Turned away for winer, shoes removed, hooves now crumbling

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BentleyBelly

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Welsh Section D, 18yo, mildly arthritic, turned away for winter, lives out 24/7 strip grazed as I have a lot of weedy grass. Had his shoes removed about 4 weeks ago and in the last week since we have had rain his hooves are just falling apart. All are now very rough around the edges and one has chipped right back to the old nail holes on one side. He has one bucket feed a day of molasses free chaff with salt, turmeric, pepper, linseed oil and 365 complete. For various reasons at home I need to keep costs low at the moment and my time at the field is also limited to a once a day check. I managed to take him out for a 10min walk on the road both days this weekend and he was sound and a bit of a handful having not left the field for about 1 month. Should i worry about his feet or just leave them alone to grow? Pics are here https://goo.gl/photos/noAhXoJp9L4xx33H9
 
I wouldn't worry too much as long as he isnt sore. I would concentrate on improving the quality of the hoof that is growing down by providing a hoof friendly diet like it seems you are doing.
You could ask your farrier to show you how to rasp and perhaps ask if he has an old rasp you can use to tidy them up every now and then
 
Ditto the above, if he's sound - his feet are doing ok. The bits breaking off will probably just be bits he doesn't need anymore, as shod hooves tend to be longer than barefoot hooves anyway. I would leave him alone if he's sound and happy. It is certainly much cheaper to keep them without shoes in the long term imho :)
 
It's really not unusual for newly de-shod hooves to chip up to the nail holes. As long as he's sound, don't worry about the cosmetics of the chipping. If you can take him for a short walk on tarmac (even for just 10 mins) every day, that would help (tarmac is brilliant for bare hooves). Bare hooves do generally look shorter than shod hooves. You could learn how to do a quick tidy with a rasp if neatness is important to you, but be careful as horses seem to be able to chip off bits and stay sound, but if you rasped off the same amount it would make them footy, so don't get carried away rasping.
 
Yep...ditto everything above. It's cosmetic.It can take a while to get used to not seeing perfectly trimmed and rasped feet, but you will. Keep going as you are x
 
He had his shoes removed and a farrier did a tidy up 4 weeks ago. Have tried to contact a trimmer this week but no joy. Have another person to try, if not will book farrier again. He was shod every 7 weeks. How often should trims be done?
 
It depends on the horse, what surfaces the horse is on and how fast the hooves are growing, so I can't give you a set time. It could be anything from a few weeks/normal shoeing cycle to never (properly self trimming horse).
 
He doesn't get out of the field enough to self trim. Am amazed his feet have chipped so much on such soft soggy ground. Will book someone for the next few weeks and take it from there. Thanks.
 
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