biotin query/advice?

Equi

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Ah horses! Monday evening horse was fine, nothing out of the ordinary.

Tuesday afternoon - horse has three legs. Now horse is ever so slightly dramatic when it comes to his feet and when i inspected him i found a red line on his hind heel which i assumed may have come from standing on a stone or another horse accidentally walking too close to him. Contact vet and show him the picture of heel and he gives me a days bute and says to rest and will reassess in the morning. Horse wouldn't eat the bute, so not much i can do about that. Morning comes and horse is still sore as to be expected but is walking much much better and able to turn out..walking about 98% normal in the field. I felt a few more days pain relief was needed though so asked vet to come just to have a look (thinking it was a very expensive way to get some danilon but this is correct procedure) vet has a hoke and bam! Abscess squirts into his eyeball :p

Abscess was in the toe region (barefoot) so nothing to do with the heel, but it had been worst on Tuesday because a teeny pebble had been pressing on it, which i had gotten out when i was looking for a reason for him to be lame which is probably why he felt a little better on the wednesday. Glad i had the vet out though!

Im now left with the choice of getting biotin into him and hope it hardens his hooves up some more or getting shoes back on (hes shod in front) he had white feet and always had very crumbly soft soles. Hes currently fed Stamm 30 and hi-fi molasses free chaff.

Vet of course sells some biotin supplement (hestevard brand) but i know you can buy just pure biotin too, or is there another highly recommended brand? Reluctant to shoe as he has a touch of arthritis and finds it difficult to hold his legs up for long and i dont like the fact he would need hammered onto what may be sore joints. Hoof boots may be a choice but it won't be until funds can be built back up as i have just had to replace the trailer floor too!

Thaaaaaaaaaaaaanks.
 

HeyMich

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Correct me if I'm wrong (which I may very well be!) but getting an abscess doesn't mean a BF horse then has to be shod. And biotin takes a good few months to work its way down to the hooves and harden them up. It's not a quick fix.

Surely something like hoof clay and hoof boots to cushion/protect in the short term, and a BF friendly diet in the long term?

Like I said though, I'm no expert and may be wrong...
 

Equi

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No it doesn't at all, im just being dramatic :p vet doesn't want him to be shod. He just recommended getting some biotin supplement into him. Hence asking about the best one.

p.s. good point about the hoof clay, thats on my to do list (i believe one mentioned here regularly is red something?)
 

ester

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It is often considered that most healthy horses make enough of their own biotin, which is why for hooves the preference is to feed a good no iron broad spectrum vit/min supplement. (stamm 30 is not one of these)
 

Equi

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It is often considered that most healthy horses make enough of their own biotin, which is why for hooves the preference is to feed a good no iron broad spectrum vit/min supplement. (stamm 30 is not one of these)
Thanks! What vit/min would you suggest? or is that like asking how long is a piece of string..
 

Fiona

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Our ID mare is fed farriers formula which our blacksmith thinks is keeping her hooves in better condition as they were terribly dry and crumbly.

Its pelleted so would be easy to feed.

Fiona
 

Leo Walker

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The only ones I'd feed are progressive earth, forgage plus or equimins. The equimins powdered one is the cheapest for the highest spec. They do a pelleted one that would probably be better for a fussy horse!
 

ester

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unless your fussy horse leaves the pellets behind ;) but can't do that with the powder ;).
TBF he has eaten them again since back in somerset so who knows!

equimins will send samples too.

(you have been feeding biotin in your current balancer anyway, and tbf I didnt look at the rest of the spec after noting the iron).
 
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