Barefoot Diet Help!!

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weefilly88

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Right my newish gelding has awful feet and I mean rubbish. Medial flare, flat footed and thin soled he also sports a large crack in one which still hasnt grown out.I had him on chaff and nuts and supplemented with valrian root for his flightyness and he was on 24 hour turnout.

Right so now realising this is ALL so wrong for him I need to know what to give him.

I've been told to give him Speedybeet and Equimins Advanced Cont. Putting him on restricted grazing

I've heard farrier formula to be good....

What should I be giving him?

Please note he is not currently in work xx
 
Soaked hay mainly (esp if grazing restricted), lo cal chaff (ideally without garlic and some say without alfa), plus vits and mins and some magnesium oxide mixed in with some Fast Fibre. If need to add weight, add micronised linseed. If poos not solid, add pink powder.

Never found FF to be much benefit, TBH. Healthy horses make their own biotin for hooves, getting diet right much more important than hoof specific supplements.
 
weefilly88 said:
I've been told to give him Speedybeet and Equimins Advanced Cont. Putting him on restricted grazing

I've heard farrier formula to be good....

What should I be giving him?

Please note he is not currently in work xx
Click to expand...

Id be giving him fastfibre, non molasses straw based that soaks instantly and Pro Balance (ebay made by ukhncp trimmers) or Forage Plus Supplement. In winter Id add micronised linseed as it has all the omega 3's of grass without the sugar content - depending on his weight obv :) Those are 2 out of only 3 supplements the BF Taliban recommend due to having the highest amount of ingredients with a tiny amount of fillers/binders compared to generic off the shelf products. This includes PP - if he has a sloppy tum you can buy the 2 active ingredients inPP, brewers yeast and yea sacc, much cheaper separately ;) or get Pro Hoof which has them in.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PRO-BALANCE-1-8KG-Forage-Balancer-General-Health-Supplement-Horse-Minerals-/280882033281#ht_1071wt_990

http://shop.forageplus.com/epages/es137718.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/es137718/Products/FPW

You say he is not in work - is there a reason? Being on different surfaces is the best way to stimulate hoof growth which is how you get cracks to grow down. Saying that provided the horse is sound his feet are functioning as they are designed to, a crack here and there isnt the end of the world :)
 
Have farrier do him every six week or more if needed. You need growth, so I recommend a coffee cup of micronised linseed every day, I feed 500gms Fast Fibre every day, and also non molssaed chaff by Dengie plus minerals for feet.
Also soaked hay ad lib when stabled,
The diet is hi fibre NO sugar no cereal plus minerals.
The regime is exercise [start in hand/long reining] on various surfaces, tarmac is good if he is sore, but try to use a track for turnout if you have one.
Keep hoof edges trimmmed with a rasp if it chips.
Brush out frogs with soft wire brush every day, test for any pain or softness.
Lush grass and muddy conditions are not good, so limit this. It takes 2-4 months for the hoof to get to good condition.
Ask farrier to show you his feet and explain good and bad!
 
thanks everyone.

So ive decided to do the following:

Hifi Mollasses free
Either Pro Balance or Pro Hoof
Mag Oxide (will then stop giving him his valerian)
Fast Fibre
Pink Powder

is that right?

Sooo if i feed fast fibre am i still to feed ad lib hay? i understood fast fibre was partly in place of hay??

xxx
 
weefilly88 said:
also if i were to choose Pro Hoof over pro balance i could drop the pink powder?
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Either way you can drop the pink powder. If you want something for the gut though I'd add yea sacc if you choose Pro Balance+ (Pro Hoof has it in already).

Fast fibre can be used as a hay replacer, but I shouldn't think you'd be feeding enough for that, so I'd stick to ad lib hay.
 
weefilly88 said:
thanks everyone.

So ive decided to do the following:

Hifi Mollasses free
Either Pro Balance or Pro Hoof
Mag Oxide (will then stop giving him his valerian)
Fast Fibre
Pink Powder

is that right?

Sooo if i feed fast fibre am i still to feed ad lib hay? i understood fast fibre was partly in place of hay??

xxx
Click to expand...


Swap the hifi for the fast fibre - yes still feed your hay, you should only be feeding a tiny amount of fast fibre its just to put the supplements in as you want most of your cals coming from the hay.

Dont need the mag ox or PP if feeding Pro Hoof. You only need to feed Pro Hoof rather than Pro Balance if he has gut issues.
 
I had a lot of problems with my geldings feet. I now feed dengie molasses free, calm and condition (very small amount to maintain weight) and blue chip pro balancer.

His feet are are really good and his farrier is happy with the improvement - he pulled a shoe this week being a loon and the shoe is horrendously mangled but his foot looks 100% with no damage. If he pulled a shoe like this last year he'd have taken hoof with it or at best been awfully footy until reshod.

Whilst I was changing his diet to one better for his feet I used Kevin Bacon Hoof Formula, it was fantastic to get all the rubbish to grow out quickly and get things good ASAP, I can't recommend it enough.

I agree you won't need the PP or Mag Ox. You only need one balancer to supply everything needed (provided it is a good one).
 
TigerTail said:
Swap the hifi for the fast fibre - yes still feed your hay, you should only be feeding a tiny amount of fast fibre its just to put the supplements in as you want most of your cals coming from the hay.

Dont need the mag ox or PP if feeding Pro Hoof. You only need to feed Pro Hoof rather than Pro Balance if he has gut issues.
Click to expand...

So....

Just fast fibre, pro hoof and ad lib hay? xxx
 
weefilly88 said:
thanks everyone.

So ive decided to do the following:

Hifi Mollasses free
Either Pro Balance or Pro Hoof
Mag Oxide (will then stop giving him his valerian)
Fast Fibre
Pink Powder

is that right?

Sooo if i feed fast fibre am i still to feed ad lib hay? i understood fast fibre was partly in place of hay??

xxx
Click to expand...
FF is ahay replacer firr older horse, but for b/foot horse is used as the main feed.

When stabled he needs ad lib stalky hay.
 
SNORKEY said:
I'm looking to change my horses diet as well as his feet are bad.
I've never brought linseed, do you soak it or just add it as normal?
Click to expand...

Best to get it micronised ( google Charnwood milling theirs is the best price I have found )then you just feed it straight , you don't need to feed a lot .
 
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