Re: [RC] small feet - DESERTRYDR1
My first mare (Arabian) had 00 feet, that were also fairly upright and boxy.
Her front feet look exactly like my friend's mule's feet. We got about 350
miles in LD, plus many hundreds of miles in conditioning (many of them way
too fast). She never was unsound a single day. But, she had very thick
soles, and very tough hoof walls. I rode her barefoot a lot and she never
had splits or cracks, about the only thing she ever did when I rode her a lot
on asphalt or rocks was that her walls would chip off even with the sole.
I retired her to broodmare (her second baby is 9 days old) because her first
baby (now 8) is much smoother to ride and has a better temperament for
endurance--she will slow down if I ask, and she eats and drinks better. She
has okay feet, but her dad was a Thoroughbred, and she doesn't have a very
thick sole.
So my answer is "It all depends" If the horse's feet are otherwise of good
quality, with a decent sole and wall thickness that doesn't split or crack
easily, she may be fine. Also, my Arab mare is 14.2H, about 800-850 in
racing condition. So her feet are not horribly small for her overall size.
At 4 your filly is not done growing yet. She may develop better bone and
(slightly) bigger feet with a CAREFUL conditioning program. My 8 yr old's
feet were 00 til she was 6, but have finally gotten up to 0. She grew in
height till she was 7.
If hoof quality is an issue, put her on a good source of about 15-20 mg of
biotin, and KEEP her on it, pretty much forever. It takes a year for the
hoof to grow out, so you may not notice a difference at first. I have
noticed that since my younger mare has been on biotin her feet have better
quality. Good luck, jeri
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