RE: [RC] Barefoot/Shoes? Advice needed PLEASE! - LONG & Slightly OT ? - Linda Cowles
I replied to Sarah offline about her horse.
I trim horses professionally, and don't have all the answers, but
have some... wanted to help clear a few things up.
BAREFOOT & ENVIRONMENT
I have client horses kept on wet pasture and hard,
dry terrain, and have figured out how to keep both types of feet very, very
sound. Dry ground builds a harder hoof in many ways, but my irrigated pasture
horses are doing okay too...
As Karen said earlier, there is barefoot and
Barefoot... not all barefoot horses are trimmed by someone who understands
how to prevent white line separation, long toes, under-run heels and other
distortions that allow white line disease to take hold.
Wall separation is an invitation to
white line disease... and it's painful!! It's like having a fingernail pushed
back! If a horse has a
competent barefoot trimmer and is trimmed regularly, the odds of it's getting
white line disease are low because the white line isn't stretching... the same
could go for a shod horse. If you shoe every 4 to 5 weeks, wall separation won't
have as much a chance to occur. If you shoe every 7 to 8 weeks, the hoof growth
causes wall separation and leaves the hoof susceptible to white line disease.
> These were my
ponies...heavily used, pastured on a rocky hillside. Beautiful feet, no chips or
cracks. The white line just separated the wall from the sole and at that time
I'd never seen it so didn't nip it in the bud.
This stuff sneaks up on us. When the hoof wall starts
getting long on a barefoot horse, it often (not always) flares outward and the
pressure on the lamina causes the separation. Many of us use either a "mustang
roll" or a bevel (usually 30 to 45 degrees) at the base of the wall to encourage
a natural rounded wearing of the wall and to lessen the amount of
flare. I'm putting up pages to help my clients maintain that bevel in
between my visits... it'll be titles something like "Trim Maintenance" in my
articles section. Restoring that bevel takes 10 to 15 minutes per horse on a
balanced hoof.
FOUNDER DIET
>> I don't
understand the special diet needs...feeding for a healthy hoof should be the
same whether the horse is barefoot or not? Is this special diet something
he's selling you?
Sarah's horse
has Laminitis - founder - and that's the same as diabetes in humans... Once a
horse founders, you can count on having reoccurring if the diet isn't
managed. Like a diabetic person, it's diet becomes a critical factor in it
not refoundering.
