Lia’s (barefoot) dancing shoes...

When Lia arrived we knew she was in extremely poor condition, but what we hadn’t anticipated was the state of her feet. You’ll know from previous posts, I FREAKED OUT and poor Haylz had to deal with me, going on and on and on... 

‘What are we going to do?’ 

‘Her feet are clubbed! Well I think they’re clubbed!’

‘Hayl, those feet are not ok!’ 

‘Kate, they’re not clubbed. You know we will be able to sort them, don’t worry.’

Then came one of the worse abscesses we’ve had to deal with; two months of determination, trying not to panic as my next dressage horse hopped around on three legs. Eventually it burst EVERYWHERE - the sole, the coronet band in two places, taking half the hoof wall with it (she didn’t have much to start with!!). That was the start of Lia’s hoof rehab journey. 

At 16’2 she had pony sized feet,  heals that would give my stilettos a run for their money, decent lateral flare, two great hoof cracks and worryingly a nearly toe first landing. But she wasn’t lame, so we had a positive start. 

16 months later, we are not there, but the improvement has been incredible. Lia now has a heal first landing, her feet have balance, the cracks have gone and her heals are lowered meaning they’ve become less contracted. She’s still got some lateral flare, which may or may not go, time will tell. 

So we wanted to share with you our approach to giving Lia her barefoot dancing shoes; 

1. DIET - we keep this simple; adlib hay and haylage, along with a low sugar and starch diet. We opt for Alfalfa Nuts & Micronised Linseed in equal amount. 
2. Vits & Mins - thanks to Forage Plus, we’ve been able to balance her diet perfectly with Natural Vitamin E, Copper and Zinc which has created a huge improvement in the strength of her hoof wall and over all condition. 
3. Movement - this is key, the more the horse moves the healthier they are. We are lucky enough to have a track system, so Lia spends equal amounts of time of hard terrains, gravel and grass to stimulate her feet. She’s on 24 hour turnout. 
4. Trimming - the right trim helps the horse. We’ve got an excellent trimmer who has helped balance her feet which I assure you is not an easy task. The view from the sole is not the view when the foot is on the floor. 

Does Lia have story book picture hooves, no! But they work. She’s comfortable, she can go dancing and hack out with no hoof boots on any surface, which we’re pretty proud of. 

‘Don’t try to make the hooves match - try to make the horse move in a more balanced way.’  Pete Ramey