Unshod TB's

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bumblelion

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We all know every horse is different but we also know generally tb's tend to be a little bit sensitive at times! After seeing a previous post it got me THINKING about whipping my tbs shoes off for the winter as he won't be in work. He only has 5 metres to walk to the field across a small grit hardcore type surface. He is rather wimpy and if he casts a shoe it, he does get very footy but so long as the grounds soft he's fine for a couple of days or until the farrier can put it back on! The only problem is turning in and out.

So for all you foot experts out there, how long before they toughen up? Am I best to whip the back off first, do all four or just don't bother? It's not for financial reasons, more for giving his feet a break from being shod. It would only be for a few months. The other worry is that he gets turned out for 8/9 hours a day so if the ground freezes, he'll probably not deal with that either! He is a WIMP!!! Anyone been in the same situation? Has it worked? Also someone told me (don't know how true it is), because he's an exracer, he's had shoes on for so long he probably wouldn't cope! Although all the barefoot advocates would probably disregard this?
 
I would think that if you aren't 100% about the idea then it might not be best for him? Especially if you're going to shoe him again in the future anyway?

You know him best! If you think he's more comfortable with shoes then so be it. Neither way is 'best'; it depends on the horse.

Useless, vague answer there :)
 
For the price of one set of shoes you could buy sufficient matting to cover his path to the field. He then has the benefit of being unshod through the winter, you have the benefit of the cost saving and if you use the grass mats and continue them into the field a little way (OK cost of another set of shoes!) you won't have a poached gateway.
 
he is only a wimp becaus he is only used to being shod, to be footy when loosing a shoe is natural, my tb looked like he was on three legs! The more walking he can do on hard, gravel, tarmac the better. It will help with the transition. My tb goes on gravel pens in the winter and his feet are like rock at the end, but if he was turned out in the field he would struggle as his feet would get soft. They are soft now from the wet weather and wet field so he is abit footy walking up the track. Mine had them all off in one go. But once you do it, you need to stick at it. He will be footy for a while untill his feet adjust. It took mine a good couple of months to walk up and down the road comfortably. I have some before and after photos, i will post them below. Diet plays a big part. Just because they are tb's doesnt mean they need feeding every conditioning mix going. Ad lib hay/haylage and a high fibre feed is more than enough.
 
I would keep the fronts on if he is sensitive, I would never leave fronts off my TB as his feet would break up and as you say how is he going to cope with frozen ground. I dont see what you would gain by taking them off anyway.
 
ok, this is the very begining. feet wrecked form remedial work. pulled a shoe off every week.
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When shoes came off
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2nd trim
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3rd trim hinds
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3rd trim fronts
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and now with his easyboots, i dont have any of his fronts now.
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pfeet.jpg


he gets alot of growth on his feet. Its been nearly a year now and he still has a way to go. He will be back in work end of this month. he has navicular and spavins and is now sound. p.s sorry if they are big!
 
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Take the shoes off. As above, get some matting or sand for the track to and from the field, and if you are worried, get some hoof boots that could be worn if things freeze up. If you get the management right though, you will probably find that the horse can cope by the time the cold weather comes, and also it tends to be rough ground, rather than hard, that they find uncomfortable so as long as some of the field remains fairly smooth, there will be somewhere comfortable for him to be.
I'm continually astonished that people can't see the benefits of being without shoes - I don't think any part of my body would react very well to having a constant splint on it. I'm also not sure why the poster above wouldn't like their horses feet to look healthy.....
 
lionman said:
I am sorry china but to be honest I would not like my horses feet to look like that.
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Well id rather they didnt look like the first photo, and him crippled by his navicular and costing an absolute fortune in pointless remeidal work. he is now sound. By no means has amazing feet and like i said, still has a huge way to go. He is not in work. so are not as good as they could be. He will not be shod again. I have my horse back now and he is happy so i am happy.
 
My tb is perfectly happy with no shoes on- it doesn't restrict the work she does at all and she wouldn't have the best feet in the world. Give it a go for the winter, he'll be sore to start on the stones but they do toughen up.
 
jemima_too said:
For the price of one set of shoes you could buy sufficient matting to cover his path to the field. He then has the benefit of being unshod through the winter, you have the benefit of the cost saving and if you use the grass mats and continue them into the field a little way (OK cost of another set of shoes!) you won't have a poached gateway.
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This does sound a good idea! I wouldn't have thought of that! Thanks :)
 
china said:
he is only a wimp becaus he is only used to being shod, to be footy when loosing a shoe is natural, my tb looked like he was on three legs! The more walking he can do on hard, gravel, tarmac the better. It will help with the transition. My tb goes on gravel pens in the winter and his feet are like rock at the end, but if he was turned out in the field he would struggle as his feet would get soft. They are soft now from the wet weather and wet field so he is abit footy walking up the track. Mine had them all off in one go. But once you do it, you need to stick at it. He will be footy for a while untill his feet adjust. It took mine a good couple of months to walk up and down the road comfortably. I have some before and after photos, i will post them below. Diet plays a big part. Just because they are tb's doesnt mean they need feeding every conditioning mix going. Ad lib hay/haylage and a high fibre feed is more than enough.
Click to expand...

I just feel cruel making him endure the pain until his feet get conditioned and hate watching him! I think I'm more wimpy than him! My other chap is unshod and was footy for a while but is now fine (IDxWB) but I do tend to wrap my tb up in cotton wool! Feed wise, I'm very up on fibre, fibre, fibre. He has adlib hay, hi fibre nuts, happy hoof and some corn oil, plus supps. The photo's are really good, his feet have really improved.
 
my ex loan horse was an ex racer (hurdler) and she was barefoot, even raced barefoot. she managed ok with the different surface at my yard compared to where she came from and she had lovely feet. so on the side of taking a TB barefoot i don't see it as a problem in general for the breed but obviously each horse is different.

the choice is entirely up to you as you know your horse, the idea of grass mats down is a good one if you do go barefoot.

i've taken my horse barefoot, he's been barefoot for 18 months, whenever he lost a shoe he would be 'crippled' on that foot so i was very dubious about it working but he was on field rest due to DDFT problems so i thought i may as well try it as he's only in a small paddock with no walking in and out. he was a bit footy on the hard ground (dry field) but soon got used to it, now he's back to being stabled at night he has to walk on the gravel yard, to start with he was very footy on the gravel but he's improved alot now and although he slows down over it he's not footy.
 
lionman said:
I would keep the fronts on if he is sensitive, I would never leave fronts off my TB as his feet would break up and as you say how is he going to cope with frozen ground. I dont see what you would gain by taking them off anyway.
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I probably will keep the fronts on at first and see how he gets on. The main reason is because he casts a shoe every fortnight on average and pulls chunks off his hooves. He also manages to pull his hind ones off rather well! His feet do look a lot better than they did when I first got him, have a very good farrier who keeps telling me to take them off (despite him losing money every 6 weeks from me!) as he said they'd really benefit.
 
My TB had her shoes off back in June/july time. She was foot sore for about 10 days now shes completley fine. She does live out now and won't be in work till the spring (hopefully) the farrier has been out and says he is really pleased as expected them to be terrible :o they did chip a little but now there fine :) my cob is barefoot also and is in ridden work. All okay and saves a fortune on shoes!:D
 
lionman said:
I am sorry Trina, when I posted I only had the first two pics come up on my screen. The horse was down on his heels and flat footed. Having seen the after pics I have to admit his feet look considerably better. Sorry OP.
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i accidently clicked post reply after the first two ;-) had to edit it to add the others.
He is still abit flat in front, they have not concaved as much as his back. its been a sloooow proccess! :-/
 
bumblelion said:
I just feel cruel making him endure the pain until his feet get conditioned and hate watching him! I think I'm more wimpy than him! My other chap is unshod and was footy for a while but is now fine (IDxWB) but I do tend to wrap my tb up in cotton wool! Feed wise, I'm very up on fibre, fibre, fibre. He has adlib hay, hi fibre nuts, happy hoof and some corn oil, plus supps. The photo's are really good, his feet have really improved.
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i know how you feel. I had to be hard on myself to make sure i stuck at it. If you start it you have to stick with it. It will be so worth it if it works for him. I had comfort in that fact that i had gravel paddocks that he was comfortable on for the day as it supported his whole foot and he was stabled at night. Just had to take it steady across the yard as he hobbled abit. But after a fortnight or so he managed the yard fine. I found his hind legs swelled slightly in the begining aswell. but went down after a while.
 
lionman said:
I am sorry Trina, when I posted I only had the first two pics come up on my screen. The horse was down on his heels and flat footed. Having seen the after pics I have to admit his feet look considerably better. Sorry OP.
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Ah, ok makes sense. My initial thought was whether you were someone so conditioned to seeing shod feet, an unshod foot looked a little alien! lol

Trina x
 
Hi,

I took the hind shoes off my loan TB about 2 weeks ago. At first he was very footy across the yard (stony concrete and a patch of fineish gravel) and i felt awful. I ordered some boots for him but they were slightly too big for him and by the time they arrived he was much improved. He was footy today, I think because I started him on some new haylage last night (not sure if too much sugar can have an effect this quickly?), but other than that it has been going well. I am suprised at how well he has coped as he is a wimp.

Good luck if you decide to go ahead :)
 
My TBX is unshod. He did have his fronts shod until last year and then I took the decision to take them off too as he wasn't in work. He is a bit of a wimp too and can get quite footing on front (backs have been off for years and are in great shape / condition). His fronts are not so good and grown asymetrical from one side to the other on the off fore and can flake / chip badly and he tends to get quite flat footed.

However, he is OK as long as I keep on top of his farrier trims and not leave so long between visits as I used to when he had fronts on.

He does still get a bit footy and this is usually when the weather is wet and his feet seem to sofen up. When it is dry he is better.

Years ago I had a very fine TB mare and she was unshod and did all road work with her. She had brilliant feet (even though she was a pretty more doer and had to be rugged for England in the winter).

See how you go with your boy. Get your farrier to take shoes off and give him a bit of time to adjust and see how he fares. I think it took about 10 days for my chap to sort himself out.
 
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