cracks in hooves

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Bluesparks

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Hi just wondering whats the best cheap hoof supplements that people use? My tb has cracks from being in mud for months and now the fields suddenly dried out! Regularly shod and farrier due next week he has chaff beet and nuts with linseed meal brewers yeast and a joint supplement. Hes a 11 year old ex racer 16.3
Thanks in advance!
 
I've found cornucrescine to be very good in the past for this sort of problem. Again its topical and not a supplement but helps to keep the hooves supple and if applied to the coronet band it supposedly encourages hoof growth too.
 
Kevin Bacon is the only thing I've ever seen a farrier use! Use it on dry feet though, if you use on wet you'll seal the water in, which actually dries them out (or so I've been told!).
 
I once had a tb with horrible feet, i used formula for feet, cornucresine (hated it, it gets in to the little hair, and turns like sugar syrup in the sun)...as much as he liked the formula for feet (very expensive) and it smellslovely (apple)...nothing worked...ever, we ended up using apoxy resin on some of his hoof. I dont have him anymore...anyway i heard biotin is good, but cant comment as i havent used it. Good luck.x
 
All to this mud lately has been making my horses feet really dry and cracked too. I now wash their hooves off when I bring them in if they are muddy, leave them to dry and then apply NAF Hoof Rub to the inside and outside of the hooves. Have been doing this for the last 3-4 weeks (I only apply the Hoof Rub about 2-3 times per week) and they are looking better already. NAF Hoof Rub is fab - it provides the hooves with the correct moisture level and builds up a bit of a barrier against the mud and wet. Hope this helps! :)
 
Farriers seem to go with Kevin Bacon and it's pretty good. Goes rock hard in winter so put it on the dash on the drive to the yard to let it warm a little
 
I believe that good horn is grown, you can't slap lard AKA Kevin Bacon or any other topical grease on the hooves and improve the horn quality. I feed Pro Balance to my horses and also keep their diet low in carbs and high in fibre and keep their hooves trimmed as required.

This might be interesting for you. http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/toe-cracks-and-excess-of-acronyms.html Much of the BF stuff is really sensible for any horse, shod or unshod. This one shows a good before and after. http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/hoof-cracks-update.html
 
My farrier always recommends Aequeous Cream to put on dry hooves, far cheaper than any horsey creams, I get it from the chemists £2.80 per pot and apply liberally to clean feet. Works wonders IMO.
 
Cold hose feet twice weekly in dry weather it is natural moisture, creams just make the horn soft on the outside and create a barrier to stop natural moisture e.g. dew penetrating the hoof.

Read rockley farms or the barefoot horse it is mentioned there about water on the ground at the water trough for exactly this reason. But cracked hooves isnt always dryness it is a vit min imbalance.
 
Faracat said:
I believe that good horn is grown, you can't slap lard AKA Kevin Bacon or any other topical grease on the hooves and improve the horn quality. I feed Pro Balance to my horses and also keep their diet low in carbs and high in fibre and keep their hooves trimmed as required.

This might be interesting for you. http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/toe-cracks-and-excess-of-acronyms.html Much of the BF stuff is really sensible for any horse, shod or unshod. This one shows a good before and after. http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/hoof-cracks-update.html
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This ^
 
I believe that good horn is grown too, my ex racer had poor feet, i spent a fortune to get his feet right...never happened. I know my farrier said "typical tb feet"...i am apt to suspect its breed not feed. Saying that, i have a cob x tb, and he has amazing horn.x
 
TB feet don't get to develop properly as they are normally shod and worked at a young age, not to mention feed to grow fast to look good at the sales. You can get good feet tho I managed with my TB but it was with the help of a good trimmer.
 
Cherrydan said:
I believe that good horn is grown too, my ex racer had poor feet, i spent a fortune to get his feet right...never happened. I know my farrier said "typical tb feet"...i am apt to suspect its breed not feed. Saying that, i have a cob x tb, and he has amazing horn.x
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I completely disagree. TB's are not born with crappy hooves or genetically doomed to never have good horn quality. I do wonder if your TB had a metabolic problem as that does affect horn quality in a negative way.

ETA - a Farrier that believes the 'typical TB feet' myth wouldn't have helped either. You need the support of your hoof care professionals, not them thinking that the situation can't be helped or improved because of the horse's breed. OK, Tb's wont ever have the compact, highly concave hooves of an arab, but they can have well balanced hooves (no flair, no long toes, no under-run heels) with good horn.
 
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Faracat said:
I completely disagree. TB's are not born with crappy hooves or genetically doomed to never have good horn quality. I do wonder if your TB had a metabolic problem as that does affect horn quality in a negative way.
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l've had 3 TB - all with shocking feet, and 4 non-TBs all of whom coped with being barefoot without issue. My horses seem to fulfil the stereotype :(
 
Fides said:
l've had 3 TB - all with shocking feet, and 4 non-TBs all of whom coped with being barefoot without issue. My horses seem to fulfil the stereotype :(
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What did you do to try to help improve their hooves? Were they ex racehorses?

I used to help retrain ex racers (way before I read about the 'barefoot' thing) and they all had their shoes pulled and were changed onto a simple high fibre diet and 'let down'. They were brought back into work without shoes and all of them coped (lots of hacking to start with, slowly built up over time using a proper fitness plan) and all of them had vastly improved hooves once they were ready for their new homes compared to the shoe sick hooves they had to start with.
 
Faracat said:
What did you do to try to help improve their hooves? Were they ex racehorses?

I used to help retrain ex racers (way before I read about the 'barefoot' thing) and they all had their shoes pulled and were changed onto a simple high fibre diet and 'let down'. They were brought back into work without shoes and all of them coped (lots of hacking to start with, slowly built up over time using a proper fitness plan) and all of them had vastly improved hooves once they were ready for their new homes compared to the shoe sick hooves they had to start with.
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All had been given full rehab to BF - the TBs though had particularly poor feet compared to the non-TBs
 
Fides said:
l've had 3 TB - all with shocking feet, and 4 non-TBs all of whom coped with being barefoot without issue. My horses seem to fulfil the stereotype :(
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I have 4 Tb's (3 in my care and one out on loan) all barefoot, all had crap feet when shod and now all have great feet and are in work - schooling, hacking, jumping, xc - barefoot. I just wanted to even that statistic out a bit :)

For me 'typical' Tb feet are now bare, hard and sound. It can be done.
 
In reply to the 'typical tb feet', he was shod, we never did try barefoot...its something i never even considered in my ignorance. I dont know if he had a metabolic problem, all i know is the supplements, cornucrescine, excellent diet and on the dot farrier appointments did him no good, he would lose his shoes all the time...and he was an ex racer.
My cob x tb is barefoot with navicular, has great horn...in threeyears, he has been lame (ever so slightly) around 3 times.
I am a barefoot convert :)
 
Faracat said:
I believe that good horn is grown, you can't slap lard AKA Kevin Bacon or any other topical grease on the hooves and improve the horn quality. I feed Pro Balance to my horses and also keep their diet low in carbs and high in fibre and keep their hooves trimmed as required.

This might be interesting for you. http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/toe-cracks-and-excess-of-acronyms.html Much of the BF stuff is really sensible for any horse, shod or unshod. This one shows a good before and after. http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/hoof-cracks-update.html
Click to expand...

Echo the above posts... massively. In my humble opinion and experience, there are no 'quick fixes' or 'lotions and potions' out there that make for good quality grown horn! Diet/exercise/management are the key here in my eyes.
 
The OP has asked what feed supplements to feed to help improve the horses feet.
I don't think anyone has said that applying lotions and potions are an instant cure all, and I totally agree that good horn is grown.
It will take a long time to see the benefits of a change in feed, so I suggested Kevin Bacon as it might help the dried out hoof that the horse currently has whilst waiting for new horn to grow.
My mare has good feet, but last summer my farrier said they were a bit dry and recommended that I apply Kevin Bacon when she came in in the morning when her feet were damp from the dew.
 
McCauley said:
Echo the above posts... massively. In my humble opinion and experience, there are no 'quick fixes' or 'lotions and potions' out there that make for good quality grown horn! Diet/exercise/management are the key here in my eyes.
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I'm another that believes this! Rasping the outer hoof wall can be a factor as well, along with an imbalanced hoof (from the horses pov).

My experiences lead me to believe dietary sugars are probably the most important fundamental factor exacerbated by other diet factors, trim and management issues.

Hooves are part of the horse and reflect the over all health status imho.
 
Thanks everyone, I must say I'm finding more often that these sorts of forums get off the point and end up in people disagreeing with each other about something off the subject!! I did ask about supplements, but I'm very glad a few people mentioned Kevin bacons as I do have some of that and will use it more, although am now confused about using it dry/wet hooves?! Will ask my friend who's a farrier who I got it from, the question of supplements was really to see if I could help improve his feet in the future I'm aware there are several contributing factors to horn growth and that it takes a year to grow out, I was just thinking in case we have similar weather conditions next year I could maybe prepare him better for that with a feed supplement without breaking the bank if possible!! Thanks again all x
 
Pro balance is a balancer based on common deficiencies in UK grazing and forages.
Minerals are expensive. Sometimes it is what you remove/reduce in diet that helps, not always just what you add or slap on.
 
Have you tried searching on here for older threads on biotin etc?
Hooves seem to come up quite often on here so I'd be suprised if someone else hasn't asked a similar question! :-)
 
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