Thinking of going barefoot but....

[helenc]

OK

I've been doing a little bit of reading about barefoot & how it helps with hoof balance & allows the foot more circulation etc so I am in the first stages of thinking about having sylvester barefoot.

However - he is very sensitive. His feet aren't bad but they aren't the best - they seem OK at the minute but he has been on a six weekly shoeing plan for the last 3 years, when I bought him his feet were awful but I don't think his previous owner had him done regularly, just when he *needed* doing.

Also - when he has his shoes taken off for him to be re-shod, he is uncomfortable standing on anything other than very flat tarmac - if there are any bits of gravel he is sore so I don't even know if he would manage without shoes.

Another concern is that he is primarily a competition horse. I know that there is an eventer that competes horses without shoes but i don't know of anyone else. How does it affect grip on watered SJ arenas & does it make any difference when riding on a surface?

[MelanieD]

Being sore on gravel is pretty normal for less than brilliant feet. If he's sound on smooth tarmac then that's a good enough start, especially with past foot problems.

Some people do event and jump etc without shoes, I don't because I'm a jumping wuss but I have found my horses have much better grip without shoes, though I never tried studs when Rox was shod because I never jumped big enough to need to bother.

If his feet are improving with shoes on and he's totally sound then it might not be worth trying to go totally barefoot. What might be ideal for you is barefoot during the part of the year he's doing less work to give the feet a break and hopefully improve them quicker than is possible with shoes, then shoe when he's working hard and competing.

[CurlyWurlyRach]

I jump my horse without shoes, the only surface she's had a problem on was very hard dry soil at an outdoor show.
I did a thread a while ago asking if she should be shod for jumping 1m+ cos of the impact but the general idea was that no shoes = less concussion jumping.
She's never struggled or slipped on tight corners or anything and seems to slip less than shod horses.

[helenc]

He works hard all year & competes all year too. He might have a break from competing for a month twice a year at most but he is still in work during that time so he doesn't really have the time to adjust. I think it needs to be an all or nothing thing!

As far as jumping on grass goes - I am worried about jumping on grass in the summer - I have ALWAYS used studs on him front & back. At the shows I go to, the grass is watered for a few days before the show but what generally happens is that the grass gets wet & the ground doesn't. The ground then stays quite hard & the grass gets slippy, the studs sink into the ground still but I'd be worried about a foot with no studs (be that barefoot or shod) wouldn't have the same effect & we'd end up skidding accross the wet grass rather than gripping into the ground - not a great thing when you've already got a horse that can be a bit nervous if everything is not 100% right.

Oh, i think i've just talked myself out of it

Edited to add - I agree with that thing about concussion CWR. Just wondering how often you compete & what height you are competing at - sylvester competes up to 1.10m (so could be 1.20 in the jump off)

Also edited to add - we barely do any road work - would this make it difficult to condition his feet? Most of my hacking is off road, some on grass, some on gravel or stone tracks, some on sandy tracks which can be quite stony in places.

[MelanieD]

Since you go on stoney tracks you would be quite likely to need boots at first. Not doing road work doesn't make it impossible since other surfaces do help improve the feet and there's always boots and pads. I've never had slipping problems barefoot even when I've had my doubts about madam managing to stay upright through some of her more idiotic moments on wet ground she's never come close to slipping, but it does seem to vary with different horses.

As long as he's sound in shoes, you have a good farrier and his feet aren't getting worse then he doesn't sound like an ideal one for going barefoot, unless you are especially enthusiastic about taking the time to get him to the point he can do everything barefoot. What condition are the feet in at the moment? Are there any problems with them that could be improved by some time barefoot that can't be dealt with in shoes?

[Iron Maiden]

Hi HelenC! I competed my old cob barefoot doing showing, sj & ode for 2 summers. His feet sorted themselves out very quickly after his shoes were removed & we never had any footiness problems. I think you are right to be concerned about slipping, though - he actually fell with me at a hunter trial on wet grass, we weren't going very fast but as he landed both is front feet just slid over the grass & shot out from under him. Splat! Luckily we were both OK but I'm sure that wouldn't have happened with studs. He did have huge, flat feet though, I find P slips a lot less - her feet are smaller and more concave. I am resigned to the fact that I will almost certainly have to shoe her if we realise our dream of doing affiliated eventing though.

[helenc]

He doesn't have any specific problems, his feet are just a bit soft & crumbly sometimes. He's never been unsound due to his feet except for when he lost a shoe.

I had just been reading up on the difference in the foot & I had seen a few barefoot pics where the feet looked a lot more healthy than shod feet so it was just a musing really, trying to decide if it would be viable but I'm not sure that it would.

Probably wouldn't matter in winter jumping indoors & there are less & less venues jumping on grass but three of my regular show centres still jump on grass in the summer.

[mayoguinness]

If you want to look into barefoot more pm me. Have a good suggestion for a book!!

[Iron Maiden]

Next time you come by to ours (no rush btw) you can peruse a large number of barefoot horses & see what you think. Apparently we're one of the most barefoot yards in the UK?!

[MelanieD]

Soft & crumbly feet can be due to infection in the hoof wall, maybe also partly due to horn quality. Barefoot does help with both, and usually helps more with horn quality than anything you can put on the feet or feed, but you can use a lot of the barefoot 'stuff' even with shoes on. Good hoof supplement or feed balancer. Keratex hoof hardener or Right Step (I prefer that one) can help if there might be water damage. Most important you can still soak with borax even with shoes on which would kill off any infection causing crumbly feet (don't assume that you're farrier hasn't mentioned it so it's not infection, most of them don't). If you're using keratex/right step then you need to do the first borax soak before starting to use them.

[helenc]

Thanks Iron Maiden - that would be great

You too melanieD - I'll definitely look into those products. I don't actually use anything on sylvesters feet or use any supplements for him either. In fact, I don't do much with them.

The crumbling tends to only happen in the summer just around the nails on the hoof wall so it could be some sort of infection. My farrier is here on wednesday so I might ask then. He currently doesn't have any crumbles though so not sure if he will be able to tell me

[mayoguinness]

Its proberly that the hoof isn't getting enough exposure to water to re - elasticate it ;)

[Yann]

Oh, i think i've just talked myself out of it

It sounds like you'd need to make a lot of sacrifices, with no guarantee of an end result, so that's probably a sensible conclusion, especially if you have a good farrier. If you have a period when you don't compete and would be prepared to invest in some hoof boots you could still have a period unshod each year whilst keeping him fit. This would still be beneficial and it's certainly what I'd consider doing if I competed seriously (or at all! :) ).

[MelanieD]

Its proberly that the hoof isn't getting enough exposure to water to re - elasticate it
Yesterday 10:39 PM

In the UK it's more likely that the problem is either too much moisture or damage from getting wet and drying out repeatedly. Dry feet are usually stronger and tougher than wet ones, apart from when they've previously been waterlogged a lot or dry out too quickly.

[mayoguinness]

If they're out 24/7 they should be fine and the wetness makes there feet more elasticated. If its not rained for a while, I'll go and soak Mayos feet in the hoof pool and he never gets cracks down them, he actually has brilliant feet :) Of course it depends what type of trim you go by as to what they say is right ;)

[Yann]

I think the only type of trimmer who thinks wet is good is Strasser actually.