Barefoot feed guru's - advice please

[AML]

I'm about to remove the front shoes in the next month - hinds came off in November - and I'm looking to tweak the diet.

He came being fed Topspec balancer and ulsakind which I haven't changed as he looked a million dollars on it, but I see it is very heavy on soya which I understand isn't good for barefeet. I'm keen to keep the feed similar, but without the soya.

He has pink mash and I already add magnesium and linseed and will add biotin in preference to Formula for Feet which he is currently on.

Any thoughts on alternatives and anything you would advise to add?

 

[Dexter]

Drop the biotin and formula for feet and replace it with balancer from progressive earth or forage plus. You probably will need a small amount of extra magnesium still. Pink mash has lots of linseed so your doubling up. Is he a good doer or do you need calories?

Pink mash is soya based as well, hulls rather than the actual soya bean, but lots of barefoot horses do well on it. Its something to bear in mind though.

 

[paddy555]

the only thing any of my barefoot horses have been footy on has been the only one I fed TS balancer. May be the horse but once removed problem went.
I feed equimins advanced complete, salt and vit E. Then I just feed soaked grass nuts, soaked hi fibre nuts and soaked sugar beet and carrots.

 

[stangs]

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that soya can lead to inflammation in the feet. Having said that, I'm currently feeding wheatfeed which apparently does the same thing. I suppose that, when the shoes come off, you can see whether there's inflammation and work off that.

Based on everything I've read, the main balancers to feed are those from Progressive Earth, Forage Plus or Equimins. Most common base feeds are beet, grass nuts, and Honeychop (iff you have a hungry horse with limited access to forage).

For good feet, you want enough magnesium, copper, zinc, and protein. I would think it would be easier to buy a good balancer, rather than having to supplement magnesium and biotin additionally, but I haven't calculated the difference in price.

Also, if you have a horse with feather, it's worth noting that they say that supplementing biotin can lead to or worsen Mallanders, though there's little to no evidence for this beyond anecdotes.

You're probably fine doubling on linseed in the winter, but it wouldn't be worth it by the spring I would have thought.

 

[Surbie]

I have mine on a tiny amount of Veteran Light (1.5 50ml scoops with 4x volume of water so very sloppy) and a big handful Honeychop Lite & Healthy chaff, plus salt and vits&mins from forageplus - the hoof & skin one which has biotin in already.

I stopped micronised linseed more because the mice living in his stable reduced his poos to shrapnel to get at it than because it added weight to him. (my horse has feather, but has thankfully never been affected by mallenders/sallenders)

eta: my horse is a heavyweight cob, and I have kept him on a low sugar/starch diet since I've had him. He's been barefoot for 18 months.

 

[lynz88]

I have mine on alfa a oil, hi fi, and linseed. I then add the FP H&S (winter version) which has high zinc, copper, and protein. I also feed MSM and some additional supplements but not for feet. I notice a huge difference when he runs out of the FP - his soles start to get crumbly and he will get footy. I would ditch the biotin in your case as horses can make their own if fed properly.

 

[Pinkvboots]

One of mine is barefoot he has grass chaff, unmolassed sugar beet, micronised linseed, msm and I use the progressive earth pro balance through certain times of the year my shod horses gets the same.

I try to avoid most of the pellet balancer and feeds as they are highly sensitive to alot of things

 

[AML]

Thank you all for your thoughts - much to investigate!

For someone brought up feeding straights it's a minefield switching to a different regime.

Exciting though!

Again thank you for taking the time to respond

 

[Griffin]

You can tie yourself up in knots with trying not to feed anything 'bad' to a barefoot horse but if their hooves are already ok, I would continue to feed as you do- if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

If there seems to be any problems with their hooves and you have ruled out other causes via your farrier and vet, then I would add a good quality hoof supplement to your feeds. I have had good results with Feedmark's Hardy Hoof but there are others that also work well.