Shoes are off--now how long 'till she's sound on all surfaces?

[Unbridled]

Sugar's shoes have been off for about three weeks now. She's never had rear shoes (never needed them) but she has been shod on the fronts probably ever since she was first backed to ride. I had been toying with the idea of removing the shoes anyway, but when her right foot began to continuelly throw the shoe my decision was pretty much made for me. So far she has done very well. She's not been lame with it, although she did develop one small stone bruise (which has now healed). However, she still seems very ouchy just walking over gravel (just in hand--not riding her). I have to walk her up the gravel drive to the barn when I bring her in from pasture and you can tell that it's uncomfortable and occasionally she will even stumble a bit. She is fine in all gaits when in the sandschool, on grass, and even pavement--but this is all without a rider. And what worries me is that if she's still unsound on gravel should I try riding her at all? She's been off work while we sorted some behavioral issues, but now she's ready to be ridden again. I'll be starting her out slowly, in the sandschool, but will my weight be too much if her hooves are still tender? I just want to be very certain that her first ride back in work is completely relaxing and enjoyable experience for her. How can I be sure her feet are ready? I'm toying with the idea of buying some Easyboots, but I'm rather low on funds at the moment and my instructor suggests seeing how well she goes without them. Is this a good idea or should I err on the side of caution and wait to ride until I can buy the boots?

[virtuallyhorses]

Being ouchy when first barefoot is not the same as being unsound. The time taken for the feet to 'harden up' is partly dependent upon how much activity she now undertakes. Just like us - the more you walk across ouchy surfaces the more your feet adapt.

Riding on grass, pavement and the sand arena will be just fine. You can (and should) also ride on gravel. Starting with a few minutes and building up. At a walk only of course and allow her time to pick and 'ouch' her way across at as slow a pace as she wants. You don't want to cause bruising but you do want to challenge the feet and soles so that they adapt to more work. If you want to leave the gravel and hard work for a few weeks that's fine but feet will only adapt to whatever surfaces they are used on. Boots are also cool if you want to hack out and the surfaces+time would be too much to handle, but I wouldn't bother with them on the sand\grass.

[MelanieD]

She should be fine to ride on any surface she isn't ouchy on, just keep an eye on how much the feet are wearing, heels shouldn't get lower than the frogs. Eventually they should be fine and not wear too much but can be a problem early on after getting the shoes off. Boots are a really good thing to have, they let you get on with riding all you want without worrying about what surfaces are okay and how much wear the feet can take. Work in boots help the feet grow without getting too much wear so it doesn't do any harm to use boots. Any work where she's landing heel first is good for the feet, if not landing heel first then put boots or boots and pads on to get her landing heel first. They can be more ouchy when your weight is added on top so you can always get off and lead if your riding and need to cross an especially nasty stoney area.

How long it'll take to be sound on all surfaces depends on why she's sore on some surfaces. Low heels can recover quite quickly with work in boots, thrushy frogs are quite easy to treat but problems like flat and thin soles can take a bit longer to recover.

[Unbridled]

You can (and should) also ride on gravel. Starting with a few minutes and building up. At a walk only of course and allow her time to pick and 'ouch' her way across at as slow a pace as she wants. You don't want to cause bruising but you do want to challenge the feet and soles so that they adapt to more work.

But if she stumbles on the gravel without a rider on her back wouldn't that make her unsound with the added weight? I would be afraid she might go down... (Sorry, I don't mean to be annoying but I'm very new to the barefoot thing.)

[virtuallyhorses]

:) You are not being annoying - you are asking good questions and are concerned for your horse - it's ok. Yes, she will stumble a bit - no, having the extra weight of the rider won't make her fall down (Unless you are a very big and unbalanced rider on a little pony). Just don't panic and let her pick her way across the ground, stay relaxed and carry your own weight, make sure she has a long rein.

Imp can still have times when he'll pick and stumble his way along a very stony track. The stumbling is not a lack of balance it's their way of making sure that too much pressure isn't put on the soles - remember a horse has 4 legs and a neck for balance so as long as you remain in the centre of balance they're usually very good at keeping on their feet. As I said just go slow, build up over a resonable period (weeks and months rather than days).

To harden up to taking on the most challenging trails may take as much as 6 mths, but you will find that the initial ouchiness is often just that your horse is 'feeling' the ground for the first time. This is often a psychological barrier for the horse as much as a physical one. Little gravel (rather than full on rocks) will be 'strange' to the horse but generally isn't too hard on the feet because it tends to be similar in size and therefore you won't get one that suddenly sticks up into the sole or frog.

Hope that helps some :)

[Unbridled]

:) You are not being annoying - you are asking good questions and are concerned for your horse - it's ok. Yes, she will stumble a bit - no, having the extra weight of the rider won't make her fall down (Unless you are a very big and unbalanced rider on a little pony). Just don't panic and let her pick her way across the ground, stay relaxed and carry your own weight, make sure she has a long rein.

Imp can still have times when he'll pick and stumble his way along a very stony track. The stumbling is not a lack of balance it's their way of making sure that too much pressure isn't put on the soles - remember a horse has 4 legs and a neck for balance so as long as you remain in the centre of balance they're usually very good at keeping on their feet. As I said just go slow, build up over a resonable period (weeks and months rather than days).

To harden up to taking on the most challenging trails may take as much as 6 mths, but you will find that the initial ouchiness is often just that your horse is 'feeling' the ground for the first time. This is often a psychological barrier for the horse as much as a physical one. Little gravel (rather than full on rocks) will be 'strange' to the horse but generally isn't too hard on the feet because it tends to be similar in size and therefore you won't get one that suddenly sticks up into the sole or frog.

Hope that helps some :)

Thanks for the information, that makes me feel a lot better. Her feet already look 100% better in just the short time she's been barefoot, and really she's done very well with the transitions. I'm glad you said to put her onto gravel, though. I'd been concerned that maybe I should avoid the gravel since she seems sensitive and just let her walk in the grass that flanks the drive. But it makes sense that feet will only adapt to the surface they come into contact with. I think I just worry too much. :)

[Bebe]

I personally wouldn't ride on gravel until she's reasonably happy on it without a riders weight. I'd handwalk her over it for now, anything more may run the risk of bruising.

Conditioning the hooves to work on different surfaces can be a fine line between doing enough to toughen the hoof up without overfacing it and causing trauma. I personally feel it's best to err on the side of caution even if it means taking a bit longer with transitioning the horse. I personally don't feel comfortable telling someone over the internet that they should be riding their horse on a surface they're not comfortable on in hand, it's a judgement call that should be made by the owner & hopefully the horses hoofcare provider based on that individual horse and it's hooves.

[Jessey]

You could also try Keratex hoof hardner to help those feet toughen up to cope with what your asking, it is great stuff and you will see results with it very quickly.

Best of Luck

J x

[tubby]

If she's ouchy on gravel you shouldn't ride her over it you should lead her.Only ride her on surfaces that she's happy with,there's no hurry & she will take 12 months or more for the transition.It's a long job but must be done properly if you're to succeed.Also her feet will need a lot of attention now she's barefoot,so make sure she's getting a regular trim.