Barefoot on a welsh cob x shire ??

J

jordys pony

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Anyone have any experience in the barefoot hoof on a biggy, like my Bloss , would love to keep my 2 barefoot but I want to be sure it can work on a big horse. Anyone got barefoot big heavy horses? do they need any extra supplements? lots of questions...:):):)
 
Well jez isn't quite as big as a shire cross but he's a 17 hand m/w :)

I took his hinds off in December with a view to removing fronts if hinds coped well (reason behind this was he's always had a tendency to pull his fronts and was getting progressively worse). Anyway, month on and hinds were fine, he'd catch the odd stone but you'd never know the difference. But then mid Jan he pulled BOTH his fronts the same day and ripped pretty much all the hoof away that the farrier would use, so much so that he had rectangular shaped front feet!! This was the worst scanario to trial barefoot as he was extremely sore, but I felt I had no choice as attempting to put fronts back on would have probably resulted in even more damage.

We are now 2 months down the line, he is sound on flat tarmac, on grass and in the school and I have a pair of G2's for the fronts for hacking on stoney/lumpy ground. My goal is to ditch the boots, but may take some time.

Its still early days for us, but I think we are making progress. Have got our 2nd BF trim next week so will see what she thinks. His backs look great and the fronts altho still an odd shape are starting to look more normal.

BTW I haven't fed any supplements, just his usual livery mix, hifi + hay :)
 
This is Indie he's been barefoot all his life and he's nine this year we haven't had any problems yet:D

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Doesn't always look this clean though:eek:
 
There's an 18hh shire at the yard that has done really well without shoes, apart from a couple of episodes of footyness (one from being in a really wet field and one from minging stable leading to minging frogs). He is having shoes back on soon but could easily stay without. The only real problems have been its bl**dy hard work to trim him and he's too big to fit into the biggest hoof boots.
 
Yep can be done obviously it's all down to the individual horse but I have four of varying sizes and all are barefoot or unshod whatever you choose to call it and all cope well only little Welshie has a bit of ouchyness over very rough ground so have invested in some boots for her front feet for the rides that involve the rough tracks, but she has had laminitus so that could be a factor in her ouchyness on rough stuff:rolleyes: Noticed your other thread about trimmers I have a farrier do mine, I don't think there are any trimmers down here but will keep an eye on your thread incase anyone else knows of any. I have to say though I love my farrier as he is more than willing to work with me to keep them shoeless:D
 
I ride a 15.1hh cob who's thought to have quite a lot of shire in him, he's a bit chunkier than Monique's gorgeous lad. He has huge hooves and past farriers said he'd never cope unshod. He's proved them all wrong though, he's been barefoot for about 3yrs now and will go anywhere and over anything without batting an eye. His hooves are beautiful.
 
I am definately going to give it a go:D. fingers crossed xxxxxxxx thanks everyone.:cool: i will let you all know in the future how we get on , like a progress report. xxx
 
He is a superstar he's my daughters horse, he's very laid back and kind also has two blue eyes which is abit unusual he's such a good boy we did an outdoor play with him last year I did say I would do a thread about it but haven't got round to doing it but here's one photo of him waiting for his curtain call with Titiania the Queen of the fairies:D

Titania.jpg
 
monique said:
He is a superstar he's my daughters horse, he's very laid back and kind also has two blue eyes which is abit unusual he's such a good boy we did an outdoor play with him last year I did say I would do a thread about it but haven't got round to doing it but here's one photo of him waiting for his curtain call with Titiania the Queen of the fairies:D

Titania.jpg
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thats st.ives isnt it?? very glamorous . :D:D , hes a sweety then. xx
 
thats st.ives isnt it?? very glamorous . , hes a sweety then. xx
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Yep it is St Ives, play was done on the Island and yes he is a sweety funny when we went to view him I didn't want to buy him for my daughter infact walked away and someone else was supposed to be having him but to cut along story short we did end up buying him:D and have not regretted it for one second:D
 
Barefoot biggy

My Cleveland Bay has been barefoot for 2years and the only problem has been the idiot farrier. He swears blind he knows what he is doing and that "he trims for the good of the horse"...yeah right. He trims so the horse gets footie and I get tempted to put shoes on..more money in HIS POCKET.

I have had an incredible amount of grief about going barefoot from all sort of people. I am amazed people are so slow in catching on that its the best for the horse.

Yes i had to be very patient with my boy and yes he was a bit sore but he benefits now.

Good luck to you all.
 
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