Would this be OK?

[Bertie_Boo]

After his hooley round the field on Wednesday, the hairy one managed to pull off one of his front shoes:rolleyes: Rang the farrier but he still hasn't shown up (that guy could be the subject of a whole other thread:angry:). Anyway obviously haven't ridden for 2 days but I don't like the hairy one just standing around in the field all day stuffing his fat face!

We don't have a school so I was thinking of taking him for a walk in hand (we do this quite a lot he's just like a large dog!) Is this a bad idea re the shoeless (is that a word?) hoof? Should I wrap something around it to protect it and stop his sole bruising, given that it will be all road work? Any thoughts?

[natacha]

BB -

Is there any way you can remove the other front shoe? Failing that can you not walk him round his field or lunge him? I would tend to avoid roadwork, even led in hand...

Hope you get hold of the farrier soon.

ETA : it's not the shoeless foot that's a problem on the road - it's the fact that his front legs will be put off by the fact that he's got one shoe on and one shoe off. Horses are so fragile that it could have repercussions elsewhere if walked too far on a road. In the field though, because the ground is uneven and soft anyway this isn't relevant.

God I've written a thesis:teehee:

[lisa82]

what about getting some of them boot things (sorry cant remember what they are called) for riding without shoes or for when this happens, they are meant to be good and could come in handy again at some point.

dont start me off about farriers!

[Bertie_Boo]

N - I wouldn't even attempt to get the other shoe off, I'm sure I would make a complete hash of it! I thought the road aspect would be a problem. I have lunged him in the field before but he's so darn lazy that I end up exhausted trying to get him to walk at more than a plod. Oh well another day off for him - bet he did it on purpose, lazy swine!

L - I'm going to look into those boots as he seems to do this quite often over the winter months. Ooh do lets have a farrier rant, he drives me potty!

[MissDem]

I agree with natacha, keep him off the roads whilst he's uneven.

Only take the other shoe off if you really know what you're doing else you could tear away some hoof wall inadvertantly!

Investing in a boot might not be such a bad idea though.