Sorry another 'barefoot thread' - a long one!

cptrayes said:
Unfortunately there are many barefoot horses which do not cope at all well with ex dairy pasure and will be footie all spring and summer and autumn if they are on it, especially full time. Some horses are fine on it, and most are OK if turned out at night instead of during the day, but it you get on fine during the winter, Immys, and then he goes footie in spring, the first suspect is always the grass.
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Of course there are..... since all horses are individuals.... ;)

It just so happens that I'm lucky enough to have a horse with decent feet (and a TB at that....) who appears to thrive on our ex dairy pasture :D

amandap said:
nikkimariet, may I ask how the ex dairy pasture is managed? Just interested. :)
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It's managed to a complete minimum :cool:

The total land is around 5 1/2 acres. Split into a winter side and a summer side. The 'brown boys' paddocks (ie that of Fig and sisters horse CS) are split into 2 again, as CS has a slight superiority complex and a liking for trashing Figs rugs :rolleyes:

The summer paddock that the 2 resident fatties share is topped at the shortest possible setting during summer (but left to recover over winter). Brown boys summer paddocks are de-weeded, and any overgrown patches have an encounter with the strimmer (again, left to recover over winter).

Winter paddocks are topped off with the sit on mower, until around August (weather dependent) when we leave the grass to grow ready for its winter pasting.

It does help that they are barefoot, and that we are on sandy soil. As it means no mud, and the walkways/gateways etc do not suffer due to lack of shoes churning up the ground. We've grazed horses here for 15 years now, and not had a single problem with the land.
 
My TB was barefoot when she came as had winter off. She was sound over everything, even gravel my other horse struggled with, without boots! I don't know if it was because she was stabled for 2 months 24/7 when I first got her, whereas my other horse was out 24/7. When she was allowed out, she had shoes on so don't know if that made a difference, but her shoes are coming off again in december so will be able to see :)
 
Just a quick post to say I removed my 6 yo TB's shoes in April the change in his feet is immense and still work in progress .
He's just started going out and about again and is jumping happily on a surface and working well on the flat .
His jumping is greatly improved I was sure he had sutle foot pain and I am really happy I took the plunge .
good luck with yours.
 
Goldenstar said:
Just a quick post to say I removed my 6 yo TB's shoes in April the change in his feet is immense and still work in progress .
He's just started going out and about again and is jumping happily on a surface and working well on the flat .
His jumping is greatly improved I was sure he had sutle foot pain and I am really happy I took the plunge .
good luck with yours.
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Thank you, great to hear a positive story!
 
I can share some pics :)

I have 3 TB's, all now b/f. My mare sounds similar to yours, except I didn't pull her shoes when I should have and we ended up with a 'navicular' diagnosis to cover soft tissue damage in her feet - do'h :( still she is b/f now and in foal before she (hopefully) returns to work b/f next year.

However my 6yo boy had his pulled in Jan and has grown whole new toes :) He's sound on all surfaces, hacks, jumps, xc, etc etc... I have a million pics :) but I'll just post up the ones from the day the shoes were removed and ones from last month...

JanNF.jpg

DSC_2446.jpg


JanNFS.jpg

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JanOF.jpg

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JanOFS.jpg

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and hinds...

JanOH.jpg

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JanOHS.jpg

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JanNH.jpg

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JanNHS.jpg

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It's been a really interesting journey with all 3 of them, very educational and worth the extra effort it needed at the start to get the diet etc right. Good luck!
 
Thank you for those, it's great to see the changes in the hooves :)

Also another question, if said by Oberon, when the shoes are taken off for the time they are just left, when in the shoeing cycle should they be taken off? When they are due for shoeing anyway or before? And also how long after the shoes have been taken off should they have their first trim? Thank you
 
ImmyS said:
Thank you for those, it's great to see the changes in the hooves :)

Also another question, if said by Oberon, when the shoes are taken off for the time they are just left, when in the shoeing cycle should they be taken off? When they are due for shoeing anyway or before? And also how long after the shoes have been taken off should they have their first trim? Thank you
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I shoe every five weeks my trimmer removes the shoes six weeks after the last shoeing hope that helps .
Time to first trim has varied with mine from at eight weeks for the first , a staggering five months for the TB and two weeks for the third ( who was suffering from a severe media / lateral imbalance the longest I have been without the trimmer checking them is eight weeks he often looks in and says no does need anything that's a bit because I took a while to understand how little a roll trimming plays in all this .
All now completely self trim we are still watching the one with the imbalance very very closely .
So I think the answer is will vary but I would just ask the trimmer or farrier whose going to look after them .
 
nikkimariet said:
It's managed to a complete minimum :cool:

The total land is around 5 1/2 acres. Split into a winter side and a summer side. The 'brown boys' paddocks (ie that of Fig and sisters horse CS) are split into 2 again, as CS has a slight superiority complex and a liking for trashing Figs rugs :rolleyes:

The summer paddock that the 2 resident fatties share is topped at the shortest possible setting during summer (but left to recover over winter). Brown boys summer paddocks are de-weeded, and any overgrown patches have an encounter with the strimmer (again, left to recover over winter).

Winter paddocks are topped off with the sit on mower, until around August (weather dependent) when we leave the grass to grow ready for its winter pasting.

It does help that they are barefoot, and that we are on sandy soil. As it means no mud, and the walkways/gateways etc do not suffer due to lack of shoes churning up the ground. We've grazed horses here for 15 years now, and not had a single problem with the land.
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Thanks. :)
 
nikkimariet and Scarlett - startling changes to both horse's hooves :).

Both of you have done a great job and it's really interesting that you both had bull nosed hinds that have magically un-bull nosed :).

I would love to have seen before and after X-rays to prove what was happening internally ;)
 
Oberon said:
nikkimariet and Scarlett - startling changes to both horse's hooves :).

Both of you have done a great job and it's really interesting that you both had bull nosed hinds that have magically un-bull nosed :).

I would love to have seen before and after X-rays to prove what was happening internally ;)
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Yes!! Also love the difference in his heels.

Clever ponies with clever feet :)
 
Frank's bullnosed fronts and hinds have magically righted too ;)

I'd love to re-xray but can't warrant it, so just working on the assumption that his pedal bones are now in the right place ;) :D. We're considering dressaging next weekend ;)
 
ester said:
Frank's bullnosed fronts and hinds have magically righted too ;)

I'd love to re-xray but can't warrant it, so just working on the assumption that his pedal bones are now in the right place ;) :D. We're considering dressaging next weekend ;)
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Celines backs are very bull nosed so hopefully they'll come right.. Good luck with the dressage!
 
Another one here with a shoeless TB

we went from this

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to this at the begining of the year

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To this in May this year..... just before everything went splat with what we suspect was a bout of lowgrade lami

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I haven't got any more recent photos
 
amandap said:
Very.

It looks like the toe wall of the near side hind especially was rasped quite a bit on Scarlett's horse.
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Those pics were taken at least 14 weeks after his feet had been trimmed, there hadn't been a rasp near the hinds in all that time, the fronts had a rasp ran round by my trimmer probably 7 weeks before just to even out a couple of chips but that was it. I have a sand school with an abrasive surface that does leave a faint 'rasp' mark on the feet and that foot is his weaker hind where he does drag his toe slightly, especially in the lateral work. I can assure you those hinds had not been touched my any rasp... :)
 
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Scarlett said:
Those pics were taken at least 14 weeks after his feet had been trimmed, there hadn't been a rasp near the hinds in all that time, the fronts had a rasp ran round by my trimmer probably 7 weeks before just to even out a couple of chips but that was it. I have a sand school with an abrasive surface that does leave a faint 'rasp' mark on the feet and that foot is his weaker hind where he does drag his toe slightly, especially in the lateral work. I can assure you those hinds had not been touched my any rasp... :)
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Ok, I believe you. :) Just looked like it in this one though. Shows how abrasive sand can be.

Scarlett said:
JanNH.jpg
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I have a barefoot TB. She was diagnosed with navicular, bilateral spavin, hind limb PSLD and arthritis in one hind fetlock about this time last year. Shoes came off, as she had winter off work and when we started work in March/April this year, long-reining out on the roads, I used hoof boots on the fronts. I then used them for ridden work when I started. After another few weeks, I took the boots off, but went back to long-reining so she didn't have the weight of me to deal with as well. After about three weeks of this, I got on board and wow!! What a feeling! I feel so much more secure hacking out without shoes and she is still managing well. Mine is one of those which isn't affected by grass and was in fact much better when she was out 24/7 in spring and summer than she is now that she is stabled at nights! Mine is fed Fast Fibre, a small bit of Pure Easy to get her to eat the Fast Fibre, micronised linseed, and a host of other herbal remedies for her arthritic conditions!
 
Holly Hocks said:
and a host of other herbal remedies for her arthritic conditions!
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So she's not actually comfortable barefoot....she's just too high
crazy.gif
to feel the agony of having no shoes to protect her genetically impaired tootsies.

You should be ashamed
naughty.gif
.

Ashamed, I tell you!!!
slap.gif
 
Oberon said:
So she's not actually comfortable barefoot....she's just too high
crazy.gif
to feel the agony of having no shoes to protect her genetically impaired tootsies.

You should be ashamed
naughty.gif
.

Ashamed, I tell you!!!
slap.gif
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Yep - it's the Boswellia overdose....it just tips her over the edge! I wondered why she had that slightly spaced out look in her eyes recently.

Actually does anyone else drive to the yard with bags of magox, brewers yeast etc on the passenger seat and then think about being stopped by the Police with a number of bags of powder in the car??
 
Holly Hocks said:
I think she was joking on that one! She just likes any excuse to use her smilies!
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haha i thought so, she is a fan of them! I'm getting excited to get my girl barefoot, going to order barefoot diet necessties this week. I would love her to go barefoot if possible, it's going to be an interesting journey! :)
 
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