We may be going barefoot - at least for a while!

sjp1

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Sep 14, 2009
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Farrier was due this morning. He hadn't arrived 15 mins after our appointment so rang him. His sidekick hadn't arrived (young and he is very bad at getting out of bed!). Had a chat with older main farrier about Tobes tendon injury and said maybe leave backs off.

He said leave them all off and he will come next Friday morning.

Am now anxious!!! Tobes doesn't cope well with stones when he looses a shoe AT ALL, and I do like to bring him up to the yard (via a stoney track) most days am and pm.

Have decided maybe hoofboots maybe the way forward. Then I could lead him downonto the tarmac and take boots off and walk him along tarmac on the road to harden his feet off as well as up the yard via another stoney track.

Am thinking Cavallo simple boots look the cheapest and easiest way forward?
 
I love my cavellos, they are so handy to have down the line too. You might find he surprises you, when we got M the typical TB we were told he couldn't cope without fronts and they recently put backs on as he wasn't coping, we pulled his shoes and rode 10 miles the next day, we avoided the really bad stones but he coped admirably
 
Oh good, you have Cavellos, and they are OK. They looked the simplest to put on and off. Shall have a measure of his feet and get some in preparation. Don't think I want farrier to take anything off hoof or sole when he comes on Friday as it might make him sore, so measurements should be OK do you think?
 
I have my farrier leave a bit of foot and leave the sole and frog well alone.
I had boa's before and the cavellos are so much easier to get on and ive never had a problem with them moving even in the river and sticky mud. The simple and sport boots have slightly different fits, jess has simples as she has very round feet. I measured her and ordered a 3 to start but found they were a little sloppy on her, viovet were great though and I returned them to swap for a 2 which fits great.
 
Farrier was due this morning. He hadn't arrived 15 mins after our appointment so rang him. His sidekick hadn't arrived (young and he is very bad at getting out of bed!). Had a chat with older main farrier about Tobes tendon injury and said maybe leave backs off.

He said leave them all off and he will come next Friday morning.

Am now anxious!!! Tobes doesn't cope well with stones when he looses a shoe AT ALL, and I do like to bring him up to the yard (via a stoney track) most days am and pm.

Have decided maybe hoofboots maybe the way forward. Then I could lead him downonto the tarmac and take boots off and walk him along tarmac on the road to harden his feet off as well as up the yard via another stoney track.

Am thinking Cavallo simple boots look the cheapest and easiest way forward?

Hi, I have cavallo simple boots for my shetland and they are great but i was advised by my trimmer to get my ridden horse the easyboot trail, which I did and have found it just as easy to put on as the Cavallo but it is a lot lighter and not as clumpy...My boy was pulling off his shoes by standing on the insides and ripping the shoe off along with hoof!! his feet were a mess so i decided to try him barefoot. His hooves looked horrendous at the start with all the missing bits and they started to crack and chip below the nail holes, he is now barefoot 4 weeks today and he is able to walk, trot and canter in field no problem and walk and trot on tarmac but i have a very stoney yard to cross which he finds ouchy so hcnce the boots... so all in all i would prefer the easyboot trail as it is lightweight compared to the Cavallo.
 
Cavallos arrived this afternoon, so we had a trying on session during tea tonight! I am right in assuming they should be a snug fit?

He was much happier on the stones on the track with them on, so shall put them on tomorrow and try to walk him up the track to the yard for supper.

He was quite helpful with the plastic bag on foot and standing with the boot on a bag so they didn't get dirty.

After feet have hardened and are regularly trimmed, do they become larger or smaller?
 
Shall look at easyboot trails when we finally get back to riding. Think this tendon is going to be a long haul, so have plenty of time!!
 
Yeah they are pretty snug or they just slop around. I find Jess's feet become much rounder as the foot develops, or maybe I should say proportionately rounder as the toe becomes shorter ( she gets very long toes in shoes).
 
Oh good! Tobes does have round feet, but has some flare. He grows a lot of foot so I had him re-shod every 5 weeks.

Am going to learn to rasp myself I think - she says confidently, having no idea!!! But there should be plenty of instruction internet wise I would guess? I suspect little and often is far better than a big trim every five weeks?
 
Yes I find doing one or two 'tidy up' jobs between vists really helps and once you get the hang of it its not to big of a job. If you know a welder get them to make you a little tripod foot stand, it makes it much easier and realyy saves your back (and knees and fingers when you rasp them by accident [emoji4] )
 
This pic is jess after 3 sets of shoes.... (This was half way through pulling them off the far foot just trimmed)
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It depends on how his feet are now. Smaller overall is what I have found, but usually the heels decontract and the toes shorten... Madam has perfectly round feet 100x100mm!

If he is sensitive, then little and often I think as too much might leave him sore. Again depending on his feet, but I would probably do an I tensive thrush campaign too :)
 
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Good thinking PFB, shall do so. What do you use for thrush?

Wow Jessey, what a different foot. What made you go for shoes in the first place? Tobes has been in shoes for at least 6 years. So far he is fine in the field with no shoes. I put his boots on once he is out on the track when I feed him. He seems much more confident with his boots on now and happily steps out over the stones so he obviously realises that the boots are good on stones. I noticed he trotted down the field when I had removed his boots after he had supper tonight, and he didn't trip at all. I am very much hoping that when we move back to the farm as we are on a quiet back road, I can lead him out barefoot on the road to harden his feet up. I might even try at my current yard, he is good in traffic, but it is very fast and whilst thats OK whilst I am riding, I am a bit concerned about leading him in it.
 
I put the shoes on earlier this year for our 130 mile ride as I was worried I might get rubs with the boots over big distances day after day, she had 3 sets on the front and 2 on the back just because I wanted her to have a little time to get used to the extra weight.
Honestly she couldn't have done the ride with no protection as some bits of 10 miles plus were awful going but I regret putting shoes on, I'm going to invest in gaiters and hopefully next time we'll just do it in boots.
 
Go you!!! I have to say, her feet look so much better before the shoes - really that does show the difference. How long had she gone with those shoes on?

I asked my farrier who is probably one of the best around why Tobes had some flare in his hoof when he took his shoes off. He said if he was being re-shod, he would take that flare off, but as he was taking his shoes off it would make him sore to do so. Tobes is shod every five weeks because I had an ex racer who had dreadful feet and I had to have him PTS because of his feet, so am quite anal about shoeing.

This isn't right that Tobes has flare in his foot. I know that the grazing he is on is completely out of whack mineral wise which doesn't help, and we will move back to the farm soon and I will make it right, but it gobsmacked me when I went yesterday with fellow livery to look at a horse that her daughter has bought and she said it had good feet. It had awful feet with an unbelievable amount of flare and it was shod. What can you say?!!
 
Those had been on 7 weeks, that farrier won't be returning as I had asked him to pull them at 4 weeks and he somehow forgot us even though I text and called him every other day, something to do with him having been trying to convince me to shoe for the last year I think!
Bo used to get flare barefoot unless I did tidy ups in between farrier trims, he just grew so much foot and had super tough feet so didn't wear enough off to keep it in check, when he was shod he was done every 5 weeks and would grow out his nail holes each time :eek:
 
Must take some pics of Tobes feet, am terrible at photos. Shall try to remember am!
 
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