Sasana Skye
Well-Known Member
My horse has had her final set of shoes on today and the 12th July is ‘D day’ when they come off for good and I’m determined to make this work.
Said horse is a 15 year old Irish Sports Horse who takes more of the TB blood than anything else and she has been fully shod since a 5.5yo.
She has fantastic quality hoof horn but typical TB feet - thin soles, low heels and long toes. We xrayed the hocks, hooves, fetlocks and back last year (all relatively clear with some very, extremely mild age related wear and tear) we consequently did remedial shoeing, took the toes right back and put extra support on the heel under advice from the vets.
She is 100% sound and honestly the best she’s been for years. I just want to know that the shoes aren’t masking anything, also my farrier thinks it’s a great idea to whip off the shoes and so do I.
I’m taking this 6 weeks to ‘prep’ her for life without shoes. Diet changes are in full swing, lots and lots of red horse products are being used religiously and I measured her up today for some scoot boots.
I guess I’m just looking for people’s stories of their horses going BF - particularly TB types. Any advice? Tricks that worked for you? How long it took for them to become somewhat comfortable? Pictures would be AMAZING!
I know it’s going to be tough for both of us but my gut is telling me this is the right thing to do.
Some pictures so you know what we are dealing with. X ray images show her feet BEFORE remedial shoeing took place so I know they aren’t 100%. I will try and upload some more hoof pictures but apparently they are too large to upload
Said horse is a 15 year old Irish Sports Horse who takes more of the TB blood than anything else and she has been fully shod since a 5.5yo.
She has fantastic quality hoof horn but typical TB feet - thin soles, low heels and long toes. We xrayed the hocks, hooves, fetlocks and back last year (all relatively clear with some very, extremely mild age related wear and tear) we consequently did remedial shoeing, took the toes right back and put extra support on the heel under advice from the vets.
She is 100% sound and honestly the best she’s been for years. I just want to know that the shoes aren’t masking anything, also my farrier thinks it’s a great idea to whip off the shoes and so do I.
I’m taking this 6 weeks to ‘prep’ her for life without shoes. Diet changes are in full swing, lots and lots of red horse products are being used religiously and I measured her up today for some scoot boots.
I guess I’m just looking for people’s stories of their horses going BF - particularly TB types. Any advice? Tricks that worked for you? How long it took for them to become somewhat comfortable? Pictures would be AMAZING!
I know it’s going to be tough for both of us but my gut is telling me this is the right thing to do.
Some pictures so you know what we are dealing with. X ray images show her feet BEFORE remedial shoeing took place so I know they aren’t 100%. I will try and upload some more hoof pictures but apparently they are too large to upload