Back to Barefoot - Stevie's story

Midnight_Ashes

Active Member
Apr 1, 2008
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County Durham
17/09/10 - I had to take his shoes off last night, pictures from last night (shoes on) and this morning (shoes off). Gave him 2 bute last night in his tea to help him adjust, probably give him one tonight. He's out through the day in his Old Mac G2s with sole pads and his brushing boots for protection. Cantered off across the field after the others :eek:

Prior to shoe removal:
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(left fore)
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60366_442059716960_507951960_5492889_2050943_n.jpg
(right fore)

After shoe removal (not dressed):
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60366_442059726960_507951960_5492891_227288_n.jpg

59378_442059791960_507951960_5492892_5789806_n.jpg
(right fore)
59378_442059796960_507951960_5492893_6347720_n.jpg


New plan of attack - EquineAnswers Farrier's Favourite and EQyss MegaTek Rebuilder
 
Hiya

Great move back to barefoot. Who is trimming your horse? I would recommend looking at:

http://www.appliedequinepodiatry.org/perfecthoofwear/index.html

http://www.appliedequinepodiatry.org/iaep/locate.html#UK (incase you are looking into another form of trim)

http://www.aepsupplies.co.uk/index.cfm?sid=21583&pid=330563

The wraps and pad will encourage growth and usually give quick results. Walking for 15 mins a day in the pads will also help to provide stimulus/growth. You can find some really useful info from the links too on the perfect hoof club site. Just thought id add this so you might find some useful advice/info. Ive used the pads with great results. I would highly recommend this route and a Applied Equine Podiatrist. Good luck with being barefoot, which ever route you go :bounce:
 
Do not know the full story, but poor Stevie. He must be sore in his feet. Has he had lami? Definite signs there - with the shape and the rings.

Good luck. It is hard work when they first go barefoot, but so worth it. Frayne has been barefoot for over 2 years now and has absolutely fantastic feet now. She rarely needs to wear her boots when out riding (only longer rides on very stony surfaces). Last time the trimmer was here, she said it was actually very difficult to trim her feet now, as they are so rock hard :dance:

I thoroughly recommend the book, Feet First, by Nic Barker and Sarah Braithwaite. One of my friends is reading it at the moment (she has just taken the shoes off her horse - I am slowly educating everyone :wink:), but when it comes back I can lend it to you if you like.

Of course, the trimming etc is only a small part of it. Environment, exercise (and yet more exercise) and nutrition is also a huge part. Lots of fibre (Frayne doesn't have any cereals and grass is very restricted), variety of surfaces for a living environment and exercise on hard surfaces are all vital.

Look forward to seeing improvements in Stevie.

Ali xx
 
Thanks for the links - will definately have a read. My farrier will be trimming him, he does a good job (I know that looking at those pictures that is probably hard to believe, but my other two horses [shod in front] and barefoot pony are all spot on), and as far as I'm aware there are no proper trimmers in our area (lots of cowboys). My farrier knows his history and knows his feet, so for know I will stay with him. :)

EnduranceAli - he's never had lami, but the rings/distortions come from the trauma suffered in the past. The left one is worse than the right too, always has been as this one suffered the worst originally. He is currently fed Formula4Feet and has a couple of different topical lotions and potions but as mentioned I am going to change this and try and see where we go from there. I will look for that book on amazon :)

He isn't in work due to an injury and arthritis, he is retired LOU. I was hoping actually these last few weeks to try him back in regular light work, but this has put end to that, for the coming months at least.

As for diet/regime, he is currently out through the day on decent grass (from about 8.30am until 6pm) and stabled overnight on a straw bed and (when I get them relaid :rolleyes:) rubber matting. This will be his winter routine though obviously the turnout hours will become shorter and the daylight disappears. Our ground drains well so has been like tarmac all summer, which hasn't helped. Once his new supplement arrives his diet will be:
Breakfast:
1/3 scoop Alfa-A Lite
1/3 scoop Speedi-Beet
Small handful of Veteran mix (simply because he likes something to crunch!)
Dinner:
As for breakfast plus
Measure of EquineAnswers Complete 365
Measure of EquineAnswers Farrier's Favourite
Plus carrots :D

I have just ordered a bottle of EQyss MegaTek Rebuilder, recommended by a friend. So going to be applying that too.
 
Would imagine he'd be absolutely fine turned out in boots and pads. If he is then it wouldn't be out of the question to gently exercise him once you've given him a bit of time to adjust.

They look like feet that flare with too much grass to me (I have one), it might help to restrict that a little when it's growing fast unless he's a poor doer. It may well also make him less footy too.

I'm surprised your farrier didn't shoe him with either a toe clip or quarter clips though, that might have helped with shoe retention. Were they natural balance shoes?

PS Expect to see lots of wall breaking off around the nail holes, it will look terrible but it's nothing to worry about :)
 
There is a fantastic book all about going barefoot which I think is by Pete Ramey. I had a dreadful time with my TB who had such a flat foot it was nearly convex. I had bar shoes, pads, and finally because I couldn't get him sound had £70 for one shoe plastic fronts put on and finally when this didn't work took his shoes off and bought him boots. Hoof quality wasn't his problem, although magnesium oxide did help this as well. Sadly for Swan it didn't work, but I had a natural trimmer lady come out and she rehabilitated horses with bad feet. She said Swan was the worst case she had ever seen which didn't fill me with any hope whatsoever, and said she could do nothing for him, but that I might like to consider him boarding with her where he would have limited grass, and be walking on different types of tracks to stimulate growth. Unfortunately I just couldn't afford hundreds of pounds a month on something that as she said had no guarantee and couldn't bear for him to continue in pain even on his sachets of bute, so had him PTS.

Anyway, rambling away, yours doesn't have that problem at all, but my vague point was she said mollasses in any shape or form was a killer for bad feet, also cereals and suggested feeding Copra which is a coconut feed and very good for putting on condition with no fizz and good for feet. My farrier suggested magnesium oxide and lots of barefoot horses I think have this. The book I mentioned was brilliant, very informative and made a lot of sense. Good luck with it.
 
Sjp1, that's so sad :( Supplementing with mag ox is a very good idea too, you can buy it from places online like http://www.barefootbasicsshop.co.uk/

Midnight Ashes, if you can get the diet side of things right (easier with winter coming) then along with good trimming you should start to see the straight hoof wall angle you can see just below the coronet being maintained further down the wall. Once it reaches the floor you may also find the sole starts to show some concavity, but be aware that this can also reverse :rolleyes:
 
Would imagine he'd be absolutely fine turned out in boots and pads. If he is then it wouldn't be out of the question to gently exercise him once you've given him a bit of time to adjust.

They look like feet that flare with too much grass to me (I have one), it might help to restrict that a little when it's growing fast unless he's a poor doer. It may well also make him less footy too.

I'm surprised your farrier didn't shoe him with either a toe clip or quarter clips though, that might have helped with shoe retention. Were they natural balance shoes?

PS Expect to see lots of wall breaking off around the nail holes, it will look terrible but it's nothing to worry about :)

What exactly do you mean by the flaring with too much grass (at the risk of sounding stupid)?

We tried quarter clips and it was disasterous - I think his feet are allergic to metal and split and the touch of it :p Toe clips he wore when he very first came to me, changed them for quarters immediately as he had the starting of a nasty crack which I didn't want to end up as seedy toe.

The shoes he was wearing are bars - not traditional round bars but straightened across the back; he is quite extravagent in his paces and over-reaches alot (thats what the ugly looking scar is from on his left fore, above the coronet, if anyone's wondering).

And sjp1 - that is really sad :(
 
If you look at the photos, the angle his hoof is growing down changes suddenly, that is "flare" - it is basically seperation of the white line (which is a precursor to lami/footyness generally). The toes need to be kept rolled, with the growth supported from diet to encourage tight white line growth.

That is often (and is in our case) caused by the grass - I now keep madam off the grass almost altogether she is just a much saner pony and her feet are growing so much better. Sugar is a killer for feet, just that barefeet show the signs more as no shoes on.
 
Thanks PFB - I knew what the ridge was caused by but never knew it's "proper" name :)
Keeping him off the grass isn't really an option; he's best part TB and I think his physical and mental health would suffer drastically.
 
What exactly do you mean by the flaring with too much grass (at the risk of sounding stupid)?

Not stupid at all. The horses pedal bone is straight sided, and in a healthy foot the wall is attached strongly to it and runs parallel to it. The attachment (the laminae) can be affected by metabolic problems and the bond weakened or destroyed (eg laminitis). If this happens continuously at a low level the wall does detach but the gap is filled with wall material, something which happens more drastically in full blown laminitis. This shows as a deviation from a straight line profile between the top and bottom of the hoof, which can be big or small.

Too much sugar in the diet from grass or elsewhere can cause hooves to flare, and also cause inflammation which makes the horse more footy. That's why you hear the term LGL (low grade lami) being used and that's why diet is such an important part of fixing hooves. Not all farriers will accept these theories but I've seen far too much first hand evidence large and small that backs them up.
 
I know its a hot topic on here and as soon as a barefoot question comes up its the same names who answer as they obviously like me have a passion for barefoot and learning as much as we can about it.

I understand there are loads of theroies and people who think they are the most upto date. I am currently involved with training with KC La Pierre and the HPT trim.

This link has some really interesting articles and views of Applied Equine Podiatrists and this link is for all you barefoot bods to read and hopefully expand your knowledge base. Not saying this is the theroy to follow just to share some interesting material with your good people :wink:

http://www.appliedequinepodiatry.org/perfecthoofclub/index.html
 
Thanks PFB - I knew what the ridge was caused by but never knew it's "proper" name :)
Keeping him off the grass isn't really an option; he's best part TB and I think his physical and mental health would suffer drastically.

That is a problem, especially if he needs lots of movement for his other issues. You could consider muzzling, with an enlarged hole if needs be, and or stable for all or part of the daytime if that's an option at times of rapid grass growth.
 
Or turnout in a school with haynet :)

I too, on first hand, can show you the difference between madams feet and grass intake. She currently lives in a mud patch with hay :D and I thought she would be a maniac... but after letting her out muzzled for 12 hours, realised it was the grass that made her a maniac - she is happy as larry with hay - so much so they escaped yesterday, and as soon as I got there they toddled back in for hay! Not bad considering there is 3acres or so of shin deep grass!
 
M-a If you would like an EP to look at him I can give you the number of Julie who comes to June iuw. Pm if you want it! X
 
Will do Dannii :)

I muzzled him last year when he was getting a bit fat and it just didn't work. He got really upset and I persevered but I ended up with an extremely unhappy horsey, so I gave up. I put him in a paddock with less grass and he jumped back out :rolleyes:
The problem is, he's well and truly buddied up in the little herd he's in, none of whom can be on less grass through the summer. He's in overnight now (they all are) but the worst of my problems are always in summer when it's drier, as I can't keep up with his feet drying out (I have seen me applying hoof moisturiser three and four times a day).

And I haven't got a school :cry:
 
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Poor Stevie :( Could some of this be vitamin deficiency? It looks like the nails have sunk down his hooves as the shoes are literally being ripped off his feet by the ground... It takes about a year for the bad area to grow out, and healthy hoof to grow back..Sending healing vibes ((((((()))))))) Oh, and look into seaweed.. that's supposed to be good for the hooves skin and coat :)
 
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Poor Stevie :( Could some of this be vitamin deficiency? It looks like the nails have sunk down his hooves as the shoes are literally being ripped off his feet by the ground... It takes about a year for the bad area to grow out, and healthy hoof to grow back..Sending healing vibes ((((((()))))))) Oh, and look into seaweed.. that's supposed to be good for the hooves skin and coat :)

He has worm damage from his past (before I had him) so he struggles to digest everything he gets fed, even supplemented.


Stevie says thanks for the healing vibes :)
 
He has worm damage from his past (before I had him) so he struggles to digest everything he gets fed, even supplemented.


Stevie says thanks for the healing vibes :)

Maybe go to a Chinese herbalist and see if any of their concoctions might work for him? I know a feed bulker, fed in a larger quantity, slows the progress of feed through the gut, allowing more time for vitamins to be digested, if that helps X If your watching his weight, could you lessen the hay he's getting to allow you to increase the bulk in his feed?
 
No bute last night (and only one sachet the night before) and he is out without boots on (yesterday too). A bit pottery, but happy enough in himself and moving about the field as normal :)
 
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