Spanish horse - advice please!

[littleshetland]

My 8 year old PRE that I have owned for a year (imported a year ago by myself). I've been considering trying him barefoot. He's got typical Andalucian feet, a tendency to longish toes and boxy. His action is quite choppy, and he has a tendency to get sore through his shoulders at times and I'm thinking of ways to help him 'unlock' through his shoulder a bit more. He's shod atm, just fronts, and my farrier does a good job trying NOT to turn his feet into 'english' feet. His feet are 100% better since coming from Spain, but I'm quite tempted to try him barefoot. Your thoughts about this please.


ps. Cortez!! are you there?

 

[ycbm]

Mine is 8 and has never been shod. Feet like rocks, the horn quality is astounding. Get the mineral balance right and yours should be fine but you may need to be very restrictive about grass. Mine never grazes without a muzzle except in deep midwinter.
.

 

[littleshetland]

I'm a bit ignorant about all thing barefoot! What would be a good mineral balance? TIA

 

[CanteringCarrot]

I started a thread awhile back about my PRE's hooves going to sh*t - thanks to farriers mostly. His hooves are naturally more upright, this suits him and his conformation.

Back in Sept I pulled his shoes (with pads in the front), all 4 of them. We've never looked back. His hooves are fantastic, his quarter cracks grew out, and he's stayed consistently in work. He does great on hacks over varying terrain too. Wonderful hooves from a "toughness" perspective. It's a shame they were ever shod, tbh.

I think keeping him moving and introducing different terrain helped him with the change. He's on a vit/min that pairs well with our forage. Otherwise his diet has good protein and fats. He is on grass since he's in work and can "afford" this. Not in work, he'd be too fat.

It's gone so incredibly well with him. He moved more sewing machine like when I first got him, but teaching him to stretch, swing, and use/loosen his back has changed his movement. It didn't happen overnight though. Unlocking the back and truly engaging the hind end is key, but some do have more knee movement than others.

I'd try it if I were you.

 

[ycbm]

I'm a bit ignorant about all thing barefoot! What would be a good mineral balance? TIA

Forageplus.co.uk, specifically designed for barefoot horses. The gold standard is forage testing but most people use a general balancer.
.

 

[shortstuff99]

My Spanish mares are barefoot and never been shod. My older mare has really good feet although the fronts don't always look the prettiest as she is pigeon toed. They all cope really well going over stoney terrain etc. Mine are at grass and don't get footy but some can. They have really good feet so give it a go!

 

[Caol Ila]

I'm hoping I will never have to shoe my PRE, who's 3, so the jury is out on how she will fare with work. Despite her attempts to murder him, the farrier thinks she has great feet.

 

[Cortez]

I've never shod a Spanish horse, not in 25 years, I've taken many of them out of shoes when they first arrive. They have all had feet like flint, although one (which arrived shod, and lame, from the UK) had a really serious problem with sub solar abscesses that took eight months to get right, poor fella.

 

[littleshetland]

Thanks very much...I think I'll give it a whirl!

 

[Inda]

My 5 year old PRE mare has always been barefoot too. Farrier happy with her feet, tough hoof wall. He said he wouldn’t be prepared to shoe her

 

[j1ffy]

Having had to barefoot rehab my first PRE for navicular, mine have remained shoeless. My second was shod when he arrived in the UK aged 8, I got his diet sorted then took all four shoes off and he didn’t have a sore day.

My 4yo is stomping over all surfaces happily and his feet are changing shape as he does more.

I’d definitely recommend taking them off, it’s a lot less hassle and far better for them.