Toughening up feet

[spacytracy]

Wondering if anyone can offer some advice.

Yesterday a friend of mine and I took our horses to a local park to do some leisurely trail riding - 90% walking and some trotting. The park is mostly cinders with grass on each side.

My horse has been barefoot his entire life, and he has good feet. The only time he is ouchy is on stones. We don’t normally have any issue because he is a h/j pony and is ridden in arenas and grass fields.

I rode yesterday mostly on the grassy sides. However, we got lost and ended up doing some extremely rocky terrain. Our only choice was to continue on our path until we got to a trailhead.

We dismounted and walked about 3-4 miles through this type of terrain until we got to the trailhead and could have someone meet us with the trailer. Poor horses were getting tired and sore.

Anyway, I would like to continue to trail ride occassionally, maybe once a month.

I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for hoof supplements or applications that may help toughen his feet up a little. I am also looking into hoof boots, so I’m reading up on the many threads regarding that.

Thanks!!!

[stb]

Venice turpentine can help a bit, as can a “barefoot trim” that promotes good heel development. However, if your horse is always on soft surfaces they are only going to be comfortable on soft surfaces. Sort of like people always wearing shoes and then trying to walk barefoot on a rocky path.

Hoof boots are great for this sort of thing.

[irish_horse]

Durasole can help from the outside, biotin and flax from the inside. Though if your horse has good, hard feet, their diet is probably OK.

But I second STB that if your horse lives on soft ground, it is very hard for them to get used to anything else. My horse lives on irrigated pasture, though we walk every day on hard-packed dirt and some gravel. He can do shorter rides on the hard-pack without issue, but once the ground is as rock hard as this drought is causing, on go the boots, or for any rocky or more than 10 mile rides.

Measure feet, find the boot that works (I like Renegades, but is it dependent completely on hoof shape, what you like etc) and enjoy the trails.