thinking of going barefoot ...

notpoodle

notpoodle

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Jul 16, 2003
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i am tentatively contemplating as to whether to try and do away with angel's front shoes. not for monetary reasons, but because her (unshod) back feet look GREAT and farrier reckons it's worth giving it a go barefoot (he's a remedial farrier, not a barefoot trimmer. no intention of swapping to a 'trimmer' either).

now, when angel was vetted many years ago she was barefoot as she'd been out on grass for 6 months. she was footsie barefoot back then so she got the fronts back on and was fine.

i now suspect it MAY have been LGL at the time, but who knows!

she is hopping when she loses a shoe (happened twice in the years i had her) so I am anticipating a bit of a transition period. our chalky hilly stoney field is pretty ideal for hardening feet though, even in winter (we have a barefoot trimmer who comes to the yard who LOVES our field, my farrier likes it a lot also).

no idea what sort of time a transition would take? she would need to be rideable again in spring (march at latest) because she needs exercise because of her lami (i do not want to use hoofboots, so if barefoot doesnt work for her the shoes will come back on). this would give us about 6 weeks transitioning. does this sound doable? crazy? she's an exmoor and should in theory have good feet. her back feet are great, tough as nails. not a crack in sight ... it's the front ones that often crack/crumble at the nail holes and farrier reckons that whoever decided to shoe her in the first place when she was young didnt really do her any favours ...
 
Give it a go all mine are barefoot, it may take a bit longer than 6 weeks but at least it will give you time to evaluate her.
 
It depends on what condition her feet are in now really.

It really depends on the triggers too - for example, Silver has decent growth, but is easily footy on summer grass - fine now, but in the summer the sugar goes straight to her feet so I have to watch her diet closly - Which meant this summer I took her off the grass altogether - although they were still turned out - just on a super over grazed bit with ad lib hay - and she was 110% over all surfaces with that change. However its whether that is an option, or something you would want to do. For us the benefits of barefoot outweigh the cons - she is clumsy in shoes and having shoes off allows me to pick up any signs of lami much earlier than in shoes as I can pick it up with her being "footy" prior to it becoming any severer - it actually also helps allergies being managed in this way as the grass seems to upset those more when she is on it as she is moody with too much grass!

...though I wonder if you stable anyway for allergies?
 
I would go by what your farrier says, if he thinks it's worth a try then go ahead...6 weeks will definitely give you some idea.

However one point of warning in my mare who had lami/LGL she did go more noticeably footy barefoot. In a way it was a good thing as she would go footy with LGL before she would have done with fronts on so I could catch it/trat it early however it did mean she was footy more often then she was when shod in front. (hope that makes sense!)

Anyway definitely worth a try especially if you have a farrier willing to help.
 
she will have been lami free for 2 years in april :D no episodes at all since we moved yards, which is a great starting point! i also suspect most horses will be footy when the shoes are removed and its not neccessarily LGL, in the same way that most horses are tetchy on pointy gravel - because it's not nice!

her fronts are ok, can get a bit dry/crumbly round the nail holes but definitely not in a dire state at all (thanks to our fantastic farrier!!).

i'll give it a go i think, worst case it goes wrong and shoes would come back on, nothing to lose really!
 
I'd be inclined to either stick with shoeing or get hoof boots given she goes footy when she loses a shoe.

I'm planning on having my EP take Nelly's shoes off and trim her on the 6th January when she's next out for the ponies as Nelly's constantly losing shoes and I'm getting fed up of taking time off work for the farrier. I am however ordering hoof boots for her to make the transition as easy for her as possible.
 
not sure if she would still be footy if she lost a shoe now, she hasnt lost one in years :redface:

i just don't like hoofboots much, they're too faffy, especially if its muddy all the time and everywhere in winter, i wouldnt want any dirt getting trapped/chafing. and ive seen some fall off mid-ride ... just not convinced at all ...
 
They are but doubt they would go small enough for angel - although silver may just have abnormally small feet... but smallest size were like wellies on her... LOL

I dont trust the boots - but that might change if we could get some to fit - we have had them come off just riding on grass - and for us it negates the effect of no shoes - she doesnt pick her feet up again and stumbles
 
I have a strong suspicion given her history that you will find that she's footy whenever the grass is growing, that was my experience with the chronic lami loan pony we had. If you're not prepared to think about boots then it's possible that you'd be better off leaving things as they are.

A horse or pony won't ever fully 'transition' if they have ongoing LGL/L issues, however much conditioning you do or however long you give it.
 
Yann said:
I have a strong suspicion given her history that you will find that she's footy whenever the grass is growing, that was my experience with the chronic lami loan pony we had. If you're not prepared to think about boots then it's possible that you'd be better off leaving things as they are.

A horse or pony won't ever fully 'transition' if they have ongoing LGL/L issues, however much conditioning you do or however long you give it.
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Yann... sorry have to disagree - with right management they can - but its whether the pros outweigh the cons...

Madam is 110% over everything when has grass taken out of diet in summer - she is footy within hours if she is allowed extensive munching (say for an hour plus). We don't even own boots (can't get them to fit)

Its a lot of restriction on her part, and I feel awful doing it - but thats the way it works - this summer they had a 20x10m area which was just mud - I want to set up a track this summer as per paddock paradise. I fed hay and a vit/min supp to support.

The hassle of doing this outweigh the benefits for many - making shoeing a much more viable option - but for us it works in our situation - it seems to have a double effect on her allergies, as she seems to have that "post christmas dinner" feeling permenantly when on the grass - it makes her much more lethargic, itchy and generally grumpy - taking her off the grass seems to calm this, even though she has her freedom greatly restricted. I also don't want to shoe her as she trips a lot when shod (same in boots).

We have transitioned without boots and apart from the first two months (I think she probably had lami when her shoes came off which was masked by shoes) and when the spring grass came up and I hadnt realised how quickly she was affected by it, we have *touch wood* had no instances of footyness. I also have to pay a lot of gratitude to my trimmer who really has helped with correcting her foot shape and giving lots of advice and help.

Interestingly though she still has lots of event lines up her feet, despite having a constant (ish) diet through summer - just shows how metabolically "challenged" she is with her feet - sorry off track... just find it interesting!
 
Yann... sorry have to disagree - with right management they can
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That was my point too - but if you can't or won't provide that management then it's not going to work, or it's going to be a struggle at best :)
 
quick update on this one! thursday is 'D - Day', thats if i dont chicken out ...

@ yann - she hasnt had any LGL episodes for almost two years now (since we moved yards which completelty changed her management and type of grass she is on) and has been living out 24/7 (muzzled one summer, the second summer i just exercised her pretty much every day and no muzzle was needed) on 40 acres of very rough hillside grazing (chalk ground, rather stony in places)
 
Funny you are doing this as Joy's shoes were pulled a couple of weeks back as she's been turned away for winter now.

I did a half assed attempt a couple of years back to go barefoot but I wasn't prepared with oofboots and not really fully commited so it was never going to work.

This time I'll have hoof boots ready when I want to bring her back into work and will make a proper go of it. Not having boots last time was a mistake. Some people call it 'footy' I call it 'pain' and that's not something I want my Joy to experience again. I am all for the reasoning behind barefoot and certainly am of the opinion that I think a barefoot hoof is better for the the horse than a shod one but only if the horse is comfortable and you can manage them properly.

My little companion pony is barefoot but then he's a field ornament and always been barefoot.
 
Mine is barefoot and has never been shod. She has brilliant hooves and feet though and is not at all footy. She struggles a bit with very rocky ground, but we just avoid it where possible :)
 
@ yann - she hasnt had any LGL episodes for almost two years now (since we moved yards which completelty changed her management and type of grass she is on) and has been living out 24/7 (muzzled one summer, the second summer i just exercised her pretty much every day and no muzzle was needed) on 40 acres of very rough hillside grazing (chalk ground, rather stony in places)
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It won't need to show up as an episode to affect her, you often just end up with a horse that's otherwise OK but footy to varying degrees. Your location and management sound ideal, it's just a matter of giving it a go now. Good luck :)
 
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