Barefoot Transitioning: How one endurance rider feeds and manages her horses

This topic is pretty complex and encompasses so many things when it comes to how we keep our horses.  There is a big picture to look at when taking shoes off of your horse permanently.  It is a lifestyle.  For some, the changes they’ll need to make will be minimal.  For others the changes could be huge.

Endurance riders are some of the most informed and educated horse owners that I know.  We put lots of effort into figuring out the best feeds, the best fitting tack, the best veterinary and farrier care.  This usually involves us having several different specialists contributing to the well being of our horses.

When we decide to keep our horses barefoot that places a huge amount of responsibility right square on our shoulders.  If you are lucky you might find a good hoof care provider that can help guide you along during the process.  In my experience, those kinds of experts are still few and far between – gaining ground all the time – but still, there is a long way to go.

In the first part of this series on barefoot transitioning I covered how what we feed our horses could be contributing to sore or sensitive feet.  In this part I’m going to go over what I feed my own horses and their basic management.  In future posts I’m going to cover a lot of other topics relating to horse health and keeping healthy bare hooves.  This info will also apply to horses that are shod as well – as a healthy horse is a healthy horse.  I just happen to be of the belief that my horses are healthier because they live a barefoot lifestyle.  In future posts I will talk about the reasons why I believe that and review some of the positive changes I’ve experienced in my own horses since they have been kept barefoot full time.

About my horses:  I have four horses–I’m including info here on the three that are living with me right now (the fourth – Tigger is with Dave Rabe).  They are all Arabian geldings.  The first two are actively competing endurance horses and have completed rides ranging from one day 100′s to 5 day multidays this season.  Bo is the youngest at 10, he’s a bay, 15.1 hh, weights 970 pounds and has a little over 1,000 endurance miles.  Chief is 14, fleabitten grey, 15 hh, weighs 930 pounds and has around 8600 endurance miles.  Rocky is 17, a mostly white grey, weighs 970, 15.1 hh and has around 7600 endurance miles.  Rocky is also borderline insulin resistant and has recovered from one laminitis episode.  To keep things simple I manage them all nearly the same at home.

I feed my horses hay that I’ve been getting from the same supplier for years – it is either mostly grass or a grass/alfalfa mix.  It’s all been tested and is appropriate in NSC and WSC content for Rocky.  I just got in a new load that has a lot of timothy in it and is probably about 80% grass / 20% alfalfa.  The horses love it and it’s even certified weed free.

I feed the horses Mega Dose vitamins from Horse Guard.  I like the yeast selenium in it (high enough dose) along with everything else they need to keep their hooves healthy and these vitamins and hay combine to give them a good solid nutritional program.  The Mega Dose vitamins come in a pellet form and I can give the horses just the scoop of vitamins and they’ll eat it without me needing to feed something else with it.  I also toss in some Vitamin E capsules that I get from Costco.  About four or five 400 I.U. per day.  I know my horses need a selenium supplement because they have had bloodwork done specifically for that.

When the grass is in I let the horses graze in the pasture.  Limited to a couple hours per day during optimum hours.  I keep a close eye on them all to make sure they aren’t getting sensitive feet.

From safergrass.org

Safest time to graze: early morning; after a night when the minimum temperature was above 40°F (5°C); on grass that is in a vegetative stage of growth (leaves, not heads) and the grass is under no stress from lack of water or nutrients. Under overcast or shaded conditions, sugar buildup should be slower. A long stretch of cloudy weather will further decrease NSC levels.

Most dangerous time to graze: late afternoon or early evening on a sunny day; grass that is heading or flowering; anytime throughout the day if the night before had temperatures below 40°F (5°C); grass that is stressed for lack of water or nutrients; stubble left from mowing or overgrazing, especially in late fall (or winter in areas where grass stays green).

Each horse has a couple of cups of loose salt available to them in their feed bins in each stall.  I have read reports and studies suggesting that horses will not get enough salt if you just put out salt blocks.  That has definitely been my experience.  A 50 pound bag of plain white loose salt costs me around $7 to $8.  It’s the same stuff they sell for taxidermy – in case you are asking for it and they say “all I have is taxidermy salt” – that’s the right stuff – the bags I get say “feed free choice to livestock”.

If I am preparing for a ride, and attending a ride or the horse is recovering post ride I do the following:

Soaked beet pulp a day or two in advance of trailering with added salt.  Maybe one pound two times a day.  I rinse the beet pulp to remove as much sugar as I can.  It is very important to rinse it because some bags can have a LOT of sugar – I’ve heard of tests coming back with 28% sugar in some batches.  I buy my beet pulp pellets from the same supplier and the amount of sugar I can rinse away from bag to bag can vary greatly.  This is not only beneficial for the horses feet but it can help some horses that tend to get wired at the start – it really made a difference with Chief.

Once a ride starts I will let the horses have free choice access to hay (as much as they can eat) plus add in complete feeds and Omolene 200.  I use Manna Pro Complete Horse 10 which the horses love.  After riding each day I’ll mix the Omolene and/or Complete in with soaked beet pulp and salt.  Check my horse feed page to see more.  Sometimes I’ll use plain oats for a little variety.

After the ride is over I continue feeding soaked rinsed beet pulp with a tablespoon or two of salt mixed with Omolene or Complete.  I will keep up the beet pulp, salt and usually Complete for a day or two after the ride is over – longer if we have a long trailer trip home.  I am pretty conservative when it comes to feeding Omolene since it is so high in sugar and is REALLY high in NSC – I definitely never feed it between rides or to a horse that isn’t being worked!

Once I get home from the ride I’ll again let the competing horses out into the pasture to graze.  This works out well and I think combining an hour or two of grazing a couple of times a day in addition to hay and soaked and rinsed beet pulp with salt added goes a long way to helping them recover post ride.

I also give the horses treats (apples, carrots, cookies) on occasion but only when they are being worked.  I am more careful with Rocky and if he does get a treat it is usually a smaller piece than the other horses get.

My horses also get full turnout and lots of regular exercise.  Even when they are not competing in rides they stay pretty active.  Chief is the herd leader and is constantly herding everybody around.  This has definitely had a positive effect on his hooves!  My horses consistently move around several miles per day.  I know this from hooking up a GPS to them when they are turned out.

I feel that the effort that I’ve put into keeping my horses barefoot has been worth it.  I love seeing the positive results.  Plus, it’s not a bad side benefit to learn more about better management.  These things that I am sharing can be applied to any horse whether barefoot or shod.

As I learn more and go through this evolution with my own horses I can see that all too often we jump to conclusions and change things or react to what we perceive is happening to our horses — when really, we just needed to educate ourselves a little better and seek out help from people more experienced than we are.   Never stop learning!