some barefoot and hoof boot advice wanted!

Cremola Foam

Cremola Foam

Well-Known Member
Jan 11, 2005
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Scotland
Hind foot (been bare as long as I've had him, not sure how much longer than that, but 2 1/2 yrs +) he is self trimming, farrier never has to take anything off or run the rasp round.



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Two photos above are of his front foot, bare for 10 days.





I'm thinking of trying P barefoot again (he was barefoot up until spring '13 when he had a mysterious lameness that was eventually put down to stone bruising. I don't know how long he was barefoot before I got him in June '12) I had his shoes taken off 10 days ago as I'm not riding much at the moment and am now debating trying him barefoot again.

I've had him out 3x since his shoes came off. He's been fine on roads, mud, grass, firm tracks and grit but over stones he is outchie. (I have been avoiding very stoney tracks so am limited to where we can ride at the moment, but that's fine as we're only going out once or twice a week really.) the ride we mainly do is a small amount of road work, over a slightly stoney track (which he is fine on, he just is carful) then onto firm footing with the occasional softer bit and small areas of slightly stoney track. (I thought this would be good for conditioning his feet as its only short bits of stones, like a couple strides then back to firm or softish going. Am I right??)

As I am concidering persevering with the barefoot I am concidering boots for him so we can do longer rides come the spring (all our longer rides have sections of stoney paths - we live in quite a stoney area!) He is fine on his back feet over all terrain, I've never had him shod behind so his hinds are great! (A reason I'm concidering barefoot, his hinds look much better than his fronts!) if boots are used to help the conditioning/transition period how do you use them? Do you slowly start to use them less and less (wean them off the boots) as their feet improve/white line tightens, or do you just always use boots when riding over rough terrain? I'm thinking if I was doing the route I am currently riding, then he wouldn't wear boots as he is currently managing that route reasonably well (as in fine, appart from getting a touch footie on the short stoney sections, but there is grass at either side of the track so I can move him over if he gets too sore) and then boot him if we were going further afield or over the stonier tracks.

Boot wise I was thinking Cavallo simple boots (I have measured his feet and these appear to be the bette shape for him) or easy boot originals. I need to re measure his feet to get an exact mm as I used the cavallo measure guide thing that comes with the boots - B has a pair of sports, size 2 but they are nowhere near going to fit P who also measured at a 2, would that be because of the different shape of boot?)

Also, diet wise wondering if there is anything I need to change. He currently gets adlib haylage (I can't change this as it is virtually impossible to get hold of large round bales of hay here, and also I share my field and the girl I share with wants to feed haylage, although I might approach her again about trying hay in th new year) appart from that he eats half a scoop of molichaff calmer, a scoop of naf vits and mins, magnatude (need to get more as have run out! I use it as a calmer although I believe magnesium is good for their feet?) and a digestive suppliment that I am thinking of changing to pink powder (he gets this as the haylage has given him a bit of a nasty botty! (Hence trying to get girl I share field with to swap to hay)

I have some piccies of his hooves so will attatch them (they may appear at the beginning of this thread as my iPad is a bit like that! Mind of its own! Lol!)

Thank you if you read all the way through that!
 
The underside of his fronts don't look to bad to me, you can already see where they are growing straighter from the coronet, so any flare should grow out. If he is coping ok I personally would try without the boots and just go over stoney areas with care until he looks like he might be coping better, if you want to do long rides and he still isn't coping with the stones, then get him some boots.
 
My 2 are barefoot and I put boots on when needed .
I was riding a friends horse with cavallo when Andi was out of comission.
Unless they have changed the cavallo were horrible to get the little strap thru the keeper and she managed to overstep or something and
pop one off during a ride .
I first used boa on mine and they were decent but the tighten up"wire" broke when at a park for a ride .
Another rider there told me about Easyboot Gloves- she had them and I got them and LOVE them
They are lasting wonderfully and go on easy enough- you do need good fit -- you do need to first get the "fit Kit"
it gives 3 sizes the one you think you need and then one up and one down
you try all 3 send the kit back then order the correct fit.
 
I would persevere without boots for now as a) he might not need them and b) his feet will change a lot over the next couple of trimmings and you may end up with boots too big pretty quickly and as he is coping with what you're doing now okay I'd give his feet a chance to sort themselves out.
Your routes sound good for conditioning, I wish we had some like that round here. I still use Jess's boots in the summer as doing much more work, she's coping with light work at the moment fine without them. In the summer I go without for short or rides where I know there aren't rough bits, for long rides I often start out with them on then do the last 3-5 miles without the to maintain conditioning, then I just hang them from my saddle, if I'm undecided I'll take them on my saddle then I have them if I need them but I think the general idea is to wean them off them.
 
I have boots for if and when. Only used maybe three times on the fronts. But you can guarantee I would need if didn't have. :rolleyes:
I have Easy boot Trail, having had Boa, Gloves and Cavallo.

Get some hoof testers, very useful piece of kit.
I would wait on the boots as the feet will change shape a fair bit yet. If you then think you might need a pair they fit into the stowaway saddlebags do you can just take in case.
I dont feed anything apart from a carrot, apple with gp supp, salt and equine America magnesium-cheaper and feed less of.
 
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Thank you all for your advice. I think I will see how we go at the moment, what with the weather (lots of ice!) I've not managed to ride since Boxing Day! So we're not going to be going all that far afield at the moment anyway. Hopefully he won't need them, but I like the idea of having some boots just incase. I'll have a look and see which ones I like the look of and sound suitable for him, and start saving! Lol!
 
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Very simple to put on, they adjust and do up with velcro. Fit into a saddle bag and not too high as she has feathers.
 
Well for two days now Tobes has been out in the field in his Cavallo Simple Boots as it has been rock hard and he was not happy out on rock hard clods of earth which hurt his newly transititioning bare feet the first day.

Small child (yard owners) told me that when she took the dogs for a walk Tobes was cantering about in the field because his two shod next door neighbours decided to have a fit!

Boots stayed on, he crunched over the icy clods with them both last night and tonight with no problem and I am really impressed with them. Have led himout in hand with them twice and he is very happy in them.
 
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Cremola Foam said:
Hind foot (been bare as long as I've had him, not sure how much longer than that, but 2 1/2 yrs +) he is self trimming, farrier never has to take anything off or run the rasp round.



View attachment 74886
View attachment 74887 View attachment 74888 View attachment 74889

Two photos above are of his front foot, bare for 10 days.





I'm thinking of trying P barefoot again (he was barefoot up until spring '13 when he had a mysterious lameness that was eventually put down to stone bruising. I don't know how long he was barefoot before I got him in June '12) I had his shoes taken off 10 days ago as I'm not riding much at the moment and am now debating trying him barefoot again.

I've had him out 3x since his shoes came off. He's been fine on roads, mud, grass, firm tracks and grit but over stones he is outchie. (I have been avoiding very stoney tracks so am limited to where we can ride at the moment, but that's fine as we're only going out once or twice a week really.) the ride we mainly do is a small amount of road work, over a slightly stoney track (which he is fine on, he just is carful) then onto firm footing with the occasional softer bit and small areas of slightly stoney track. (I thought this would be good for conditioning his feet as its only short bits of stones, like a couple strides then back to firm or softish going. Am I right??)

As I am concidering persevering with the barefoot I am concidering boots for him so we can do longer rides come the spring (all our longer rides have sections of stoney paths - we live in quite a stoney area!) He is fine on his back feet over all terrain, I've never had him shod behind so his hinds are great! (A reason I'm concidering barefoot, his hinds look much better than his fronts!) if boots are used to help the conditioning/transition period how do you use them? Do you slowly start to use them less and less (wean them off the boots) as their feet improve/white line tightens, or do you just always use boots when riding over rough terrain? I'm thinking if I was doing the route I am currently riding, then he wouldn't wear boots as he is currently managing that route reasonably well (as in fine, appart from getting a touch footie on the short stoney sections, but there is grass at either side of the track so I can move him over if he gets too sore) and then boot him if we were going further afield or over the stonier tracks.

Boot wise I was thinking Cavallo simple boots (I have measured his feet and these appear to be the bette shape for him) or easy boot originals. I need to re measure his feet to get an exact mm as I used the cavallo measure guide thing that comes with the boots - B has a pair of sports, size 2 but they are nowhere near going to fit P who also measured at a 2, would that be because of the different shape of boot?)

Also, diet wise wondering if there is anything I need to change. He currently gets adlib haylage (I can't change this as it is virtually impossible to get hold of large round bales of hay here, and also I share my field and the girl I share with wants to feed haylage, although I might approach her again about trying hay in th new year) appart from that he eats half a scoop of molichaff calmer, a scoop of naf vits and mins, magnatude (need to get more as have run out! I use it as a calmer although I believe magnesium is good for their feet?) and a digestive suppliment that I am thinking of changing to pink powder (he gets this as the haylage has given him a bit of a nasty botty! (Hence trying to get girl I share field with to swap to hay)

I have some piccies of his hooves so will attatch them (they may appear at the beginning of this thread as my iPad is a bit like that! Mind of its own! Lol!)

Thank you if you read all the way through that!
Click to expand...

Quite a bulge from the coronet band onto the hoof. Does that indicate white line issues? Personally I would put him on a barefoot diet - unmollassed sugar beet with a good hoof balancer - something like Prohoof from Ebay and put him on hay.

Think Mollichaff is fairly high in mollasses - (the molli being the clue - therefore sugar) and think it makes quite a difference to unshod feet. Pro Hoof also contains Yea Sacc which is good for digestion. Have never been that big of a Naf fan personally and their balancer includes iron which is very high anyway in UK and knocks out copper and zinc which you need for hooves. Magnitude is just magnesium oxide with an expensive price tag, and you may be better off feeding the Pro Hoof.
 
sjp1 said:
Why didn't you like the Cavallo NF? Have to say haven't ridden in them.
Click to expand...

I just found them to be really slippery on our hills. It could have been because they didn't suit his feet. The gloves were fan and I was able to have two different sizes as sold singular.
 
Another vote for Easyboot Gloves - Cavallos have a very poor tread and are slippery. I now use Old Mac G2s on Josh's fronts, but hope to slowly transition to barefoot completely and Gloves on his hinds (which may have to stay as he has a horn tumour and may not be able to go barefoot full time.). He gets turned out on concrete and gravel track for a couple of hours each day and is nearly self trimming.

As for feed, he's on a nearly bf diet- damp hayledge, Allen and Page Cool and Collected, Speedybeet, supplements of magnesium, glucosamine & msm copper and Baileys no 14.

He's a 25year old I'D, 17'3 and hasn't felt this good since he was hunting 8 years ago. I ride almost every day. This barefoot lark seems to really suit him.

Oops, forgot to mention the Turmeric, Micronised Linseed & Black Pepper, I take it too & it helps my old bones, so hope it helps him too!
 
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