Would Horse Boots help my horse? (ignorant barefoot Question)

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canteron

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My horse has brilliant feet, so a good start and I have a great farrier, so up to now have been quite happy with having her shoes.

A few years ago I took her shoes off as she had a Winter off, and tried her barefoot for a bit, but she was very uncomfortable, so had her re-shod.

However, she is now older and doing a little less, so my questions are, if we decided to go barefoot would boot help with

1. She recently got a blackthorn in her foot, lukily she only got an abscess. Would boots give any protection against blackthorn (a lot of the hedges around here have a lot of blackthorn in them).

2. In the summers when the ground has gone really hard, she does tend to go a bit lame, could I use boots to help 'cushion' the impact.

3. Now it is so wet, can you use boots to give some protection again the wet. We are high and sandy, so its not deep mud, just times like today when the water can't drain away quick enough and the top layer of grass is just soggy.

Thanks and Happy Christmas!
 
1) yes
2) yes
3) not so much ;)
Something like red horse field paste would be better against the wet imo.

Just a word of caution - you say she had brilliant feet; the fact that she can't cope barefoot says otherwise. You may need to take a close look at her diet and management to figure out why that is. Feel free to post pics and diet info for advice if you fancy. Good luck, hope it works out for you :)
 
Agree with the above, every part of it:) You might find that you adjust the diet and your horse is sound on everything so tryu that first if you can:)
 
Thanks everyone, will do more research and really think about it.

I agree about the diet, etc. For the past few years she has been looked after/jumped by a friend, so I am now in complete control and will enjoy trying to get her diet spot on. My farrier does think that she has some of the best feet he deals with so it should be possible.

FfionWinnie, good thinking. She has always been a bit funny about some things and I have never managed to put my finger on it. Having just got a new fantastic massage type man, he has pointed out that she is very tight between her forelegs (now I know where to look I could feel the tense/bunched muscles) and I am so hoping that this was the cause of the problem (apparently quite common in jumping horses) - we shall see!!

If anyone gets this far, last question, can horses jump in boots!
 
Iv always shod my horses, never had any problems but after my lad who has serious feet problems I decided to change the horses diets to a more friendly diet and try barefoot. Tbh I'm not happy as they seem to have lost their spark and although don't look footy they aren't the same and iv had these horses for years and know them inside out. Iv spent a fortune on boots and I do like the epics but hate every other type. Because of the way they seem to be in themselves I will be re shoeing as soon as I can to get their spark back
 
Agree with all of the above - and yes, jumping in boots is fine, providing they fit. I've done both xc fences (on a pleasure ride) and sj in Old Mac G2s on one of my girls.
 
thatsmygirl said:
Iv always shod my horses, never had any problems but after my lad who has serious feet problems I decided to change the horses diets to a more friendly diet and try barefoot. Tbh I'm not happy as they seem to have lost their spark and although don't look footy they aren't the same and iv had these horses for years and know them inside out. Iv spent a fortune on boots and I do like the epics but hate every other type. Because of the way they seem to be in themselves I will be re shoeing as soon as I can to get their spark back
Click to expand...

Maybe it's because you have changed their diet...
 
Ask Santa for a set of shoes.........we have been shoeing our horse for many millenia now - why buck that trend? And maybe also ask Santa for a basic snaffle bridle too, and a few hundred wight of oats.........blooming heck, we could reinvent a new way of horsemanship for 2013 here........!!
 
Yes you can jump in boots...

DSC_8991_zps97059c09.jpg


But they've got to fit really well and hoof form is to most important aspect of boot retention :)
 
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