Wearing hoove - how to help prevent foot sore?

[mynutmeg]

My girl is and always has been barefoot although she's been out of work for the last 2 years. She's been coming back into work for the last couple of months and the last few weeks we've been doing longer rides (we pretty much only have road work) and she seems to be wearing her feet rahter fast and I'm starting to get a little concerned about her getting foot sore. I really don't want to shoe her if I can possibly avoid it for various reasons - is there something I can do to help harden her feet and encourage them to grow more?
She's on a good barefoot diet and does have strong feet. She's on a good hoof supplement and I use kevin bacon on them. Unfortunately this week I can't drop back how much work she's doing as they're stabled with no turnout while the fields are rolled/fertilized etc so I have no choice. We've done some school work today but because she's coming back from injury I'm limited in the amount of schooling we can do.

 

[twiggy2]

hoof boots

rolled and fertilized fields are going to be full of grass very high in sugar which is not good for hooves (or horses as a whole), but maybe using hoof boots a couple of times a week will give the hooves a chance for the growth rate to improve to match the wear

 

[mynutmeg]

hoof boots

rolled and fertilized fields are going to be full of grass very high in sugar which is not good for hooves (or horses as a whole), but maybe using hoof boots a couple of times a week will give the hooves a chance for the growth rate to improve to match the wear

This is the route I was starting to think about - what are they like for weight etc?
They'll be going out very slowly and on quite a small area as she's podgy so don't want her putting more weight on (would like her to drop some) Only good note is that they're getting slurried rather than commercial fertilizer which wasn't as bad for grass growth last year.

Any suggestions for which boots would be good?

 

[twiggy2]

I bought 'old macs' for my mare when she came into full work last year, I have not had to use them though, for her they are a good fit as she has quite round shaped feet.

 

[Shysmum]

With good strong feet, if you start gently, and build up, you will find the rate of hoof wall growth rises dramatically. I do a bit of road work (lanes) every day, and his feet are always the right length for the job (and hardly need trimming).

 

[mynutmeg]

With good strong feet, if you start gently, and build up, you will find the rate of hoof wall growth rises dramatically. I do a bit of road work (lanes) every day, and his feet are always the right length for the job (and hardly need trimming).

this certainly is my aim - I think part of the problem is that we're doing 4/5 miles a day at the moment to try and give her a decent amount of exercise while they're stuck in and it's taken it's toll. Ended up not doing much with her today as although she isn't obviously sore yet I don't want to make her sore and they look a bit worn to me (will get some pics this evening)

 

[Goldenstar]

What was the injury .
Hoof boots can affect hoof placement and I would be cautious about using them with out running it past the vet first.

 

[HashRouge]

this certainly is my aim - I think part of the problem is that we're doing 4/5 miles a day at the moment to try and give her a decent amount of exercise while they're stuck in and it's taken it's toll. Ended up not doing much with her today as although she isn't obviously sore yet I don't want to make her sore and they look a bit worn to me (will get some pics this evening)

If she isn't footsore I'd say she sounds like she's coping perfectly with the amount of work you're doing and I wouldn't worry (although be wary when you turn her out on that fertilized grass!!). Would be interested to see pics

 

[mynutmeg]

What was the injury .
Hoof boots can affect hoof placement and I would be cautious about using them with out running it past the vet first.

She had a 50% lesion in her ddft on the hind leg about 2 years ago and has just been diagnosed with false ringbone on the opposite front leg which the vet thinks is due to her compensating for the tendon injury as it took a long time for the tendon to heal. She's sound in a straight line but very slightly lame on a circle, hence minimal schooling (by schooling we walk around and trot straight lines for 10-15 minutes). She drops quite deep with the fetlock of the leg which she injured the tendon in and the vet thinks it's a weakness rather than a pain thing and want's her in work to strengthen everything up as she's pretty 'soft' after 2 years out - both legs have improved since we started with the road work which is one reason I want to keep it up

If she isn't footsore I'd say she sounds like she's coping perfectly with the amount of work you're doing and I wouldn't worry (although be wary when you turn her out on that fertilized grass!!). Would be interested to see pics

she's a touch I think - I just took her down the drive today and while she's forward, happy to go and doesn't feel lame/sore when I put her on the grass she started striding out better which is making me think she's a little uncomfortable with the hard surface - what doesn't help is she keeps getting little bits of stone/gravel in the white line.

She's about 2 weeks post 'trim' but the last trim he basically rounded her off and tidied it up as there wasn't much he was able to take off.

Front foot

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Hind foot

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