3 Week anniversary.

So, shoes have been off for 3 weeks yesterday and Red is doing well. He is on his new diet of 0.5kg copra, 0.8kg alfalfa pellets, 20g (dry weight/scoop soaked) purabeet, 20g linseed, turmeric and 20 grinds of pepper.
I haven't had his feet trimmed as I wanted him to have some old foot to walk on, his walls are slightly longer than his sole and my thoughts are that as they gradually wear down the soles of his feet will gradually be introduced to the new sensation of feeling the ground.
From what I have seen from looking at pictures of hooves I think his look quite good. He has good concavity in his feet and really chunky frogs, which look like they are about to shed a layer, it will be interesting to see what they are like underneath.
One thing (of the many!) I have learnt so far is BE BRAVE!  He has a bit of hoof on the outside of his     near fore that is sticking out, it is where his hoof had a notch cut into it to fit the quarter clips of his shoe. My old self would say it needs trimming off and tidying up, but my new self is saying to HAVE FAITH and let it sort itself out, its funny how hard it is to do nothing :-)

I was thinking about how the change in foot support might feel. When I got my lovely pair of Ariat boots a couple of years ago I found the support in the sole too much. My right foot was fine but my left foot found it extremely uncomfortable and I couldn't stand it for more than an hour or so, even if I was riding and not standing my weight on it. However, the boots are so lovely and by wearing them for increasing periods of time my foot got used to it and now they feel great. This must be similar for the horses. We give them better support and think they should feel better because of it, but actually if they are not used to it it could well be more uncomfortable for them, they need time to adjust.

I have started walking Red along the roads at the weekends to let his feet wear down naturally and stimulate hoof growth. He walks carefully out of the drive but strides out on the roads. I am going to start to use his hoof boots during the week to keep his feet comfortable and encourage his heel to strengthen. I have a pro light pad in there to help cushion it for him but am going to look into the proper support pads which I think help to stimulate the foot as well as support it.

The learning curve continues!

Hoof nerd!

I have become a total hoof nerd! I find myself sitting and watching Red's feet while he is eating. It's really interesting seeing how they move as he shifts his weight.