My horses hooves 1 year on (pics)

Barehooves

New Member
May 6, 2010
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Hello

I's a year today that i had Kristal's shoes removed and well, i've never looked back, it's not been easy and spring time can make you doubt you are doing the right thing but i think these pics just show how much better being barefoot is...

Hoovescomparrison1years-2.jpg


Hoovescomparrison1years-1.jpg


Hoovescomparrison1years-3.jpg


Hoovescomparrison1years-4.jpg


Speak for themselves don't you think?

:D
 
Wow that's amazing - they look just like the pictures in my book. I can recognise a well developed digital cushion when I see one!

Seriously, they do look great.
 
Nice job! Great bit of decontraction going on there :) How sound is your horse on difficult surfaces, do you struggle with the grass?
 
Over the winter she has been fine on quite difficult terrain and I have been using the hoof boots less and less... until the spring grass! She's still ok just quite footy on stones so I have had to look into her diet and am going to be using Simple Systems and also moving her to a yard where i can control the grazing as the yard i am on does not allow for anthing different and of course the shod horses are fine aren't they!!! (I try to explain that they just can't feel it!) x
 
Fab changes. Frayne's feet are very similar after more than 2 years barefoot.

I was worrying today, as I am doing more mileage with her now - and she does seem to suffer on stony surfaces. She wears boots (Renegades) on her front feet, but her back feet are footy (they are flatter underneath and tend to grow long in the toe).

She is out on grass with a muzzle for around 5-8 hours per day, and then hay at night - plus a small feed of Blue Chip Lami Light and non-molassed alfalfa.

I ride 3-4 times per week, plus leading out/long reining. Rides are usually between 5-10 miles long, mostly on roads/tracks.

Don't think I can do much more, but any suggestions?

Ali xx
 
Sounds like you do pretty much what i do, is she stabled at night?

Maybe just get boots for the hinds too, I boot all round.

I'm trying to find a yard where i can section off the field as i want so hopefully can replicate a track system... http://www.thenaturalhoof.co.uk/7.html I'm hoping that will help as i hate muzzling my horse :( x
 
Yes, they come in at night into a large cattle shed with deep straw bed (it is huge - about the size of 14 stables). They have piles of hay in there. They also stay in if the weather is horrible or just as occasional days away from the grass (which they are doing today).

I would love to not muzzle her, but she couldn't go out at all then. When she was at livery over the winter, they had small individual paddocks with literally almost-zero grazing, so she could go out without her muzzle then. Now she is back on our dairy farm, and I have the only non-fertilised field in our 400 acres, but it is still green all year round and lots of clover.

How do you cope with booting all 4 feet? I did once try a boot on a rear hoof when she was recovering from an abscess. She went out in a muddy field with 2 other horses and it lasted about 10 minutes :rolleyes:

I intend to have a track system one day - when hubby has the time to sort out the fields around the valley, which are overgrown with brambles and gorse at the moment.

Ali xx
 
Sounds like you're in the same boat I was :( I simply couldn't do enough to stop the footiness over the summer, but unlike you moving anywhere wasn't an option, there simply isn't anywhere better to go in my part of the world.

I've used boots in front and boots all round, and it would have been OK if we didn't do so much fast work and have so much dubious going in wet weather. I never found boots that could give me 100% peace of mind at all times. Booting hinds can be tricky and I found I had problems with various types interfering and twisting.

I gave it three years, but I now shoe when they're footy and barefoot and boot when they're not, it's a compromise that works well enough for us. I don't think enough attention gets paid to the effect of footiness on horses, even when they're on relatively easy surfaces, and it's not something I was prepared to tolerate long term.
 
I have always booted all 4 (sometimes just fronts but mostly 4) and never had a problem. I use Easyboot gloves, Just only problem i have found with them is when it is wet the neoprene stretches more and they can flip off or tear but i just jump off, put the boot back on and off we go again. I must say that that doesn't happen much anymore, i think it maybe down to me and my horse being more used to boot now. I just could never bring myself to shoe my horse again, the thought of nails being banged through her feet make me feel sick!

Our grass is not too bad, it's only a few weeks in the spring where i have to be really really careful, i'm testing muzzled in the day and not at night at the mo cause i'd rather her be out for health benefits and saves money! I have decided not to move yards, it's very close to where i live and the pros outweigh the cons.

So do you have shoes on in the summer and off in the winter, how lond does it take for the hooves to recover each time?
 
Spring Grass and being Footy

Over the winter she has been fine on quite difficult terrain and I have been using the hoof boots less and less... until the spring grass! She's still ok just quite footy on stones so I have had to look into her diet and am going to be using Simple Systems and also moving her to a yard where i can control the grazing as the yard i am on does not allow for anthing different and of course the shod horses are fine aren't they!!! (I try to explain that they just can't feel it!) x


Hi - Connie my rocky mountain horse has been barefoot for 14 years, she had a good barefoot trim a couple of weeks ago and since then she has been a bit footy over the stones and I have never felt it before. Is it to do with the spring grass ? or the trim ?. We only moved to the yard in january so not sure about the grass...... she is an easy keeper and is not having anything at all apart from a bit of hay in the morning and in the evening ( less in the evening ) out at night and in by day. She is not on any suppliments at all...
 
Spring Grass and being Footy

Over the winter she has been fine on quite difficult terrain and I have been using the hoof boots less and less... until the spring grass! She's still ok just quite footy on stones so I have had to look into her diet and am going to be using Simple Systems and also moving her to a yard where i can control the grazing as the yard i am on does not allow for anthing different and of course the shod horses are fine aren't they!!! (I try to explain that they just can't feel it!) x


Hi - Connie my rocky mountain horse has been barefoot for 14 years, she had a good barefoot trim a couple of weeks ago and since then she has been a bit footy over the stones and I have never felt it before. Is it to do with the spring grass ? or the trim ?. We only moved to the yard in january so not sure about the grass...... she is an easy keeper and is not having anything at all apart from a bit of hay in the morning and in the evening ( less in the evening ) out at night and in by day. She is not on any suppliments at all...
 
Madam has been barefoot since August last year - she was footy a couple of weeks ago just in the field - I can only blame a sudden growth in our grass as nothing else had changed apart from coming into season, but now she has reduced turnout on grass she has settled although she is back in season.

I now have my two on the hardcore/in shelter/however they please with ad lib hay (one bale lasts just under 2weeks between them!!) and they are in for about 12hours most days and out unmuzzled at night. She isnt footy but they are both piling on the pounds anyway :mad:
 
So do you have shoes on in the summer and off in the winter, how lond does it take for the hooves to recover each time?

Yes, I now put shoes on March / April and pull them off some time after the clocks change. So far it doesn't seem to take that long for them to recover, if the grass isn't growing then they're not footy and the trimming and nail holes grow out after 6-8 weeks and the feet revert pretty much to what they were. Cob with good feet is affected less than my weak footed Tb though.
 
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