13. Going Barefoot...

Spice in her new pasture...24/7 turnout as it should be and our first chance to try going BAREFOOT!


Once i had moved Spice to her new pasture where the turnout was 24/7 i knew i would have a much better chance at attempting to go barefoot. So, I changed her diet from a high sugar haylage she was used to having at her old yard to a low sugar haylage and changed her scoop of high sugar pony nuts to a scoop of high fibre low sugar alfa beat and a handful of chaff. After one month i then decided to book an appointment with my podiatrist. I'd seen the same podiatrist a couple of months earlier at my old yard but at that point she recommended that i leave spices shoes on as all of her hooves were warm and had a strong pulse indicating that she could be laminitic - she'd mentioned that the main reason why she felt spices hooves were likely to get sore if her shoes were taken off was due to her being on a high sugar diet due to the fields being fertilised and also therefore having a mineral imbalance such as magnesium deficiency due to the fertiliser used.

So, on the 22nd January 4 weeks after arriving at our new yard, having left her shoes on for 10 weeks (which would give the hoof the chance to grow before attempting to go barefoot the podiatrist came to assess Spices hooves for a second time. Much to my surprise, she was delighted with Spices hooves and was not reluctant in the slightest to remove her shoes - the temperature of the hooves had returned to normal and her pulses were now as they should be - weak. So, within a matter of minutes i had a barefoot horse! So far Spice has not displayed ANY signs of soreness and only slight cracking has occurred on the back hooves. I have been recommended by my podiatrist to walk her on hard smooth surfaces i.e tarmac twice a week for 30 mins or 4 times a week for 15 mins and so far all is good. It had now been 15 days since her shoes were removed so her hooves have now had 3 months to grow. However, since the hoof takes approximetely 8 months to replace itself i anticipate it being a further 5 months before they are in 'tip-top condition'. Fortunately though this fits in with what i want to do with her and will prevent me from becoming impatient with her progress so i see it as a blessing. The podiatrist is next visiting on the 3rd March (6 weeks after shoe removal) so i will update you as to how her hooves are doing then....

During my research, I found the following articles useful when deciding whether or not to go Barefoot...

Nutrition is one of the most important things to get right, with any horse.

With a horse that is barefoot, it is essential - you can have the best trim
in the world, but if your horse is not getting the diet it needs, its all wasted!

Dietary problems are often the main cause of footiness in horses, and barefoot horses are no exception. Your trimmer is the best person to advise on diet, so talk to him/her first of all - it is too big a subject for this site alone!

A horse’s diet should be based on forage - in fact most lightly worked horses need only grass, hay or haylage, plus minerals. Let your horse’s condition be your guide, and if you need to feed more, opt for low starch, high oil feeds.

Check vitamins and minerals - provide a free choice supplement, and ideally have your forage analysed to check for deficiencies. Avoid cereal/sugar based supplements.

Avoid mollassed feeds, and scrutinise ingredient lists; “low sugar” is not the same as “NO sugar”!

Variety is the spice of life! Forage that has lots of varieties of grasses, rather than one species, is usually better. Beware of forage that has been heavily fertilised, or treated with fungicide/herbicide.

Beware of too much grass - footiness due to high fructan levels is extremely common and can occur in ANY horse, including fit horses. It is a particular danger where magnesium levels in forage are low - either naturally or due to nitrate fertilisers.

Be especially careful in spring and autumn, and monitor your horse’s performance, restricting grazing if necessary. High doses of drugs (wormers, hormone injections, steroids etc) can also cause hoof problems.

Magnesium deficiency can show up as footiness on hard or rough ground, and many diets (equine and human!) are deficient. You can safely add magnesium in various forms and your trimmer should advise you about dosage, availability, and the best form to feed.

Spice is currently having ad lib high fibre low sugar haylage, one scoop of happy hoof, 45ml of magnesium and a 45g of a herb mixture (specially for hooves) including Clivers, Meadowsweet, Rosehips, Garlic, Kelp, Nettles, Mint. Links to some of these products can be found below...

http://www.spillers-feeds.com/en-gb/united-kingdom/SpillersHorseFeed/products-and-stockists/spillers-fibres/happy-hoof/

http://www.feedem.co.uk/horse-117/horse-food-185/spillers-236/spillers-horses-laminitis-13038.htm?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=13038&utm_campaign=froogle

This photos show high desert in Arizona - the sort of terrain which crafts the incredibly strong feet of wild horses.

The land here is very dry, and very rocky...typically there is less than 10 inches of rain per year.

Hooves in this environment become amazingly capable, but its a far cry from the UK!

In the UK, we have totally different conditions - Exmoor, for instance can have 70-100 inches of rain per year.

In this environment, horses won’t naturally develop “rock-crunching” hooves - this is partly because of the wet, soft ground and partly because their diet is much richer - we grow grass!

But we need our barefoot horses to have rock-crunching “desert” hooves so that we can ride on rough, stony ground, and on roads, not just fields and arenas.

The solution is to mimic much tougher conditions, so that hooves become stronger too.

You don’t need to make huge changes - you can provide dry, stimulating, abrasive terrain by keeping a horse in a stable or shelter for part of the day, and you can restrict grazing by turning out in a dry lot with hay or haylage instead of a green field.

You might even be able to create a track, which maximises movement but limits access to grass.


We know that too much turnout on lovely green grass is NOT terribly good for hooves, but its good for our horses to have the chance to move freely and socialise.

Instead of turnout in fields, putting a track round the edge of the field is a simple way of restricting grazing and encouraging movement. This idea was first mooted by Jaime Jackson, who has written a book called “Paddock Paradise”.

My horses, and Sarah Braithwaite’s have been kept on tracks for a number of years and thrive on it.

Tracks can be as complex or as simple as your space and budget allow, from a simple cordon of electric fence around the edge of a field to a system of interlinked yards over multiple different surfaces.

The essentials are enough space and feed stations to prevent bullying, good shelter and (ideally) varied surfaces to stimulate hooves.

If you are laying a track for winter use, you will need good drainage and a surface which doesn’t poach, but if you only need to use your track in summer then you can get away with just fencing round the edge of a field.

The trick is to be inventive - waste ground, old yards and areas of hard-standing are all great ways of providing varied, well-drained surfaces - and they come cheaper than “pony paddocks”!

Thankfully due to the variation of the Uk Climate our grass paddocks change with the seasons so that what may have once been a soft spongy grass paddock can quickly change to a rock hard icy paddock so we are somewhat lucky with the english weather because whether we keep our horses on grass or not they will still expereince the sensation of different terrains which will help strengthen our horses hooves.

The trim we use is consistently effective and safe, and non-invasive, allowing us to have happy horses, with balanced feet, that are as capable, or more capable of high performance than they were when shod.

A UKNHCP trimmer/farrier can give you good advice - a trim is individual to each horse - you can’t set “rules” as every hoof is different.

A trim for a hard-working barefoot horse is not the same as a pasture trim - the aim of the two is different, and a pasture trim will not normally be adequate to optimise hoof health in a barefoot horse.

Having said that, there are an increasing number of farriers who have experience of barefoot performance, and its worth talking to your farrier first.

Here are our top tips:

Trimming

• When choosing a trimmer or farrier, look for someone who has many successful barefoot horses on their books.

• Expect a good trimmer or farrier to ask about your horse’s diet, environment and exercise, and to advise you on changes if necessary.

• Your horse should be as or more comfortable after a trim as before (the exception is a horse with a metabolic disorder or a poor diet).
• Your trimmer or farrier should have professional indemnity insurance and should work co-operatively with other professionals.

• A good trimmer will handle your horse kindly but fairly, and will take time to answer your questions.

I chose to use a barefoot trimmer rather than a farrier as i had read and heard that farriers only know how to do a 'pasture trim' which is not appropriate for a horse which you intend riding out.

The website address of the barefoot trimmer i am using is: http://www.sarahoofgirl.com/ She is absolutely lovely and is highly competent both at dealing with horses in general and trimming. I cannot recommend her highly enough.

I was recommended to her by my friends equine sports therapist who is also excellent: http://www.horse-back.co.uk/