Anyone feed mint?
- Thread starter Mary Poppins
- Start date
In my case it means stabling Ben all day but that depends on your grazing and other alternatives available. I don’t have access to a smaller paddock and we have lots of grass. I can’t section a bit of my field off to restrict his grazing so stabling is my only option. But yes, it does restrict movement and this is not good for arthritis.
This came up on my course and is apparently due to untreated laminitis. The laminitis causes the white line to expand and if no treatment is given the horse ends up with huge curly feet.
I can tell you this in a few months time as I watch how Ben’s feet develop.
But I don’t want to restrict grazing as this means feeding hay and restricts movement I want to see him running and playing. Not in a restricted paddock eating hay on the summer.
One minute turned out 24/7 is the best for horses now it’s remove shoes and restrict grazing.
@MrC mine refused cinnamon, brewers yeast and calmag. Initially she loved the natural Devils Claw and was eating it out of my hand, then went off it so I sourced it as a liquid. I am now looking for something for vit and mins that's not telling me to feed 40g that I then need to buy a feed to stop it blowing it out the bowl.
As I believe the hooves are the last to see the nutrition and if you horse lacks it elsewhere it's used up, I want general purpose for the whole horse.
Useless info for anyone but the horse produces its own biotin anyway and a lot of hoof supplements have it in, but the course I did said if you start adding it the horse stops making it.
40g probably isn't a lot but she's only being getting 10ml of Devils Claw that had a marked improvement and 5g of magnesium. So surely a supplement that's worth it's salt and does the job need not be a cake mix.
As I believe the hooves are the last to see the nutrition and if you horse lacks it elsewhere it's used up, I want general purpose for the whole horse.
Useless info for anyone but the horse produces its own biotin anyway and a lot of hoof supplements have it in, but the course I did said if you start adding it the horse stops making it.
40g probably isn't a lot but she's only being getting 10ml of Devils Claw that had a marked improvement and 5g of magnesium. So surely a supplement that's worth it's salt and does the job need not be a cake mix.
Well yes. On my course I said that I always thought that horses were supposed to eat grass 24/7 but the answer was that for many horses this gives them too much sugar. Especially on the fertilised paddocks we have on my yard. And yes, extra hay is advised instead of grass. All I know is it is working for us and I am happy to stable all day of it means he is sound.
I’ve never restricted Kia’s access to grass and he’s been rock crunching for years. I take what I want from info and think for myself. Blindly following this theory or that to me is just silly, you have to do what suits you and your horse.
No, what works best for an individual horse is what the owner goes with. Not all horses living in the same field will be the same. There is no right or wrong way.
The only reason I can see why you get told to change the diet and your management is without shoes the horse might show signs of being sore due to the sugar. But a sensitive hoof is a sensitive hoof and if your horse has an underlying health problem it's going to be foot sore.
To me not all horses can go unshod, I wouldn't blame someone's management if it couldn't.
Shoes in this instance protect the hoof that cannot manage without it.
@Mary Poppins You were stabling during the day anyway weren't you? And turning out at night in the muzzle fit weight management. Or has something changed a bit, is he on box rest at the moment?
Kia won’t touch brewers yeast either, he prefers apple cider vinaeger, I never found feeding loads of mag helpful at all.
I feed him rock salt or sea salt but that’s also as he doesn’t drink enough sometimes.
I would dispute that actually. In all the cases of rescue horses and ponys I have seen with long curly feet not one of them had laminitis or any sign of laminitis. Obviously I am sure there are neglected ponys out there that will have distorted hoof growth and have laminitis but that is not always or even usually the case.
Frankly if they had been left so long with laminitis as the length and curl of their hooves would indicate, then they would be dead or at the very least the coffin bone sticking out of the sole of the foot with no option other than to euthanize immediately?
I would say it is far more likely caused purely by total neglect and no opportunity to self trim - very often these particular rescues are found shut in sheds for months or years or on inappropriate soft grassland with no intervention to help with the growth of their hooves.
I could write a book about the different ways I have managed Ben’s weight over the years. I haven’t muzzled him for 3 years now, the increase in exercise was enough to bring his weight down, until this year obviously!
Now this is the real question! Do shoes protect the hoof? Or do they restrict the horses movement?
Ben was lame with shoes on. His right fore was consistently lame for 6 months, maybe longer. Yes the shoe may have protected the hoof in some ways but it also constricted the hoof by forcing him to distribute his weight in a certain way. With no shoe, and no trimming, his foot has developed a medial flare which looks ‘wrong’ to the textbooks but it means he can support his weight in the way that he needs. He is no longer lame (as far as I can tell anyway). His shoes may have physically protected the bottom of his hoof, but they also restricted his movement. He moves much better without the shoes.
Yes I’m some instances shoes protect the foot. You may find that Ben will not cope with a workload as you are transitioning him on rehab so the foot is not getting a ridden stimulus. So he will be paddock sound essentially however when he is in work the foot may not cope.
Kia has shoes on as he was in work and despite the slow building workload his feet didn’t cope. So set of shoes and bang he’s sound. These will come off in oct and be his last set.
Forget the textbooks. What something looks like isn't important, how a horse moves and whether they are sound is.
Feel is more important than fact.
As riders we get told the correct position is the classical seat. But we all ride as best we can - what's comfortable and what our body allows.
The horse grows a hoof in a way it needs to support itself based on its terrain, build, workload and probably how we sit.
If the horse is sound in shoes, use shoes, if they are sound without, don't. There doesn't have to be a question.
If Ben wasnt as lame as he is you wouldn't even have considered removing the shoes.
That doesn't matter, being sound is.
If mine suddenly had issues she would get shoes. You could say they then protect, or my management is the problem, or my workload is more than she can manage. The problem though is she isn't sound.
I have been wanting to take his shoes off for years but I didn’t do it. I guess I was scared of change and scared of making him sore if I did it. So it took him being lame for me to proceed as I had nothing to lose. I wish I had done it years ago.
While Ben being ill has been horrible, it has taught me so much about horse care, ailments and made me question everything I thought was ‘fact’ about keeping horses.
The thread is interesting and poised some good questions nearly doubting the way I have kept my horses for the last twenty plus years.
Now I am all for change and very open to new ideas but the very thought of going from 24:7 turn for a health horse to restricted turned out in order to remove shoes on a horse that neither loses shoes or had balance issues in order that I can feel better because it’s the way nature intended to me is madness as nature never intended me to get on his back I’m rhe first place potential causing issues as I am sure with out me whether he is 100% sound or not will not effect him in the slightest
Now I am all for change and very open to new ideas but the very thought of going from 24:7 turn for a health horse to restricted turned out in order to remove shoes on a horse that neither loses shoes or had balance issues in order that I can feel better because it’s the way nature intended to me is madness as nature never intended me to get on his back I’m rhe first place potential causing issues as I am sure with out me whether he is 100% sound or not will not effect him in the slightest
I think UK pasture is too rich for many horses to be on 24/7. So they are restricted one way or another - track systems, muzzling, restricted turnout, whatever. Mine aren't in that category and have always been out 24/7 most of the year. I am reluctant to change that for same reason as OBC really. I like them to play, groom, graze, mooch around. So that's something I need to weigh up carefully. I'd love to sort out a track system but not sure what YO would think!
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