Wet weather causing soft feet to new barefooter...

Julia0803

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11 January 2012
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Hi All,

My boy had his back shoes off on the 2nd January.

So far he had been doing really well. We had been out hacking most week days for 1-2.5 hours and then at the weekend he is ridden by my son and does a bit less- hacking for 30-45min or in the school for 20-30min. He was doing really well on those surfaces- in the school, tarmac, grass, muddy bridle paths, concrete track. I had been avoiding flinty areas.

He is out during the day and in at night. He is fed speedy beet, linseed, a small amount of ERS pellets, pro hoof and protexin.

His feet seem to have softened this week. On Thursday we went out for a hack and on the way back he didn't feel right, very reluctant to move forward (he is quite a lazy pony normally, which sometimes makes it harder to work out the cause but definitely not being lazy this time). Get back to the yard and trot him up and he looks a little short on the back end. Wash down his legs and feet and he has damaged his frogs. :( One slice across the heel and several marks where he has chunks of the frog taken out. :(

I kept him in Thursday and Friday on a big thick deep bed in a bid to keep his feet dry. I was advised by other liveries to spray formaldehyde to his feet. I trotted him up yesterday and he looked fine. Took him in the ash school, so surface doesn't give as much as our regular school with sand and rubber (currently closed as flooded). He was fine for the first 10 min or so, then started to feel reluctant again. :( I turned him out for a few hours yesterday, but I am cautious as to whether that is the best thing as the fields are grim... The bottom 1/3 closest to the gate and near the shelter is just bog. Deep bog.At the top of the hill it isn't so bad. Not really much out there, and it is very waterlogged even if the top bit isn't yet a bog too.

Has anyone got any suggestions? Would you keep in or turn out as usual? He plays a lot in his field- a lot of charging around with his mates and rough play. Dont know if it matters but thought i would mention it. I know diet and movement are the most important things but is there anything you would suggest applying topically in the mean time?

Many thanks!
 

paddy555

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23 December 2010
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I would either shoe him and ride and keep him as normal until this weather is resolved. Then remove his shoes and start again.
Alternatively I would stable at night, put him in the field in the daytime to give him a good quality of life and boot the backs for all work even on your ash school. Then when the weather resolves you can start again.

In your position I would shoe as you have a good idea now how this will work in normal weather conditions and there are enough problems for most people at the moment without worrying about newly barefoot horses getting sore.
 

Buddy'sMum

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Why don't you just buy a pair of hoof boots for riding? I'd also turn him out as much as possible - as long as he comes in/onto hard standing for part of the day to give his feet a break from the wet and mud, he'll be fine. Can't really advise on hoof hardeners but can't see how putting anything that contains formaldehyde on living tissue can be a good thing.
 

putasocinit

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Hoof boot, so point putting shoes back on, it would be amazing that a shod horse recently barefoot would not feel footy after the work he has been doing, so boot us, put hydrogen peroxide on the soles not frogs or coronary band for a few days, bring in at night, could feed extra biotin and seaweed good for feet, his frogs may have exfoliated with the weather comditions and time of year, underneath that frog will be good healthy firmer stronger frog waiting to be used on the roads, but definity boot for a few weeks
 
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