Farrier is the best resource - he knows your horse, your ground.
Having your horse walk around lame sucks for her, for you, and for everyone around. If your farrier thinks shoes would help, please put them on. Maybe you won’t be able to take them off again and maybe you will, but it’s about comfort for your horse.
All my horses are barefoot now but they’re also
all sound that way. When I had a horse that needed shoes, she had front shoes and that kept her happy. I do also have experience with a horse that uses boots for work (not mine) and it’s a good solution for her.
Boots are an option, but they are not a panacea. They are fussy and they have shortcomings relating to weight, potential rubs, and just the time and trouble to put them on. I would be reluctant to use them unsupervised, ie turned out, so if she needs them all the time I’d really consider the shoes. The horse I mentioned uses boots because she tended to lose shoes and shred the hoof wall.
Don’t get too devoted to any one solution.
If it’s the wet/dry cycle, boots could be worse. Look at your ground and husbandry to consider if you can keep the feet always dry.
I agree with other posters that suggested calling your farrier. You never know, the soreness may not even be the rock that you found in the hoof. The farrier will have hoof testers and other tools to diagnose lameness. Let the farrier decide if shoes are even needed or warranted. If it seems more serious, the farrier may recommend the vet take a look.
Because of your geographic location and weather, I’d definitely get a good hoof conditioner. Really dry hooves can lead to a multitude of issues. Some people use pine tar, some use “hoof dressing” and some use things like Vita Hoof or Absorbine Hooflex. Your farrier will also have recommendations in this area.
And to the worry about getting the horse off shoes, this is typically a non-issue (unless the vet/farrier say shoes are needed of course for the horse to stay sound in future). I have a 27 1/2 year old 17.2 hand warmblood that is in front shoes right now due to a high abscess. He needed the shoes just to help support his hoof as the abscess grew out, Its nearly grown own now, and he’ll go back to barefoot after one more set. Since the nail holes may not be completely trimmed/rasped off, his hoof may have some small chips around the old nail holes as the hoof grows out, nut nothing to worry about (they can putty these anyway). The first trim after going barefoot, his hooves will look just like normal. He’s gone in and out of shoes multiple times with no troubles.
What about glue on shoes? then you don’t have to deal with cracking at the nail holes if you go back to barefoot.
Boots might help if the horse is just mildly off, to help with riding, but I wouldn’t turn out in them due to risks with rubbing or holding in moisture.
If you only use for riding. the horse may feel better with the boots enough to be ridden, but will still be going through cycles of soreness/inflammation in turn out which can cause internal damage to the hoof.
Also consider, at your horse’s age, the increase in hoof issues could be indicative of a metabolic disease rather than just due to footing conditions. If it is a metabolic issue, then you will want to take additional steps to prevent laminitis.
Boots work, if you are availible to monitor your horse so a slight twist or rub doesn’t become a huge problem. Someone is going to have to go find the one boot that your horse manages to lose in the furthest corner of the pasture. Boots are no more ‘natural’ than a shoe, and much more prone to rub, IME. I would absolutely not turn a horse out to stand in water while wearing hoof boots of any sort. That is a recipe for rubs and fungal issues.
Of the 32 horses I see every day, each one is shod or trimmed as required by the individual. Some horses do will barefoot, others require shoes to stay comfortable, still others get pads/corrective shoes/etc. I would love it if everyone could just get a trim every 5 weeks, but horses are not one size fits all.
I am going to be the odd one out and recommend you get front foot Xrays and discuss with your vet so that he can discuss with your farrier (or recommend one). Some farriers are fantastic at seeing the balance in a foot, but the xray will give a more clear picture of sole depth, balance both front to back and left to right, pin point any bruise or abscess.
For what it’s worth, shoes are not a permanent decision. Many horses transition out of shoes just fine, as long as there are no underlying issues.
I agree with turpentine for sole protector! Works awesome!
I tend to agree that shoes wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. Depending on where the stone bruise is on the sole of the foot, it could alleviate the pressure that’s put on it when just walking around. Shoes definitely don’t prevent stone bruises but could help you out in this situation!
Boots IMO can do the trick but are a pain in the butt! and they aren’t the cheapest purchase (although I tried them a long time ago, and perhaps they have changed $$ and quality since then). I think I would prefer shoes over boots any day though.
Finally, don’t be worried that you won’t be able to pull the shoes off in the future! Unless your horses feet are falling apart without shoes you will be fine. And if they are in really bad shape, I would be looking at overall horse health as more of the problem! I have four shoes with studs ever summer for showing, and once show season is over I pull either my horses back shoes or all four for the winter. My horse has never been lame or even remotely sore from doing this and he transitions between the two flawlessly. I also have a really good farrier, which helps the transition!
I would listen to the BO and Farrier…boots are a PITA and honestly do not understand why any one would feel that they were better in anything other than infrequent, short term situations. Treat the stone bruise and do whatever soaking, packing and wrapping it takes to keep the horse comfortable while it heals. Best of luck
If this horse consistently has bouts where she goes tender on her feet, I would not hesitate to shoe her.
IMO, life is too short to have a horse deal with sensitive feet.
So long as her hooves are still trimmed correctly (which they should be anyway, regardless of shoes), then shoes do NOT make the hooves worse or damage them in any way.
Agree 100%. Bouts with tender feet may also just be the times when the horse is significantly footsore…just because you don’t notice that it is sore more often doesn’t mean it is not. If you put shoes on you might find that the horse moves better because it has more protection.
And I also agree that shoes should not change the hoof for better or worse - although I’d love it if they magically turned my horse into a rock crushing barefoot one. Alas…still hasn’t happened.
If your horse can be sound barefoot (eg. off season, winter, retirement, etc.) then wearing shoes while in work will not take that away.
We just recently had (as in the last year) to put front shoes on our QH that for over the 15 years we have owned him, has never needed shoes; not through any season, not through any trail, or any type of work - and he had done everything from lesson pony, Pony-club fill-in, 2nd level dressage horse, trail riding mount, etc… He has great feet, super horn quality, and never needed them… until now. And he is not even in work, at 22 he enjoys a leisurely hack every now and then but is no longer schooling.
With him, I think a couple of things were happening at once. One, our previous farrier was going through some major medical issues and as a result we were left (understandably) to go a bit long a few cycles; when he did come, I think he was in a lot of pain, and did not take the same meticulous care he was known to have in the past. Overtime the gelding’s feet got a bit too long, and the soles very thin as a result - the thin soles, combined with our awful weather patterns of sloppy mud to baked hard ground, caused him to be very tender-footed… and we noticed a difference immediately once shoes were put on.
I also think that as he got older, he was not producing the same amount of sole; this is not uncommon – and barefoot horses, especially barefoot horses that live outside (as he does) can shear down their sole depth just by constantly moving around – the abrasion from sand, soil, rocks, etc will all impact the sole. I dont think he was producing enough sole required for the day-to-day living of being outside in NE soil 24/7, and was slowly shearing down the sole surface until it was very, very thin. In general experienced horse-people can eyeball the collateral grooves to estimate sole depth – in our case, our gelding’s soles seemed very, very thin.
This all sounds fairly similar to your situation; I would guess that maybe the mare is foot-sore because she lacks sole-depth for whatever reason. Could be the footing shearing her soles, could be a lack of good trimming, could be that she is older and not producing the same amount or quality of hoof… but I do think that from what you have described the mare sounds quite painful and I might ask the farrier to come out ASAP and look at her. In general they would be the first to know whether the horse needs shoes.
In addition I suggest since you mentioned being a newer horse owner, familiarizing yourself to what a “balanced hoof” looks like; do you have pictures of the horse’s feet?
In the meantime, I would skip the Keratex. I have never had good results from it. Durasole, IME, is better, and will help until you and your farrier decide a game-plan to help maintain her comfort.
I am not a fan of boots or of prolonging time before you put on shoes. IME that can cause its own excess of issues: soreness from compensation can cause back issues, which in turn cause SI issues, hock sorness, etc; long-term can cause “road founder”, and major structures in the hoof can be compromised to the point where there is lots of remodeling, etc…
Barring if there’s an undiagnosed hoof issue like a coffin-bone fracture (unlikely, just throwing an example out here), putting shoes on will not cause detriment to the hoof especially if the horse needs the support.
I would discuss it with your farrier and be open to his thoughts as well as the BO’s. I understand that barefoot is easier and cheaper, but if your horse needs more support, it’s best to give it to her. I would not worry too much about transitioning back out of shoes if it comes to that. My horse wears shoes about 9 months of the year and I pull them every winter with no problems at all. I also have two ponies and a retiree that are barefoot all the time. You just have to do what the horse needs, whether or not it fits with your philosophy of “natural” horsekeeping. Personally, I would think regular use of boots would be a big PITA (especially since it seems as if your horse would need them all the time and not just when ridden), but I know there are some people who have had success with them.
I have learned a ton from the Hoof rehab help group on facebook. There is a ton of knowledge on boots/trimming and nutrition to do the best by your horse’s hooves.
I would get the opinion of a good veterinarian. Have him check all her feet for soreness. As was mentioned, she could be having low level soreness that had gone unnoticed. Personally, I would also get radiographs. They can tell you a lot about her feet and trimming needs. The vet can help you decide the best and most humane way forward for your horse.
My old horse needed orthopedic horseshoes even in retirement. My new guy came to me barefoot. I don’t think he has ever been shod. Happily he seems to be doing fine with no soreness issues. If issues do appear I will consult with vet and then make a decision as to whether to shoe him. BTW, I have seen numerous horses transition between barefoot and shoes and back again. (Trail riders often opt for shoes in the summer for our very rocky trails) Aside from some chips around nail holes it usually goes well if the horse tolerates barefoot under the current circumstances.
I have an older mare who got “ouchy” one year on the frozen ground, after a very wet fall. I think she would have been 19 or 20 at that point. We put front shoes and pads on her for 2 trim cycles to help her through that, then took them off, and she’s been fine barefoot since then.
I have to say, though, I didn’t like how her frogs and heels looked after wearing the shoes and pads. She was definitely more comfortable with the pads on the frozen ground, but it took a little while for her frogs to come back as healthy-looking as before.
