oberon
Olympic Poster
Posts: 527
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Post by oberon on Jun 20, 2011 9:35:34 GMT 1
As well as grass there is another likely culprit - apathy.
"TB's have bad feet."
And with that statement everyone gives up and accepts it......
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Post by arabmania on Jul 1, 2011 21:28:56 GMT 1
As well as grass there is another likely culprit - apathy. "TB's have bad feet." And with that statement everyone gives up and accepts it...... i am not for a moment saying that this is the case in this particular thread but.................... its a fair point.
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Post by Yann on Jul 2, 2011 21:45:48 GMT 1
Mine does
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oberon
Olympic Poster
Posts: 527
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Post by oberon on Jul 6, 2011 10:32:19 GMT 1
Mine does I thought your mare's metabolic sensitivities GAVE her poor feet ;D?
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Post by LuckyRed on Aug 3, 2011 10:23:39 GMT 1
I think it's more that TBs are prone to bad feet - careful management of feed, exercise and farriery skills can give them good feet but from my experience of moving yards around the country, all it takes is one bad trim and that tendancy rears it's ugly head again!
I kept my boy barefoot for a couple of years and he needed a major trim every 6 weeks and a rebalancing trim at the 3 week point to effect any improvement. Even after 2 years with one of KC La Pierres most qualified trimmers in teh UK, when KC himself looked at him he recommended putting shoes back on if I wanted to to do any long hacks! When I bought my boy back from Northern Ireland - where I had had to resort to remedial farriery on vet advice, I tried a farriers recommended by the yard owner as being good and within a 3 weeks was seriously unhappy with the look of his feet and the farriers attitude when I called him back to reivew Reds feet - I ended up getting a specialist remedial farrier back again (at £180 for his fronts) twice to pull his feet back to some semblance of normallity and then using the farrier recommended by the remedial farrier to shoe him.
I think some horse breeds have feet that are more tollerant of bad trimming / shoeing or poor nutrition but the TB needs to be carefully managed to keep his feet operational!
Sorry - long blurb with not a lot of help for the OP!
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Post by Hannah on Aug 4, 2011 16:57:54 GMT 1
I think the biggest problem with TBs is that they aren't "good doers", so when summer comes they get good grass, or at least reasonable and unrestricted grass. And good grass = splatty feet
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Post by horsesfirst on Aug 4, 2011 21:20:25 GMT 1
I think the biggest problem with TBs is that they aren't "good doers", so when summer comes they get good grass, or at least reasonable and unrestricted grass. And good grass = splatty feet I agree some TBs are not good doers and there is a tendancy to stuff them with grass which can lead to splatty feet. But I seem to have equal quantities of good and bad doer TBs on my books. I haven't nearly enough to make any generalisations, but some of them do really well (bare) with no trouble at all. Including one that I refused to deshoe because I didn't think the owner would do the after care. I was right but the horse is fine any way. Go figure.
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Post by cosydubfarm on Aug 11, 2011 12:25:59 GMT 1
Diet and health can be difficult, however, generally in my experience horses with bad feet are not getting the right level of minerals and vitamins from their diet, especially if they are just out at grass. My horse mainly eats grass(restricted in the summer) and hay and only gets a "bucket feed" in the winter however I always give him double strength Farriers Formula everyday with a handful of chaff or speedibeet. Once I had started using it I noticed a difference within 14 days. His feet are now rock hard and don't chip at all. I used twice the recommended amount for 1 month and then reduced it down, on the recommendaton of my farrier. I know feed about 25g per day so a tub last a long time. (Double strenght Farriers formula isn't cheap but a tub lasts a long time) For horses with really bad feet it could take longer to work I suppose. A good farrier should be able to advise on what a horse might need based on it's basic feed routine. Hope this helps.
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Rohan
Intermediate Poster
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Post by Rohan on Aug 20, 2011 10:49:50 GMT 1
Hmm...I think diet has a huge part to play in it, but I think with TBs there is always this tendency to weaker feet. I've got a few on my books that do have good feet; but they're typically not from a racing background, and have generally been worked pretty hard though most of their lives. IME, I've had a lot of success with TBs just by chucking them out, making sure they're exercised regularly, keeping them on Biotin and that kind of thing. There generally doesn't seem to be a huge need for any mineral balancing beyond this; if there is, then getting the forage analysed is a much better (and in the long run, a lot cheaper) way of getting to the root cause of the problem . I think LuckyRed hit it on the head here really. TBs (as a general rule, there's always exceptions! ) seem to just have feet that need more attention.
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Post by mandal on Aug 21, 2011 17:16:56 GMT 1
I definitely agree grass and some Tb's doesn't mix. Perhaps it's the grass (or what's in it) more than the TB?
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Post by Lady Equine on Aug 26, 2011 12:38:31 GMT 1
I agree Mandal as I stand in defence of TB's...!! My TB@s feet are lush, yes they have the typical TB traits, they are round and somewhat flat but she's worked for the last 14 months barefoot with no boots or problems.
She's on grass 24/7 (being summer) has a handful of chaff a day just so she can have her sups and if she comes in for a proper groom she has meadow hay. She's an amazing doer last year she had one scoop of chaff a day and one section of hay and came out of winter perfect.
I think like all senarios it's horses for courses and each senario needs to be treated individually. This is a great thread and have enjoyed reading all the info.. Now who's an expert on pregnant mare feeding..!!
LE xx
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