Do you still ride? Use a boot? Wait for the farrier? Turn out with a boot?
Whats the footing? Snow, no. Grass paddock, yes.
Is the hoof torn up? Duct tape and a diaper.
Light hack in the indoor with the hoof taped up. No cantering.
Get farrier asap.
Depends.
If it is a back shoe and the hoof wall isn’t torn you could wrap it. And you may be able to ride as long as the horse isn’t off.
If it’s the front you can wrap it but most riders I know won’t ride until the farrier can get out to put the shoe back on.
You can also try using some kind of boot.
If the shoe just fell off because the clinches were loose you probably don’t need to wrap it unless you want to ride.
But if the shoe was torn off there may be hoof wall missing and you would probably want to wrap it and not ride. This is so the farrier will hopefully have enough hoof wall to the shoe back on.
Do call the farrier.
Hope this helps.
I just pull the other shoe and do some easy rides (i.e. w/t/c + walk around the pastures for a while) until the farrier has time for us in his schedule. My pony shows a sensitivity to stones/big gravel but is otherwise fine without shoes. My answer would be different if my pony was more shoe-sensitive or if there’s major damage to the remaining hoof.
Depends.
My Red has corrective shoes on the front. If he bends or pulls a shoe on the front, he does not get ridden until it is fixed. (my farrier usually can get me in pretty quick for something like that)
If he pulls a hind and the hoof is fine, I’ll still ride him until I can get it repaired (but again, my farrier can get me in pretty quick) But I won’t compete with a missing shoe.
If I “need” to ride the horse (upcoming show, clinic, or some other pressure that leaves me feeling like a day off at that point would be detrimental), then yes, I will boot the foot and ride. I never jump and I keep the ride relatively light. If it’s a hind foot, I’ll often ride without wrapping or booting. But regardless of what I do riding-wise, I will do an “abscess wrap” (epsom salt paste, diaper, vet wrap, duct tape) for turnout and leave that in place until the farrier can get there. Sometimes I’ll ride in that wrap as well, but my arena is coarse sand, and so it almost always wears through the wrap. Hence the boot for most riding activity.
After many years of dealing with it this way, I recently decided that I was tired of having to wait for a farrier to put a shoe back on, and now I put shoes back on myself. Though if the foot was torn up, this would be a no-go and I would be back to waiting for the farrier for that.
Front shoes, I will not ride as I don’t want to risk the foot getting more torn up. Hind, I might ride…depends on the horse and his feet. I will usually boot the foot with the missing shoe to protect it or wrap it up with diaper and duct tape. I’m kind of off the beaten path so it might be several days for my farrier to get here, so wrapping or booting for protection is necessary for protection as I have a lot of gravel around and sand arena (both of which can be hard on the newly bare hoof).
I love that the horse I show is barefoot still. I hope she can stay that way long term!
My gelding has problem feet. We actually took him barefoot (with heavy use of boots for protection) for about 3 years, and he got extremely frequent trims to gradually and gently reshape his hooves into a healthy shape. His feet are now able to hold shoes well, possibly for the first time since he was on the track. That said, we have Easyshoes on him and they are thick and he plays hard in turnout. The farrier is hopefully there today, two weeks after the initial plan when he had a neighbor pass away and got sick, so hasn’t been back yet. I was certain that at 8 weeks he’d pull his shoes, but they are still there. Pulling the other and riding in boots would be an option for him, but because it’s very wet right now and he has never become comfortable during wet weather even with boots until we put the shoes on him, I would not ride him. If it were dry, he would most likely be fine without any shoes, as these shoes have actually made it so his feet are improving even more.
It depends on condition of the hoof, historical problems, and footing. Typically, I will at least ride at a walk for exercise and turnout depending on weather. If you are worried about the hoof chipping up, put on a boot or at least duct tape it. Keep in mind duct tape can be slippery.
It depends on the horse. Some can be ridden just fine without a shoe, some cannot. As a farrier I always appreciate someone who wraps the foot to try to keep it from busting up until I can replace the shoe. But why oh why do people pull the perfectly good shoe?!? That makes no sense and makes more work for me.
[QUOTE=malinda;9012058]
It depends on the horse. Some can be ridden just fine without a shoe, some cannot. As a farrier I always appreciate someone who wraps the foot to try to keep it from busting up until I can replace the shoe. But why oh why do people pull the perfectly good shoe?!? That makes no sense and makes more work for me.[/QUOTE]
I mean. I pull the opposite shoe because I want to minimize the time that my horses are spending in a crooked stance. I know how I feel when I lose the little cap thing on my heels-- and I hate it a lot.
Yeah, I know that it means that my farrier has to replace 2 shoes instead of one. But I don’t have on-demand farrier service; I may have to wait a week or more before I can get fit in the schedule. So I make due.
I’ve yet to find a boot that doesn’t rub Mr. Sensitive and the diaper wrap doesn’t protect his super flakey hoof wall from chipping like crazy even when just in his matted, bedded stall.
So even if its a hind shoe that is thrown, I have found that its best to not ride him (even in super nice footing) if he only has 3 shoes. Some horses are fine, but my horse is just an ouchy stumblekins with out his shoes. The joys of TB feet… at least he is starting to grow nice hooves thanks to farriers formula, but it will be a few more months until we get into that nice strong growth. SO until then, if he throws a shoe, he gets a rest until I can get the farrier out.
I usually keep a hoof boot as a “spare tire” and use that if she loses a shoe. However, I am in CA and we have had horrendous mud which sucked off both her front shoes recently. It’s been too muddy and/or I have been too busy to ride for quite a while so I decided to not bother replacing her fronts at this point. I ordered some new hoof boots that sound promising. When the farrier comes for his regular visit, I am going to have him pull all her shoes, give her a “mustang roll” and I’m just going to use boots when I ride. I’ll probably put shoes back on in March or April. Assuming all goes well, I am going to start pulling her shoes for the winter and using hoof boots. Anyone who has a horse who can go barefoot all the time is lucky!!!
