This old fella probably would faithfully plod after you even if you did run screaming for the hills.
I’m no hoof expert but I had the same reaction of yeah we can work with this.
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That one sole pic looks like he’s got some funky frogs too.
I think your farrier will be pleased with him. Plenty of scope for improvement, but nothing scarey.
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He sure does. I’ve got some experience treating that deep center sulcus thrush yuck and have my supplies ready along with some good groceries and minerals. I imagine it’s contributing to the “needs shoes” thing though. Gotta be ouchy.
It’s a good thing I didn’t see anything drastic though cause my mind was made up to take him almost immediately. Lol.
What are you using for deep thrush? I’m dealing with a stubborn case right now and always looking to try something new.
Go Dry / Tomorrow (mastitis treatment for cows), copper sulfate diluted in water and ACV in a spray bottle and lanolin (either fancy stuff from Etsy or Fluid Film which can be found at the big box home improvement stores near the WD 40).
I like to pack with bits of cotton after treating with Tomorrow and the copper. I’ll do the Tomorrow daily for a week or so, then the copper daily for a week or so and then the lanolin daily with a once weekly copper wash. It’s a bit of a slog staying on top of it but have had good results.
I feed a copper / zinc supplement too.
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It wouldn’t be bad to pull the shoes for a cycle and see how he does; but I think it’s also very possible that many horses, but especially TBs might go better in front shoes, especially if they are jumping (even if not a lot). If he is in shoes, 4 weeks might be too soon to reset; so that’s another conversation to have with your farrier. My retired TB wears shoes but 4 weeks would be pretty soon for her to be reset without leaving a trail of nail holes right next to each other. 6-7 weeks is much better for her, and she can hold the shoes easily that long.
If the weather is good and your farrier wants to do some therapeutic trimming to change those angles, leaving him barefoot for a while might be the best option.
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Thank you. That’s very good info. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve had a shod horse. My current boy gets trimmed every 4 weeks (I should have been more clear). He grows a lot of hoof though. Especially now with the grass coming in good his feet looked overgrown at 3 weeks post trim.
New boy doesn’t really have to do anything but be comfy in the paddock so I’m hopeful he can transition to barefoot. The weather is nice here and the ground is good. Not too hard but not muddy. No rocks unless I pay ridiculous prices to get them trucked in. We will see how it goes though. If he needs shoes, he’ll get them.
I’d like to be able to do some low key riding (no jumping) on the new boy if he is able (after I get him fed up and find a saddle to fit in that TB shark fin wither). But if not, he can just be a pet.
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If it were my horse, I’d probably try to keep him in shoes for 2-3 more cycles while his feet are trimmed better. That will increase the odds of him being comfortable enough to take shoes off while his feet continue to heel. They haven’t been trimmed well in a while from the looks of things, so they may have thinner soles and just unhealthy enough to be really uncomfy without full time protection
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Just out of curiosity, how old is he, how tall, and what’s his current condition? Any chance of a photo of all of him? 
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Thank you. I had not thought of that. It seems logical though.
I had thought to get him some boots perhaps. The shoes might be more supportive though? Certainly my farrier will want to try boots before keeping him shod.
Sadly, I don’t know a farrier that does a good trim job locally other than mine (who is decidedly anti shoes). I will ask the vet though. He’s commented on my other horse’s good feet previously. Perhaps vet can recommend a farrier that does a good job with the trims and doesn’t mind nailing on shoes.
If you like your farrier, and he does a good job trimming, you could try barefoot right away, assume you will need to use boots, and see what happens. You’d have to be ready to advocate for the horse to get shoes back on if boots just aren’t working.
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I am told he’s 12. I think he looks older, but it’s no big deal. I’d estimate he’s around 16 hands. He’s a bit thin. Nothing scary or anything but def not hunter fat. I’m told the initial move to our boarding barn was a bit hard on him as we are full and they had to put him in the horse hotel by himself for a bit. Perhaps he’s just lost some weight from the stress.
I haven’t posted any pictures yet as I wouldn’t want anyone to speak badly of his owner who is doing right by this horse. Board is not cheap at the facility my horse is at and owner has paid a chunk of change to get him there so that a new mom (me) could meet him.
The boarding barn owner has gone out of her way playing musical stalls to accommodate him as well.
Actually, I think I’ve been set up lol.
Good for you. I understand completely.
Yep, sounds like there’s been some matchmaking. 
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I do like him. I’m satisfied with my horse’s feet, as is vet. Farrier has his opinions though!
I think I’ll try the boots, bar vet vetoing that plan, and try and get a backup farrier reference from the vet in case the boots aren’t cutting it.
I like my horses barefoot but certainly am not gonna have him gimping around if barefoot isn’t for him.
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Thanks for understanding! Horsie is a good citizen, easy and pleasant to work with, and is very quiet to ride. If owner wanted, she could have sold him to one of the local lesson strings. Some folks don’t mind horses working harder than they should as long as they safely tote kids over jumps. It is to the owner’s credit that she chose to keep paying board bills until she found him a soft spot (me) to give him away to.
It all worked out really well and everyone is pleased. If it was a set up, it was a good one.
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Some horses just need shoes. But, without a good trim, the shoes can’t fix it. Your farrier calls himself a farrier but doesn’t shoe at all (not a “barefoot trimmer?”) Or, does your farrier think most horses can go barefoot, but will shoe when necessary.
My farrier probably has half his clients in shoes; he doesn’t shoe for no reason - it’s not more money in his pocket - it takes longer and requires more equipment in his truck. But, if that’s what the horse needs, that’s what he does.
But - these are bridges you can cross when you get there.
Farrier went to some farrier school and did shoeing for some years. He then decided (?) that he could address most issue with better trims and no shoes. His line is that he will shoe a horse if he has to but that he hasn’t had to shoe a horse in ten plus years. Maybe this horsie will break his streak lol.
If you know any good farriers that want to move to the beach, send them my way. We have a short list of providers.
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Post vet exam update!
On Monday new horse slipped a shoe and was walking on the clip (gimping on the clip might be more accurate). Ouch! Trainer pulled the offending shoe and by Tuesday am he was moving more comfortably. Tuesday pm vet was out and we did a “wellness exam”. Since horse was off a bit from the shoe / clip issue, and only wearing one shoe, we did not do flexions or a lameness exam. Vet did a basic neuro exam, checked eyes, heart, gut sounds, breathing, and mouth. All seemed normal. Vet did not find any evidence of old leg injuries either and marked that his legs looked pretty clean (less the nasty skin infection). Vet recommended a “limed sulfur” product to be used on the skin infection and advised if I didn’t see good results after treating for a bit to call him back and he would prescribe some oral medication (also a sulfur something or another). Vet said horse needs wormed, bathed, feet trimmed and some good groceries.
In regards to the feet, I advised I’d like to transition horse to barefoot with my current farrier if possible. Vet stated he saw no “red flags” that would prevent that. We made a plan of having my farrier pull other shoe and giving him a good trim. Vet also noted that those toes need to come back significantly. If horse has discomfort or issues transitioning to barefoot, our plan is to do front feet x rays. Vet is familiar with my farrier and his ability to adjust trims based on x rays. Then if still issues barefoot vet will direct me to a farrier for shoes. I feel pretty good about this plan.
Vet noted that horse may have issue with feet wanting to pancake out particularly if kept on soft ground and felt a firmer ground than what is at boarding facility would be beneficial, but that right now with one shoe on and the other foot being ouchy from walking on clip that the soft ground was a bonus. Boarding facility is almost in a swamp and while there is no mud, the ground there is super soft. At my home farm, we are on higher ground and it’s a quite a bit firmer. This is all relative to our FL Gulf Coast location (ie nowhere here has “hard” ground). That being said, I’m trying to get farrier out to pull other shoe and trim this guy while he’s still at boarding facility so I can take advantage of that super soft ground for a few days as horsie adjusts to no shoes.
So, vet says more like 16-20. And in bad need of a dental. Horsie does not have a tattoo.
Did vet pull blood to have a baseline to compare with later?
Our vet always does, especially in older horses.
When we are transitioning to no shoes from full shod on new horses, many times we leave only back shoes off first time around.
We want to see how the hoof responds, then decide when to try barefoot on the front.
There is the rare horse that has such exemplary feet he can go from full shoes to barefoot with ease.
Then, we have a mixture of turf, sandy loam and hard clay, not all soft ground, as it seems you have.
Good luck all keeps going well.
Knowing what his feet look like, my approach would be a very conservative trim, doing more on backing up the toes, trimming bars, less on reducing wall height, and doing a good wall roll from quarter to quarter. I’d leave dead sole for now. Leave as much protection from the ground as reasonable.
Then in 2 weeks come back, see what the horse is removing/wearing, and either finish the trim if he’s been comfortable, or do another very conservative trim leaving some wall height and dead sole.
That’s great that he recognizes that!
Sounds like an awesome plan
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