Barefoot hooves - speed of growth/wear

Hooves are a window to your horse's health. Event lines - as can be clearly seen in the first photo are reminders of 'events'. The two biggest lines, at just below half way down the hoof and the one below were caused by vaccinations - which this horse will probably not have again because they made her very ill.

In the second photo you can see one big event line just above the bottom edge of the hoof. This is the same one which in the first photo is just below half way down. The hoof has grown that much in 8.5 weeks - or just about 2 months. I estimate that this hoof is replacing itself completely roughly every 6 months. Oddly before I checked the history I had always thought this horse grew foot quite slowly.

So it pays to keep records and to realise just how fast hooves can grow - barefoot ones anyway.

And despite being stabled this horse is almost self trimming. She works 3x a day on a variety of surfaces including sand, stones, grass and car park. Extreme metabolic issues mean she is not quite rock crunching at the moment, but she has been in the past and we hope that she will be in the future. But never again will I use a wormer that claims to be effective over a number of weeks. It takes too long to grow out the damage from this horse's feet.

Lameness - Removing shoes - a case study

Front Foot Shod
The purpose of this blog is to question, inform and encourage in equal measure.

If you are a regular follower, the questions will be easy to answer. If not then previous posts may be helpful.

If you are the owner of a horse which is in transition then I hope that this and previous posts will provide some inspiration.

In order to provide the photographic material a very very kind horse owner has given me permission to use pictures of their horse - which has just started the transition process.

The horse attached to the feet in the pictures has been progressively lame for some months. Besides being lame the horse was unable to stand without the front legs continually trembling at the knee. The regular vet referred to a specialist. Diagnosis was nothing wrong with feet. I'll let you make your own minds up.

Solar View Both Fronts Just Deshod


















Two Weeks Later


Since removing the shoes the horse has been on a high fibre, low sugar diet. Exercise is on soft surfaces until the horse is able to cope with more. The knee trembling almost entirely stopped and the horse is 'beaming'.

Although footy over stones the horse is moving better in a straight line and around corners. The owner is incredibly hard working and dedicated to their horse. A credit to themselves and an example to us all. :-)


And here is one we did earlier ......