Tbs going barefoot?

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mrsk29

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Anyone got a tb who is barefoot? And are they fully or just bare behind? My tb has good feet although he has quite flat feet to the front ... he had his back shoes off in september and his feet are now much stronger and he coped very very well with the change.. im so pleased with his back feet I have now had his front shoes off last week for the winter, as i wont be doing much with him riding wise untill spring.

The first day he hated it, but its now been a week and he is much better, I had a small ride on him today, first time since shoes off and he seemed fine. I think he is still working out his balance as he is being difficult picking his front feet up lol
 
mine :)

competed up to advanced dressage bare this year, will debut PSG barefoot in 2012.

clients TB has just gone barefoot (schooling adv med, competing elem) and he is looking fab, moving better than ever.

new boys shoes come off fri, fingers crossed!
 
The flatness is definitely a cause of shoeing because the evidence shows that they go back to 'normal' when taken off.
 
How long is long enough to decide if/when to put shoes back on? I would like him to stay barefoot if possible, I have a school to ride in and hacks are usually an hour ish in summer mostly on roads, winter riding is once-twice a week summer I aim to ride 4- 5 times a week.. All horses on our yard have shoes and are only taken off for the winter, the farrier is happy either way.

I will def try and get that book... thanks:D
 
mrsk29 said:
How long is long enough to decide if/when to put shoes back on? I would like him to stay barefoot if possible, I have a school to ride in and hacks are usually an hour ish in summer mostly on roads, winter riding is once-twice a week summer I aim to ride 4- 5 times a week.. All horses on our yard have shoes and are only taken off for the winter, the farrier is happy either way.

I will def try and get that book... thanks:D
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The fact that the horses on your yard actually have their shoes removed for the winter makes me want to give your farrier a big, sloppy kiss:)

It's good practice and so rare nowadays (hence the increase in tendon problems and navicular diagnoses).

The most important thing to a BF horse is diet. This will often make or break the hoof (and by proxy, the whole horse).

Low sugar/starch and high minerals is the secret weapon.

I am fascinated by the link between a TB's common 'conditioning' diet and their poor hoof quality. Everyone blames 'genetics' and believe poor hooves are inevitable on a TB. But some of those same TB's have had owners forced to try BF or PTS - and magically the hooves have fixed themselves. Genetics my arse;)
It appears that some TB's are as sugar sensitive as their natives cousins!

You'll see many posts on here in springtime worrying about why their horse has gone footy;)

The next important thing is trim - the farrier needs to respect the sole callus and the frog - they should never be trimmed in a BF horse. It is routine to pare the sole and frog in a shod horse but it will make a BF horse lame.

Another point is that hooves will strengthen with work - they need ground stimulation to grow and develop. Feral horses (who have the best hooves) do 15 - 20 miles a day.
 
Clava said:
My haflinger has flat feet and has never been shod - she gains concavity when I get her diet right and work her enough.
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Ah yes, that too and you are so right it has more to do with diet than shoes but shoes don't help. Sorry.
 
Mine dios :) We hack over all terrain and only put fronts back on him in the summer when our hacks are more than 4 hours+. Other than over summer when he's shod, we hunt'HT/show jump/dressage/hack/etc normally.
 
We've got two - one has really flat feet so has boots for hacking at the moment (shoes only came off in May), the other has good soles and concavity and is hacking out without (only lightly as recovering from injury, so will see if he needs boots as his workload increases).
 
just a quick FYI off the back of oberons post:

for anyone struggling to get conditioning feed in to a TB and NOT make it footy, winergy equilibrium condition has worked wonders in both regards for my TB, clients TB and a previous horse :)
 
My mare went barefoot a couple of months ago - a 9 year old TB. However due to the constant mud and wet she is stuggling at the moment - doesnt' help that she is up to her knees in mud. She also has a suspensory ligament injury, navicular and spavin. She appears to be currently lame on all four legs as well as footsore, so it's not a pretty sight at the moment.
However her feet look amazing. She is not flat footed and the feet haven't broken up. She is on a low starch and low sugar, high fibre diet and I have started giving her Pro-Hoof supplement. I hope she doesn't have to go back to shoes, but I will have to see how she goes on in Spring. Hopefully hoof boots will be the answer!
 
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