Complete Feeds for Laminatic Horse .... Is there such a thing??

[Angela_1987]

Hello,

I have a 16hh TBxID 16 years old and a good doer.

I am currently feeding him on 1 Scoop TopSpec Balancer lite and 1 Scoop TopChop Lite over 2 meals, with glucosamine supplement in evening feed.

He is in work. Being worked 4-5 times a week. Mixture of short hacks(Building my confidence up), schooling and jumping.

He is shod on the front and barefoot on the back but my farrier said yesterday that his back hooves are slightly flat and may need to have shoes put on next time he is out for a few months to help support them better .....

I really need some help with his feed, as I want to improve his hooves mainly.

Any suggestions?

I have been thinking of adding linseed to his feed and also looking at a complete feed but they all seem to have molasses etc in them.


Any Help would be appreciated. Its a minefield!!

Thanks for reading

xx

 

[Angela_1987]

Should also add that I have been looking at Happy Hoofs and Dodson & Horrell Safe & Sound

xx

 

[Clarence09]

Dengie do a product called Healthy Hooves Unmolassed or something like that I think it is a complete feed designed for laminitics!

 

[Nugget La Poneh]

I would take out the TopSpec personally - they have a habit of adding cane molasses to their feeds and still branding it as suitable for lami's. There are plenty of opinions that despite it being marketed as being made of stuff that is really necessary, it still causes footiness in horses/ponies. For me personally, a balancer shouldn't have any calories (or miniscule amounts). I am also dubious that all their other products you can find the full ingredients list and the lite balancer you can't. However, that said, if what I can see on the tinterweb is correct about the top chop lite then no reason to come of it.

How big is your scoop of balancer and how many kg is your horse? At a guesstimate, a 16hh IDxTB would be between 525 -625kg so you should be feeding 100g per 100kg of horse (according to feed guidelines) to get the benefits.

I would try keeping him on the top chop lite, add something like Forage Plus, or Pro-Earth balancer (either pro balance or pro hoof) as well as the linseed and either wet with oil if you're working really hard, or water to dampen.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Really recommend forageplus hoof balancer, there's a winter and summer one and they are esp good for the things that hooves need to get concavity - has worked a treat for my 'she's just got flat soles that's the way it is' mare. One key thing is that the forage plus ones have very little iron and a decent amount of copper, if you have quite a lot of iron in your soil as many areas do, it stops the horse being able to process other things they need like copper (too much copper is toxic but they need some esp for some hoof health issues)

Top chop lite with the forage plus in it would be super, or you can use Hifi Molasses free. Healthy hooves molasses free is also an option but is slightly higher energy than the other two and with the forage plus you don't need the hoof aspects of it.

Have you considered booting rather than masking the messages the hooves are telling you with shoes? I say that cos with a lami (like mine) the early warning signs you get when unshod are for me a really helpful positive thing, whereas putting shoes on to 'solve' discomfort can in some cases means it builds up unseen until the low grade lami bursts out into an acute attack which can be v serious.

Hth

 

[Angela_1987]

I would take out the TopSpec personally - they have a habit of adding cane molasses to their feeds and still branding it as suitable for lami's. There are plenty of opinions that despite it being marketed as being made of stuff that is really necessary, it still causes footiness in horses/ponies. For me personally, a balancer shouldn't have any calories (or miniscule amounts). I am also dubious that all their other products you can find the full ingredients list and the lite balancer you can't. However, that said, if what I can see on the tinterweb is correct about the top chop lite then no reason to come of it.

How big is your scoop of balancer and how many kg is your horse? At a guesstimate, a 16hh IDxTB would be between 525 -625kg so you should be feeding 100g per 100kg of horse (according to feed guidelines) to get the benefits.

I would try keeping him on the top chop lite, add something like Forage Plus, or Pro-Earth balancer (either pro balance or pro hoof) as well as the linseed and either wet with oil if you're working really hard, or water to dampen.

He is about 550kg. I tend to use a stubbs scoop of each over 2 feeds.

Will look at the Pro-Earth Balancer.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Angela_1987]

Really recommend forageplus hoof balancer, there's a winter and summer one and they are esp good for the things that hooves need to get concavity - has worked a treat for my 'she's just got flat soles that's the way it is' mare. One key thing is that the forage plus ones have very little iron and a decent amount of copper, if you have quite a lot of iron in your soil as many areas do, it stops the horse being able to process other things they need like copper (too much copper is toxic but they need some esp for some hoof health issues)

Top chop lite with the forage plus in it would be super, or you can use Hifi Molasses free. Healthy hooves molasses free is also an option but is slightly higher energy than the other two and with the forage plus you don't need the hoof aspects of it.

Have you considered booting rather than masking the messages the hooves are telling you with shoes? I say that cos with a lami (like mine) the early warning signs you get when unshod are for me a really helpful positive thing, whereas putting shoes on to 'solve' discomfort can in some cases means it builds up unseen until the low grade lami bursts out into an acute attack which can be v serious.

Hth

Thank you for your advise.

I haven't considered converting to barefoot. When I brought him he was shod on front and back but had the back ones taken off. That was 2 years ago and my farrier mentioned it was the back hooves that were slightly flat and said to keep an eye on them yesterday. My farrier suggested to put shoes on next time he is out for a few months to help support his hooves .... This is why i'm looking at his diet to try and prevent this if I can and try and promote good horn/hoof growth.

Could I boot just the back hooves?(Sorry if that's a silly question)

Thanks

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Yes you could just boot back (more usually peeps need to just boot front or all 4 but don't see why not just backs)...

 

[putasocinit]

Flat feet will come from the hard terrain he is working on as the sole will be taking more impact, not like soft grass or mud terrain where the hoof wall will take more impact so foot will be more concave, if feet are strong and he is not sore, then no need to put shoes on, tell farrier thanks but no thanks. If you want clarification on this search pete ramsey the barefoot horse.

 

[skint1]

Not commenting on barefoot or not but I feed my mare Formula4Feet in the form of a pelleted feed. She's been on it since July and her feet went from being really poor to a lot better.

 

[Justturnedfifty]

Hello,

I have a 16hh TBxID 16 years old and a good doer.

I am currently feeding him on 1 Scoop TopSpec Balancer lite and 1 Scoop TopChop Lite over 2 meals, with glucosamine supplement in evening feed.

He is in work. Being worked 4-5 times a week. Mixture of short hacks(Building my confidence up), schooling and jumping.

He is shod on the front and barefoot on the back but my farrier said yesterday that his back hooves are slightly flat and may need to have shoes put on next time he is out for a few months to help support them better .....

I really need some help with his feed, as I want to improve his hooves mainly.

Any suggestions?

I have been thinking of adding linseed to his feed and also looking at a complete feed but they all seem to have molasses etc in them.


Any Help would be appreciated. Its a minefield!!

Thanks for reading

xx

Hello, yes you are correct it is a minefield and what is most disturbing is that all feed such as Happy Hooves and Safe and Sound may have been approved by the laminitis trust, but they still contain sugars! I have switched my pony who had a bout of laminitis last year to Dengie Healthy Tummy because this contains less sugar, and contains a gut balancer. I also feed Fast Fibre and micronised linseed to again help the gut function, and add a magnesium laminitis supplement. He has been on this feed for about 8 months now and seems very healthy and happy. I will be switching from haylage shortly back to hay (soaked) because with current mild weather I am concerned the grass will start to grow early, (even though we are up to our armpits in mud), as this could prove dangerous to ponies who are laminitis prone. If you require more energy, Spillers TEN energy supplement is suitable for laminitis sufferers. Good luck!