What are all the BAREFOOTERS FEEDING?

Barefoot is becoming a bit of a cult-ish term. My unshod horses are ..unshod.
No posh diet for mine, no analysing and paying for fancy supplements. Grass, hay, Baileys Lo Cal and lots of work.
Farrier described them as the Ford Transits of the horse world. Cheap to keep,self trimming and never let you down.
Theres some expensive muck heaps out there...
 
horserider said:
Barefoot is becoming a bit of a cult-ish term. My unshod horses are ..unshod.
No posh diet for mine, no analysing and paying for fancy supplements. Grass, hay, Baileys Lo Cal and lots of work.
Farrier described them as the Ford Transits of the horse world. Cheap to keep,self trimming and never let you down.
Theres some expensive muck heaps out there...
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My unshod horses are barefoot. No posh diet or supplements - just simple and healthy. Lots of work. Never a chip or crack seen in their feet. Wouldn't let a farrier near them though!
 
horserider said:
Barefoot is becoming a bit of a cult-ish term. My unshod horses are ..unshod.
No posh diet for mine, no analysing and paying for fancy supplements. Grass, hay, Baileys Lo Cal and lots of work.
Farrier described them as the Ford Transits of the horse world. Cheap to keep,self trimming and never let you down.
Theres some expensive muck heaps out there...
Click to expand...

No need for fancy stuff whatever term you give the hooves with no shoes! Horses do a v good job of growing fantastic feet so long as we avoid the really damaging stuff! So long as we don't feck it up - they deserve the credit for going as well as they do even while we have to feel around in the dark trying to educate ourselves to do the best we can for them - best thing actually turns out to be pretty much the simplest it could be!
 
My old boy gets:

1 x scoop alfalfa light
1 x scoop speedibeet
sprinkling of garlic
sprinkling of seaweed
handful of rolled oats (if his weight is starting to drop)
glug of soya oil.

i also put 4 slices of hay in the field each morning.
 
I thought all horses are fed the same diet, no matter if they had shoes on or not...

the term "barefoot" for a horse sounds to me a bit hippyish tbh :o

Does that mean most youngstock are barefoot? or, simply, unshod?

Fwiw, my SHOD horse is feed baileys stud balance, oats and chaff. Low starch diet.
The 2 unshod horses on the yard (in full work) are fed exactly the same.

Nutrition is nutrition!

Or maybe, this is just my common sense showing ;)
 
only_me said:
I thought all horses are fed the same diet, no matter if they had shoes on or not...

the term "barefoot" for a horse sounds to me a bit hippyish tbh :o

Does that mean most youngstock are barefoot? or, simply, unshod?

Fwiw, my SHOD horse is feed baileys stud balance, oats and chaff. Low starch diet.
The 2 unshod horses on the yard (in full work) are fed exactly the same.

Nutrition is nutrition!

Or maybe, this is just my common sense showing ;)
Click to expand...

I can't remember the term barefoot being used back in the 60's, or in fact any one taking any notice of whether the horse was shod or not. Perhaps its a recent thing to justify the new fangled 'trimmers' charging 3 x what a farrier does. Along with the extended Lifestyle advice session.
Heck, my farrier gives me the benefit of his years of horsey expertise for free while he's doing the job.
 
LucyPriory said:
A large well known often used horse feed manufacturer doesn't publish the full ingredients of their products on their website so I thought a little sleuthing was needed.

Found a bag in the feed room - (insert mix of shame at looking at someone else's feed and a bit of relief that it isn't mine - is there an emoction for that?)

Product aimed at laminitics and with an LT badge

First three ingredients?

Straw
Chopped Straw
Molasses (although with a fancy name - it is molasses)

I think it retails for at least £10 a bag.

I could buy at least a couple of bales of straw for that and not have the added sugar........

Oh and the print was so small it was barely readable and couldn't be picked up by my camera phone
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Was that a feed company with two names, one begining with A and the other begining with P?
 
horserider said:
No posh diet for mine, no analysing and paying for fancy supplements. Grass, hay, Baileys Lo Cal and lots of work.
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But look at the ingredients list for Lo Cal - isn't that a fancy supplement? Feeding just the minerals I need actually works out incredibly cheap though I admit it's alot more hassle.

FIBRE 12%
OIL 4.5%
ASH 15%
CALCIUM 3%
PHOSPHOROUS 1.5%
MAGNESIUM 0.6%
POTASSIUM 1%
COPPER 225 mg/kg
IODINE 3.5mg/kg
IRON 600 mg/kg
SELENIUM 1.7 mg/kg
ZINC 450 mg/kg
MANGANESE 240 mg/kg
BIOTIN 15 mg/kg
VITAMIN A 44,000 IU/kg
VITAMIN D3 4,400 IU/kg
VITAMIN E 800 IU/kg
INGREDIENTS
Grass Meal, Distillers' Grains, Wheatfeed, Micronised Soya, Dicalcium Phosphate, Molasses, Calcium Carbonate, Vitamins and Minerals,Sodium Chloride,Yea-Sacc1026 yeast culture, Lysine, DL-Methionine
 
tangosmum said:
Just wondering what you barefooter are feeding? Being that diet is sooo important to maintain soundness.
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My shod and unshod horses are fed fibre/oil diets. No cereals. No mollasses.

Its not only unshod horses who do better this way......

PS...why Barefoot? Rather than unshod? It always makes me think they've kicked off their flip-flops when they go into the stables or something.....:confused:

Must be showing my age:o
 
My 2 are fed Fast Fibre, small scoop in the morning if it's snowy/frosty grass and one scoop at night. One gets turmeric in it, one doesn't. Both are on adlib hay.

I'm looking at Pure Feeds as that doesn't have the mould inhibitors in it.

Trimmer was trying to convince me to change feeds but is very happy with the state of my elder mare, who had her shoes removed 3 months ago now, so has stopped trying to get me to change.
 
Mine is getting Top-Spec Anti-lam, added mag. oxide, and ad-lib hay or haylage at the moment, with the occasional carrot, apple, or pear. Also, the nursery kids he visited a few weeks ago baked him some squishy oatmeal-carrot-raisin biscuits, so he gets one or two of those, until they're gone!
 
Mine gets half a scoop of chaff with an apple for tea - a quarter scoop of chaff and an apple for breakfast - he has a salt supplement for his feet - and obviously hay. Thats it.
 
horserider said:
I can't remember the term barefoot being used back in the 60's, or in fact any one taking any notice of whether the horse was shod or not. Perhaps its a recent thing to justify the new fangled 'trimmers' charging 3 x what a farrier does. Along with the extended Lifestyle advice session.
Heck, my farrier gives me the benefit of his years of horsey expertise for free while he's doing the job.
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No, the newfangled thing is that we now keep horses in shoes for 365 days a year. In the 60's most ponies weren't shod at all. And of the rest, hunters were turned out without shoes for the summer and showjumpers, eventers and show horses were turned out without shoes for the winter.

We lost that tradition, and with it we lost the health of a lot of horses feet. It had to be "rediscovered" and that process is pretty painful at times, with people simply not believing that most horses do not need shoes if they are fed a simple diet and given the right living conditions and work. (Not all owners can provide this and it is NOT a criticism if they cannot. Their horses should be shod, but they should also try to give them a period each year out of shoes if they can.)

How many people's farriers these days ever recommend removing the shoes for 3 months a year? How many people's farriers have said that they can do no more for lame horses, which the "cult" barefooters, me among dozens, take and cure by turning them into barefoot horses? For heaven's sake what does it matter what we call it?! What matters is that horses are being kept alive, sound, and working who were condemned to death. And hundreds (thousands?) of others no longer wear shoes when farriers told their owners, including me, that their horse would never manage.
 
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Suppose its the term "barefoot" that gets me. Just because a horse is in full work with no shoes still equals unshod to me.

Unshod, or no shoes is much better.

My last horse was turned out for winter and had his shoes taken off - he was shoeless.

I dont go to a horse that has cast a shoe and think "oh dear, he has one barefoot hoof" :p
 
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I think the difference is that unshod/shoeless horses are those who have no shoes but are perhaps retired or have a v low work level.
Those that are considered 'barefoot' (or whatever term you are happy with) are those that work at a shod level - in this respect it is different as although horses used to have their shoes regularly removed it was during rest periods and not as a year round management choice for the working horse.
 
only_me said:
Suppose its the term "barefoot" that gets me. Just because a horse is in full work with no shoes still equals unshod to me.

Unshod, or no shoes is much better.

My last horse was turned out for winter and had his shoes taken off - he was shoeless.

I dont go to a horse that has cast a shoe and think "oh dear, he has one barefoot hoof" :p
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But the natural state of the horse is to be barefoot. Would you call a newly born foal unshod or shoeless? What would you call them? I would prefer we didn't have to call it anything - just assume a horse is au natural and have the word 'shod' used to indicate any horse that isn't as nature intended.
 
horserider said:
I can't remember the term barefoot being used back in the 60's, or in fact any one taking any notice of whether the horse was shod or not. .
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True - we have had decades of horse owners basically ignoring their horses feet, leaving the responsibility to their farrier, and assuming all was okay as long as the shoes stayed on for eight weeks. Thank goodness people are starting to take an interest in their horses hooves, learning more about them and questioning 'tradition' which has resulted in countless numbers of lame horses and falling apart hooves.
 
My cob had been shod for 7 years and i have just taken his shoes off as doesn't get ridden much anymore due to head shaking and he hasn't been foot sore at all and all he ever has is happy hoof
 
mrdarcy said:
True - we have had decades of horse owners basically ignoring their horses feet, leaving the responsibility to their farrier, and assuming all was okay as long as the shoes stayed on for eight weeks. Thank goodness people are starting to take an interest in their horses hooves, learning more about them and questioning 'tradition' which has resulted in countless numbers of lame horses and falling apart hooves.
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Thats a bit of a sweeping statement. There were excellent horsemen and women around with sound horses long before the Barefoot trimmers hit the scene.
Knowing about feet is not exclusive to the Barefoot movement.
 
horserider said:
Thats a bit of a sweeping statement. There were excellent horsemen and women around with sound horses long before the Barefoot trimmers hit the scene.
Knowing about feet is not exclusive to the Barefoot movement.
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Very true - this is a very interesting book written in 1880 extoiling the benefits of barefoot:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Horses-Road...3415/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291208413&sr=8-1

So even back then people realised that shoes were not necessary and in fact had a negative affect on the healthy of horses feet.
 
Cappy is on Beet and chaff, with supplements including Cornecruscine, at the moment, as in no work due to snow and his hatred of any weather under 60 degrees. He gets nothing special and his hooves are the best they have ever been. But i am going to have to stop the Cornecruscine because his teeth are growing too fast and he has to see the dentist every 4 months rather than 6, which would be ok. but he has to be sedated and 3 times a year is too much, as he takes at least a day to recover.

Fany is also bare foot and she gets no hard feed. Hers are also doing well.

FDC
 
my tb is on
1 scp of hoof kind or an unmollased chaff
2 cups of a+p quick fibre
1 scp of equine america top form pellets
1 scp of seaweed
herbal bute and navilox for his navicular
my mare is a porker and just has unmollased chaff, seaweed and oestrus!
my tb has had his shoes of for 3 weeks now and iv seen a massive change in his feet to thin walls and soft splodgy frogs and bulbs to nice and thick and tough but hes struggling on this frozen ground and im strugling to watch him, our pea gravel has frozen and there is no where he is comfy (apart from stable which he is in at night) i dont want to give in and put the shoes back on so im hoping it will thaw and hel be happy again :-/ ho hum
 
mrdarcy said:
But the natural state of the horse is to be barefoot. Would you call a newly born foal unshod or shoeless? What would you call them? I would prefer we didn't have to call it anything - just assume a horse is au natural and have the word 'shod' used to indicate any horse that isn't as nature intended.
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That would certainly be the ideal!! But we daren't bring the word natural into it, do we!!

Of course there were excellent horsemen in previous centuries, but if it wasn't for the "barefoot movement" there wouldn't be anything like the research going on, this is the first time in history that we have thought it necessary to study what might be genuinely good for horses.

And of course it doesn't really matter what we call it so long as it is best for horses - I said in the beginning it was a pedantic argument, but it's thrown up some good stuff!
 
only_me said:
I thought all horses are fed the same diet, no matter if they had shoes on or not...

the term "barefoot" for a horse sounds to me a bit hippyish tbh :o

Does that mean most youngstock are barefoot? or, simply, unshod?

Fwiw, my SHOD horse is feed baileys stud balance, oats and chaff. Low starch diet.
The 2 unshod horses on the yard (in full work) are fed exactly the same.

Nutrition is nutrition!

Or maybe, this is just my common sense showing ;)
Click to expand...


*claps*

Totally agree - and so do my unshod horses :)
 
horserider said:
I can't remember the term barefoot being used back in the 60's, or in fact any one taking any notice of whether the horse was shod or not. Perhaps its a recent thing to justify the new fangled 'trimmers' charging 3 x what a farrier does. Along with the extended Lifestyle advice session.
Heck, my farrier gives me the benefit of his years of horsey expertise for free while he's doing the job.
Click to expand...

*claps* again!
 
ferrador said:
the truth is that the majority of BAREFOOTERS are FEEDING the general public nothing but bullshit
chris
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meow!!

I am new to reading up on 'barefoot' stuff. I used forums and books etc from that background as it was the only place I could find the information I was after as I felt that my knowledge of how my mares hooves worked was basic at best. I have found it to be well based in science (I hate theories that aren't based on solid science foundations!) and extremely informative.
If I could have found the information from a more mainstream source then all well and good and tbh I would have prefered it as I do worry (turns out that worry is unfounded) about a bias - but the information considered 'mainstream' is usually to shoe your horse and that horses without shoes can't do much roadwork. Not very useful, informative or based on scientific fact!!
 
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