This Negative Nancy Took The Bare Plunge

Equilibrium Ireland

Equilibrium Ireland

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So I've been hovering between bare and not, shoes front hinds bare. Then all the stars lined up and by happy accident I have taken the plunge with one all the way.

5 weeks ago they were all shod. My blacksmith is due Monday. Still it reads like a bad parenting story. Heidi presented with abcess type symptoms on her right front 5 days after. So pulled shoe, checked around and could find nothing. Soak, wrap ect for a week and she's fine. Except now blacksmith is on well deserved holiday. Tic toc, tic toc. She started out iffy with whatever it was and then got really good on the bare front. Didn't want to have BS out to put one shoe on after 3 weeks and just decided to wait until this week. So this morning I had a really good look at her feet. Well I was horrified. The shod foot looks dreadful. It's just 5 weeks. This is the flattest TB foot you'd ever want to see but in this short span of time hoof dummy here can see changes. One sole moves with thumb pressure. The other has gone pretty hard. Not exceptional yet but early days. The bare foot already has a beefier frog and while the heel isn't great, it's not as under run as the one we just took the shoe off of.

I will admit I emailed Nic through Facebook this morning. A person whom I've followed but who doesn't even know me. She gave me some wonderful words of advice, especially about not putting pressure on me and my horse. I've actually been sweeping the hardcore outside the barn to use as a good track to help rehab. It has tiny little stones that annoy me never mind the horses.

This mare has been incredibly sound on the bare front. I thought I would absolutely have to have boots. That takes care of one of my big worries. No way I thought with these flat under run feet would this be possible. That this mare would just grow a worse shape. I believed this because my original old farrier told me so and that's why at the end of her 2 YO year she has been in fronts. So now at 8 she gets a chance to show us what her feet can do.

Not saying it will work but I am going to give it a really good shot.

Sincerely a less Negative Nancy,
Terri
 
Good for you!

Those flat underrun feet may start to look very different startlingly quickly.

Don't forget the diet issues, have a look at other barefoot threads if in doubt. I'm sure nic will have told you about magnesium oxide and brewers yeast.

Don't be surprised, or disappointed, if she is quite footie in a few days or a couple of weeks time after being great at first. It happens a lot. It is almost as if things "come alive" inside the feet.

Good luck. If you need any help let us know.
 
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Thanks guys. Lot of work to do but I think it really is for the best. Heidi eats a handful of straw/grass chaff that's low in starch, D&H performance vits and mins, flax, and mag ox. Trying to find bulk BY as "boutique" buckets are no good to me. This has been the diet for ages. I'm always watching grazing anyway so not a huge change in those regards. I am already amazed at the small changes. I'm sure we will hit stumbling blocks but that's to be expected. We have the time to invest. In past when I've tried we've taken shoes off and farrier trimmed. Taking off and letting the foot do the work obviously seems to be the better choice. The horn quality seems very good. No splits, cracks, and or shelly or thrush so that also helps. I will try and get pics in the morning and see if I can post. Not great at that type of thing!

Thank you all!
Terri
 
Great post, and well done you! Things will get better quicker than you think is possible. Nic's great, I found her amazingly helpful when I originally called her about my lad going there. She spent ages talking me through it and explaining everything. :)
 
I gave her a 5 min walk on my "track" this afternoon. Track is barn aisle which is smooth concrete and hardcore outside the barn. I swept offending loose stones to make it more tolerable. Strides through the barn well. Obviously a little ouchy on the hardcore as it's uneven. But, she kept on trouping along. Her hind shoes have been off for 9 months. The concavity has returned but it's more pronounced on the outside. Does this sound right? I am still learning.

Also she moves like a dream in the soft sand of the arena. Really strides out. Should I also maybe give her a little lunge in the arena so she's also continuing good free movement? Heidi is a field potterer even with shoes. Watch her moving in the field and she's fine. And it's really chopped up as in Ireland we are only now just drying out.

The happy accident was best on Heidi because she is a mare that just gets on with it no matter what. She's like ok that hurt but I can continue on. She is a red headed TB. Her half sister on the other hand, by a warmblood, is quite wimpy. So I will have to try and get boots for her to rehab.

Sorry I'm rambling!
Terri
 
:eek::eek::eek:

You've turned
assimilation.gif


Despite the reputation - it's actually hard to do the horse any serious harm with barefoot as long as the diet is right (which I believe you are sensible of already) and as long as you let the horse guide you (which you are already doing).

They might crack and look terrible - but it's almost always purely cosmetic and they're just shifting what they didn't want anyway.

Excuse-Our-Appearance-Notice-Sign-S-0833.gif


The very worst that can happen in the beginning is to bruise a thin sole and kick off a sub solar abscess - but that tends to happen when a horse does a hooly on rocks....but that could happen with the shoes on if their soles were so thin anyway.

Relax and enjoy watching the changes :).
 
I took my TB's off in April despite it not being the best summer for feet the difference is huge already in four months he has never had a trim he is self trimming as I am doing road work with him . However he's due his first trm next week .
He has a major stress crack in one hind foot where the toe is going to be two inches shorter than before ! and the hoof wall has given way at the point the new wall stared to grow at the new angle , looked alarming to me but the trimmer is not worried.
You may go though a sore stage mine started ok and then got sore so be ready to buy boots so you can keep him moving if you need to.
Good luck !
 
OOh GS can we have a picture of that? I love seeing the extreme changes that horses most in need of going barefoot produce :)
 
Yes pics. I will get some today. Luckily for me half the barefoot is done. Hinds are looking good but I'll let you all decide. At least the concave is returning. Have to admit Heidi seems to be doing really well. She is taking the odd ouchy step on uneven ground and tiny little sharp stones are killers but I think even seasoned bare horses might wince a little at those. I am worried that the toe on the hoof that remained shod is too long but you all can tell me later. I know I don't want her trimmed yet but not sure how you go about when. I'm going to join the Pheonix forum as that should help me out.

I am taking Heidi out for a wee ride in the arena later. Walk and a tiny bit of trot. She is absolutely sound in there and I feel some exercise will be beneficial.

Terri
 
Took my second one fully bare 2 days ok. I was worried about her. She has been better. She seems to be walking on the hardcore loop better than when in shoes. She also seems to have better feet overall too. She has lunged for the past 2 mornings and is walking on the track twice a day. The only time she seems sore is coming in out of the field and her feet are packed with stuff. Pick and not a bother.

I really worried too much about what could happen in a negative way instead of positive. Husband then asked me what I was gonna do when we go back jumping as she will need shoes. I stared at him blankly and said why? We're hardly going to the Olympics. Just getting some more decent performance before being a mom. Which brings me to my next question. Any SJ's coping with 1.20 and 1.30's bare? And I just wanted to say this mare always had issues with disunited canter behind. This was partially due to immaturity but as soon as the back ones came off and she resumed work, this wasn't an issue anymore. Not like it slowly went away, it just wasn't an issue anymore. Maybe just coincidence.

At any rate I will have to watch this one more for grazing changes. Always have. Nothing new but I will be able to catch it early this way.

I've joined Pheonix forum too. Thank you all for your help, especiall CPTrayes. I sent her pics of my first one as I was too scared to post here!

Terri
 
cptrayes said:
OOh GS can we have a picture of that? I love seeing the extreme changes that horses most in need of going barefoot produce :)
Click to expand...

I am afraid I am seriously untechincal .
This is an extreme change ,the change in the foot angle is alarming and it's unsurprising that he had to live his life in overreach boots before BF .
Unfortunatly he has now lost the wall from the hoof below the stress crack it looks terrible .
Vet told me it needs shoeing to ' support ' it but the horse is sound and working well so I am just observing and playing a waiting game at the moment.
 
Lucy, not to Ireland. I have to buy a pallet. Tried that already.

Goldenstar, yikes. That does not sound good. Hope he's ok.

Thank you for the BBB info. Good stuff. It would be great to have a jumping broodmare that you can say she did her jumping, well at the end, bare.

Terri
 
Equilibrium Ireland said:
Lucy, not to Ireland. I have to buy a pallet. Tried that already.

Goldenstar, yikes. That does not sound good. Hope he's ok.

Thank you for the BBB info. Good stuff. It would be great to have a jumping broodmare that you can say she did her jumping, well at the end, bare.

Terri
Click to expand...

There are people who are out of delivery distance from Charnwood (Ireland, France etc) who grind raw linseed in a coffee grinder before serving.

If you ask on the Phoenix, you will get some advice as there are posters from Ireland there.
 
Equilibrium Ireland said:
Any SJ's coping with 1.20 and 1.30's bare?
Click to expand...

14.2 currently doing up to 1m sj and 90cm xc, not quite the same league but he is only little(!) and has scope for more when he is mentaly ready.

I find feet facinating and now we have another person who is transitioning her lovely pony on the yard so there will be two yellow ponies padding round without shoes on as soon as she has grown her self a new set of feet :D
 
We won't be going out til next year. Plenty of time to get through the ups and downs. She's already been successful in the 1.10's. But I just want performance higher before breeding. Most competing has been on super all weather surfaces which I can't see causing a problem.

Best of luck competing!

Terri
 
So I thought I'd update.

The 2 with the worst feet are flying. That would be Heidi who was heading towards wedges. She's 8 and been in shoes for 6 years. Then Frank who is 17 and had collapsed heels. I got him at 9 but pretty sure he was in shoes since 3. He's an ex racer.

Heidi is doing roadwork plus arena work and flying. But the biggest changes are throughout her body. No more buckling over at the knee, stands underneath herself, and looks more relaxed throughout her body. And she strides out now like never before. Frank is doing well and hasn't taken a bad step. We've been very cautious while trimming and helping him to get stronger. I'm surprised he's doing so well. Two other attempts failed.

Now for the next part since people seem to think those that want to go bare let their horses suffer. I have 2 back in fronts because they kept going to and fro with being comfortable. Ironically, these 2 have the best feet of the 4 and been in shoes the least amount of time. Stella is my 13yo broodmare, ex broodmare really, who was bare all her life until 2 years ago when my then farrier butchered her. No other words for it. She was pregnant and needed vet treatment ect. 2 months later when she actually had some foot I shod her with pads. Then that leaves Abba. She was doing great. Then she started being too cautious. My husband said to give her a fair chance, get her out of the wet. More than wet. Muddy that went through the base until they were on stones. Once she was out grazing in the good part fine, but it wasn't working for her. So we did give her a week in the arena in which she was much better and improved. But the arena is not really for turnout so she had to go back out. Of course the first day out with her friends, after work, she ran around like a loony. Came in on 3 legs and had a stone bruise. After that was taken care of I shod with pads. Now I know I have to expect ups and downs, but for the moment, this is what I had to do to get those 2 comfy. I really didn't want to, but I'm a newbie at this who decided to take the plunge by doing 4 horses bare all at the same time. Kind of set me and my horses up for failure!

So the people that have been kind enough to help always said don't put too much pressure on your horses or yourself. You can go back to shoes. I have, but, I'm ordering boots for those 2. I most likely will have to tweak their diets. Obviously we had the autumn grass at the same time though I've always been really careful. But still I need to investigate these 2 further and do some tweaking.

So all in all I've done ok. Could really kick myself for not doing enough to get the other 2 comfy. But I feel I've done right by them in getting them comfortable and need to investigate further. Should add 2 have been bare behind for 1 year, 1 neve had hinds, 1 bare behind for 8 years.

Again, thanks all for the support. I'm learning as I go.

Terri
 
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