Hooves with Heart - Kathryn O'Bree

26/01/2025

"I tried taking my horses shoes off and he was really sore so I had to put them back on"

My first question to this statement would be:

"How long were the shoes off for?"

Most people cave and put shoes back on after a few weeks of removal, because they can't bare to see their horse in pain. While I agree that a horse should not be left in pain, you MUST understand that a horse takes on average 9 MONTHS TO A YEAR to grow a new foot, and there are ways to help your horse be comfortable in the interim.

That feet he is walking on initially WILL be sore. They have been DEFORMED by the shoes and suddenly your horse can feel the ground again.

But why do shoes make the feet sore?

Shoes stop the frog from making contact with the ground which restricts blood flow. The shoe also stops the hoof from being able to expand to absorb impact and deforms the hoof by causing the heel bulbs to retract, and the toes to grow long. The nails used to hold the shoe on glide through tubules inside the hoof, severing nerve endings. All of these things make your horse much more likely to sustain injury due to the concussion during foot to floor contact not being absorbed by the hoof, but being sent straight up the leg.

They also hide the initial warning signs of laminitis, giving the false impression that 'it came on overnight'. More likely your horse has been showing signs for weeks or months, in the form of foot soreness, bruising, white line separation and event lines, but the shoes have masked them.

My second question would be:

"Have you removed sugar from your horse's diet?"

A horse continuing to live on high sugar grass (the majority of the grass nowadays) and eat high concentrated sugar filled feeds, has no hope in growing a healthy barefoot hoof.

This may be where your problem lies.

Sugar causes inflammation.

Inflammation comes out in the hooves, causing inflammation and separation of the laminae; white line disease, low heels and long toes and thrush infections: all of which will be painful for your horse.

Remove the sugar, switch to low sugar/starch hay and only use what's necessary for feeds:

If you horse is a good doer, feed a basic carrier (that's free from any nasties - we recommend thunderbrooks or Agrobs products) and a vit and min balancer from Forageplus, their winter balancer is specially designed for horses on a mainly hay diet. If you have a poor doer, feed this but add extra high kcal low sugar feed, such as micronised linseed and coolstance copra.

Use our code ABBOTTSVIEW10 for 10% off your first Forage Plus order 👌

Next,

"Who trims your horses feet?"

Having healthy barefoot hooves isn't possible unless your hoof practitioner is passionate about barefoot, and has the training to correctly balance a barefoot hoof - I have seen many traditional farriers hack the foot away or chop the toes off of laminitic horses, making them extremely sore. It's not their fault, it's what their training tells them to do and often vets recommend this too for the same reasons. Many traditional farriers have 'seen the light' and switched to barefoot only; I have never heard of it happening the other way around!

There are bad barefoot trimmers too, I have sadly experienced that a few years ago with a newly qualified trimmer who tried to fit one of my liveries horses hooves into a box on "how a foot should look", took far too much off and he was sore and in boots for months. Make sure you research who you use.

That leads me to boots, get some hoof boots to help with the transition if your horse is really sore initially, especially if you are still riding. There are plenty of styles, try The Hoof Boutique and ask them for advice on what would best fit your horse and circumstances. The initial outlay may seem expensive, but they will last you years, and when compared to a full set of shoes every 6 weeks, it's a no brainer.

And finally:

"How is your horse kept?"

To get the best out of barefoot, you horse needs AS MUCH MOVEMENT AS POSSIBLE, and ideally over surfaces to build up strength and conditioning in the hooves, and even more ideally, an envrionment that allows him free choice. If we don't address the mental health aspect of our horses, it's not possible to get the physical side right.

Turnout in a herd, with free access to food (ad-lib low sugar starch hay) and access to shelter to use as they please is the ideal.

I appreciate this is not always available in alot of livery yards, but then I would question whether you can move somewhere better, or ask your yard if you can set something up. Or is it more important for you to have facilities to ride than it is to have your horse in this kind of environment?

This might seem harsh, but horses owe us nothing. They deserve to have species appropriate living and forage and if they all did, all of these behavioural and medical issues that we see day to day would be eradicated (wind sucking, cribbing, weaving, laminitis, EMS, obesity etc.). We can only do the best with what we have available, so if you have your own land, set up a track! And if you are on a livery, see what you can do to enable you horses to have as much safe turnout as possible or consider a track livery.

With all these boxes ticked your horse CAN go barefoot. Whether it's a Thoroughbred or a Shetland pony, it is possible.

Remember that shoes are a plaster and not a fix. They may give off the impression that your horse is sound, but if you remove them and he's not, then he's just not sound!

Yes this way of keeping horses is hard work, and time consuming. But the money I save on vet bills because all my horses a healthy, free from laminitis, or any behavioural issues caused by stabling, is far worth it. That and the relationship I have with them; and I have a much more willing partner when I do want to ride. There's no 'lunging before you ride' nonsense.

And if you read this and think "I can't be bothered with all that, I just want to ride my horse and chuck it in a field/stable the rest of the time" then I wish you all the best. But more often than not, this will come back to bite you in the ass.

It's the people that realise these changes need to be made, and make the changes as best as they can for their horses, who are my people.

I dream of a day where horses are not confined in stables and are rid of metal shoes, and I won't ever stop until I drop!