problems transitioning to barefoot

Question
My 5-yr-old horse has had shoes for 2 years in a wet climate. He's now in a much drier climate, and transitioning to barefoot. The farrier pulled his shoes and trimmed him and more than 3 weeks later he still can't walk on hard packed dirt/light gravel without being extremely ouchy, especially on his right front. His conformation on his right front gives him a very noticeable splayed out foot problem that he loads on the outside then rolls down about 1/2 inch to the inside. It was being corrected with shoes, but now that they're off, it's back to a roll down with each step he takes. I've measured his feet for some sort of temporary boot to ease the ouchiness, but his feet are wider than they are long which doesn't seem to be accommodated by the hoof boots I've seen. Right now, his soles are completely flat, his toes are short and his heels are medium height. He has also just gotten a 3/4" long quarter crack on his inside right hind that has separated about 1/8 inch out from the hoof. What do you recommend, both in treatment and type of hoof boot, going forward...or do I need to go back to shoes? I'm concerned that making his heels shorter will just cause him more pain so I'm reluctant to take anything more off his hooves, but I really don't know all the options...Thanks.

Answer
Hello Michelle, thanks much for your questions. There are a LOT of things to consider when evaluating your horses hooves and what may need to be done to successfully transition him to barefoot. Just in principle, though, 3 weeks is a short time and it may take quite a lot longer for him to be sound on most all surfaces without shoes.
To give you the best possible advice, can you possibly answer a few additional questions for me?
1) do you have pictures of his hooves and conformation that I can look at? If yes, could you send them to me at jnksize@comcast.net
2) Where do you currently live and where did your horse come from (you say that he moved from a wet climate to a dry climate)
3) What hoof boots did you look at for his feet?
4) What type of riding do you do and want to do with your horse

One thing that strikes me immediately as indication that there may be some issue going on that will require a bit more farrier care than just pulling shoes and doing a farrier trim is that you said your horses feet are wider than long and that some kind of conformation issue used to be corrected with shoes and how looks funny to you. The issue here is that when you trim a horse for barefoot you do many things differently than trimming a horse for shoes and then simply leaving the shoes off. There are few horses that have perfect conformation and while you can do a lot of optical correction and once you take the shoes off, you can't just cut the hoof to shape. With the stimuation that the hoof now receives, it will grow differently and it may take 1-2 full lengths of hoof growth to naturally adapt to what was initially "corrected" with shoes. The goal for transitioning and maintaining a horse to barefoot and regular riding, in my personal opinion and experience, it to provide hoof balance that works WITH not againt the natural conformation of the horse. This means that to create equal loading and wearing and symmetrical growth of a hoof, it may well turn out that natual toe in or toe out becomes more visible to the eye but that this conformation is just normal for the horse. Its all about what you expect - long term soundness or optical straightness...can't always have both.
Also the quarter crack on the hinds also speaks for some serious imbalance in the hoof, otherwise you would not have a crack.
So, you have to carefully evaluate what your goals are for barefoot transition and whether you are willing to put up with not being able to all the types of riding until your horse's hoof balance is corrected and he is more comfortable without shoes. Boots are an excellent option and there are actually a lot of different kinds out there that fit various hoof conformations. I can send you a link to the site where you can contact customer support with hoof measurements and they can recommend what boot may be best.
Just let me know what made you consider going barefoot, what your goals are and most importantly, send me pictures of his feet and overall body and conformation and I would be more than happy to discuss in more detail!

Take care,
Christine