De-Shoeing Bodie

Yes_But_Neigh · De-Shoeing Bodie

Hello Everyone,

These are pictures of Bodie's feet as of today. We took the shoes off and will be starting with a barefoot specialist on December 1st. This will be a thread of his progress and I hope that some of you will comment your thoughts.

We are going to try barefoot with boots but I will gladly put shoes back on him if he needs them.

I mainly trail ride him on all sorts of terrain from soft dusty dirt to a lot of rocks up and down hills. He is on grass hay, oat hay and Premier Plus for vitamins. He has a stall to eat his hay in that opens up to a paddock that he stays in that is covered. He doesn't have a ton of room in his paddock but enough to kick up his heels and gallop around. (I am working on moving him to a bigger place.)

Please let me know what you think he needs and if anyone has advice on supplements that would help that would be great. I should also say that he is a 3 1/2 year old Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse.

RIGHT FRONT

RIGHT HIND

(Sorry, the following picture is at a bad angle-- my foot did NOT like me bending down)

LEFT FRONT

LEFT HIND

whudson

What I see,,first, he has a straight wall..that is perfect. A lot of horses that you first start with have flared walls. This is a great thing...work with the bottom of the foot. He's off to a great start.

Yes_But_Neigh

Wanda- Thank-you for your quick response. I'm actually thinking about taking a Healthy Hoof course so I can see what everyone else sees, I would love to be able to have a good eye like you.

ForgeNHammer

He's got pretty feet. I'd would've kept the farrier that has been helping keep his feet looking like this...

Yes_But_Neigh

misstux

As far as food, ditch the oat hay and feed all grass hay. Anecdotally oat hay gives thicker softer hoof walls; this observation is from a barefoot trimmer. A really good supplement is: http://californiatrace.com/

bit

I'm learning to leave those frogs alone unless there is something hanging. Kelsey has Gunner on formula four, but smart pac has something called smart sox that was really good, and helped Gunner with his hoof issues. http://www.smartpakequine.com/Pro...ductclassid=8246&cm_vc=Search
Kelsey said to stay away from horseshoers secret. A good supplement has been very helpful in getting my herd's feet into good condition for the frozen ground that is heading this way tonight. Grass hay only, and that I've heard from just about everyone. Kelsey also only feeds enough timothy hay pellets (got it from Orchelins) to feed supplements. We don't even feed alfalfa pellets. They just don't need it. Hay and supplements, basically, and everyone is doing great.

thebundychick

Can't tell you how fantastic sante's feet looked when i was feeding him grass hay alone.

*Sigh* to have him in my own backyard again, and get him off this "improved pasture" rubbish he's on now.

ForgeNHammer

Kim Cassidy

I must be seeing something different

The medial lateral balance isn't balanced at all and his hinds have a bullnosed aspect.

I'm guessing your "barefoot specialist" is Linda Cowles? She is a decent trimmer but a died in the wool barefoot only person.

Don't believe everything she says

You do seem to have a good base to work with so, you've got that going for you.

My biggest concern would be the hind feet. Do you have current radiographs of the feet?

And.. Happy Thanksgiving.

Yes_But_Neigh

Hi Kim,
No, Linda is not my trimmer. I have a person coming to do him Dec 1st named Mary that Linda recommended. The pictures above show him right after shoes were removed. He has had shoes on for a year and a half now and one went sideways the other day and I scheduled for someone else to handle his hoof care as I didn't feel like his shoe job was good to begin with.(Pictures of him in shoes under My Lease Horse Journey thread.) I don't have radiographs of him yet as he is not yet in my ownership. I am leasing him now with full rein over his health care. I plan to purchase him in the spring and will be getting a full work up done then. What do you suggest I do with his hard feet? His feet have an overall Roman nose effect I feel. I don't know what that comes with. I had a distributor out to fit him for boots but his feet are so long and narrow nothing fits him. The person who was shoeing him before believed he needed to have a long/upright heel/toe to make him gait better.

So far these are the changes I am going to make:

Take him off of oat hay per everyone's advice and get him on a supplement for hoof growth.

jokersmama

IMHO, the best thing you can do now is just get them balanced according to his conformation, then start slowly, ride the snot out of him, and see how they hold up. They will start to "self trim" pay attention to that, it will show you how he moves and where he breaks over. The more varied terrain you can ride him on the better.

The more I learn, the less I know, and the more "it depends"

There are many great boots out there, and of course that is subject to argument too :D One kind might work well on one horse in a certain environment and will not work on another in the same environment.

Do what works for your horse, in his environment, and with his work load. The only opinion that matters is your horses opinion. Pay close attention to how he is moving.

Some of the "barefoot specialists" are scary! Be careful, you are a smart girl, use your head, and don't let them bully you into making your horse sore.

Good luck

PasoBaby_CarolU

becdubie

Compared to some other horses I've seen who'se shoes have just been pulled his feet look really good to me. He doesn't seem to have any major flaws that will make going barefoot a problelm, but only time will tell though.

Just keep his feed simple...grass hay with a little alfalfa and a mineral mixture made for our area is all we feed our horses. That and the enviornment seems to be working for us.

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