Shoes falling off every week or so

[Mushy]

I really couldn't think of a better title.
Here's the deal.
I Bought a horse, ex racer TB somewhat 7 weeks ago. I've had the farrier down 5 times already.
First week it was clear Roo's hooves were left to defend for themselves in the previous home, quite brittle and full of nailmarks and cracks.
The front right is the worst, shoe's fallen off twice now, it's got very little material left to work with and the farrier had to putty the hoof once he put the shoe on. That's stayed on fine for a week now.
Now we're missing a shoe in the back left.
I know this can't go on, The farrier suggested glue on shoes for a next step as Roo goes lame very easily when barefoot (obviously since his hooves are a state)
I've been toying with the idea of leaving him barefoot, but getting him those external boots to pull over the hoof in each foot to let the hooves grow. Does this sound like a daft idea?
He's been on Farriers formula since the first day, and I've been suggested Keratex might be worth a try.
What do you think?

[Mehitabel]

it takes a while for new and healthy hoof to grow down - so you're on the right track with the supplements, but it;s goign ot be a fair bit before you see any difference. the boots and barefoot sound like a good idea to let the nail holes grow out at least, although you may have this problem all the time until the new strong hoof grows down, so it might be a few months before he can be shod.

[Mushy]

Yeah, i know it might take quite a while, I've been joking that it will be Christmas till i can actually ride him again :D
Forgot to add that he wears over reach boots on his front at all times, and they seem to have helped a little as shock absorbers.

[Yann]

I've been toying with the idea of leaving him barefoot, but getting him those external boots to pull over the hoof in each foot to let the hooves grow. Does this sound like a daft idea?

Not a daft idea at all, it would be the best way to help grow a stronger foot down, but it's not a quick fix and you may need to give your horse a lot of TLC until the feet toughen up a bit.

[Mushy]

Spoke to my farrier and he didn't have much to say about the situation :rolleyes: Just said the hooves would have to be drastically trimmed down for the boots. Huh? How come? Felt like saying they've got different sizes :D
He can at the earliest come next week to give the hooves a trim, so I'm going to have to wait till then.
For the boots, I've been looking at these (http://www.derbyhouse.co.uk/prodshow.asp?id=1377&cat=2&scats=52,26) for the cheap option or these pricey ones (http://www.derbyhouse.co.uk/prodshow.asp?id=75&cat=2&scats=52,26)for a long term solution.
It doesn't say whether they'd be okay for riding too, i suppose the second ones would be.
My horse is getting so fat due to no exercise I'm running out of options :p

[Shadowlark]

I would suggest you start with a new farrier.. your quite right that boots come in many sizes. It scares me that he would want to hack and slash already short thin feet.

I have used easy boots in the past and quite liked them - cheap and plentiful. They are very rideable, endurance riders use them all the time for training and competing.

Now I go barefoot myself, and use this site http://www.hoofrehab.com/ quite a bit for info etc.

Good luck :)

[Mushy]

Cheers Shadowlark, I'm feeling quite confident now that I'm doing the right thing if I go down this path, will have a read of that site and get some tips :)
Our Farrier is quite a young guy, he does know what he's doing when it comes to shoeing so I wont be dropping him just yet, thankfully I've done few courses myself in farriery so I half-know what I'm doing myself, just need a bit of a push to get me going :o

[Yann]

Also have a look at www.barefoothorse.com and www.ironfreehoof.com , both good sites if you want to know more about taking on some more of the maintenance of unshod feet. As far as the boots go, most of them are made by one company, and there's absolutely tons of information at their website, www.easycareinc.com I ride one of my horses booted full time on hacks at the moment and the other one goes in boots now and again. One is in G2's, similar to the 'expensive' ones and the other is in Bares, similar to the 'cheaper' ones, and we generally go trouble free at all paces over all sorts of different terrain. The only thing that ever causes trouble with boots for us is flat out gallop, and then not always :D

ETA - There's absolutely no need whatsoever to trim feet down to fit in a hoof boot!