Tender Back Feet

[Ceriann]

My 19 year old IDxTB has recently been moved to a friends yard whilst my fields are sprayed. She is barefoot (due to be shod this week) and is typiccaly kept on grass (24/7) - at the yard she is at she is kept on grass and hard standing (concrete). The field she is on has a few rocks and all the horses seem to spend a lot of their time on the hard standing (haylage is fed to them there). When i took her off the yard to ride her on Sat (first time i have taken her off in 10 days) she was quite tender footed on the gravel to the stables but fine in the menage. She was then tender footed walking back to the field (over rough gravel) and doesnt seem that comfortable on the hard standing (not lame but a bit ginger at the back). This was not a problem when she moved to the yard (she was being stabled at night due to weather etc and was fine over the gravel then). I am moving her back at the end of this week (once my fields are ok). Her feet dont look bruised and she was 100% fine in the menage - is this a case of her hooves adapting to the different standing conditions? Any suggestions/similar experiences welcomed.

 

[Miss L Toe]

There will be others better qualified, but it is probably due to increased sensitivity from a change in diet.
The haylage may be high in sugars, and she may be able to stuff herself full without using any energy grazing, when stabled even if she had haylage, it was limited in the amount she could eat.
Some barefoot people have to feed magnesium and or a balanced mineral supplement like pro hoof all the time.

 

[Bikerchickone]

It could be the change in grass too. My boy is barefoot but I can't leave him out all day on grass because he goes footy on it. Instead he comes in during the day and is fed timothy haylage ad lib.

If I were you I'd find out what kind of haylage she's having, rye grass haylage can be particularly sugary and/or try limiting access to the grass. Only change one thing at a time though or you won't know which makes the difference.

For what it's worth I feed magnesium and pro balance + supplements all the time too. Good luck and I hope you get to the bottom of it.

 

[LucyPriory]

There is haylage and haylage....... most isn't that high in sugar because of the fermentation. But there are other factors at play.

It tends to have a higher water/lower fibre content than hay, so if fed ad lib horses will tend to eat more in order to fill full up.

Plus as a fermented product it is acidic and is suspected to lower the pH in the gut. Which is not a good thing as we need the caecum to be pH 7 - even small drops in pH can cause significant upset. Some horses are better able to cope than others. Mine can not do haylage at all.