Hind foot (been bare as long as I've had him, not sure how much longer than that, but 2 1/2 yrs +) he is self trimming, farrier never has to take anything off or run the rasp round.
Two photos above are of his front foot, bare for 10 days.
I'm thinking of trying P barefoot again (he was barefoot up until spring '13 when he had a mysterious lameness that was eventually put down to stone bruising. I don't know how long he was barefoot before I got him in June '12) I had his shoes taken off 10 days ago as I'm not riding much at the moment and am now debating trying him barefoot again.
I've had him out 3x since his shoes came off. He's been fine on roads, mud, grass, firm tracks and grit but over stones he is outchie. (I have been avoiding very stoney tracks so am limited to where we can ride at the moment, but that's fine as we're only going out once or twice a week really.) the ride we mainly do is a small amount of road work, over a slightly stoney track (which he is fine on, he just is carful) then onto firm footing with the occasional softer bit and small areas of slightly stoney track. (I thought this would be good for conditioning his feet as its only short bits of stones, like a couple strides then back to firm or softish going. Am I right??)
As I am concidering persevering with the barefoot I am concidering boots for him so we can do longer rides come the spring (all our longer rides have sections of stoney paths - we live in quite a stoney area!) He is fine on his back feet over all terrain, I've never had him shod behind so his hinds are great! (A reason I'm concidering barefoot, his hinds look much better than his fronts!) if boots are used to help the conditioning/transition period how do you use them? Do you slowly start to use them less and less (wean them off the boots) as their feet improve/white line tightens, or do you just always use boots when riding over rough terrain? I'm thinking if I was doing the route I am currently riding, then he wouldn't wear boots as he is currently managing that route reasonably well (as in fine, appart from getting a touch footie on the short stoney sections, but there is grass at either side of the track so I can move him over if he gets too sore) and then boot him if we were going further afield or over the stonier tracks.
Boot wise I was thinking Cavallo simple boots (I have measured his feet and these appear to be the bette shape for him) or easy boot originals. I need to re measure his feet to get an exact mm as I used the cavallo measure guide thing that comes with the boots - B has a pair of sports, size 2 but they are nowhere near going to fit P who also measured at a 2, would that be because of the different shape of boot?)
Also, diet wise wondering if there is anything I need to change. He currently gets adlib haylage (I can't change this as it is virtually impossible to get hold of large round bales of hay here, and also I share my field and the girl I share with wants to feed haylage, although I might approach her again about trying hay in th new year) appart from that he eats half a scoop of molichaff calmer, a scoop of naf vits and mins, magnatude (need to get more as have run out! I use it as a calmer although I believe magnesium is good for their feet?) and a digestive suppliment that I am thinking of changing to pink powder (he gets this as the haylage has given him a bit of a nasty botty! (Hence trying to get girl I share field with to swap to hay)
I have some piccies of his hooves so will attatch them (they may appear at the beginning of this thread as my iPad is a bit like that! Mind of its own! Lol!)
Thank you if you read all the way through that!
Two photos above are of his front foot, bare for 10 days.
I'm thinking of trying P barefoot again (he was barefoot up until spring '13 when he had a mysterious lameness that was eventually put down to stone bruising. I don't know how long he was barefoot before I got him in June '12) I had his shoes taken off 10 days ago as I'm not riding much at the moment and am now debating trying him barefoot again.
I've had him out 3x since his shoes came off. He's been fine on roads, mud, grass, firm tracks and grit but over stones he is outchie. (I have been avoiding very stoney tracks so am limited to where we can ride at the moment, but that's fine as we're only going out once or twice a week really.) the ride we mainly do is a small amount of road work, over a slightly stoney track (which he is fine on, he just is carful) then onto firm footing with the occasional softer bit and small areas of slightly stoney track. (I thought this would be good for conditioning his feet as its only short bits of stones, like a couple strides then back to firm or softish going. Am I right??)
As I am concidering persevering with the barefoot I am concidering boots for him so we can do longer rides come the spring (all our longer rides have sections of stoney paths - we live in quite a stoney area!) He is fine on his back feet over all terrain, I've never had him shod behind so his hinds are great! (A reason I'm concidering barefoot, his hinds look much better than his fronts!) if boots are used to help the conditioning/transition period how do you use them? Do you slowly start to use them less and less (wean them off the boots) as their feet improve/white line tightens, or do you just always use boots when riding over rough terrain? I'm thinking if I was doing the route I am currently riding, then he wouldn't wear boots as he is currently managing that route reasonably well (as in fine, appart from getting a touch footie on the short stoney sections, but there is grass at either side of the track so I can move him over if he gets too sore) and then boot him if we were going further afield or over the stonier tracks.
Boot wise I was thinking Cavallo simple boots (I have measured his feet and these appear to be the bette shape for him) or easy boot originals. I need to re measure his feet to get an exact mm as I used the cavallo measure guide thing that comes with the boots - B has a pair of sports, size 2 but they are nowhere near going to fit P who also measured at a 2, would that be because of the different shape of boot?)
Also, diet wise wondering if there is anything I need to change. He currently gets adlib haylage (I can't change this as it is virtually impossible to get hold of large round bales of hay here, and also I share my field and the girl I share with wants to feed haylage, although I might approach her again about trying hay in th new year) appart from that he eats half a scoop of molichaff calmer, a scoop of naf vits and mins, magnatude (need to get more as have run out! I use it as a calmer although I believe magnesium is good for their feet?) and a digestive suppliment that I am thinking of changing to pink powder (he gets this as the haylage has given him a bit of a nasty botty! (Hence trying to get girl I share field with to swap to hay)
I have some piccies of his hooves so will attatch them (they may appear at the beginning of this thread as my iPad is a bit like that! Mind of its own! Lol!)
Thank you if you read all the way through that!