Slightly lame barefoot horse.

Waikato Valuta

Waikato Valuta

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Aug 8, 2002
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Can anyone help me with this.

I have a TB who is lame. Not super lame but just a little. My Instructor thinks he si foot sore because he has no shoes. He has been shoeless for right on a year but has not been worked in tat time and has been out in a soft paddock.

He is lame when turning sharp corners and on hard rocky ground. Otherwise he is perfectly smooth.

If it is just because he is not used to working with bare feet then what can I do about it? I don’t really want to put shoes back on.

Or do you think it could be something else?
 
Hi there, Max is shod but in the summer when the ground was super hard his feet got a little bruised and sore, I used Keratex hardener on his soles and it sure helped him :)
 
Have you done any conditioning work with him in that time? If you haven't then his feet won't be conditioned for harder/stony ground. It's achievable but you need to put in the time and effort to condition the feet properly.

If it is just that he needs some more conditioning work then you could use hoof boots to ride in in the interim but you'll still need to do the conditioning as well. I'd advise you to speak to your trimmer and see what they say.

Another thing to check for is thrush and WLD as it's more likely to make them a bit 'footy' if they're barefoot. One of the reasons that barefooters tend to become barefoot anoraks is that it's very important to keep on top of thrush and any infections in the hoof as it does have more of an effect on the horse than if they're in shoes. Another thing to consider is for low grade laminitis.

There are some good discussions on the barefoot forum of Enlightened Equitation about conditioning, infections and laminitis.

Personally I'd prefer to use conditioning work for the feet up rather than Keratex or other products (and wouldn't use Keratex anyway after the way their MD, Colin Reeves has been going around spouting all kinds of rubbish about barefoot :mad: ).
 
Hi there

If it is just because he is not used to working with bare feet then what can I do about it? I don’t really want to put shoes back on.
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There is always the option of Old Macs boots or something similar for when you are working him.

Or do you think it could be something else?
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This would be difficult to answer on a forum and I can only tell you of my experience with a similar problem. When Ash was intermittently lame when turning and appeared foot sore on stoney ground (he is barefoot) after about 18 months of not being ridden, I called my farrier. My farrier checked his feet and they were fine, but he did have a general look at his balance. He viewed him front on and from his back view, pointed out to me that Ash's muscles behind his rump (his backside cheeks) were uneven (one side was bigger than the other) and from the front, one side of his chest was bigger (diagonally opposite to his rear). He also noticed his temple appeared very slightly swollen and he felt he had a TMJ (jaw joint) problem and recommended I sought an equine dentist to check his teeth. Luckily my vet is also an equine dentist so I called him out. He checked his teeth and mechanically floated his back teeth. Apparently Ash had a malocclusion of his teeth which caused strain on his TMJ. To try and compensate for the pain he favoured the opposite diagonal to move about, this caused muscle attrition on the diagonal that was not being used. So when he was ridden and turned to the right he was in pain. The treatment fixed his problem and with a bit of work on the unused diagonal he is now perfectly fine.

Of course this may not apply to your horse, but it proves that lameness may not necessarily be caused by a hoof or leg problem. If I were you I would call your farrier to have a look at your horse's feet to see if it is just tender feet.

I hope I've been of some help.
 
Thanks for your replies.

I have not done any conditioning, can you give me a link to a page with info about this.

He is turned out in a 17 acre paddock with 3 other horses. They have a dam and the ground is anything from rocky to soft depending on where they are.

I only see him on the weekend so I don’t know if I could implement a conditioning program.

willumau: I had his teeth done 2 months ago, and said everything was fine. I also has a masseur come and look at him and she could not see anything. No muscles deterioration or anything.

He if fine to pick his feet up and is the same in both directions. My trainer thinks it's nothing but I'm worried.
 
THESE are the barefoot forums, there are loads of discussions on there about practically everything barefoot, there are also quite of few trimmers on there and though they won't be able to give you specific advice unless they've seen your boy, they'll be able to offer a few suggestions.
 
when one of my horse was intimittently lame she was fine out in the field but after a spell indoors on concrete she went lame when turning corners. My other horse was the opposite, hobbled in from the field on three legs but after being on concrete he wasn't so bad. Both had the same problem though... When turning in their good area they would stumble. My mare (1st horse above) then was lame on concrete too. Had the vet out to second horse (he showed signs first) and vet thought it could be a hoof absess but he used testers and had no reaction. No treatment and it cleared up itself. We think the absess was under the sole and it burst out near the white line.
Mare started showing signs after all this and there was a definite pulse on the heel and hot feet. farrier was due out so he performed an "emergency" search on her hoof and dug a hole for it to come out.
Is there any heat in the hoof?
 
mayoguinness said:
My horse is barefoot and has been for the 3 years since I've had him! Last year he got quite lame and burst a few absecces for a couple of months but we just kept going and hes fine now, never sore on hard or soft! What sort of trim are you using?
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Me? barefoot trim :confused:
 
mayoguinness said:
No I meant Waikato Vauluta! Just read your post coss! You went to all that trouble for an absess??????? I knew my horse was going to absess becuase he started to go lame but I just let it burst and let it heal over and then he was fine again!!
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the absess was really deep... it wouldn't have burst out by itself, or i would have had a very lame horse for a very long time. Farrier dug til hoof bled and eventually the yuck came out after lots of poulticing and syringing. :eek:
Harry's burst on its own, didn't treat him, had the vet out but they didn't really do anything
 
Like others have said a horse's hooves will only condition themselves to surfaces they come in contact with. So if your horse has not been on anything except soft footing his hooves will not have "toughened up" or built callous to walk on anything but soft footing. Slowly start introducing him to harder/rougher surfaces for brief periods of time and eventually his hooves will begin to grow accustomed to them. After only a few months' conditioning Sugar was able to trot barefoot on gravel and tarmac without any problem whatsoever.

The Easyboot Bare horse boot is also a great way of keeping a horse in work while transitioning to barefoot or conditioning barefoot hooves. Sugar wears hers only when we will be on hard surfaces for a long time. Since Chance just went barefoot he wears his whenever I ride him. Out in the pasture and when leading he is completely bare. The boots are easy to put on, work well, and cost very little considering how long they last. :)
 
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