Trying barefoot with a flat footed horse, flat foot photos included

paddi22

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I've four happily barefoot, but I finally made the jump to take the shoes off my flat footed older gelding who has always been a disaster physically (kissing spine, hock arthritis, copd, navicular). His vet history is that he was recommended to get wedges, but they destroyed his hooves after a while. I was working with a farrier to bring his heel back under him with shoes, but with all the lockdown stuff I decided to spend the rest of the year trying to improve his hooves.

The shoes came off last week and a hoof boot fitter came today and fitted him. She gave diet and exercise advice as well. The hoof stuff is really fascinating, I am fairly clueless about it but looking forward to learning about it.

Here's a shot of his awful plate feet front feet.
 

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ycbm

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I'm looking forward to next year's photos! They can't help but improve, Paddi. Your first set of boots probably aren't going to fit for long. Keep us updated, please?
.
 

paddi22

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yeah I am totally clueless going into it.I've been lucky with the rest that they have just naturally rock hard hooves and even event with no issues. so I never had to learn the nutrition/ proper care stuff. this guy is really struggling hoof wise though and the shoes just seem to be causing more damage now. when they came off last week he was so sore on any ground.

The fitter recommended cavlors but said they would be transitional boots and he would hopefully switch to different ones when hoof develops. Tried them tonight and he seemed to settle ok into them.

from what I understand from her advice
- he needs trimming and checking every four weeks
- switch to low sugar feed (i'm gonna try agrob's muesli)
- there is a lot of flaring (bad) and his heels are low (also bad) but she can see the hoof quality coming through is better since I added biotin to diet a while ago.

I haven't a clue how it will go and I really don't want to mess him up, so I'll be plaguing people for advice!
 

ycbm

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Honestly, you are going to be so thrilled in 6 months, or less. Those are just the kind of feet that need it most. It's clear from the first half inch what the eventual angles are going to be. You're on the right lines with the food, have you got him on a no-iron mineral supplement? I'd recommend it if not.
.
 

IrishMilo

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Blimey, they really are terrible... When was the last time he was trimmed? Another angle which is great for tracking underslung heels is directly from behind, with the camera on the floor. In theory you should see a nice gradual raise to the coronary hairline once the heels get a bit more depth to them.

I'm looking forward to following this thread.
 

DabDab

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Wow, they are flat flat! Please post back as they are changing as it will be fascinating - you're going to have really different hoof in 6 months
 

paddi22

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that's not even as flat as they were, which is awful! that's after about three rounds of shoeing without wedges and trying to bring the heels up :(
 

PapaverFollis

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Also, excited to see these feet change. My older mare who I tried to get barefoot did end up back in shoes after a because I couldn't get her comfortable. But I didn't know anything about the nutrition needed so she might have been OK if I'd got that right. But her feet did have a real transformation and were then healthier in shoes going forwards.
 

SEL

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Does going 'barefoot' preclude hoof boots? I took the plunge and bought Scoots. Wow! Have a full TB a full Welsh and a Welsh x TB in them and they are amazing.

No! I've had to invest in some Scoots for a 10yo that has never been shod but likes to keep the vets busy. We've got very stoney tracks and a lot of tarmac to the bridlepath and she wasn't coping.
 

paddi22

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here's some fairly ropey shots of most angels. I'd be really curious if anyone had the time to let me know what information the hooves give them, as I really am clueless so I'd be be very grateful to learnboots_hooves aug .jpg
 

ycbm

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My input is 'stop worrying'. This horse evented BE 110 nine months after I took his shoes off a lame horse. I defy you to find a flatter foot than this!


It really is exactly how it looks. The frog is by far the highest part. The sole is next and completely flat. Then the hoof wall, non existent.

17sep006-1-jpg.53214
 

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paddi22

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wow that's some difference in angle.

icbm, that is crazy flat footed, delighted to hear horse went on to event successfully.
 

paddi22

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one thing I am mad curious is about why the top left part of this pic has a raised ridge part that isn't on the opposite hoof at all, is that a weird body imbalance?
 

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ycbm

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I can't see what you mean in that photo, but ridges in the sole are generally bracing for weakness and will fall off in their own time when they are no longer needed. In horses like TBs, that can be never, but if the horse is sound, let it have what it wants.
.
 

ester

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We'll see if I'm right in a few months time, you can see how that would bring the whole hoof under him more and would match the pastern angle quite well.

Frank is flat, but not in the way yours are, just lacking in concavity. We did get some but not masses and he very much relied on bar material at times (we experimentally removed them once, he went off, they were back within 10 days). The frogs weren't proud mostly because they had been trashed by bar shoes.
547181_10151493895070438_1808329660_n.jpg
 

Ceriann

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My mare has very flat thin soles and suffered with underrun heels and long toes. 15 months of barefoot has made a huge difference to her feet. I’d be lying if i said it was easy and i suspect i would have struggled more had she been working through that time (shes been rehabbing an injury). Super hard ground has led me to put fronts on for the next few cycles - she wasnt happy and i felt i needed to balance that, the need for to work for weight with keeping her bare. We’ll go again this winter and build on improvements. Diet is so inportant but so is movement - we walked many many miles in hand getting those feet working. We also had regular trims to maintain balance. Best of luck and look forward to seeing the improvements.
 

Gloi

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My mare has very flat thin soles and suffered with underrun heels and long toes. 15 months of barefoot has made a huge difference to her feet. I’d be lying if i said it was easy and i suspect i would have struggled more had she been working through that time (shes been rehabbing an injury). Super hard ground has led me to put fronts on for the next few cycles - she wasnt happy and i felt i needed to balance that, the need for to work for weight with keeping her bare. We’ll go again this winter and build on improvements. Diet is so inportant but so is movement - we walked many many miles in hand getting those feet working. We also had regular trims to maintain balance. Best of luck and look forward to seeing the improvements.
Was there a reason you went back to shoes rather than booting her for work?
 

Ceriann

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Was there a reason you went back to shoes rather than booting her for work?
We’d used boots with varying degrees of success. She was on her 3rd pair (in renegades but had just outgrown them) but she never went really well in them and bare was always better for stride. When the ground got hard balancing it all got really difficult and she was uncomfortable a lot and would plant to the mounting block. I decided to shoe fronts through summer and go bare again when ground is more forgiving. She’s developed some very limited concavity but this will always be her struggle so hard ground will always be difficult. It’s a constant work in progress but we’ll get there.
 

paddi22

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just attaching update from this week. farrier due out this week. the hooves seem to have reached the edge of where the nails used to be, so there have been weird little abccesses popping out. there also looks like one of the accesses is turning into a crack? I am trying to learn about hooves but am fairly clueless about it, but would love any feedback about peoples view of changes or anything I need to watch for? just noticed hooves are wet in pics, so some shavings are stiuck to it that look like cracks!
 

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