The barefoot fantasy

[Nevada10]

Last November, I pulled the shoes off my 26 year old warmblood who has been fully retired for 6 years. In actuality, I pulled one because he pulled the other. He seemed comfortable with one shoe so I thought we’d give it a go. He lives in a stonedust dry lot 9 months out of the year, but I had hoped going out in the pasture for the winter would give him enough time for his hooves to toughen up before going back on the dry lot. Said horse has a history of laminitis, but it’s been several years since his last episode. His frogs were looking very unhealthy — I’m assuming that’s due to compromised circulation, minimal exercise, extremely dry conditions, and hard footing (his frog isn’t making contact with anything besides sawdust in his stall). I was hoping being barefoot would help with all that. His hoof wall looks healthy (it’s solid: no rings, no cracks, no chips), though the hoof shape has been altered by laminitis (and I don’t think my farrier trims enough toe, but I’m not a farrier and he is highly regarded in the farrier world, so I try to stay in my lane). He is on Vermont Blend and Jiaogulan. He does not have concavity to the bottom of his hoof. I have not done X-rays recently to look at his sole depth, but my farrier definitely isn’t over trimming him.

Despite very dedicated use of Durasole, his soles are still soft and tender. When the ground is soft or muddy, he’s comfortable but anytime it’s frozen, I have to put boots on. He’s comfortable in the boots. My concern is that he’s going to have to move back to his dry lot soon. Do I stay the course and keep trying to get him comfortable barefoot, keep him in boots most of the time, or put shoes back on him? I’ve been looking at some non traditional shoes (like Easy Shoes) and wondering if they would be a better option for him too.

[dogsbody1]

I would say you may need to give it longer than 3 months. The ground is also going to get very soft, very soon. I’m not a fan of easy boots in turnout (this is the model I’ve seen/used, ie, with Velcro: https://www.easycareinc.com/our_boots/Easyboot-Cloud.asp) because they come off so easily, they’re clunky, and IMO, especially if the horse gets one off and not the other, they’re a tripping/balance issue. The types of boots used to riding might be a better bet. Is your horse acting uncomfortable and lame on the stone dust in the dry lot? Or on frozen pasture?

[Bluey]

Anyone that has seen horses gimping around with owners working so hard to keep from using shoes can tell you, go ahead and keep shoes on him seems the easiest and kindest for your horse.

As long as there is not a mechanical reason not to shoe, weak, disintegrating walls, horse can’t keep them on, why not?

When finally going back to shoes, you can hear some horses sight, their owner finally figuring why we have shoes for some horses in some situations as, not perfect, but still best solution.

Most of our horses over decades, other than performance ones, have been barefooted, if that suited them and it did most.
But we were not hardheaded about “just deal with it, horse”, if horse was gimping around, common sense tells us that should not be acceptable.

That is our opinion and has worked fine, for us, others obviously disagree.

You have a good farrier, what does he say, is there a problem, what to do for any you see that is still not addressed as you think?

[walktrot]

Put him on biotin. Research has shown it is the best supplement for hooves. I had my late Paint gelding on it for years. His feet were okay, but he needed a 2-degree pad so he needed shoes. The farrier said the soles were thicker and walls were much stonger. It takes as much as a year for a hoof to grow out, so you have to be patient. Well worth it.

[Nevada10]

He’s completely comfortable when the ground is soft, but this morning, the ground is frozen so I put his boots on. I’ll pull them off once the ground thaws later this morning. He needed boots in November on the stonedust, but that was immediately after pulling his shoes. He walked ok, but turning is clearly painful for him, so I kept boots on when he was on the stonedust. I worry about him getting rubs if I leave boots on 24/7, plus I don’t want him to get thrush either. In the summer, he’ll come in every day so it’s easy to pull his boots for the day, but I leave them out 24/7 while the weather is nice (before the flies get bothersome), and that makes him harder to manage.

[FjordBCRF]

There is always going to be a transition period for going barefoot to some degree, likely a few months. Think of it like human feet…if someone took all your shoes away; your feet are going to hurt fast. They are even going to hurt just stepping and standing on a gravel patch the first few times. If you slowly condition, your feet will build calluses and adjust. As a kid in the summer I remember my feet looking totally different going into fall than coming out of spring haha.

I see a lot of people wanting to give barefoot a try, but they don’t plan for the transition and conditioning of the bare feet. If they are using boots to protect the feet in turnout as soon as they see their horse take a tender step, they will never adjust to being barefoot and you might as well just keep shoes on.

When I transitioned my guy, he was fine barefoot in the sand arena and in turnout which had a large area around the run in and water with crushed asphalt which helped him strengthen his feet. He was tender on it at first, but it didn’t take long for him to adjust. If I was riding trails, I would put his scoot boots on. I transitioned him in 2020 and have been happily barefoot/hoof boots since.

@Nevada10 in your case with his age and propensity for laminitis, he may very well be best in shoes. While I like the barefoot thing, its not for every horse and I also am a proponent of leaving well enough alone.

@walktrot - The Vermont Blend she has him on contains 25mg biotin which is double what something like Farriers Formula contains.

[Nevada10]

Vermont Blend has 25mg of biotin, plus amino acids and other supporting minerals for hoof health.

[Posting_Trot]

A lot depends on how much you want to try to manage whatever discomfort level he may have over the next few months (which would be the longest I personally would be comfortable with keeping a horse barefoot that hasn’t transitioned well), versus what level of discomfort he may have in shoes. The latter includes how often he pulls shoes, what his hoof wall looks like, whether his frog grows back or remains dysfunctional, etc.

If you’re okay with putting boots on when he needs them and continuing to use something to try to toughen up the soles, then he may well make the successful transition. If you’re not, or if the boots won’t stay on, or if he’s uncomfortable even with the boots, then he probably won’t. It’s your call.

One thing that I’ve used in wet conditions on a persistent (but fairly superficial) crack in one of my horse’s hooves was a product called Red Horse Field Paste. It’s essentially clay with some other stuff mixed in. It’s very sticky and it’s meant to stay on and protect the hoof even in wet-ish conditions. It might be worth a look.

Good luck.

[anonevent]

If your schedule allows, maybe you could put your horse in scoot boots for 2/3 of the day at first, and if he tolerates that well, go up to half a day without boots on? Gradually transition him.

I had to pull my horse’s shoes off a couple months ago because he couldn’t keep them on in the deep sludge-mud that is his pasture. It has been pretty difficult. I’ve used venice turpentine on the soles, and I put him in cloud boots when he is stalled. He seems so relieved when I put the cloud boots on I just put scoot boots for turnout today because the ground is very hard again. He can move very well in them.

[dogsbody1]

@Nevada10

He’s completely comfortable when the ground is soft, but this morning, the ground is frozen so I put his boots on. I’ll pull them off once the ground thaws later this morning. He needed boots in November on the stonedust, but that was immediately after pulling his shoes. He walked ok, but turning is clearly painful for him, so I kept boots on when he was on the stonedust. I worry about him getting rubs if I leave boots on 24/7, plus I don’t want him to get thrush either. In the summer, he’ll come in every day so it’s easy to pull his boots for the day, but I leave them out 24/7 while the weather is nice (before the flies get bothersome), and that makes him harder to manage.

Personally, I wouldn’t be discouraged by this! The ground won’t stay frozen much longer, and if sore feet discourage him from playing up in turnout at the risk of a slip and fall, all the more reason not to wring my hands over it, in my opinion! I would rather see my horse take a few ginger steps out in the field for the last weeks of winter than pull off their own shoes repeatedly in spring mud and rip chunks of the hoof wall off with them (but I am speaking from a personal, very crappy experience with shoes; I can imagine if other people have had better luck with keeping their horses shod and sound, they would have a different threshold for wanting to keep shoes on or put them back on).

[Nevada10]

I totally expected him to be sore… and I’m fine with how he is now. Even walking across the driveway and aisle is fine now (which is an improvement from November/December)… but he’s pretty crippled on frozen mud. My concern is about putting him back on the stonedust lot soon. Which is the lesser of two evils: sore feet from hard, abrasive footing on [likely] thin soles or an unhealthy, contracted foot? His frogs look better now than two months ago, and his hoof wall has recovered from where he ripped it off with the shoe… I’m just not sure what’s best for him.

[endlessclimb]

Could you do those glue on octos for a bit, until the ground is consistently thawed?

[sascha]

@Nevada10

I totally expected him to be sore…

IMO, being sore is not acceptable during the transition. My previously laminitic horse took 2 tries. The first time she ended up back in shoes once the summer drought arrived. It was clear she wasn’t ready. 2nd time after another year or so of shoes, went much better. I booted with Venice turpentine and dry sawdust packing 24/7 for literally weeks and then after the next few trims for a week or two depending on how she reacted to walking on gravel while mounted. She’s now been back to her barefoot self for over a year and is doing really well - no pain, regular work, ALL the supplements to be on the safe side.

I will say that where I’m at they never stand in mud 24/7. Maybe a few days of mud out in turnout, but they always come into stalls with dry bedding every night so there is no chance to really soften a foot the way standing in much all day AND all night can do.

[PaddockWood]

You could reach out to Lacy Stormes. She’s so passionate about barefoot and has had so much success transitioning horses. She might be a great resource.

Lacy Stormes Barefoot Show Jumping USA

My thought too was in your boy getting enough copper and zinc. What are those totals overall?

[fordtraktor]

I have seen this a fair amount. Some retirees can go without shoes and some can’t be comfortable without.

I’d wait it out because you are almost to spring, then out fronts on in the fall or if he gets sore stomping flies on hard summer ground.

[Nevada10]

Yes, he gets Vermont blend PLUS extra copper/zinc from Custom Equine Nutrition. I don’t know the exact numbers off the top of my head, but it’s more than enough.

[PaddockWood]

OK then - good on you! That box is checked.

[sherian]

my riding horses are actually all barefoot, my two old (29 and 25) retirees are shod in front - they are good to shoe, generally aren’t shoe pullers, are ouchy on most footing barefoot and for me it’s more important they are comfortable in the now than chasing an ideal I’m not sure they can achieve

[luvmyhackney]

My horses are all barefoot but my pony is slow walking across frozen mud. I was looking at something like these for next winter.

https://www.easycareinc.com/our_boots/Easyboot-Flip-Flop.asp#:~:text=The%20Easyboot%20Flip%20Flop%20is,duration%20of%20the%20trim%20cycle.

[candyappy]

You may not have been happy with how the frog looked but other then that he was sound and happy in shoes?

@Nevada10

Said horse has a history of laminitis, but it’s been several years since his last episode. His frogs were looking very unhealthy

@Nevada10

Despite very dedicated use of Durasole, his soles are still soft and tender.

It has been 3 full months and the horse is still hurting on firm ground and turning is obviously painful for him still. I think he has endured enough. I’d put him back in shoes and let him enjoy his days no matter the weather influenced ground conditions.

Talk to your farrier about the frog and how to improve that.