Fari page 3

Fari has been a very difficult horse to transition to full barefoot soundness. He has had an abscess that took 5 months to resolve during which time both he and I were miserable. He still has flat soles and under run heels and he still needs hoof boots on his fronts in some situations.

However he does not trip. He does not stumble. He is balanced in all paces and loves jumping. He feels a happy horse especially down hill when he strides out confidently even in trot. He loves hoof boots and we can ride where ever we like, when ever we like. We used to wear hoof boots on all four hooves but now it’s just two.

Will he ever become sound and happy on all surfaces? I don’t know but he is certainly improving, as this year, he completed 20 km of a 32 km endurance ride completely barefoot after we lost a boot. He’d been having far too much of a good time round a corn field!

The key for him seems to be diet. I now believe he has had had low level laminitis for years and at last his diet of no grass, ad lib hay, feed with low water soluble carbohydrates and high supplementation of magnesium, seems to be doing the trick.