Best supplement for hoof growth

[Highflinger]

One of my boys in unshod. Hacked 4/5 times per week - half a mile each way on a road to get to hacking and then sandy tracks. He is out 24/7 and a very good doer so has restricted access to grass esp in Spring, summer and autumn. Never had lami yet but is the "type" although do keep his weight to a good level and vet has commented for his breed (fjord) he is ideal.
He has good hard hooves with very little splitting, chipping etc but they do not grow much at all and this time there was nothing for the farrier to trim. He currently has grass, hay and a small feed of speedibeat, highfibre mash, salt . magnesium and Vite e. He has a general mineral lick. Any suggestions to help stimulate more hoof growth please.
Thank you

 

[doodle]

Formula4feet worked wonders with Robin. I reduced it and a few months later his feet got worse. So put back on it again and took another 3 cycles before they were good again. So he now stays on the full amount.

 

[Not_so_brave_anymore]

Is the farrier actually worried? I've got a little dartmoor pony and the farrier only ever rasps her feet, never actually trims, but he always says her feet are great. And he only comes every 10 weeks!

 

[HappyHollyDays]

I’m curious as to why you want them to grow. Surely a hoof that is healthy, balanced and working as nature intended is perfect. My Farrier rarely does anything other than rebalance his wonky foot and roll toes with a rasp, nothing else is needed.

 

[VioletStripe]

I like a general vits & mins supplement, I find horses with naturally quite good hooves and good-doers (like my native breed gelding) do well on them and it adds enough of the things like Biotin to aid the growth. Over winter I also add a little amount of micronised linseed which is reportedly good for hoof growth, without being too sugary/heating/fattening in small quantities

 

[Regandal]

Best ones are Forageplus, Equimins Advance, ProHoof and one other that I can’t remember!
Most others have too much iron and crap fillers in them. It sounds like your horse has great feet.

 

[Nudibranch]

Nothing to trim...sounds like he's doing a good job by himself. If he's not footsore then I'd be very happy.

 

[Highflinger]

Yes farrier said needs more growth as worn down and he is feeling the stones. I have boots which I generally only use if going somewhere very stoney but farrier has suggested I use more. I prefer not to use if possible as feel they are a bit clumpy although pony seems happy wearing them. I also like to keep them as naturally as possible.

 

[Muddywellies]

If it was mine I would shoe him. He's obv doing more work than the growth of his feet can manage. You can't make them 'grow more'. His hoof growth is just part of his genetics, same as your hair growth. Nothing on this land will make it grow quicker (though hood growth can vary according to the season). Supplements may improve the quality though. But his workload is clearly greater than his hoof growth so either avoid the tarmac and stony ground, or it might be time to shoe him.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Which boots do you use? I have my BF boy in Viper Renegades all round. They are more of a sports boot and he does everything in them without any problems at all. I’m not a BF is best type of person as my Connie is shod but I wouldn’t put shoes on just to get more foot growth. If you want to keep it natural and have boots use them more to give his feet a chance to recover and once spring comes they should grow quicker anyway.

 

[ycbm]

If it was mine I would shoe him. He's obv doing more work than the growth of his feet can manage.

Why wouldn't you use boots?
.

 

[Michen]

My horse has been barefoot for about a year but I’ve just shod. Very little growth and went footy after a period of wet and then frozen ground. I think it’s a really tricky time of year for feet and for mine I didn’t want him to be remotely uncomfortable (with regards to it affecting whole body which I’ve carefully rehabbed!) even just walking in and out of the field over stones, so booting for work wasn’t going to cut it.

That said I was planning on shoeing soon anyway as I’ve never found boots particularly solid for fast work which he’s about to start.

On the growth front, equimins hoof mender is good

 

[Frumpoon]

Equimins advance was the best recommendation I found

prohoof was good but horse found it very unpalatable

 

[maddielove]

I've been feeding Science Supplements 4feet plus to help grow out a coronary band injury which happened in September and it is almost fully grown out (think maybe 2 more shoeings and it'll be gone) They recommend feeding this to help get feet on the right track and then switching to the regular 4feet but I think a good balancer with 30mg of biotin would do the same thing.

Omega supplements also do a good looking hoof supplement also.

 

[JoannaC]

Well my farrier suggested raw jelly as apparently that it what the gypsies use on their trotters and it's far cheaper than supplements I chop it up and put a bit in their feeds and their feet are all pretty good even in this wet weather.

 

[Shysmum]

Biotin

 

[Quigleyandme]

I have Seamus on Formula4Feet as he wasn’t growing any hoof and has had more than his fair share of abscesses and stone bruises. I had tremendous results with another horse who had very poor hooves and negligible growth. I’m using the classic formula as Seamus is the size of two horses despite being only 21 months old so a tub of Plus would last him about 24 days whereas the classic formula should last him about five months. If it doesn’t work I’ll try the Plus formula but I think I am seeing some growth. His mane is growing well now which is encouraging because it hadn’t grown at all since I got his sweetitch under control last August.

 

[Gloi]

I do like prohoof though as I am currently feeding Equimins advance pellets for ease of feeding.
The hoof will improve if they were short of minerals. I'm using Scoot boots on mine which work well for me to though in the dry weather his feet seem much harder and he doesn't need them. If soft soles are a problem hoof armour is good.

 

[My equine life]

Farriers formula xx

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

I like Formula4feet, .................better than farriers formula

The only one that made my other mares feet amazing is Hoofmender by Equimins

I would upload from H&H will not upload the pictures.

 

[Highflinger]

Thanks everyone. I have done some reading up on the suggestions and am going to give Fromula4feet a go. I will also use the boots more.

 

[windand rain]

Well my farrier suggested raw jelly as apparently that it what the gypsies use on their trotters and it's far cheaper than supplements I chop it up and put a bit in their feeds and their feet are all pretty good even in this wet weather.

Jelly cubes are good for growing finger nails on humans too my mum used to give us one a day

 

[vhf]

I've tried a few supplements, and I suspect results for different products will vary depending on the individual circumstances, but my best result has been the Equimins Hoofmender. They offer a money back deal, and when I put my mare with good feet on it (since I had it for the other one), my farrier asked what I'd changed and said he didn't think I could get my money back!
Rubbing the coronet with cornucrescine is meant to encourage faster growth, but I've always felt I'd rather have quality over quantity, and that is probably mostly going to come from what goes in rather than on. I have one who doesn't do well shod and I use Keratex hoof hardener to help when growth rate doesn't quite equal wear.