whether my horses have anything wrong with their feet. I know their stride length, the precise way their feet land etc etc and I don't need to pick a foot up to confirm that all's ok.
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So do I. But there was absolutely no change in my horses stride or lameness, favouring leg, there was nothing to tell me hed got the screw stuck in his sole, about an inch from the toe. Luckily it hadnt gone into the sensitive area. But he did get an abscess in his foot 2 weeks after, which I dont think was a coincidence. And I felt very guilty about him having a screw stuck in his foot all night! I think you DO need to pick a horses feet out (or at least up) to make sure theres nothing there.
 
When I was in America the standard practise was to pack the hoof with clay and leave it in for as long as possible (weeks). This was to prevent hooves drying out (not a problem around here....), and keep the frog and sole clean.
 
I do it before exercise but not normally after as they wear hoof boots. I tend to use field paste before applying the boot to maximise thrush treatment.
 
Well, unfortunately one of mine is an unwitting test case for mud vs picked out. He is now on total box rest after a nasty accident and I can pick out his fronts. However his hinds are both heavily bandaged from hoof to stifle so I cannot pick out his hinds. The mud that was in them when he came in after his accident is still there. When the vet comes out to change dressings he has to be heavily sedated so I can't even get to them while the dressings are off. He is having his bed skipped out 5-6 times a day though so probably not your average level of stable hygiene.

Anyway, I'll be able to see the difference between fronts (cleaned daily) and hinds (packed with mud) when the bandages eventually come off!
 
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