Better4Hooves - any opinions / experience??

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equa39

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I know discussions of hoof supplements have been done to death but I'm still searching for a good quality, effective but affordable one - the holy grail methinks!!! Anyway Better4Hooves looks to be good, anyone tried it? In comparison say to Equimms HoofMender / Farrieriers formula or Pro Hoof which are more expensive. Thanks
 
it seems very expensive for the ingredients! Which are only:

Biotin 25mg
Zinc 45mg
MSM 62mg
Methionine 150mg
Vitamin B6 10mg
Calcium Pantothenate 15mg

You need to be looking for a supplement with no iron and for zinc and copper to be balanced. Iron affects the absorption of zinc and copper, and any issues with those will affect hoof quality. You also need a hefty dose of magnesium. And then you need to add at least 25gms of salt. I feed 50gms ish. As well as a low sugar diet, and possibly no alfalfa as some horses arent great on it.

Have a look at Progressive Earth, Forage Plus and Equivita. Progressive Earth do a very cheap and basic one now called Pro Mineral I think. Equivita are fab because they will do a custom blend, and I've never used Forage Plus so I cant comment. But the ones you mentioned aren't the ones that are going to really improve feet
 
Fantastic Frankiecob thanks so much for your advice, I'll have a look at those. i know alfalfa seems to be a no-no on a lot of the barefoot sites but I also read an article by Clare Macleod that its good for the digestive system / fed 30 mins before exercise can help prevent ulcers. The horse I am getting is an ex-racer so will need his digestion looked after, as well as his hooves
 
I think its trial and error. Lots and lots and lots of horses have no issues, but if you already have poor feet then its worth cutting it out just in case. Have you thought about something like Copra? Or theres Agrobs. I havent seen or used Agrobs but people are raving about it and it does sound great, I just dont have a stockist round here
 
FrankieCob said:
I think its trial and error. Lots and lots and lots of horses have no issues, but if you already have poor feet then its worth cutting it out just in case. Have you thought about something like Copra? Or theres Agrobs. I havent seen or used Agrobs but people are raving about it and it does sound great, I just dont have a stockist round here
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I use Argrobs and it is great!
Im going to add copra this winter for weight (hes is a TB)
I add pro earth.

Simple but effective!
 
Take it up with the laminitis site frankiecob..it works for those with cushings ems and lami prone and has correct amounts of mins n vits horses need...there are better ones out there but not many
 
I dont need to take it up with anyone :) Its not the worst one I've seen and it has no iron which is always a plus. But it is not anywhere near to being the best balanced, and is missing at the very least, magnesium, which is something you need.
 
Micky said:
Take it up with the laminitis site frankiecob..it works for those with cushings ems and lami prone and has correct amounts of mins n vits horses need...there are better ones out there but not many
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I 'm struggling a bit as well. Not really interested what the laminitis site may recommend but more what is in the product.
Based on the link Frankie put up and based on the maintenance dose (we are only talking about a normal horse in this post and on a double dose it would be very expensive) I have compared some of it to my current supplement which is Equimins meta balance. (£19 a month for 500kg horse)


I cannot find vit E or selenium in FF so you would presumably have to pay extra?
lysine in mine is 10g per dose which is I believe around the standard amount
ziinc is much high in the equimins product
I cannot seem to find magnesium in FF or perhaps I am not looking in the right place. I haven't compared anything else but not sure how FF could be said to be particuarly good. The equimins product is good but certainly not of the highest spec.

The equimins one works perfectly well with my PPID If I compared the FF to the ingredients of the FP winter balancer I suspect it would be sadly lacking.
 
Micky said:
Take it up with the laminitis site frankiecob..it works for those with cushings ems and lami prone and has correct amounts of mins n vits horses need...there are better ones out there but not many
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If you're talking about The Laminitis Trust, there are some really terrible feeds that have their logo on them giving the impression that they are good for horses. I believe all the companies in question have to do is pay for it. I second the advice given by Frankiecob to look at the ingredients. I have used ForagePlus and I can highly recommend them - you can phone for advice.
 
no not the laminitis trust, (agree some of advice and recommendations are truly bad) the laminitis site...if you read the bumpf and ask on the fb page, you will get your answers.... Forage plus, pro earth are both good...What they recommend ( as far as i know) is based on dr kellon and medically based facts, not what the companies want you to beleive so you will buy their products...just an opinion
 
Paddy555 I didn't realise the Equimms was so reasonable, that's about the same per month as the Better4Hooves, So i need to look for the Meta balance, not Hoff Mendser, is that right??

Dalidaydream thanks for the advice, I'm a complete newbie to hoof supplements / strengthening for barefoot so thought this was a good product. FF seems far too expensive for me, as does ProHoof - I'm looking for something reasonable.
 
equa39 said:
Paddy555 I didn't realise the Equimms was so reasonable, that's about the same per month as the Better4Hooves, So i need to look for the Meta balance, not Hoff Mendser, is that right??

Dalidaydream thanks for the advice, I'm a complete newbie to hoof supplements / strengthening for barefoot so thought this was a good product. FF seems far too expensive for me, as does ProHoof - I'm looking for something reasonable.
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Actually if you work it out the forageplus doesn't work out much more expensive than the equimins and it is a far superior product. You pay your money and you take your choice.
 
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