Do supplements actually work for poor feet?

[Bexx]

Hi All, I'm just after some advice really as I've never had to deal with a horse with poor feet before. I have a 10 year old TB, raced when younger and has been with current owner around 4 years. As I understand he has always had poor feet. He has recently been changed from nail on shoes to GluShoes which have made a huge difference to his way of going however the quality of his feet is still very poor. Would a biotin supplement be worth a try? I know I'd have to wait for the growth of new hoof and its a long process, I'm not after an overnight fix. He is currently fed on Baileys keep calm. He looks well on this in terms of his weight and a nice shiney coat. He has adlib hay, is out from 8am until 6pm but we are still on our winter grazing, which is quite bare but hay is put out during the day. I am reluctant to try barefoot as our whole yard and surrounding tracks are stony and I also stud him to event as he loses confidence very quickly if he feels the ground is slippy. Overall the shape of his feet are not great and they chip and crack very easily. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[PurBee]

One single nutrient like biotin wont make weak feet super hard and robust. It’s a combination of amino acids and minerals which work great for various body functions and show on the outside as great hooves.

Its like with humans, doctors of old looked at tongue colour, eyes, and condition of skin, hair and nails to assess overall bodily health. Horses are similar...the hooves really give their health status away.

Whether grazing on best pasture or on all hay diet, they still need mineral supplementation to balance out the deficit of nutrients and excesses common to a ‘grass/hay only’ diet. I dont know the ingredients of the baileys calm feed but it sounds like itll focus on magnesium than have enough multi nutrients to offset grass diet deficiencies.

I’d add a really good combination mineral supplement. Many on here recommend Equimins advance complete as a good overall supplement. Im going to switch to that myself to try it as its got plenty of copper and zinc to offset the high iron commonly found in british isles soils.

 

[be positive]

A good supplement can definitely help, I have 2 here on Equimins, one with poor feet is on the hoof mender and they have improved, the other has slow growth but decent quality and is on the Advance Complete, she is now growing more foot and they are coping far better barefoot than they did previously, so very pleased it is making a difference.

 

[ester]

no iron vit min supplement

forageplus
equimins adv complete
equivita
pro hoof (pro_earth)

 

[Nari]

I found a good balancer or general vit and min supplement worked better and look at the rest of the diet as a low sugar diet can help. Management is a factor - keep him well shod and done regularly enough so feet don't get out of balance and create stress on the hoof wall, stay on top of any potential hoof wall infections, if he's in keep the bed clean and if he's out try to avoid standing for long in mud. Be aware of the impact of exercise, some is beneficial but too much and/or too fast on unsuitable surfaces is unwise.

 

[Quigleyandme]

My ISH had terrible hooves - no growth, crumbly, shelly, quarter cracks, seedy toe, the lot. He had good nutrition including a balancer but it made no difference at all. I started him on Farriers Formula which was very effective but also very expensive so I tried Formula4Feet and the results were astonishing.

 

[doodle]

Robin is on formula4feet and I have seen a big difference with it. I stupidly started cutting down the amount and a few months later started having issues again. Have put him back up to the full amount but will take time to work through.

 

[Follysmum]

I have noticed a big difference since using Equimins advance especially with one that had persistent mud fever, it’s definitely has helped along side the heel to hoof cream. His hooves are much better all round

 

[splashgirl45]

my old mare had cushings and her feet started to really break up badly even though she was shod every 6 weeks without fail. i put her on formula4feet and her feet improved and i then cut down with the idea of stopping it completely , over a month or so later her feet went back to being very brittle and cracking, put her back on it and kept her on it for the rest of her life and never had brittle cracking hooves again...i think it can work for some but not others, it worked for mine...

 

[Surbie]

I have mine on the forageplus balancer for feet, as his feet pretty much fell apart in May last year. (https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/shedding-hoof-wall.775788/)

I ended up with 2 weeks box rest, 2 weeks minimal turnout and having to move fields to short grass only. (My YM was really supportive, I'm really grateful to her! ) The vet told me to up his biotin on top of this so he gets a scoop of equimins biotin15 too.

This year has been much, much better, with minimal pieces breaking off despite the months and months of wet weather. He's not going to have great feet ever I think, but this has made a big difference.

 

[Shay]

Just remember it takes between 8 and 15 months for what you feed to show in the quality of the horn at the ground. And biotin alone is useless without methionine -it can't be metabolised effectively.

 

[millikins]

Micronised linseed is very good for feet, and a bag lasts ages.

 

[sbloom]

Just remember it takes between 8 and 15 months for what you feed to show in the quality of the horn at the ground. And biotin alone is useless without methionine -it can't be metabolised effectively.

And possibly lysine, though happy to be corrected on that?