Advice on Bob's bare feet and best boots....

JOJOBA

Fluffy Bunny, apparently
Lot's of B's. :p

When I got Bob he was barefoot behind and shod in front. His fores had obviously been shod for a while as his back feet were lovely and his front feet were... not :p.
So I tried to get a farrier to whip his front shoes off but it wasnt easy to find one (shortage up here). Eventually the yard Bob was on (he has moved now) grabbed one whilst I wasnt around and asked them to get his shoes off. Well. Not best pleased. I just arrived the next day to a slightly traumatised pony who refused to pick his feet up, and the story that it had taken an hour for the farrier to get the shoes off my rearing, kicking, plunging pony, who had been dragged against a door to stop him rearing any more, and then farrier had refused to trim the feet as he was too dangerous.

We'll leave that there :mad:.

He'd had the shoes on for about 11 weeks and his toes were quite long, so I left it a week and worked on picking his feet up, then got Pink's Lady to come and trim them for me. Took AGES (he was rather suspicious) but eventually got them looking rather nice and him walking nicely and landing heel first and balanced right.

He then spent basically all of the summer turned out at grass, and his feet self-trimmed nicely. He is slightly pigeon toed so PL came and rebalanced them very slightly once or twice but otherwise they stayed fine. His thrush is gone, frogs much better, bars developing nicely and generally foot looking much better all round.

Worryingly though, they havent really grown very much since that first trim - luckily we were cautious with it and didnt do anything drastic. He has been 100% fine on them until I started hacking him recently (once or twice a week since October). The roadwork has worn them away a little and on the rocky or frozen ground he has now become quite sore. The ground is always frozen in his field at the moment and Im worried he's constantly bruising his soles on it :(.

Had a look at the feet yesterday - left fore is short but fine, right fore also short and he has worn away his outer wall a little and is weight bearing on a slightly raised part just in from the wall, on his sole. He's 100% sound and strides out on the soft (gallops down the field to see me when it has rained) but is very hobbly when the ground is hard or rocky (in hand on yard, Im obviously not still riding him like this).

I was warned that Fell ponies are awful for having no foot growth but also that they dont wear their feet down easily. Im hoping that once Bob's general hoof health improves this will be true.

So, Questions. First, obviously his feet do grow as they were overgrown when his shoes came off. Will the growth pick up in summer (please!)? Any advice on how to manage his feet better during the transition? And also, which boots would suit him best (he is not being ridden again til he has boots)?
His feet are long, not round. Tried some Old Macs (that we happened to have around) on him yesterday and they were too wide and not long enough - his heel was standing on the back of the boot and the straps wouldnt do up, but you could get a finger down each side.
Happy to spend around £100 to get him a pair so suggest away.

Thanks!
xxx


PS. back feet are 100% sound on all surfaces and very healthy. Not wearing down like front ones are at all. Occasionally needs slight remedial rebalance (so obviously growing) as he is slightly cow hocked but they arent a problem at all - it's just the fores.
 
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Hello :)

Did you try Old Macs, or Old Mac G2s? The Old Macs are apparently very round, and therefore too wide/not long enough for many horses. Merrick was in G2s and these were a great fit for him.

I got mine from The Saddlery Shop http://www.thesaddleryshop.co.uk/D/Hoof_Boots-(Hoof_Boots).aspx and they offer advice on which boots are best for your horse and you can give measurements to help choose the correct size. They also do a loan scheme so you can "try before you buy" at a good price.

What really helped Merrick's hooves was putting Sole Mate pads in the boots. These stimulated growth, but without wearing down his hooves. His hooves improved so fast! He's now totally out of boots (faster than we thought he would be), and has got concavity and decent growth and even *gasp* a proper outer wall ALL the way round! So that could be worth considering too.

In terms of nutrition, someone more knowledgable will need to come along and post :D but FWIW Merrick's on biotin and the two times I've tried taking him off it, I've noticed the difference a few months later and had to put him back on it, so it definitely helps him. (Magnesium is supposed to be good too, isn't it?)

Good luck :)
 
Old macs are better for wide feet, most other boots work on feet that are longer than they are wide.

Have you tried giving him a hoof supplement to make sure he's getting everything he needs to grow as much foot as possible? Short feet alone aren't always a problem, some horses always keep their feet quite short and only grow what they need, its only a problem if growth is failing to keep up with wear, lack of excess growth isn't a bad thing.

How long has he been without shoes? For some horses you see a huge improvement when the new growth since the shoes were off reaches ground level.

What's the diet now? Another thing to look at for why he might be sore?
 
My horse is recently barefoot due to shoeing problems and the farrier recommended biotin to get his hooves growing. its a hoof growing supplement. its too early to tell if its working (hes been taking it about two weeks and i am relying on the yard people to give it to him with his feeds) but im pretty hopeful it will show good results

i got mine at a horse tack store, it seems to be easily obtained

as for the boots im waiting on a pair of old macs to come via the loan scheme est has mentioned. i measured his feet but i suspect the old mac g1s that are to come wont be long enough but like she said you can send them back and order something else
 
i'm very novicey at the whole barefoot thing so bear with me;)


i would find out what size he is in each boot and try to borrow as many different kinds as you can. for example when i tried boas on my horse they fitted perfectly but wouldnt go on a highland pony's feet (who is 2hands smaller!) as although they were the right size, they were the wrong shape.

i'd consider a supplement too, i use formula 4 feet and naf hoof&sole (not the new naf pro feet range) to kill infection and stregnthen the hoof and sole - it wasnt expensive and lasts for ages and really helped.

i'd put the work in now as the ground will be harder and sorer for him in winter
 
He's currently on a scoop of Biotin each day - has been for a couple of months. Didnt know that magnesium helped - he has some NAF Magic from back when I was hoping it would calm him down. It didnt; so I'll just give it to him for his feet instead!
He has been barefoot since the end of June. :)


xxx
 
Hi,

Your situation with Bob sounds very similar to mine and Frosty's: good hinds, poor fronts, little growth, pigeon toed, sore on hard ground, on NAF magic!!

It's quite frustrating, I've just had a trimmer out to do Frosty (she went barefoot in the first place because her old farrier gave up halfway through!) and he said that her front feet haven't really changed at all in the 2 months since his last visit! She is fine on soft ground and in the school but is still very sore on concrete. However, she is fine in boots and pads. I'm sure that you will find the same with Bob when you've got some boots sorted.

I'm lucky being in Cornwall as the weather has only just turned much colder so haven't had too many problems with a frozen field. However, tomorrow I think I will have to turn her out with boots on as I don't want her bruising her already very thin soles.

Sorry, no real advice, just wanted to sympathise as I know how frustrating it can be. I'm sure that it's just going to take time though and they will have much healthier feet in the long term.
 
Brambles feet aren't growing don't panic. Hers is the time of year and because of her sole thickening it doesn't look like growth is going on when it is.

Old mac G2s fit Brambles feet best no rubbing in any work and easy to put on.

Personally I would measure Bobs feet and whichever come closest buy those boots
 
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