So this is a strange (annoying) situation that normally, if I heard it, and the other time I’ve experienced it, I’d be one to jump up like “new farrier!” and call it a day.
However, I’m not feeling that way here.
I moved to Ocala, FL, from Columbus, Ohio in November. I brought my now 8 year old mare and 19 year old retired OTTBs with me. I’ve had my mare a little over 3 years.
When I first got her off the track she pulled a couple shoes, then we put bell boots on, shoes with front clips, squared her back toes, and it’s been fine since (2+ years). Not a shoe lost. Surprisingly even with the last farrier in Ohio I used - I had to make a last-minute farrier change due to scheduling complications, and I wasn’t in love with the new one’s work. But the shoes stayed on, even though they refused to square the back toes, and I only had to use them twice before we moved.
Now, in Florida, she’s pulling them again. I really really really like the farrier I found down here, and IMO he does a really fantastic job. The first 2 months or so, two appointments, all was well. Then, shwoop! Shoe lost at about 5.5 weeks.
Okay, no big deal, it was just a few days to our scheduled appointment and her feet are not in super shape (bad TB feet), nice and dry.
Then, again, shwoop! About 2 weeks after they were put back on. UGH! So farrier was scheduled to come out, then that day my poor little mare got attacked by bees or something, and in her struggle pulled the other one off. She was drunk/loopy and very uncomfortable (obviously) by the time the farrier arrived (it happened right before he told me he was on his way, so I didn’t see his text), so, we just went 4 weeks barefoot. (Yes, I treated the bee attack with vet instructions, details not pertinent to this post).
So after some barefoot time, she got her shoes back on two days ago. We put shoes on with front clips this time. This morning, I go out to feed, and she hadn’t pulled the shoe BUT the nails are pulled out 1/3 to 1/2 way. WHAT.
Things I note:
-It’s always the front left (except the bee attack, of course), mine don’t have back shoes.
-My gelding’s feet look ah-may-zing, and his shoes never budge. Wedges, he has navicular disease.
-My mare’s feet look as amazing as they can, hers are not as good as my geldings just from DNA. They’re dry and usually flake in the summer (so the year-long summer here will be really fun to maintain, but they’ve been way worse than they are right now).
-We’ve fed her biotin, done two different topical hoof conditioners (Hooflex I think, and Mane n Tail Hoofmaker) and I’ve not seen much (if any) improvement.
-The transition in footing has been really difficult for my mare. She’s not the most surefooted of beasts, and the soft sand under the grass here has a lot more movement than the dirt does in Ohio. She still isn’t used to it, but felt to be doing better with it, and I can’t afford to build a sand arena yet (it’s in the plans). I feel very strongly that this is a large factor.
-Mare was off September to January for a minor pasture injury, so we started back to riding January 1 with just walking, now four months later are WTC and small jumps again (under 2’). I note that the shoe pulling seems to have started/increased in direct correlation to the amount of work we do in rides.
-Farrier is very patient and kind, and does really well with the mustang I got down here, who was barely even halter broke when I got her two months ago.
No, mareface cannot go barefoot indefinitely. She did okay for those four weeks, because we didn’t jump. I would like to jump again.
Farrier is coming back ASAP to fix and will try a few things that worked in Ohio.
So, any suggestions?
Magical hoof supplements or topical?
