| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| sapphire blue |
Posted - 14 Sep 2013 : 2:30:40 PM
I'm really excited as I've wanted to take my old lads front shoes off for ages but as my dad still hacks he's objected as there were no local shops with a fitting service for boots but at last one has arrived!! Anyone who like me is interested pm me and I'll pass on the details they have simple systems and a little shop too so worth a call in!! |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Arachnid |
Posted - 25 Sep 2013 : 09:35:16 AM
Well that would be much easier Martha. I am quite reluctant to keep them barefoot long term - we are on the South Downs and a lot of the going is hard flint and chalk but I'm happy to see how it goes for the timebeing. Is anyone barefoot on this kind of going?
I'm always impressed that Sam Hunt (hope you don't mind the mention Sam) comes down and does the South Downs rides on her barefoot horses.
Neither horse has particularly concave feet - they are pretty much flat but perhaps this will come?
Interestingly Marbahran hadn't been trimmed for 5 weeks and didn't need anything at all taken off his feet.
In the endurance season Spider is on a 5 and sometimes 4 week shoeing interval so some of us know a lot about their farrier! |
| martha615 |
Posted - 25 Sep 2013 : 09:00:04 AM
Hi,
You may find you prefer barefoot! The reason a lot of people worry about it is that if you don't trim the hoof regularly -- and less than every 8 weeks the way some people recommend -- you'll see chips around the edges. I trim my own horses every few weeks and they never EVER have chips or cracks or anything like that. But who gets out a farrier every 4 weeks? Nobody. so, you may (at least in summer) see some little chips around the bottom of the hoof where it is naturally sloughing off.
If your horse has enough concavity to his hoof and is used to the ground you ride on, you'll probably be fine. Transitioning from shoes to barefoot can be tricky, but if your farrier wasnt' concerned, you are probably fine!
Good luck. I haven't put a shoe on a horse in over 12 years.... Again, however, I stress that I do not jump xc in mud, where I might need studs to keep from sliding. |
| Arachnid |
Posted - 24 Sep 2013 : 10:06:42 PM
Reviving this topic as I think we may be accidentally barefoot. Farrier very reluctant to shoe Marbahran (who does have lovely feet) or put hinds back on Spider (they are looking very good au naturel and he is coming back into work so not doing fast work)
Will look at boots as recommended, thanks ladies. In the meantime farrier says to just work them barefoot and just keep checking that they are not sore. Apparently I can feel their feet are not hot?
I'm not really complaining, it was the cheapest farrier visit ever. |
| martha615 |
Posted - 17 Sep 2013 : 8:10:59 PM
About snow.....the snow won't ball up under a boot, I suspect, but it wouldn't necessarily be great for traction either. I think I remember Pete Ramey talking about different Easyboots, and that one type was okay for snow.
Boots are much better than shoes (or barefeet) on roads, stoney places and anywhere with glass or other hazards, but not great on very slippery wet grass or ice, but then shoes aren't so great for that either (unless you've got some pretty serious studs).
They are a tool and far better than shoes for a horse's hooves, but they aren't as good at keeping them upright in heavy mud over large fences....in fact, they are far worse than shoes at that. Shoes with studs are very good for some sports while the true "sport boot" for jumping has yet to come up to the same standard as a shoe.
I love barefoot, but if I were an eventer, I think I'd have to shoe for the competition season! |
| Honeyb060674 |
Posted - 17 Sep 2013 : 2:29:36 PM
Sunny has always been barefoot, has excellent feet, but dependant on conditions he can does 'feel' stony ground on his front feet.
If I know we're going to be riding over rough terrain or unknown he wears Old Mac G2's on his fronts only. We ride barefoot as much as possible to allow the hoof natural wear & regeneration, encouraged by active work.
Managing diet is important & being on livery, isn't that easy on turnout. I feed low sugar low starch & supplement with a balanced 'Pro Hoof' supplement.
We've ridden none competitively at distances of up to 35kms this summer booted, never lost one & believe me there have been a few instances when they were well & truly tested!!
There are some fantastic suppliers out there...pick their brains as to which boot will suit you & your horses needs best. Good Luck!!  |
| glo |
Posted - 16 Sep 2013 : 11:30:08 AM
I did have one come off the back when I first had them, but I don't think I had put it on right. What I do now is clean the hoof, put the boot on, let the horses put his hoof to the ground, pick up the hoof and tap 2 or 3 times with a rubber mallet, then do the strap up as tight as you can.(you cant over tighten it)
The boots I use are very snug and are to be a tight fit, I did have a little twisting on one front hoof, but since I have put bigger boots on this has stopped.
Remember I have done this my self and am not a expert on hoof boots, but I have got a practical experience of the boots I use, and I still look to see if my boots are still there even after all this time. I haven't jumped in them yet and I don't do galloping, but I do a good working canter, gone through thick mud, water, climbed over twigs and branches' gone up and down stony tracks, smooth grass, you name it my horse with the boots has gone over it.
I don't now shoe my horses and I wont in the future as the boots I use are so good theres no point in it. |
| Callisto |
Posted - 16 Sep 2013 : 10:26:10 AM
Julia, some types definitely do come off - I've picked up a couple on rides, both were rather large with bits that went up the leg (one was also soggy and muddy, and since the sock or gaiter leg bit was made of neoprene or similar it was quite heavy and I was very pleased to get rid of it at a checkpoint - horrible thing, and certainly put me off the idea of boots).
I have only tried the easyboot trails so far, I can't see how they would come off, and I researched them carefully before we bought, and all the reviews were good about how well they stayed on. They basically have 'wings' which velcro all the way around the foot, so easy to put on and off and very secure.
However they are really only recommended for 1-2 hours work a day (or 25-30 miles a week) so not really recommended for competing. But I think they would work very well for your youngster. Woody is the extremely bolshy cousin of Buzz who bucked me off and cracked my ribs before we did Rosemary's clinic last year, and if he is happy to wear them and hasn't managed to remove them then I think they are very good. He does like to run round with them in his mouth though - we think it means he wants to wear them, since he hasn't tried to pull them to bits  |
| martha615 |
Posted - 16 Sep 2013 : 10:16:29 AM
My mare, Millie, is ridden all over flinty paths without any boots on behind. Sure, you can get chips in their hooves just as you wood if they were in shoes, but that is just from a lack of trimming. If I run the rasp around their hooves every few weeks, I don't have a problem with chips.
Yes, boots CAN come off. Usually in deep mud, and usually only the hind ones. It hasn't happened to me, but I do know people who say the hind ones come off... :( |
| Arachnid |
Posted - 16 Sep 2013 : 10:03:28 AM
I'm sort of tempted to look at boots. Marbahran has never been shod (aged 4) and has gorgeous feet but the tracks around us are very stoney and hes worn his feet simply walking from the field to the stable and doing a bit of work in the school so I do need either shoes or boots.
Do they ever come off when you are doing faster work? My nightmare is one of them half coming off and horse panicking.
Spider currently only in fronts but probably will have the hinds put back on this month. Decisions, decisions... |
| glo |
Posted - 15 Sep 2013 : 1:31:03 PM
I use my boots for riding all the time, I have 1 and a half sets I have 0's in the back and 0.5's for the front, this is after a trim, I keep a rasp and take off any edges or bits that brake up, after about 4 weeks I change my boots to 0.5's on the back and 0.5w on the front, as I only have a trim every 8 weeks.
I use a wire brush to help clean the feet after picking out and it takes about 10 minutes to boot up and about 2 minutes to take them off, if they are muddy I clean off in cold water and a brush.
Its a minefield out there! I just looked on the internet picked the boots I likes( I did watch lots of vid's on the boots and how to fit them and take them off and kept going back over the vids till I thought I would be ok doing it my self )hired a fit kit from the saddle shop, and tried the boots till I got the best fit!
Just to add the saddle shop do a trade in on any other make of Hoof boot that you can ride in (shires do one) I got a cheap pair of ebay then sent them to the saddle shop with the form you can print off and got 50% off my first set of boots!
I ride in all conditions, mud, water, soft grass, stony tracks, I cant remember riding in the snow, but I did ride in the ice! I cant remember any slipping. |
| Callisto |
Posted - 15 Sep 2013 : 12:53:20 PM
I have found The Saddlery Shop very useful google easyboot trails and they should come up, the website is informative, they will give you advice over the phone, and you can trial boots to see what works. It tells you how to measure the feet and info about the various boots etc. If you decide to go for either easyboot trails or the cavallo boots I have found they are cheaper from viovet, but we bought Woody's from the Saddlery Shop. |
| SuziQ |
Posted - 15 Sep 2013 : 12:31:48 PM
I am so pleased to see this post as I am very reluctant to shoe Millie, especially as she had lami last year and it is good to be able to see the foot sensitivity easily.
We have some very stoney rides locally now, the local farmers really nicely put loads of stone down on water logged tracks last year, this has made them much more all weather but Millie is struggling and she refused to go along a very stoney track yesterday. I thought that I would wait for her feet to be trimmed next week and then measure up, there is nowhere locally that fits boots so I was hoping that I might be able to do it myself.
I would be extremely grateful for any recommendations and advice |
| Vik1 |
Posted - 15 Sep 2013 : 12:19:15 PM
faracat..if only my yo would do a soil test! if only! She wont fertilise as she has natives so to avoid lami. There is plenty grass but there is nothing in it, its just fibre. Roughly half his field is creeping buttercup/weeds. Hes moving fields soon, which is a better one as it was fertilised a few years ago whereas I have no idea when this one was last. Funnily enough this field he is moving to, he had been in for over a year up with my mare until spring..so that would make sense..no abscesses!
I still feed him everyday with a feed balancer, grass nuts and alfa to do what I can, even in summer. |
| Callisto |
Posted - 15 Sep 2013 : 11:56:02 AM
What is it like using boots in the snow? Does it stop the balling up in the hoof? Even the unshod members of our herd get this problem, though not as bad as the shod ones obviously. I am hoping that they will allow us to get out and about if we have another white winter, since that has stopped us in the past. Also could you use them for daily turnout in the snow to stop them coming in on stilts? |
| Faracat |
Posted - 15 Sep 2013 : 10:30:21 AM
The best way to prevent abscesses (shod or unshod) is with diet. If you get the diet right, the white line grown down nice and tight (so grot can't get up it so easily) and the sole and frog are tough and healthy.
If you have lots of abscess trouble, it's well worth getting your grazing/hay/haylage tested (Forage Plus do this IIRC) in case you have a mineral imbalance that an off-the-shelf vit&min supplement can't fix. |
| Vik1 |
Posted - 15 Sep 2013 : 09:40:26 AM
My boy is barefoot and Im trying to keep him that way for as long as I can. Farrier says he has good hard feet but he does seem prone to abscesses. He had a whopper last week. Came out side of his hoof last weekend but was still sore and then started to come out his heel/round sides of his frog during the week. Although that was the first in a year and half. Others he has reabsorbed in last few months. Tried all different things to stop them too. Good nutrition, increased calcium intake, using hoof grease to not, picking out everyday to not...it seems to be the state of the fields that dictate it. It went from hard to soft quickly..or standing in prolonged wet ground. So for this reason I am considering shoes but scared it makes it worse.
Hes fine on roads without anything as long as Im careful to avoid big stones. |
| Cinnypony |
Posted - 15 Sep 2013 : 08:01:29 AM
We find down hill in any condition, inc mud easier than shod.
Barefoot is not just for those in low work, the more work you do, the better the hooves become. If we use boots (now almost never) we use Renegades, which are very good.
We had an interesting problem thus summer - Cinny fell in an 80k race ride (too excited and not looking where she was going at 23k in). She damaged a ligament in front leg and I fractured a couple of fingers and a ligament in my shoulder. The end result of this that her hooves with growth to keep up with 80k rides kept growing, and I could no longer maintenance trim between my trimmers visits. This has resulted in her hooves looking terrible.... |
| Ari |
Posted - 14 Sep 2013 : 10:42:20 PM
I see your logic, shoes are on all the time but boots only for riding so feet function naturally when in the field. We were fine with just front shoes for a long time until we got a small hole on sole by hoof wall and I was worried about about infection. The moor we ride is great but very hilly and muddy in winter and back shoes have made a difference on Ari's confidence downhill in slippy conditions. How do boots do in mud and safe but bogie ground?
Callisto, boots are a fab idea for your Welshie and probably would suite a lot of children's ponies in winter. All advice in this thread will help my friend who has an Arab with very slow growing feet and shoeing has been difficult in this dry summer.
In fact my farrier advised her well fitting boots would help.
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| Callisto |
Posted - 14 Sep 2013 : 10:39:24 PM
Ari, the welshie is not regularly used, but gets very fat, so we take him out on a lead rein 3 or 4 times a week to keep the weight off (and to stop him getting bored in the field), buying him a full set of easyboot trails means that he is a lot happier about going out jogging, and it's a lot cheaper in the long run than having him shod. The farrier trims his feet every 6 weeks or so. The easyboot trails are very neat, easy to put on and off, and good for up to 25 - 30 miles a week. We use pads in them, as recommended by the various suppliers. Lily's feet have suffered a bit this year - I think they got dried out with the weather, and we did a lot of road work, so I have decided to try her in boots too (following the success with Woody). She won't have the workload through the winter, so I would rather leave her shoes off and just get them trimmed, and then use the boots when we do go out. I will have her shod again for the endurance season next year. I would not call this going barefoot, I am using them as an alternative to metal shoes.
I have ridden Woody (the welshie) in his boots and he is happy in them - sure footed at all paces, they have not rubbed him or anything, or come off. We did start off with just a front set to see how they worked, and since we were happy with them we got him a back set too. We also started off with shorter rides and then built up the time and distance he wore them for. I will do the same with Lily - have only ordered her a front set so far to see how she goes in them.
Edited to add
Have just read Martha and Faracat's posts - ours are kept on soft going (clay pasture), but a lot of our rides are very stoney - so they need protection - hence the boots |
| Faracat |
Posted - 14 Sep 2013 : 10:30:15 PM
The best thing about boots is that you only put them on when the horse needs them and the horse is bare the rest of the time. With shoes once they are on, they are on IYSWIM. Using boots when required is within the 'barefoot rules'. 
If you want to learn more the Rockley Farm blog is very interesting as it shows the progress of their rehab horses. Pete Ramey has an informative website with several interesting articles.
http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.hoofrehab.com/hoof%20articles%20by%20Pete%20Ramey.htm |
| martha615 |
Posted - 14 Sep 2013 : 10:24:15 PM
Boots are used with barefoot horses for going over certain terrain, but the boots come off once the ride is over! So, they are barefoot most of the time (in the pasture, in a sand school, when ridden on grass) but not if being taken someplace that is more challenging terrain.
If you keep your horse in a soft grassy paddock, but want to ride on stony, flinty ground, you may need boots when you go riding. If you keep your horse on stony flinty ground, they may not actually need boots when riding. The thing is, hooves adapt to where they are most often, so if you horse is mostly on soft ground except when riding, boots are very important. Having said that, you can usually get away with flat hard ground (even tarmac) without they needing boots if you aren't clocking up a lot of miles on it. I ride out without boots if I am mostly on the road or softer ground, but put boots on front when planning to go longer and/or over really stony ground. The boots are better for protecting the soles of the hooves in these cases.
Shoes are the only solution I've found for those who need studs for jumping in deep mud, etc, when doing cross country -- so for certain competitions, you may prefer shoes.
I don't do endurance or many, many miles, and I've never had a need even for boots behind. |
| Ari |
Posted - 14 Sep 2013 : 10:17:11 PM
My boy has good fast growing feet but can't do stoney lanes and uneven moor we ride without shoes. I can see the benefits of barefoot and a few horses on my yard that don't do as much work as mine can manage totally barefoot but how often do you have to use boots and are they better for the feet than shoes? I have an open mind but boots aren't barefoot, admit I am old school but willing to learn.
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| glo |
Posted - 14 Sep 2013 : 9:15:56 PM
I have had my mare barefoot for just over a year now, I use easy boot gloves front and back, I did try some other makes but I like the close fitting boots, and to be honest if the boots can cope with the Quantock Hills they can cope anywhere. I used a fit kit and then picked the best fit (her feet where not within the fitting guide but still stayed on ) I also used and still use comfort pads as well. |
| martha615 |
Posted - 14 Sep 2013 : 4:59:43 PM
I realise that my post was misleading...what I meant to say (and Callisto is saying the same thing, really) is that you do need to be careful with some boots to get the fit just right, but others are very easy. |
| Callisto |
Posted - 14 Sep 2013 : 4:52:16 PM
Good to know that these things are becoming more readily available.
We use easyboot trails on our unshod welshie, didn't need a fitter for those, our normal farrier trims him, and they work very well. He needs the boots because he hates stoney going and will just refuse to move. No problem with the boots on.
I have now taken Lily's shoes off, the farrier said her feet could do with a rest after all the work she's done this (dry) summer, so I shall probably keep her barefoot over the winter and use boots - riding opportunities tend to be rather limited as the days draw in, so we probably won't be doing that much. Unfortunately her feet are not the right shape for the easyboot trails, so I am going to try a set of Cavello Sport boots on her. |
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