Re: horse losing shoes constantly in field

tatti said:

I am putting Kevin Bacon on at the moment to help with chipping, should I  be drying them out instead?

 

Ummmm - probably not the whole hoof, but the soles would need hardening, I would think......

I don't live anywhere near you so I don't know the barefoot trimmer, my farrier has managed our barefeet, all 16 of them, very well but I know some farriers are not so good with the barefoot idea. He has told me he reckons Cavallo boots are the best!

Good luck with your barefoot lady, I'm sure she'll have plenty of good advice to give :o)

feet

Bit worried tonight, his front feet are very very warm, back ones cold, to touch.  he is walking sound on concrete and charged down the track with his cavallo boots so, isnt lame etc. Shall see how he is tomorrow I guess, Yesterday, he had an absolute mad fit in the field, while wearing his boots and galloped around for a good 5 minutes followed by lots of trotting and cantering, he didnt like the horses in the field next to him, silly boy. I am wondering if he has just bruised his feet in the process. I am having a bare foot lady out on the 27th. He has lost a big piece on the bottom of his hoof today, he is almost self trimming, the old fragile hoof at the bottom is chipping off continually but, the hoof is now an uneven mess! - The farrier didnt trim when we had the shoes removed, as there wasnt much to take away as he has had the shoes put back on 8 times in the past month due to pulling them off in the field and he didnt want him to go lame, so said just monitor it etc. What a nightmare, I have never looked at a horses feet so much in the past week, its like an obsession. Thanks for the link, I shall have a look at it in a minute, after a large glass of wine!!! - Have been told to use Simple Systems feed by another barefoot down our yard, I have rung them up and they have prescribed lucie fibre cubes, alfa alfa, total eclipse formula which provides all necessary hoof supplements e.g. sea weed, ash, biotin, linseed, mag etc plus pure linseed.

Re: horse losing shoes constantly in field

I have been posting on my other contribution 'TB Going Barefoot - Piccies' but, was asked how things were going, via this link - so this is what is happening with regards to Spirit our Ex Racehorse who was constantly ripping off his shoes in the field. He is now 8 weeks into going barefoot, although it feels a lot longer! His feet were a bit of a mess, I was lucky if it made it past two weeks, once he pulled off the same shoe 5 times in 2 weeks! And he even wore two sets of over reach boots, he would often stand on the side of the shoe and pull it to one side and back, causing trauma.

He is still barefoot, I had a lovely lBFT out two week ago called  and we went through his diet, turnout out etc. His back feet are doing really well, they usually do cope more quickly than the fronts, but the front hooves have separation between the lines and the outer hoof wall is peeling off and up towards the better hoof. His feet have grown so much since we had the shoes taken off, a good inch of new growth at the top. We have altered his diet and taken away all sugar and also kept an eye on his grass intake. I have had to keep on top of thrush in his feet,  by scrubbing with diluted Milton, he also had a touch of seedy toe in one of his front feet. We have had to go up a size in his Cavallo Hoof Boots which is great, as it shows that his feet are growing. The Barefoot Trimmer was unable to take any growth away as he needs to grow out the bad hoof, the outer wall annd white line is so delicate and paper thin that if she rasped, he would be lame, although the feet dont look pretty, he is sound. He is ridden booted up in the grass field. Booted for hacking and also booted to get him to the field and back as its a farm yard track. The Cavallo boots are very easy to put on and off and we couldnt have gone barefoot without them. Its a case of wait and see how we get on, I am taking each day at a time. He is sound on concrete when walked around the yard, which is amazing when considering how lame he used to be when he lost a shoe and there is no heat. 

Re: horse losing shoes constantly in field

Hi Micki!

Starting to worry now, over the past few days, especially with the wet weather, the outer layer of the hoof has peeled away at an alarming rate right up to the old nail holes, thus exposing the inner layer which is sticking up like tobacco/straw at all angels, also lumps have started to come away from the bottom of the hooves and small cracks are appearing as well, he has grown his hoof rate so quickly over the past 3 weeks, its amazing, my bare foot trimmer wasnt due out until two weeks time and she was unable to do any trimming on her first visit last month as the outer hoof wall was paper thin from  rasping over the years plus he had no outer sole and she was worried that he would become lame if she interfered and just said, let him sort himself out etc and selft trim. Trouble is, one of the feet has the look of Donald Duck, its got so long. I spoke to her this morning and sent photos over via my mobile, she is coming out next week, but said that the outer layer will come away, its just how the bottom of the feet will cope and hopefully not collapse. He now looks worse than when we took the shoes off! - But, his feet are not hot and is walking sound accross the concrete yard without boots on.

Re: horse losing shoes constantly in field

Hi Micki, just joined and posted on there. thanks xx