Barefoot question

[Guest]

Bry had her feet trimmed yesterday they are looking fab and my EP is really pleased with them.

I hacked her out tonight and she wasn't that keen to trott, I don't think it was arthritis related though. I think it was ouchy feet.

I was just wondering how many of you have managed to 'throw' the boots away and can now cope without for all work or do you still use them event hough you've been barefoot for ages.

[Sarah-B]

TC has been barefoot since April and I usually only put his boots on (fronts only) if we are going on the bridlepaths that are flinty. On tarmac and grass we can go without now.

[Rowena]

I have managed to get to the point where I can throw my boots away, but it has taken some time to learn to read the signs. Not just whether or not your horse is feeling footy, but WHY. If you can tune in to the WHY, by asking lots and lots of questions, and by close observation of your horse, its diet, present condition of the feet, the ground it lives and works on... :rolleyes:
that sort of stuff, you will find a whole new world of meaning.

Sometimes it can feel a bit overwhelming, but the upside is you will learn to tune in to your horse very well. And then there is the benefit of seeing the improvements rolling in, and if you have a set back - you will soon see a correlation in some recent oversight, and you will learn more :D

I think its all worth it in the end...
Keep your chin up, and remember me, :) , for whenever you are feeling discouraged. I've found that there is always a way forward (for the good of the horse) sometimes it just takes a little help from ones friends.

Just one tip: whenever your horse feels footy, back off a bit with whatever you are doing, ie. softer ground, easier work etc. That way you will actually get there faster. Waiting for damage to heal is what takes the time, so making sure that you are not unwittingly adding to that in the healing stages is crucial.

Good luck, and stay in touch :D

[Iron Maiden]

My old horse was barefoot for over a year, from the word go he could do pretty much anything without boots. He never needed front boots at all - just as well because his forefeet were 8 inches wide & nothing would fit them! He only wore boots on his hind feet to do downhill roadwork, don't ask me why but he used to scuff his heels & wear them excessively otherwise.

My youngster has been barefoot since June and is also fine to do pretty much anything I want, although she's only 4 so I don't overdo it with her. So far she has done xc schooling over stoney stubble fields without any problem & has happily hacked over a variety of different terrains, although I did get off her once because she seemed uncomfortable on a stony track. She doesn't have hoof boots but her feet are shrinking! They were flared and it's taking a while to correct this. I will probably buy boots for her when her feet are 'correct' in size, I will be doing more with her by then & I don't want to risk her getting footy when she is getting on so well.

I think you really have to play this sort of thing by ear, every horse is different, some have better basic foot structure than others & the degree of damage (if there is any) done by shoeing varies. It's certainly possible that there might come a day when you don't need your boots though.

[Guest]

I didn't push her into trotting today, if she didn't wnat to go then I didn't make her.

She's normally very forward in trott but the impulsion was kinda dying off tonight, I watched her after the ride with somone trotting her for me and she looked ok.

So far I am really pleased with how barefoot is going though.

[Iron Maiden]

I think you're right & it's really good to let your horse tell you how much or little she wants to do. I was really careful with my old boy when he first went barefoot because I thought he was bound to get footy, then he started taking off with me around the xc course & doing jumps! I took this as a sign that all was well & just let him get on with it. My youngster has been doing the same thing so I guess she must be comfortable too!

[CurlyWurlyRach]

Curlys been barefoot for a year now and i've hacked on lots of terrains, been up the sand gallops, round the tarmac roads etc etc and never used a hoofboot. she can be ouchy on large quantities of stones but i give her plenty of rein so she can have a good look at the floor and let her find her own way.
my new farrier told me she had great feet and hes baulk at shoeing her :D

[coss]

harry has never been shod and he is fine. i don't do much roadwork though as the roads round here seem to really wear hooves down excessively but he has never really been footy with me. you are quite right to listen to your horse and remember that you need a good moisture balance in the hoof as well as strength for the hooves to be good on stones. when they are slightly softer they can flex slightly round the stones, too hard and hooves become brittle, too soft and the stone bruise the hooves, it is a very fine balance that each horse has :)

[Yann]

It's perfectly possible the trim has made her a bit more footy, I've experienced this too, even though it's not supposed to happen ;)

Rio has been unshod for nearly a year, but it's only in the last couple of months that she's really started to cope with everything she comes across and is happy to trot on hard surfaces. I actually bought her some G2's back in August, but we've never actually used them:D It can take a very long time, and there are often setbacks, I couldn't hack her out at all without boots in June when the ground first dried out.

She started out with good native feet out of shoes, so there are no guarantees :)

[Guest]

I think it must be the trim yann, she was footy again tonight on the stoney areas.

Aw my poor ickle angel, will put her boots back on...

[Yann]

The trimmer might have pared off some false sole that was keeping her comfortable or lowered the toe more than she was able to deal with. It happens, the only time to worry would be if it happens regularly.

[No_Angel]

I found with maddie, a few months after she was taken barefoot, that she was much happier on her feet when they were slightly longer, after a trim she would be a bit footy, but nearly a year on now shes much happier on her feet with them trimmed, shes developed more sole, tho she still needs boots on really stony surfaces as shes still flat footed.

[coss]

Dawn used to have brilliant feet but due to her age i don't think nutrients reach her tooties quite as effificiently. her previous owner had her shod during the summer and not during the winter. when i got her the shoes came off and stayed off for 8 years. she was footy and i did the occasional hack on the road without any problems although admittedly i was much lighter then :rolleyes:
In our area it is a struggle to find farriers that are reliable and we found and old guy that was recommended to us but both my horses feet were getting flatter and flatter. every time he came out he would file the bottom down but do nothing with the toes :eek: so the horses became very flat footed and dawn went lame regularly (probably too much stress on the tendons) so, changed to my current farrier who was horrified at the flatness of hoof and length of toe and he corrected it a fair amount but dawn never needed anything off her feet and ended up walking on her soles and becoming lame so thats why she now has shoes. they are not worn down quick so hoping farrier will be able to leave them on for longer.
as i have previously said, some horses suit it, some don't but the farrier makes a huge difference. if the angle of hoof isn't basically the same as the angle of the pastern then there is something wrong!

[coss]

i have now had dawn's shoes removed again (for winter at least) as there is no hoof growth in the front hooves and there is very limited space to put nails through. i just hope she doesn't get too footy but the farrier has recommended mac boots. he told me the backs look after themselves and that he is doing himself out of a lot of cash but mac boots would probably be the best solution for her front feet. due to little growth she had shoes during the summer so i could hack out and she was getting worked frequently, now, with less work and no front hoof growth the shoes are off. which boots do people find the best as my farrier has had various people preferring mac boots and his horses run in them.

[No_Angel]

I use marquis boots on maddie, they have an air chamber at the back to keep them on (and they dont rub, shes a very sensitive tb ex racer) and you can replace everypart of them, so you dont have to replace the entire boot every 6 months or so, just need a new sole.
Think were going to get some cavallo boots for ceryn. Ive heard boas rub and look quite hard to get on and off (marquis are easy, thats why i have them) and i had a look at on old mac boot (the original, not the g2s) and they looked fairly complicated to get on with all the straps.

[appaloosahoney]

I went for the Boa's (old mac and boa are made by the same people) as the original Old Macs had too aggressive traction for me. I did find putting them on a pain to begin with, but after a week or so it got much easier. What I did like was the single disc system to tighten the boot, which pops out and loosens the wire when you want to take them off. I use the gaiters (which came free with them) on three of the boots where they dont fit too snugly but the one without still hasnt rubbed and my mare has very soft skin. I would recommend that you get your farrier to measure the hooves just after trimming which will give you the best idea of size and if you can borrow a set from somewhere to try it helps. One of the websites offers a trial but it looked too expensive for me.

Best of luck

Kim

[MelanieD]

I like old mac boots, G2s and originals suit different foot shapes but G2s seem nicer if they'll fit. I used to have Boas and had problems with them rubbing and they were slippery on muddy bits. Have you tried feeding a hoof supplement or balancer? One of mine used to not have enough growth, now she's having TopSpec it's making extra trimming work for me despite most of my riding being on roads.

[coss]

i haven't got her on a food supplement as her hooves are pretty tough, the farrier had a job to get the shoes of as her feet are so hard and i wouldn't want to upset the balance. he says that all her problems are age and shoe related and there's not much i can do. Having the shoes of should speed up the growth but she just likes to thicken her sole. her back feet still need trimming and the farrier says she just doesn't seem to "want" to grow the front feet. Surely if it was a food problem then none of her hooves would need trimming and/or they would be weak?

My farrier said that he knows a lot of people who have had boots that just fall apart, as in, just fall off the horses hooves from wear after only 6 weeks.
He deals with a lot of endurance horses so that kind of explains it as these horses go through shoes in 4-6 weeks hence the change over to boots as their feet didn't have enough space for any more nails :rolleyes:
Farrier mentioned the marquis boots but said they are held together with plastic rivets (sp?) and they jst fall apart and you have to pay an extra £80 to get them with metal rivets :eek:

Any more info is greatly appreciated as i seriously have to find something... problem is i can only try finding things friday afternoon/evening through to sunday afternoon as i am at uni leaving mum to look after the horses :(

[Yann]

My farrier said that he knows a lot of people who have had boots that just fall apart, as in, just fall off the horses hooves from wear after only 6 weeks.

I don't believe this I'm afraid, especially the 'lots' bit. Even a very high mileage horse doing lots of work on harsh surfaces wouldn't wear a boot out that quickly. Most leisure riders could reasonably expect them to last between 18 months and 2 years, if not longer.

I've never heard of boots 'just falling apart' either.

[No_Angel]

I must say my marquis boots havent fallen apart, and ive done a few endurance rides with them. The air chambers are held on with plastic rivits- is that what you mean? they dont just fall out, they have to be cut off.

[MelanieD]

Hooves do normally grow a bit faster without shoes, but I do think a supplement would be worth a try. One of mine had okay growth and good hoof quality but not enough growth to keep up with wear even with only quite short hacks. A hoof supplement (NAF Biotin) helped but now she's on TopSpec, a balancer, she has very good growth rate and makes sure I have plenty of trimming to keep me entertained. At least if on a supplement you know they are getting everything needed for the hooves to grow as fast as is possible for that horse.

I've only had old mac boots but they have lasted really well. They've got my horse and another to the point of not needing boots any more, and two of the three pairs I had have now been sold on to other horses. The pair I've kept still look like new and I've done a lot of not at all sensible stuff in them.

[coss]

I must say my marquis boots havent fallen apart, and ive done a few endurance rides with them. The air chambers are held on with plastic rivits- is that what you mean? they dont just fall out, they have to be cut off.

i'm just saying what my farrier told me... plastic rivet won't be the strongest material and if a horse has a strange action at all or there is any movement in the boot i can se that they could snap but as i say, just putting what i've been told across

[Bebe]

i'm just saying what my farrier told me... plastic rivet won't be the strongest material and if a horse has a strange action at all or there is any movement in the boot i can se that they could snap but as i say, just putting what i've been told across


I think this is a good example of don't believe everything you hear!

I've had boots last me a couple of years, I've bought secondhand boots that have been well used and still had lots of life left in them.

All easycare boots (they make the majority of hoof boots now) come with a 3 month guarantee, so if your farrier genuinely does know people who are finding that they fall apart within 6 weeks, I suggest you tell him to tell those clients to send them back under the guarantee.

The vast majority of boots also come with replaceable parts, so the soles, straps, buckles, etc can all be replaced as necessary to extend the life of the boots without having to buy new ones.

And I now for a fact that Marquis boots have metal rivets and there is no separate pricing between plastic vs metal as the plastic ones don't exist.

[No_Angel]

the marquis boots have metal to hold the sole on, but have plastic rivits that hold the air chamber on. Im having to order some new ones so I can lower the air chamber.