Maybe this is a dumb question, I don't know. I am still a naive first time horse owner so please bear with me.
When I got Dancer his feet were awful. He was pretty ouchy so I shod him. Fast forward almost 2 years and he is still shod. I think the health of his hooves have greatly improved. He still has shelly feet but the cracks are very superficial. His feed is a ton better and I have him on Smarthoof from SmartPak as well as flax seed.
I have been toying with the idea of taking his shoes off to see how he does. I was thinking about getting hoofboots for trail riding, if he even needs them. I asked my vet what he thought and he was very vague. He just said that the cracks were superficial and the only concern he had was Dancer stomping at flies.
Do I just leave them on or do I try him without? I'm guessing it won't hurt to take them off for a bit and if need be put them back on?
When I got Dancer his feet were awful. He was pretty ouchy so I shod him. Fast forward almost 2 years and he is still shod. I think the health of his hooves have greatly improved. He still has shelly feet but the cracks are very superficial. His feed is a ton better and I have him on Smarthoof from SmartPak as well as flax seed.
I have been toying with the idea of taking his shoes off to see how he does. I was thinking about getting hoofboots for trail riding, if he even needs them. I asked my vet what he thought and he was very vague. He just said that the cracks were superficial and the only concern he had was Dancer stomping at flies.
Do I just leave them on or do I try him without? I'm guessing it won't hurt to take them off for a bit and if need be put them back on?