Alternative to formula 4 feet?

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Starry_eyes

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Hope someone can help! For the last 18 months my boy's been on f4f, along with fast fibre, linseed and alfa a oil in winter. He's a tb with flat feet but since he's been on the f4f his horn has improved loads, he holds shoes whereas before it wasn't unknown for him to lose them after a week, taking a chunk of foot off too. He also hasn't had an abscess in nearly all that time when they used to be very regular.
My dilemma is he's now decided he doesn't like the f4f. He's a fussy b*gger and doesn't like the texture, so I normally soak it and mix it in with the ff. Now it's summer he doesn't need a hard feed (he's a v good doer!) but i still want him to have a foot supplement, but he won't eat it. At all. Not hidden in anything. Argh!
So I guess what I really need is a good supplement that is small in volume, so i can disguise it easily, but also a full balancer as the f4f is.
Help!!! Sorry for rambling, tea and smarties cookies if you got this far :-)
 
Tbh I would continue to feed a small amount of fast fibre and linseed, as they are low sugar, hi fibre and small amounts shouldn't make a difference to your horse's weight. A lot of the balancers recommended for hooves don't seem to be very tasty! My mare prefers formula 4 feet, but will only eat it in her feed. I also wouldn't mess about too much with it if you've found something that works for your horse :)
 
I've always been really pleased with Top Spec AntiLam. I tried loads of hoof supplements before, including F4F, but this worked best for my lad.
 
He's still getting ff and linseed, but not if i put the f4f in it :-( just sniffs it and walks off. Just worried he's mot getting the vits and minerals he needs for his feet....i don't want to go back to the dark days of abscesses and farrier on speed dial lol. Blummin fussy little git! :-/
 
Formula 4 feet has negligible selenium in it, so I would only consider feeding F4F if I knew that the hay/grass had a good level of selenium (at least 0.1mg selenium per kg dry matter of hay/grass).

If I didn't know what the hay/grass contained, then I'd opt for a good general balancer, like Top Spec or Blue Chip instead.

If he's a good doer, then opting for one of the low calorie balancers sounds a good idea tome.

Sarah
 
Thanks to everyone for suggestions so far! He won't eat farriers formula either :-/ Will have a look at pro hoof and top spec. He's a ridiculously good doer for a tb - he turns into a little fat potato in the summer lol
 
You could ask at your feed store for a free sample of Baileys Low Cal, we have a barefoot horse and her feet are really good she has a lovely shiny healthy coat ,and she loves the low cal [it is a balancer].
Or try phoning some of the feed companies and asking them to send you some samples,say you have a fussy horse and you do not want to waste money on feed your horse won,t eat.
Hoof abscesses can be caused by a copper deficiency.
 
Can you fire a few fibre nuts in with the feed? This seems to be enough to get mine to eat the ForagePlus supplement, which is apparently quite smelly and coppery. A small handful is enough to overcome the nastiness and doesn't add appreciably to calories. It works really well with a splash of water too, as they go mushy and according to my horse, this makes them taste even better :)

ETA - I should add, I even ditched the FastFibre. Mine now gets Timothy Chaff, a handful of Spillers cubes and the supplement. Bowl is still being licked...
 
Baileys Lo Cal did nothing for my mare.
F4F helped us some.
Pro Balance (from Pro Earth on Ebay) made the difference to us and my mare's feet are sturdy and she's now going barefoot and stomping over stones.
 
I also have a TB who is a 'good doer'.I had exactly the same problems with him losing shoes every week when I first got him(16 years ago).I have tried F4F( didn't seem to make much difference).He's on Pro Hoof now,but yours may find it to be even less palatable than F4F as it has hardly any'fillers'.IMO it is better than F4F. Perhaps you could try adding Spearmint to his feed as it may be the smell rather than the taste that puts him off eating it.Luckily for me my TB eats supplements,although he usually turns his nose up to begin with,but I just persist until he gives in!The biggest improvement in his feet was after taking him barefoot 7 years ago.
 
Well I've taken the plunge and ordered some Pro Hoof from Progressive Earth. I'm hoping as it's a smaller volume to feed I can disguise it well enough for him to not notice! Apparently I should be able to change to pro balance once I've seen a significant improvement in his feet. Fingers crossed! Hey you never know, all going well, I could be on here in a while saying look at my rock crunching barefoot Tb.....:)
 
Well done,I hope he eats it OK.I'm just ordering some more Pro Hoof from Progressive Earth, they are really excellent and they always put a little treat in the parcel for you which is really nice.
 
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