Crumbling hooves - to do with feed?

whp94

whp94

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Hi wondering if anyone has had similar issues

Farrier has been today and has said pony's crumbling feet are now becoming an issue - mainly front feet and have started using anti bac as farrier suggested.

Feet haven't been great since last summer but predominantly worse since this year. Last summer she was on TopSpec lite balancer + performance cubes when competing. Towards then end of the summer I changed her on to the Baileys Performance balancer as it would be doing the job of the 2 topspec feeds in one.

Now I don't no if its a coincident that her feed have got bad since changing feeds - does anyone have any experiences with baileys and bad feet?

Thanks
 
I am no expert but I found my mare's feet greatly improved when I fed her Formula4Feet, it's a supplement that looks like a feed and has all the required vits and mins, she just has that with some HiFi Lite chaff. You might also want to look at the grazing, too much sugar = not good feet. It took a while to really notice the difference but I have to say overall the quality of her hooves is much improved, she was always losing shoes and now she hardly ever does

I also rubbed cornucrescene into her coronet band, don't know if that helped or not, but it made me feel more like I was doing something about it in the immediate term
 
If you read many of the hoof threads, most will say diet diet diet! Grass, molasses, lack of correct vitamin and minerals all contribute to poor hooves.

Feed low sugar/low starch feed and if you need extra then good old oats should do the trick.

Molasses free sugar beet is a good base.
 
reduce suger in diet, soak hay, restrict grazing and give really basic feed.
molasses free sugar beet, hifi molasses free, micronised linseed, prohoof supplement, if horse will not eat it add something like dried mint
 
As others have said diet is a large part of horn quality but there can also be a fungal/bacterial component especially round nail holes, so the anti bac treatment may also help if shod. If he did well on the Top Spec then perhaps switch back to the balancer (at recommended levels) and as suggested use oats for energy rather than a compound feed. Plenty of low sugar fibre/forage as well.
You might need to consider a break from shoes at some point if diet changes don't help and the farrier has no decent wall to nail to.
 
Thanks for all your replies, I am very careful with her feeding and grass intake as she is a good doer, she has soaked hay and restricted grazing. The baileys food she is on atm states it is low in starch/sugar and suitable for good doers. Apart from the cracked hooves being down to a fungal problem I can only think of the change of feed being down to it but wouldn't of thought it would of affected her that badly - she is looking a lot fitter and more in shape this year than she has ever been. Looks like I may change back to TopSpec - they do state their balancers have a 'hoof improvement supplement' but no mention about hooves in the baileys balancer
 
May be pure coincidence, but I changed my two from Dod&Horrell supreme balancer (their low cal one) to Baileys low cal balancer about three months ago, and lately I noticed a few cracks in my gelding's hooves starting, which was his weakness several years ago when we bought him, but I've not seen for years. So I was already wondering before I saw this thread.. Shame if it is that, they've looked fitter on it.

When I say cracks, I mean flaky ends of feet rather than worrying cracks, but will be chatting to the farrier about it next time.
 
Honey08 said:
May be pure coincidence, but I changed my two from Dod&Horrell supreme balancer (their low cal one) to Baileys low cal balancer about three months ago, and lately I noticed a few cracks in my gelding's hooves starting, which was his weakness several years ago when we bought him, but I've not seen for years. So I was already wondering before I saw this thread.. Shame if it is that, they've looked fitter on it.

When I say cracks, I mean flaky ends of feet rather than worrying cracks, but will be chatting to the farrier about it next time.
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Funny you say that, how you described your boys feet is what my mare's is like but a lot worse now! No cracks but just flaking away leaving big chunks where farrier needs to put nails - just seem so brittle she used to have such good feet. I am being very careful putting on anti bac and hibi scrubbing feet and when dry using kevin bacon.

I will be changing her back to TopSpec after finishing her baileys balancer, thanks for everyones help.
 
whp94 said:
Funny you say that, how you described your boys feet is what my mare's is like but a lot worse now! No cracks but just flaking away leaving big chunks where farrier needs to put nails - just seem so brittle she used to have such good feet. I am being very careful putting on anti bac and hibi scrubbing feet and when dry using kevin bacon.

I will be changing her back to TopSpec after finishing her baileys balancer, thanks for everyones help.
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I had the same issue with Baileys lo cal and changed to Top Spec which was much better but still felt their feet could be better. Then used Spillers Lite as recommended by TLS which was fine but no one stocks it in my area and I had to order it in and then my pony stopped eating it!

Now back on Top Spec but using the Anti Lam and happy with them both on that, I do think the Anti Lam although much more expensive is worth it for my Lami / PPID horse and pony.
 
That is a bit depressing. Their weight is better on the Baileys low cal than it was on the Dod&Hor, but his feet were fine. Perhaps I will swop back.
 
One of my TB's had poor hooves, I found that Cut Heal Hoof Heal was absolutly amazing stuff, and really helped.
 
Linseed, linseed, linseed. Great for coat and hooves (not to mention joints, ligaments, tendons, etc.).

I caved and put Kal on Bailey's No 4 at the end of this winter when he just wouldn't pick up (alongside linseed and copra) but have taken him off it again because for some reason it does destroy his feet.

P
 
I don't want to start having to feed extra supplements though, the whole part of feeding a balancer was that it feeds a balanced mix of things they need.. The horse hasn't had foot issues for the past five years, its just very slightly reared its head again lately and has made me wonder if its the feed. If it is down to the feed I'll just switch back to dod and horrell again.

I do like linseed though, but these two horses need next to nothing for feed!
 
Honey08 said:
I don't want to start having to feed extra supplements though, the whole part of feeding a balancer was that it feeds a balanced mix of things they need.. The horse hasn't had foot issues for the past five years, its just very slightly reared its head again lately and has made me wonder if its the feed. If it is down to the feed I'll just switch back to dod and horrell again.

I do like linseed though, but these two horses need next to nothing for feed!
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Same here, I like to think that feeding a balancer has everything needed in it as such, so don't want to be feeding any extras, she only has some endurance mix extra to give her a bit more oomph and sparkle in the dressage arena prior to. Her coat is always super shiny a beautiful conker colour and doesn't need any extra condition as shes a good doer its just literally the feet and never had this problem before - interesting a few others have said their horses feet haven't done great on Baileys not sure if thats coincidence or Baileys feeds lacking in something the other brands have?
 
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While diet is key to the horses feet the other factor is how long it is since the Horse has had a break from shoes .
 
My horse is 35 and has been on FFF for years, he never loses shoes and his feet are great, I also use either Kevin Bacon liquid hoof dressing or Effol liquid, both have anti bac in them

All he has been on is Spillers high fibre cubes, I've recently introduced Coolstance Copra which he has now decided he loves, apparently thats supposed to be good for feet
 
skint1 said:
I am no expert but I found my mare's feet greatly improved when I fed her Formula4Feet, it's a supplement that looks like a feed and has all the required vits and mins, she just has that with some HiFi Lite chaff. You might also want to look at the grazing, too much sugar = not good feet. It took a while to really notice the difference but I have to say overall the quality of her hooves is much improved, she was always losing shoes and now she hardly ever does

I also rubbed cornucrescene into her coronet band, don't know if that helped or not, but it made me feel more like I was doing something about it in the immediate term
Click to expand...

I almost lost a mare to laminitis. X-rays did not look good, after a month on formula for feet x-rays showed such an improvement vets were stunned.
 
Honey08 The dodson and horrell balancer doesn't seem to have an awful lot of minerals in it compared to say others including the baileys.

I feed equimins advanced complete pellets which having looked I think you feed a lot less volume/weight- 70g per day instead of 100s... so perhaps better for fatties?
 
I had a similar problem and my vet referred to Edinburgh Veterinary Hospital for advice for me. My horse was already on a low sugar feed with linseed and blue chip pro balancer from the point I purchased him yet his feet were getting worse not better. I was told the problem was likely to be a sensitivity to selenium added to the feeds and supplements. Given it was added to everything, my horse was getting more than he should and as he was sensitive to it, it was actually doing damage. They said that no horse in the UK without a neuro-muscular disorder needs selenium as a supplement, as it is already in sufficient quantities naturally occuring in the grazing and haylage. They also said to add alf alfa to the diet and to use a hoof supplement temporarily.

I changed the diet to just the speedibeet, micronised linseed and Alf A chop, removed the blue chip pro and added formula4feet. I was also recommended by a farrier friend to use NT dry to ensure the hooves could not be a breeding ground for bacteria or fungus (they like it moist). This was nearly two years ago and we have had no problems at all since. There was a drastic improvement after just 2 weeks which I put down to the NT dry - we had tried everything else for direct hoof treatment on the market by this point.

Incidentally I have done a trial for a company of a new balancer which is selenium free and which they will be bringing out soon. Interestingly his hooves if anything are even better on this than when on formula 4 feet. Unfortunately I have signed a trial agreement which means I cannot say what this supplement is yet, but once I can I will be recommending it!
 
ester said:
Honey08 The dodson and horrell balancer doesn't seem to have an awful lot of minerals in it compared to say others including the baileys.

I feed equimins advanced complete pellets which having looked I think you feed a lot less volume/weight- 70g per day instead of 100s... so perhaps better for fatties?
Click to expand...

Thanks, food for thought!
 
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