What do you do about your horse's feet if he/she's off work...

[PapaFrita]

For any length of time? Say a few months?

 

[shady_lady]

shoe as normal due to my TB's crappy feet.. all my other horses have their shoes removed when on holiday/ box rest

 

[PapaFrita]

At my yard, the first option appears to be the norm!

PF will be off for another 6 weeks or so, so I shall continue to shoe her normally. When she was preggers, she was barefoot

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

As she off for another 6 weeks I would just have them replaced as normal - if it was for longer I would take them off.

How is she doing now? healing well? and what about you - any luck with the quacks sorting your collar bone?

 

[louisevictoria]

I think it would depend on the state of the horses feet - my TB is now retired and she is now barefoot permenantly, however when she was in work her feet weren't great and if I was lucky she would last about 5 weeks in between being shod. But when she was first turned away I kept her front shoes on for a while and only had her backs taken off.

PF - that doesn't surprise me - when I was living in Italy it seemed to be the norm as well

 

[PapaFrita]

Yep, that's what I'm going to do

She's eating better now; she's eating the stalks as well as the leaves of the alfalfa and enjoys carrots

Still got a big lump on her jaw though, but I can live with that.
My shoulder is very achey and I can't move it as much as I'd like, but there's definite improvement. Got to see the quacks later this week

On the plus side, I'm now using my time off productively and have very nearly finished a HUGE portrait of the Little Cigar

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

Cool - glad you are both nearly mended!!

Bet the portrait of the LC is fab!!

 

[PapaFrita]

Thanks

I am a bit pleased with the pic

It needs a bit of tweaking and I'll be done. It really is HUGE though (100cm x 80 cm)

 

[MagicMelon]

I give my horse 2-3 months break over the winter and will be taking his shoes off completely. I think its good for their hooves etc. to have a break from horrid metal things!

 

[CrazyMare]

I keep them on and shoe as normal even for 3/4 months off. Mine goes lame after a while without shoes.

 

[Chico Mio]

I took FB's off for the nine months he was off work. He had a trim every other time the farrier came to the yard - to begin with he couldn't stand up on four legs, let alone three to be shod or trimmed!

He has quite tough feet but they didn't half spread while he had no shoes on.

Leaving the shoes on until they fall off seems a very Latino thing!!

 

[Puppy]

Remove shoes

I've often done this for a few months mid winter and my farrier always says it does them good

 

[Angua2]

I have ticked the remover shoes etc, however circumstance is usually that the horse has remove his own shoes before he was due ( this was the gelding with rotton feet) and self trimmed on the hard ground.

When I turned my mare away I had her shoes removed and had her trimmed properly otherwise she becomes very pidgeon toed

 

[amandaco2]

shoes off trimmed every 6 weeks as normal
i know a fair few people that leave their horses feet til the shoes fall off even if the horse isnt out of work..

 

[RachelB]

Maiden is going to be turned away for the winter (or longer) in the next month or so. She is due for shoeing next week and sh'll have back shoes off but fronts left on, as she is too unsound without fronts on tarmac (and I need to be able to walk her to the field across the yard). Once she is out, when my farrier is next due, she will have the fronts taken off. They'll stay off unless she is too unsound, but in any case she'll be trimmed very regularly. I only have all this faff because she has an old and unstable tendon injury though - if she were "normal" I'd just whip them all off straight away. I would NEVER leave them until they fell off though (although I know it's a common practise)... just asking for trouble IMO!