Hi,
I am new to barefoot having recently bought a
youngster who has never been shod. However, she did have slightly neglected feet
with a lot of flare and overgrowth on the inside of the fronts but normal wear
on the outside, this had caused a toe crack in both front feet. After one
pasture trim with my farrier I have started caring for her feet
myself however, I am concerned that apart from a
little at the heels there never seems to be any wall growth. I am only using the
rasp to tidy up the outside edge of the walls, remove a little off the heels and
keep the remaining flare tidy on the insides. I can see improvement in her
stance and she is certainly sound on the road and gravel driveway. The toe
cracks are not getting any worse. She is currently ridden 2-3 times a week on
the road for 40-60 minutes each time and is out at grass the majority of the
time. I do bring her in for about 4 hours each afternoon. Her feet are quite
flat and I can see sole callous on them. She also is wearing the hoof wall at
the toe more, at first this was on the outside but now does seem to be becoming
more even. I am concerned that if I start to ride her more I will over wear her
feet and don't know how to tell if this is happening and if I need to use boots. I have always been used to seeing shod horses and it seems very strange to look
at her feet and see that she is clearly walking on a large area of her soles. I
know there is a ways to go with her feet. There is still a lot of misshaped hoof
on the inside walls that doesn't show in the pictures.
My main concerns are over wearing the feet, how to
keep them mustang rolled when they are already so short and whether boots will
cause unnecessary strain elsewhere if she doesn't really need them.
I have now pulled the shoes on my other horse and
am transitioning him in boots partly due to the fact that after riding the mare
barefoot I could feel every bone shaking step in the metal shoes but also
because her feet stood up to the wet winter mud so much better. In fact every
time I see a shod horse now the feet just look all wrong. He has to wear boots
because his feet are weak from shoeing but I don't like the bulkiness of them,
on the flat he strides out really well but going uphill they really seem to make
the pasterns clunk.
S
Hi S,
It
certainly sounds like you're on the right track with the horses and hooves. I
think you'd be happy with a pair of boots, especially if you insert a pad inside
that will massage and stimulate the soles and frog. There's some dome-shaped
comfort pads that EasyCare is currently testing. Click here to read how you can test out a pair of these new pads. I've noted a much faster return to
better form and function when using the pads inside the boots. Other than that,
it'll just take some more time for the hooves to toughen up. When it's
rainy/wet, make sure you've got an area the horses can keep out of the mud, as
standing in the wet will set you back. Also, over time the bones inside the
hooves will be positioned higher, allowing you to keep your toe roll in better
shape due to better solar concavity. Keep up the good work!
Dr.
TT
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