My Problem with hooves

To Lady Farrier, a few posts back!

I have horses that have been striving barefoot. I have a 4 year old mare that has been first trimmed when she was two (by me, when I bought her) and a yearling colt that has been trimmed in the barefoot performance trim since his first ever trim. I have rescued two standardbred mares last year. Their hooves are contracted with thin walls. These feet are feet that were shod as yearlings.

I've trimmed them barefoot for the first year of their new lives with me. Their feet improved and got much wider, but we cannot ride them on harder surfaces, not even one little bit. One of them, Peg, has a funny gait because of her soreness and I doubt boots would ever hold on her feet, but it is something that I am considering.

The shoes I am using aren't metal shoes. They're a urethane shoe that is designed and tested to simulate the barefoot hoof, with the same results, but without wearing the hoof too fast and protects from the soreness of walking on gravel. It is a flexible shoe, fairly easy to install and is very resistant. I have noticed incredible improvement in my mare Peg's gait, comfort and overall happiness, not to say that her walls have gotten much thicker and her feet hold a better shape now. I have removed the shoes 2 weeks ago, trimmed them appropriatly, but she is not as comfortable even if we have not ridden her at all during that time.

I plan on putting her shoes back on soon to try and keep her more comfortable. My other Stdbd is being shod soon too because of foot soreness. We are planning on working much more on her training this year and she just cannot handle rocks, gravel and pavement. When those shoes are done, I will consider hoof boots for sure! I had already done so (discussed in previous posts).

I am an advocate for barefoot performance and also trim myself quite successfully, but there just doesn't seem to be any method that renders my two rescues comfortable. I hope to eventually have them barefoot, but for Peg, I feel that it is almost impossible.

If you have questions about the shoes I am using, please visit Easywalkerhorseshoes.com I've had great results with the product and my horse took off running accross the pasture on her first application.