Gone barefoot today

[stormandsummer]

i have had my lads shoes removed today by a expert farrier that seem to think that despite having been shod all his life that he has lovely feet :rolleyes:

I would like him to remain barefoot and was wondering apart from regular trims is there anything i can do to keep his hooves from being too soft as it is winter and the ground is so wet and muddy.

being as i am new to this barefoot thing, how will i know if he is sore under foot ?

i was planning on a wee hack tommorrow but now i am nervous cause he is barefoot, will he has less grip or more now ? There is no roadwork it will be all field hacking but it can be stoney in places. All the horses are barefoot at my yard all except one that has fronts as she can't be barefoot, so I am hoping as they are all ok so will my lad be :D

He was funny as he has shire sized feet and after his shoes were removed i put him back in the stable and he was lifting his feet up high and looked on the floor as is to say Mum my shoes have come off in the shavings LOL

[Bay Mare]

If he's been in shoes for years he might be a bit 'footy' to start with. It might be worth looking into getting some hoof boots while you transition him.

Things to do:

Treat any signs of thrush or WLD. Shod horses don't worry so much about these unless they're really bad but barefoot horses will be more likely to get ouchy unless you sort the infection out.

Consider supplementing with magnesium (CalMag or MagOx are popular) and a lot of people have had good results with TS Anti-Lam.

Take it slowly and take your time transitioning and conditioning. Your horse most probably will be able to do roadwork and stony tracks eventually but you need to build up to it. It's probably best to ask your trimmer/farrier for advice on this as they can see the feet and will be able to assess how functional they are.

Don't worry about any lumps and cracks initially but do make sure that you treat for infection. Especially while the nail holes are growing out you're going to wonder what the heck is happening. I'll try and post some piccies of Saffy's feet just post shoes off a bit later so that you can see what you have in store!

Make sure that your trimmer/farrier puts a 'roll' onto the hoof, this helps to load the foot correctly and also helps to prevent the outer wall hitting the ground and breaking off.

Make sure that your trimmer/farrier tackles the flare.

Read and research into barefoot. There are different methods which approach things slightly differently.

Read the barefoot boards on Enlightened Equitation. Have a look at the EPAUK website, the EquinePodiatry.net website, the Pete Ramey website and the AANHCP website. I'm sure that there are lots more out there but they will be helpful initially.

Oh ... and keep piccies so that you can see the changes in the feet :) And we'd love to see them too :D

Good luck x