That's it I'm having him shod for the first time!

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shadowboy

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I'm actually quite nervous- no idea why all my other horses have been shod! He's only having fronts on but I've battled with trying to keep him barefoot for years and fed up with boots coming off or heel bulb rubs on longer rides with boots and despite having soaked hay all year round and no feed and restricted grazing he's still footy on stoney tracks so the shoes are to be put on!

Is there anything I can do with him to make it easier for the farrier? He's good to trim but never experienced the smoke of being hot shod or having nails put in.
 
I've got a thread on here with the same problem, he's been barefoot ten years and worried I'll have to shoe him. I have put pics of his feet on so any help or advice would be much appreciated!

(sorry for hijacking your post OP, I have no advice for you but you're not alone!)
 
He had hoof supplements for 2 years and I took him off for 6 months to see if the supplements had made any difference as he was still footy on the supplements. His feet look the same and are still as hard but he's exactly the same on the stones. He's even been blood tested for insulin resistance and it came back negative.
 
heebiejeebies said:
I've got a thread on here with the same problem, he's been barefoot ten years and worried I'll have to shoe him. I have put pics of his feet on so any help or advice would be much appreciated!
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It's so difficult isn't it! I just think it's got to the point where it's unfair of me to expect him to deal with the workload without being shod. He's 100% on Tarmac and concrete etc just really feels the stones and considering we have to do a mile of stone track to get anywhere off the yard it's just getting silly
 
shadowboy said:
It's so difficult isn't it! I just think it's got to the point where it's unfair of me to expect him to deal with the workload without being shod. He's 100% on Tarmac and concrete etc just really feels the stones and considering we have to do a mile of stone track to get anywhere off the yard it's just getting silly
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I could have written this myself, we can't avoid roadwork and any off road work we do involves stony tracks. Being out in the country 50% of the roads are uneven and potholed with a botched cover up job that you'd trip over walking on yourself, so it's not as if I can avoid uncomfortable ground. The drive to the stables is stony as well, and it's seeing him suddenly struggle with this which has prompted me to worry! I've been advised to test for cushings as well since he is a 15 year old arab, plus his sire was diagnosed with it last year, though I don't know if it's hereditary.
 
If you are worried about him not liking the smoke when being shod you could try epona shoes ,they can be nailed on like ordinary shoes with no glue and they are flexible and have frog support. I have used them with good results and my welsh cob mare has a pair on at the moment . For her daughter Im just about to get some swiss hoof boots again have used these years ago on her mum and liked them.
 
Being a complete barefoot convert for many years I bought my youngster with this specifically in mind, fed her the right stuff, have a track, started her slowly etc etc. She has fantastic feet, but we too have very very stoney, gravelly uneven roads and have to do mainly roadwork, it showed....her rock hard feet wore down considerably, which then effected her gaits. To continue her work and education, my only choice was to shoe/boot, or ride less (ie once a week). I shod her, as I have yet to find any boot that really works without rubbing, flying off etc.
It depends very much on the horse but shoeing was not really a problem for her... I blew the smoke away from her face and it would also be a good idea to get your horse used to tapping the hoof and holding each foot up for a long time- apart from a case of the fidgets mine was fine- also quite handy if the farrier is sympathetic too!
 
Smoke can be minimised by standing the horse with his head into the wind so the smoke blows behind him and away. Something I always do with young horses being shod for the first time or two. Really helps.
 
Do you really need to have him hot shod? for the past 5 years I have had my horses cold shod and haven't lost any more shoes than I normally would, infact I would go as far as to say I have lost less. One less stress for the horse.
 
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