Unshod youngster (sorry for another)

Asha

Asha

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To be honest i have avoided all unshod/barefoot threads.

However, last night couldnt help read the one going on last night and still going on today....

The advice given was really very interesting, and thought i would ask for some advice for my own youngsters, as what has been said, really does make sense.

so please barefoot taliban, please advise.

i have 1 3 year old WBxID, hes 16.2 ish at the moment, and obviously unshod. He is happy on all surfaces, can walk on stones, feels the odd big one. But overall ok. Turned out 8.30-6.30pm and no feed at all, but given adlib haylage.

He is well covered, and tends to stay like this through winter.

The only time he feels his feet is when the ground has been rock hard ( i mean when it went to minus 15) In places it gets muddy, then freezes solid, so very rough.

His hooves never crack or chip

His half sister same routine/feed etc. full WB. Her hooves grow really fast, and have cracked and chipped and splayed. she is sound on all surfaces and doesnt feel it in the winter.

They all get trimmed every 6 weeks.

Thanks for any help
 
The gelding could be more sensitive to sugar than his sister. I believe that frost causes the grass to be more sugary (especially if it's a sunny winter day), so it could be that rather than the frozen ground that is causing him to feel his hooves a bit. If this is the case, swapping from hayledge to hay might help him.
 
hes going to love me this winter then. Gave him hay for thefirst time the other day as id run out of haylage. he spat it out and shot me a filthy look ! he had finshed it by the morning though !

Any advise for his sister to try and prevent her hooves from splitting ?


Thanks
 
I think (I'm only learning this stuff myself) that less sugar in the diet should improve her hoof quality too. I swapped from a molassed chaff to HiFi molasses free and you can see the line on every hoof of all four horses where that change of diet took place. The hoof above the line looks better and it's growing at a tighter angle (really hoping that this also causes more concavity in my chestnut mare's hooves as it grows down).
 
So im probably best off changing them all to hay and giving them some Hifi molasses free chaff.

I will take some before and after shots of the mare and see if it works

Thanks Faracat
 
If her hooves grow fast and are showing flare perhaps you should consider having them trimmed more frequently? Every 4wks wouldn't hurt? I'm no expert though-just learning. My boy's a 4yr old cob and never worn shoes.
 
aradiagreen said:
If her hooves grow fast and are showing flare perhaps you should consider having them trimmed more frequently? Every 4wks wouldn't hurt? I'm no expert though-just learning. My boy's a 4yr old cob and never worn shoes.
Click to expand...

my farrier comes every 3 weeks, as my foal/yearling need doing more often so will get him to check her as well. But even after a trim there is still a bit of splaying. Shes got some Julio Marnier in her breeding, maybe shes got his TB feet!
 
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