Awful hooves and shoes falling off - any ideas?

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angela_b

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My TB gelding has the most shocking crumbly feet and regularly loses at least one shoe after only about 3 weeks... it's costing a fortune and half the time I can't ride him! I have started giving him biotin and using lots of hoof cream which seems to have helped with the dryness as in the last 2 months they are a lot less crumbly. However the shoes are still falling off! I don't even know why as his feet now appear more intact, from the outside anyway. Any ideas? I don't think he will go barefoot as he is always incredibly footsore without shoes, and I think they will crumble apart if I try it!
 
Ask your farrier if he glues on shoes? Mine had this over the summer and his feet (accoridng to his loaner) are now much better
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He had glue put on the shoe, then it stuck to the hoof, nails hammered in as well and then glue over the top of the clenches.

Kept on for 6 weeks (previously being shod every 4) and now sorted.
 
Farriers formula, farriers formula and more farriers formula. Biotin on its own is useless. I wouldnt be surprised if he has got white line disease as well. WLD makes the hoof wall completly crumbly . Lots of Keratex hoof disinfectant. into the old and new nail holes twice weekly, and disinfecting the frogs a couple of times a week with Hibiscrub.
Also make sure that his feet stay as dry as possible- if he is out in the wet all the time, the frogs and soles will become soft and crumbly. Would imagine that lots of TB's with bad feet will be having problems at the moment with all this rain. Also use Keratex hoof gel daily as that will keep the feet waterproof and stop the moisture getting in. Helps them dry out a bit.
Also Keratex hoof hardener daily.
Sorry I am not working for Keratex honest!!

If you are dilgent then hopefully you'll see an improvement in about 4 months..but you might have to leave the shoes off alltogether for 6 months.. to allow the feet to regain their strength...
 
I have a tb that had dreadful feet and was a nightmare to keep shoes on. The answer for him was the Grand Meadows Grand Hoof supplement (fanastic value for money and very high spec.) and Keratex hoof hardener, and hey presto, shoes stay on and hoof quality excellent.
 
Iodine and Eucalyptus Oil works wonderfully as a hoof hardener. Paint on frog, sole and lower third of hoof wall (as recommended by my farrier). Works a treat.
 
I've just started feeding my horse Topspec feed balancer to try and help improve the quality of horn - because like yours he would loose at least one shoe every three weeks.

Obviously it's too soon to see any improvement yet - but maybe worth considering??
 
Defo Top Spec for my TB,

Since being on it for 4 months i have not had one shoe off prematurely (now lasting until they really need doiung which is about 7 weeks)- normally one was off after a fortnight.
 
Hi I completely agree with the first comment that shoes are only a mask, which is why I am trying to do something about it! But I think that taking them off would only accentuate the crumbling and not give them as much of a chance to grow through as if I keep the shoes on, especially with all this wet - and would leave him footsore on all 4 feet at once, poor boy. I have definitely noticed a difference in the last 3 months since using the biotin (which was recommended by my vet) and Cornucrescine; however as Keratex is so highly recommended I will try that as well.

My farrier told me that the main thing is to swap between supplements as they eventually reach saturation with one and lack something else, and also all the nutrients they get in the grass change throughout the year, so swap each 8 weeks between different ones to get a better balance than just using one supplement all the time. Has anyone heard this advice? I am trying to do everything I can both from inside and outside but despite his feet appearing much less crumbly, his shoes are still coming off. Glue is a good idea, I will ask the farrier. Thanks to all for your help.
 
[ QUOTE ]
My farrier told me that the main thing is to swap between supplements as they eventually reach saturation with one and lack something else, and also all the nutrients they get in the grass change throughout the year, so swap each 8 weeks between different ones to get a better balance than just using one supplement all the time. Has anyone heard this advice?

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That doesn't make sense to me. If you feed the suppliment at the correct dosage saturation shoulnd't occur.
 
Angela, my horse had dreadful feet when I bought him, I second absolutely everything that Christmas_Derby has said... this is exactly the route I took and his feet improved drastically over about 6 months.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hi I completely agree with the first comment that shoes are only a mask, which is why I am trying to do something about it! But I think that taking them off would only accentuate the crumbling and not give them as much of a chance to grow through as if I keep the shoes on, especially with all this wet - and would leave him footsore on all 4 feet at once, poor boy. I have definitely noticed a difference in the last 3 months since using the biotin (which was recommended by my vet) and Cornucrescine; however as Keratex is so highly recommended I will try that as well.

My farrier told me that the main thing is to swap between supplements as they eventually reach saturation with one and lack something else, and also all the nutrients they get in the grass change throughout the year, so swap each 8 weeks between different ones to get a better balance than just using one supplement all the time. Has anyone heard this advice? I am trying to do everything I can both from inside and outside but despite his feet appearing much less crumbly, his shoes are still coming off. Glue is a good idea, I will ask the farrier. Thanks to all for your help.

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All our horses are barefoot but when they were shod I had one with similar problems to your boy. She had the flattest feet imaginable and was constantly tearing off wall whenever she lost a shoe. Which was fairly regularly. We started feeding Top Spec balancer (the pelleted one) and even the farrier commented on the difference. So that would definitely be worth a try.

The other problem is a Catch 22 one. You need shoes because the foot is breaking up but you don't need shoes as the foot needs the stimulation to grow properly... Could you try a period without shoes and use boots instead possibly? That would help the foot and the internal structures to recover.

I don't think this weather is helping one bit either unfortunately!
 
I mix Cornacresiene with Stockholm tar and paint on the feet everyday until the weather dries up. Feet picked out at least twice a day.
 
cornucrescine has its uses, but i have been told by more than one farrier, that it only works for the first few days after shoeing, when the horn has been aggrevated at the coronet band. you can continue to scrub the coronet band (best to use the short bristle on the reverse of a hoof pick if you have the type) and this will allow the cream to saturate through.

although cornucrescine may allow for the hoof to grow quickly, it may not be fabulous quality if the horse is not feed something to promote from the inside.

i agree with a lot of the overriding comments here - tackle from inside. anyhting on the outside may help, but it depends on the horse. farriers formula is excellent, although a little pricy it is worth it after a few months of use
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My geldings' feet (though never bad) now grow very fast and amazingly strong since I fed black sunflower seeds. Mine get two small mugs a day in each feed.

I also have had very good results with keratex and stockholm tar is one of my essentials in my kit box.
 
ooh sounds like my boy was. I was tearing my hair out and then as a last ditch put him on F4F. which seemed to make a difference. But then I did some reading and found that biotin on its own is no good as you needed to ensure that the hind gut was balanced. When I got my second horse, I needed to look at a cheaper alternative and went for topspect balancer as it looked to have everything the same as F4f and was £50 a sack cheaper.

I am please to report that the boy is holding his shoes and the farrier is not always in tears when he sees them. I have also introduced the BOSS and that too seems to be making a positive experience!
 
yep ditto, farriers formula. Next question, are you 100% in your farriers skills with TB feet? TB are notorius (just sold one) for crap feet but with good dose of FF and excellent farriery, it can all come good.

It took a year to get our boy right, he has just been sold with better feet than my irish X! who never has problems!

He came to us very crumby and was losing shoes left right and centre, has great feet now. You can also try gelatine in the feed but dont go mad and if TB watch tummy!!
 
Ralph used to have horrid feet, I tried FF and all the usual supplement's and then found Baileys low cal. I add some limestone flour, biotin and dengi hi fi, its worked, now I have to have his feet trimmed every 5 weeks as they grow so well, but they are lovely
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QR -

Was it your farrier who recommended you use Cornucresine as well? If so, then sorry to say this but it sounds like you might want to look for a more knowledgeable and up-to-date farrier.
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My present and previous farriers always say/said that if a horses shoes are falling off regularly then the farrier is doing something wrong.....the general consensus was the nails and shoes being used must be cheap Polish imports....

Farriers Formula is fantastic stuff! I used it up till a couple of years ago and was terrific....however at the time I had 15 horses of my own and many liveries here and I just couldn't justify the cost to feed it to every horse every day, therefore I looked into other ways of gaining the same benefits, that's when I came across black sunflower seeds....well my guys have been on it for all this time and wow! They are all barefoot, over 40 horses here now and all have terrific feet.

Please do your research on feedstuffs before feeding though - there is a terrific amount of information on the web now about black sunflower seeds though so you shouldn't have any trouble finding out what they do.
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Thanks again for all these comments. Although FF has lots of recommendations I have previously heard mixed reviews of it, which is why I have never tried it before. It was my vet that told me to give him biotin. It does seem that Top Spec has a lot of followers so I will be looking into it - and will do a good web search on black sunflower seeds as well!

I have just switched farrier (back to my old one, who was fabulous) and so am very hopeful that he will have better results than the one I have been using for the last 6 months. THat said, one of his new shoes (3 weeks old) came off yesterday! - I just hope that this improves with time. Otherwise I am going to have to train to be a farrier!!!

Thanks all!
 
I have the same problem with my boys feet. I use Top Spec balancer and also feed alfalfa cubes as advised by farrier. Too soon to see real improvement yet. My farrier said it was a nutritonal issue and needed to be improved from within though I appreciate some hoof dressings may help.
 
I found farriers formula bit expensive so I researched on internet for similar formula for my tb.He has been on scientific nutritional products own hoof formula for over a year and his hoof quality is now excellent.We had the same problems as you it took at least 4 months then my farrier said he could see the difference.He has lost two shoes this year but only because he overreached not bad for a horse that would only go 2 weeks .I think I paid £28 for a 3 month tub on maintenance so it s very reasonable.The joint supplement is also good it helped pony with locking stifles never locked again after using their products.
 
You need a high spec hoof supplement. Biotin alone is not as good as using a high spec hoof supplement that includes biotin, calcium, zinc, copper, manganese and MSM.

My farrier used to recommend Farriers Formula but it sometimes didn't work as well on TB's. He now recommends a new hoof supplement called Farriers Favourite from Equine Answers which is very high spec and a lot cheaper (about £20 for 2 month supply)

You can find it at www.equineanswers.co.uk
 
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