slippy hooves

[inca]

my friesian mare has been without shoes for about 8 months and she seems fine apart from she doesnt seem to have much grip, we ride mostly in fields with a very small amount of road work,

the other day she was trotting in the field and she slipped and fell on her side
her back legs just seemed to slip from under her, luckily i was not riding her as i would have been squashed, she was fine and just got up quickly looking a bit ruffled:eek:

i was wondering if i should get her some boots for a bit more traction, i dont really want to put shoes on again, but now i am scared she will do it again with me riding,

any advice would be very welcome:)

[Bay Mare]

Boots might be helpful. I'm not an expert (or even knowledgeable) about boots though so I'll leave the recommendations to other people :)

Does she have any concavity as this seems to be a big factor in determining grip?

Road work and correct trimming should encourage the concavity. If she's comfortable on the roads it might be worth increasing the amount that you do a bit but keep an eye on the wear at first as she'll need to get used to the extra work.

Saff has certainly been better (in our horrid clay mud field) since she's had more concavity.

[Yann]

What sort of ground is giving you the most problems? A horse not long out of shoes is usually all over the place but they do seem to improve considerably over time as they adjust to the different amount of feel. I was quite concerned about Rio when she first had her shoes off, we seemed to be sliding everywhere all the time but she's now one of the steadiest on her feet you could wish to meet.

It also depends on the size of the feet relative to the horse and their shape. The bigger and flatter the feet, the more trouble you're likely to have, and a good healthy frog close to the ground will make a huge difference too.

Boots can help a lot, if it's grip you're looking for then the Old Mac G2 and Easyboot Grip, are the ones to look at depending on foot shape and what you do. Details are at www.easycareinc.com

I used G2's on Tess in foul conditions all through the winter and slipping was rarely an issue, despite the fact she's not the steadiest on her feet in the first place and loves to go.

[inca]

thank you for the advice, the fields where i ride are quite hard as as we havent had much rain at the moment, and if it does rain it will make it quite slippy

i will have to have a look at her feet to see whether she has concavity, she has quite small feet, the blacksmith who trims them says she has nice hard feet and there is no need to have shoes with the work we do

she always seems to be tripping over or skidding about, which is a pain she fell on her knees in the field last year with me riding her but just got up and we were ok but seeing her slip on her side has made me a bit nervous,but hopefully she will improve,

i am going to have a good look at her feet and see exactly what shape they are
and have a look at the easycare site, so thanks again for the help

[beccylovespurpl]

I've always found that barefoot horses slip less on roads than shod ones, even with new shoes but I don't know about grass. I have Marquis supergrip boots and reckon they are more slippy than feet but then my mare is very steady on her feet and has never been shod.

[inca]

i had a good look at her feet and there isnt much concavity at all
her feet are 5.5 " wide and 6.5 in length ,

so i will try to increase her road work and hopefully that should improve, i have been trying to learn as much about hooves as possible:D

but there are so many different sites with advice what was going to be a quick 10 mins surfing has been about 3 hous now:eek:

[Yann]

What is her frog like and how does it sit in the foot? If it's in a kind of triangular valley with sole all round and the heels are much longer than it is then the foot may be too tall and infilled with false sole. It might explain her not being steady on her feet and tripping up if there's no other physical cause and account for some of the lack of grip. Who trims for you? Shod feet can often end up like this and the trim might not be addressing it.

[inca]

thanks for the info, i will have another good look at her feet tomorrow and see what her frog is like ,
her feet are trimmed by a farrier