What are all the BAREFOOTERS FEEDING?

My mare has been barefoot for about 4 months, has been following a barefoot friendly type diet for over a year. No probs and is sure footed over any surfaces. She is a good doer and is very sensitive to sugars - more in a change to her personality rather than affecting her feet, we avoid it like the plague!!
Currently feeding soaked hay (soaked in hot water to avoid hay ice lollies!) and a small tea of topspec topchop lite (no added molasses) with a v little of sloppy speedibeet to wet it with. She is suplemented magox (heavy), yeasacc and she is also on naf 5 star respiritory now she is in at nights.
Am always after the perfect feed as although her chaff has no added sugar, some people are concered about the anti fungal agents that are added to chaff. So far I haven't found an alternative that suits us better, so shall stick with the chaff for now.
 
Our three are all unshod. Ponies both get happy hoof + general purpose supplement. My thoroughbred has alpha oil in winter and happy hoof in summer, with seaweed, magnesium and sunflower seeds. They usually live out but are coming into the barn at night atm with all this snow. They have ad-lib hay when they're in and hay out in the field in winter.
 
Just Grass and Green Gold (alfa) chaffs from Simple Systems, micronised linseed, speedibeet, black sunflower seeds, Feedmark's Benevit - vit and min supplement and the essential carrots, ad lib hay.

They do come in at night so their feet get time to dry out and at the moment are in perfect condition.

In summer I use Kevin Bacon to keep them from drying out too much and feed the above diet all year round.
 
12-16kg (dry weight) soaked hay/per 24 hrs

Twice daily am/pm
100g Kwik Beet (dry weight)
100g Micronised Linseed
100ml dried herbs

Vit min supplement

Plus other bits for her EPSM
 
1 handful hifi lite
1 handful alfa lite
1 cup hi-fibre cubes
equivite
seaweed
glucosamine
dolop soya oil
quarter of a wet scoop speedi-beet.

Twice daily plus add lib hay overnight.

He's 16.3hh 3y/o CB.
 
Alfalfa Pellets
Coolstance Copra
Micronised Linseed
Brewers Yeast
Then minerals specifically balanced to our forage
Zinc
Copper
lysine
selenium
magnesium
Vit E

Ad lib hay and haylage

Joint supplement which I was feeding before he went barefoot.
 
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Per day:
12 kg haylage, fed from the floor :)
300 mL micronised linseed
50 mL seaweed
50 mL brewers yeast
15 mL salt
800 g Spiller Hi Fibre cubes to put his supplements in and to put in his snack ball to give him an extra stimulus when stabled.
At grass during the day
 
tangosmum said:
Just wondering what you barefooter are feeding? Being that diet is sooo important to maintain soundness.
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Ummm, hay, mineral blocks and whatever roughage they can find, trees, bushes, straw etc, etc, that's all mine get right now. None of them have shoes on:( and they all have excellent feet.

This intrigues me, why should the diet for a 'barefoot' horse be different for that of a bare foot trimmed horse?
(Allowing for individuality of course before anyone says that;))
 
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enfys said:
This intrigues me, why should the diet for a 'barefoot' horse be different for that of a bare foot trimmed horse?
(Allowing for individuality of course before anyone says that;))
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I don't think it should. All horses ought to be fed on a high fibre, low sugar diet IMO.
 
I cut down sugar before he went barefoot after a bag of "psycho chaff" at 24% sugar turned my lovely laid back tb into the amazing exploding version.
You can actually give him oats and barley no problem but a sniff of easibeet resulted in a hack that had my sharer who had been riding for over 30 years ready to give up.

Then rehabbing him barefoot he had appalling feet to start with and I wanted to give him every chance to grow the best feet he could.
 
This intrigues me, why should the diet for a 'barefoot' horse be different for that of a bare foot trimmed horse?
(Allowing for individuality of course before anyone says that;))[/QUOTE]

Yes thats something that I have been wondering about as I have 2 rising 4 year olds whom I would like to keep barefoot if possible. They have never had shoes on just trimmed by my farrier ( who I wont be changing) they were backed and hacked very lightly this summer and seemed to manage ok, my mare who I have had for all her ridden life has never had back shoes on but does have fronts as the front are very brittle but the backs are ok, please dont suggest that because she has fronts on this is the reason, it isnt. They are all out at grass 24/7 the mare has a mix and molassed sugar beet in the winter only so presumably they are consuming sugar which seems to be a no no for barefoot so why is this ???
 
My barefoot girlie just has hay, any leftovers from other horse of blue (lo sugar) horsehage, a teaspoon of pink powder and a handful of Dengie Healthy Hooves to put the pink powder in.

Thats it! (oh apart from the carrots and apples).

She just has a farrier trim but even then he just runs a rasp round as wear and growth are pretty well aligned as we have rough ground here.
 
enfys said:
Ummm, hay, mineral blocks and whatever roughage they can find, trees, bushes, straw etc, etc, that's all mine get right now. None of them have shoes on:( and they all have excellent feet.
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I'm with Enfys on this one. Mine are fed the same as hers! And their respective weights are good, and their feet are good. The only exception is for the 29y/o who has a scoop of Speedibeet each night as well.

Mine live out all year round on "nothing" - the only time they get a "hard" feed is some Speedibeet if they've taken part in an endurance ride (which they do straight off of grass and entirely shoe and bootless!).

Perhaps I'm just lucky with mine - although I firmly believe that working on the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle has a lot do do with it also.
 
enfys said:
This intrigues me, why should the diet for a 'barefoot' horse be different for that of a bare foot trimmed horse?
(Allowing for individuality of course before anyone says that;))
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Or different from a shod horse? No foot no horse whether it's wearing shoes or not.
 
Faro said:
I'm with Enfys on this one. Mine are fed the same as hers! And their respective weights are good, and their feet are good. The only exception is for the 29y/o who has a scoop of Speedibeet each night as well.

Mine live out all year round on "nothing" - the only time they get a "hard" feed is some Speedibeet if they've taken part in an endurance ride (which they do straight off of grass and entirely shoe and bootless!).

Perhaps I'm just lucky with mine - although I firmly believe that working on the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle has a lot do do with it also.
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I absolutely agree with this principle!
I really dont understand all of this "barefoot" talk...they are un-shod! Its like 'turnouts'....since when weere they not New Zealands??!!

For what its worth, both mine are un-shod, and on very little as good-doers.
Mels has a muller yougurt pot full of fast fibre, 3quarters of a scoop of hifi lite, a table spoon of veg oil, glucosamine, mobile mover and Equivite orig. Seren has half a yogurt pot of fast fibre, half a scoop of hifi lite and equivite orig, she is nearly 6months in foal.
They have hay when it snows or is very frosty, and bare grazing. Out all the time.
 
Rosehip said:
I absolutely agree with this principle!
I really dont understand all of this "barefoot" talk...they are un-shod! Its like 'turnouts'....since when weere they not New Zealands??!!
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Me too!
We have 4, one has never been shod afaIk, one is unshod since she retired, one has shoes all round and one has shoes on the fronts. They ALL are fed soaked grassnuts & dried grass in varying quantities with pinkpowder, biotin and a glucosamine supplement according to their needs. They are having to eat haylage this year as we can't get good hay and we also feed good quality straw so that the good-doers have sufficient forage without too many calories. Oh and they are all seen by the farrier every 8 weeks, although he only trims them when necessary.
 
martha said:
Or different from a shod horse? No foot no horse whether it's wearing shoes or not.
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I don't think the diet should be different regardless of what is stuck on their feet (or not as the case may be!). I guess a sensible diet is attributed to those choosing barefoot as from the reading I have done this is the area that I find most info about that sort of a diet. Take away the shoes or not thing and it just seems like a very sensible diet!
Re barefoot or unshod or other name? Not sure it really matters, is all a bit 'I say tomAto, you say tomARto'!!
 
Any horse can be unshod.

Only horses that are in work can be "barefoot" the term means "no shoes but doing work that it is widely believed can only be done wearing shoes".

There is no difference between a barefoot diet and a good diet, they are the same. Most shod horses fed a bad diet get away with it, is all. Those that don't end up crippled, pensioned off, or shot.

Mine eat:

The cheapest own brand horse and pony cubes you can buy. Lots of barefooters do better on cubes than mixes, possibly due to the amount of molasses and/or preservatives put in mixes.

Ad lib haylage.

Calmag (magnesium oxide) 50g per day
Brewers yeast 50g per day.
Molassed sugar beet, 1 scoop a day.
 
Little native with good hooves: a scoop of hi-fi lite and half a scoop of pony nuts and a couple of carrots. A bit more if shes done some hard work, a little bit less if shes had the day off. When its extra cold i like so sneak half an apple or a couple of polos in to cheer her up a bit :rolleyes:
 
irishdraft said:
my mare who I have had for all her ridden life has never had back shoes on but does have fronts as the front are very brittle but the backs are ok, please dont suggest that because she has fronts on this is the reason, it isnt. They are all out at grass 24/7 the mare has a mix and molassed sugar beet in the winter only so presumably they are consuming sugar which seems to be a no no for barefoot so why is this ???
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But if you sorted your mare's diet she wouldn't have brittle hooves at the front. A molassed mix plus molassed sugar beet isn't good for foot health and one of the results can be brittle hooves. She may also be getting too much grass in the summer. In very simple terms too much sugar causes the hind gut to become too acidic. Toxins are then produced which leach out through the gut lining into the blood stream. These toxins then attack the laminae and other sensitive structures in the feet causing inflammation. The laminae will stretch and die off, breaking connection with the hoof wall. It's the laminae that provide nutrients/blood supply/moisture to the hoof wall, so if those laminae die and the connection is broken the hoof wall is starved of nutrients/moisture and becomes brittle.

This is why a low sugar diet is important for ALL horses. It's just in barefoot horses you see the results of too much sugar much more clearly in terms of footiness. Shoes numb the foot by reducing circulation significantly so you won't see the same footiness, but you will see the longer term negative effects of too much sugar, like brittle hooves.
 
Mines gets..

Carrot cake
Apple crumble
Broccoli cheese
sometimes cauliflower cheese...
Cornish pasties
Organic ice-cream
Winegums
Celery & cucumber - when he's fat.

Hay??? Straw??? Nah that's soooooo cruel i winter, they need fedin' right up. Infact my barefooter lives in the loft, it's no good to keep 'em stabled in this weather.

Always replace water with hot toddy. Or Sainsburus pale cream sherry. Warms 'em right up.
 
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tallyho! said:
Mines gets..

Carrot cake
Apple crumble
Broccoli cheese
sometimes cauliflower cheese...
Cornish pasties
Organic ice-cream
Winegums
Celery & cucumber - when he's fat.

Hay??? Straw??? Nah that's soooooo cruel i winter, they need fedin' right up. Infact my barefooter lives in the loft, it's no good to keep 'em stabled in this weather.

Always replace water with hot toddy. Or Sainsburus pale cream sherry. Warms 'em right up.
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Can I live with your barefooter in the loft, I would like that diet to!!!
 
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