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Post-shoe Trims, etc

2K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  Sharpie 
#1 ·
Long time no chat for my part. I've been off doing things in the world and had a very good farrier who took care of my gelding and helped us complete many endurance rides happy, sound, and shod for the last 2+ years (because running barefoot over gravel for dozens of miles is not something my guy's feet seem genetically made to do - "yay" QH genetics). Unfortunately for me, I've been moved again, out to a place where I have not yet found a knowledgable farrier, and based on everything I can find so far, may not be able to.

I took off his shoes today and did a conservative trim, but I know I'll have to trim again in a couple weeks, because to me, it seems like that is always the case when a shod horse goes barefoot again. Has anyone else had that experience? That it seems like they need a touchup WAY more quickly right off than they do normally between trims?

I've offhandedly attributed it to a vague idea of their hoof wall relaxing/flexing/changing shape without the rigid influence of shoes, but that's just me spitballing. Has anyone else had that experience? Why do you think it is? I suppose I *could* be more aggressive with the first trim post, but I'd rather risk having to come back and touch up than making him sore right out of shoes, especially when it's easy to come back and do it when I'm out there daily anyway.

Further question, here in the mid state GA/AL border area, I do not yet know how wet a winter will I be dealing with, so we dumped a bunch of M10 sand (decomposed granite) on their paddocks to help keep down mud. I am wondering if I should add anything on top to help with foot health? If so, would pea gravel be a good choice?

Eventually I expect I'll be back to the frustration that is trying to keep boots on hind feet with a horse that has a powerful push+twist hind stride (mild cow-hock) that has so far defeated two different kinds of Easyboots and Renegades (Vipers, the original were not recommended for his hoof shape). Anything new on the market he might not rip through or leave a foot deep in the mud when he launches?
 
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#2 ·
Welcome back! :)

1. I am going to tag @loosie to answer your trimming questions but my first thought is you are correct to trim a little bit now and a little bit every few weeks, since you’re able to trim:)

2. I’m no help with boots, except to say you will probably have to carefully measure each hoof according to a variety of boot manufacturers to find which one might fit your horse. There are quite a few boot manufacturers these days, and their methods to measure the hoof can vary.

3. I got really lucky, when looking for a therapeutic farrier for my foundered horse 3-1/2 years ago.

I found her on newhorse.com

https://www.newhorse.com/page/farrier/b.2001.html?page=1

Click the on “narrow by region” blue bar. If you’re close enough to AL, click on both states.

****
It’s great you know how to trim. You can at least keep the hooves in shape until you find a good farrier:)
 
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#3 ·
We pull shoes for winter (endurance horses as well) and I don't see them needing trims more often but that's probably due to slow hoof growth during the winter months I would guess... Thank goodness because I feel like all we do now is trim/shoe horses.

I know people are liking some Flex boots that are fairly new. It seems like the Easyboot Fury's were flops but I heard they were coming out with something new as well. We tried boots for awhile but only one of my horses can keep them on decently and after having both fronts snap during a ride (cables on Renegades) I gave up and put shoes on. We're just starting to do our own shoes (been doing our own trimming for a year) because of a serious lack of farriers in our area and it seems to be going pretty well so far!
 
#4 ·
Wow! Doing your own shoes is pretty impressive, though I guess once you've already learned to trim, it's just another few steps. I hope I don't have to go that route myself, will probably fart around withboots a while longer yet while I keep looking for a good farrier and am too busy with work to be heading out to any rides until late Winter or Spring.
 
#5 ·
Hi Sharpie, nice to 'see' you again.

Re new out of shoes, yes, I think it is best to do a conservative trim straight out of shoes, to make it more likely he won't be sore - tho if you only shoe part time & he has a good farrier/healthy feet, he shouldn't have a prob coming out of shoes. So waiting a week or 2 to give him a 'proper' trim is general good practice IMO, but also I think your 'spitballing' is on the money, that could also be a reason there's often more 'wants' to come off in a couple of weeks anyway.

Re hind boots & twisty steps, I've found Epics pretty good on that note, but there's also Easyshoes or other composites, if you find farrier/feel competent enough yourself to apply them.

Walkin, afraid 'tagging' me is rather pointless here, because after they changed it so there's no sign on the top bar that I have 'notifications', I don't look, so didn't even realise what '@ someone' meant until recently, don't see that I'm 'tagged' until I'm looking at the post! FWIW I dunno what the go is with the #words on FB either.
 
#6 ·
I'm sure you'll hear pros and cons of every kind of boot out there, but since no one mentioned Scoots yet I figured I'd throw that out there. They now make a "mud strap" that helps with stability in deep, sticky going, though in "regular" mud I haven't had issues with losing them without the straps. They've held up incredibly well to riding on dirt/gravel roads and rocky trails. I don't have experience with other types of boots but I've surmised that the Scoots are a little less "forgiving" to hoof shape than some others. They need to be fitted after a fresh trim. I do find the fit changes somewhat throughout a trim cycle, but never so much that they can't be used. There are some good FB pages for Scoot fitting. I can't link to Facebook pages here, but you can look up Stacy Pratt/Heartland Scoot Boots and Karen Timcoe Cox/Scoot Boot Adventures- they both have lots of experience fitting for endurance riders and are very responsive to FB messages.
 
#7 ·
Egrogan, I've been eyeballing the Scoots and wondering. With your experience, maybe that will be the next try once I've got his feet trimmed back up properly and I can get good measurements. I think I'll probably go for those first over composite nail ons, etc. I just don't have the training to feel comfortable mucking around with nails, nor an educated farrier to look over my shoulder and make sure I'm doing it right for now.

FWIW, he seems very happy, not sore bare at all, which is my goal. He DOES have some thrush that I hope to get under better control now too, so that should help his overall hoof health. My arabian mare seems to have perfect lovely bare feet, it's amazing the difference between the two of them despite the same housing, diet, etc!
 
#9 ·
Trimmed him up today, a week out, looking much better - just rasped everything, brought the toe back and heels down a bit (that's going to be a longer process) to keep him comfortable. Went for a 10mi ride, and it was really interesting to see the before/after on his feet. He had a fair amount of dead sole he'd been hanging onto that I don't/didn't trim out since he's got issues with being sensitive anyway, but after the ride (varied terrain: forest floor, mud, gravel, concrete, grass), his sole was all polished clean and pretty other than some hanging on in there in the angles between the bars and heels and pooling forward a little from the bars, and no real chips or breaking of the hoof wall.

It's amazing what a little trim and some work over varied terrain do - his feet look very different already compared to right out of shoes, his very own make-over before and after. I'm actually very pleased as I thought it would take months for his feet to start to look better, so looking almost back to his normal barefoot status in just a week is more than I could have hoped for. I know it will still take the time it takes for his frog and feet to really recover and be growing out, but I'm pleased that he's on the right track so quickly, especially since I think I can actually get/use boots almost immediately now rather than having to wait to refit.

Hondo, I did a lot of staring at ELPO back in 2015 or so when I was first learning to trim, and it was super cool to see all the landmarks/normal anatomy had become clear after our ride today/exfoliation.
 
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