The shoes are off!

[Red-1]

I guess I am looking for support, as a few days ago I pulled Jay's shoes.

I re-habbed my previous horse, and he was barefoot on 3 x a week hacking and doing BD after 4 months, but with Jay it was different. The previous horse was a bit "off" and had a collateral ligament problem, so there was a reason to go barefoot, but with Jay he is fit and well. That seems to have more responsibility with it.

We prepared with good diet, Pro Hoof, and his feet are good anyway. My farrier is in agreement, I will not be working him much for a few months anyway, and a few months without shoes will clear all the current nail holes. If he is good without I may or may not shoe up next year.

At the moment I feel a bit creaky for eventing, but may feel differently next year.

So far I pulled the shoes on Wednesday, and just rounded his feet off so they would not split. For the last 3 days he has been walking out in hand, 10 minutes only at the moment, and also turned out on the sand/rubber arena in the day/ in on a deep shavings bed at night.

He has been absolutely fine on the rubber, on the road, on the gravel driveway and even on the stoney part of the driveway. I am being cautious not to wear out all his hoof at once, and will probably lunge tomorrow on the rubber.

I am very lucky with my farrier who taught me to pull shoes and tidy feet up with the last horse, and is happy for me to email photos so he can keep an eye on the hoof shape. I did find with the last one that with regular road walking he kind of found his own level, and I just rounded off the edges twice a week.

I feel a huge sense of responsibility,especially as Jay was sound and happy in shoes, but I think even if he only has them off for a few months he will have benefit next year.

I have to say that the feet are looking good, and he seems happy so far.

Wish us well, and any helpful comments welcome.

 

[Shady]

both my horses are barefoot, the Arab since birth and i clock up mega miles on him trail riding, our other horse is a PRE and his hooves were shocking when we bought him, badly shod for years, thrush in all 4, lame on one , boxy, just horrid really poor sod, farrier took shoes off , really good trim, they had closed up so re cutting was not nice for him and then we just let him re- find his balance, as you know everything has to drop and stretch so we left him alone and in his case he was not ridden for 6 months+ but we did start walking him out , first on grass . then on roads after 1 month, i give both biotin and the farrier trims every 2-3 months, the shape is really important when they go barefoot, there are some great specialist trimmers out there and some really lazy ones , find a good one, i really believe most horses are happier barefoot and their hooves are healthier, navicular problems are rarer and many endurance horses are now barefoot, i say you did the right thing!!! just go gently with it and don't worry if he feels a bit un certain when you first ride him, it can take time for them adjust, 3 years on and my PRE has amazing hooves, goes on anything, never hesitates( he did at first if it was stoney) and i don't have to worry that i can't ride coz theyv'e lost a shoe!! i DO wish you well!

 

[Red-1]

Thank you Shady. 5 days in and he is still doing fine, walking out 10 mins a day in hand on tarmac, and yesterday he did a bit of lungeing to defuse the growing energy well.

I have to say that on the lunge he was moving better than he ever has, very expressive, lifting through his shoulders...... Not sure if that is down to no shoes, or more likely down to a reduction in his work and the building well of energy!

Last night we had a comical evening where he was sporting plastic boots and bags on his feet. He has been just fine, but like a lot of horses just out of shoes his white line has grown wider then a barefoot horse, and is anything but white. I bought some Cleantrax for a one off cleaning extravaganza, so we had a happy 3 hours attending to boots and bags........

Today it will be on with some Keratex hoof hardener, then they can self regulate with picking and a stiff brushing off twice a day.

His feet do look smaller already, but I guess I am lucky that he is already quite concave on his sole, and tough in the quality of horn.

I appreciated your answer, as I said the previous time I did this the horse had a problem, it has been a lot harder a decision to take with Jay who is a fit and sound horse (although I had scaled down the fitness somewhat already from event fit to just arena fit).

Like most owners I just want to do right by my horse.

 

[Shady]

all sounding good Red, great that he's concave, even better if they are all black? there are some really good answers to some other threads here on hoof topics, one is ' pro's and con's of barefoot', the other is' under run heels' there are some really experienced barefoot supporters here so you are not alone, i appreciate that it is not an easy decision to go barefoot if your horse is sound in shoes and i do have friends who use boots and only shoe 6 months of the year etc, equally i know people who's horses do very little work at all who still keep them shod as ' that is what you do' , for me, i ride barefoot, treeless and bitless and i like to think i have a happy healthy horse! i know for a fact that things would have ended badly for our PRE if he had continued as he was , so stiff and in pain, now his hooves can ' breathe' and pump properly and for me that's how it should be. you are doing right by your horse Red!

 

[mrswad]

Sounds like you have set the scene nicely for a quick transition. Don't ever worry about wearing the feet down too much.The only thing you need to avoid are sharp stones resting on top of hard surfaces; they can bruise & cause "ouch" moments. Read Pete Rameys website, he has some fabulous (& free) articles which are very down to earth. Good luck

 

[Red-1]

Thank you Mrs Ward, I have had a look at the web site and it looks very interesting.

Still so far so good, a week since they are off and we increased walking to a 20 minute round walk, and he was fine with that too.

 

[WindyStacks]

Good luck to you - yes, you are doing the right thing.

 

[Red-1]

Thank you too Windystacks.

So far so good, still walking out in hand daily for a short trip, so far he has also been lunged 4 times, and today I climbed aboard for a short schooling session. He seems lighter in front.

All in all very pleased, in all the time he has maybe done a dozen gimpy steps over the 10 days, all on the way back from walking, when treading on a small stone on tarmac. But, each time it has been a single step, not a row of them, and the Max we have had was 3 on one trip out.

He is stabled on half a bed of soft shavings, half hard rubber, walks on small gravel twice a day, is turned out on a rubber arena with hard rubber bits, not soft ones, plus the road walking daily. I am trying to get a whole different set of surfaces under him, for short periods daily.

I was tempted to ride on the road today, but as it was his first ridden day on the school I got off and did the road walking in hand still.

Looking good so far, adjusting his feet every other day, just a shave here and there. I can see the shape they are evolving into but want to do it all slowly so he can stay sound the entire transition, being as he started sound.