Took shoes off - what a difference!

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CobsGalore

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Took my horses shoes off recently, and the difference already is unbelievable! There wasn't anything wrong when his shoes were on, I just decided to give him a break over the winter. But on our hack today he was really striding out and had so much more confidence going down hilly roads than he usually does. (Even with road nails before)

I was expecting to have to take things slowly with him while his feet adjusted to being shoeless, but clearly not!

Quick question though - the white line seems quite soft and small stones keep getting wedged. Will his feet harden up over time and stop this from happening? It doesn't happen to his back feet, which have never had shoes on.
 
My horse has been barefoot for three years and still grts small stones stuck in his whiteline. It should tighten up and not be crumbly after a bit of time. Good diet and minerals all help with a tight white line.
 
Yes it does have to be done over a transitional period, I'm not an expert but saying that my two are barefoot and get biotin in feed to help hooves. It's a good idea to look up barefoot sites on the net, also quite a few endurance riders will use boots on front feet. Good luck, just so much cheaper...
 
It takes a while for the soles to become tough, what I did was to brush them with a stiff brush, this cleans the frogs as well. I had a normal stiff brush and also a small brass shoe type brush.
I also got a farriers rasp........ but it took me a while to get confident with this.

I think it is essential to give them a balanced mineral mix [pro earth] and micronised linseed meal [charnwood milling]. As there is a wee problem, I would put her on pro hoof for a month, this being the most expensive ingredient.
The main problem... I felt that once the feet were in super condition [soles were hard and smooth], therefore I was unwilling to change.
Although the minerals are expensive, the whole regime is much healthier and cheaper, and safer on the roads.
I made sure there was no molasses or moglo in anything I fed, this was the most difficult part. I used non-molassed sugar beet pulp plus chaff for texture and flavour.
I also fed minerals [at half rate] all summer, something I never did before........... his coat did not wash out as in previous years.
 
Last edited:
CobsGalore said:
I was expecting to have to take things slowly with him while his feet adjusted to being shoeless, but clearly not!
Click to expand...


Not sure what "recently" means but I have seen many times before people saying their horse is doing great once the shoes are off. No need to cut down on work etc. Then a couple of weeks later they have problems and the horse is foot sore.

To go barefoot successfully growth has to keep up with wear. A horse in shoes hasn't been required to produce a lot of good growth. It takes time for the feet to get the message that they have to produce good quality horn. So if you do too much too soon the horse will probably become footsore.
The knack is to do just enough to stimulate the feet to respond to the added pressure by growing but not too much to wear the new growth too much. So a small amount of roadwork every day to stimulate growth and then get onto a less wearing surface so you don't wear too much of it.

You tighten up he WL by improving the diet. In the meantime wire brush the WL each day and pick the tiny stones out with a horseshoe nail or bradawl.
 
Thanks for the advice, I will bare that in mind. I'm bringing him back into work slowly anyway following a stay in hospital, so didn't hack very far, I was just surprised at how comfortable he felt straight away.

At the moment he is fed a low calorie balancer - would this be a good mineral feed? He gets fed this wil Alfa oil.

I will have a read of some barefoot sites, can anyone recommend some?

Thank you
 
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