dry cracking hooves, any recommendations for hoof oil?

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sophiebailey

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Hi everyone,

Just lately (last week) Bailey's hooves have become quite weak around where the clenchers are, and a few small chunks have fallen away and yesterday I noticed (where the clenchers are) his hoof his beginning to crack at the bottom.

The farrier's been out this morning and said that despite the rain, the ground itself is still quite hard and Bailey's hooves are dry, which means they're becoming brittle. He's suggested soaking them every day for 10 minutes to soften them and encourage growth.

my question; has anyone had a similar experience and is there a hoof oil I can buy to help soften the hooves and promote growth?

Farrier says it's nothing to worry about at the moment, but I want to prevent the problem from getting worse!!!

I'm also going to post this in vet & new lounge :)
 
I have been using Kevin Bacon's Hoof Dressing for years now and I really rate it, use it daily inside and out my girls feet :)
 
Another one for Kevin Bacon, it even comes with it's very own bay leaf!!! :eek::eek::eek:

Only problem with it is that you have to make sure you keep dogs away from the tub AND horse's feet, for some reason, they love licking it off the hoof. :p :p
 
Another Kevin Bacon user here, might seem expensive but it works and large tub lasts for ages. When it goes a bit hard in cold weather I add a little bit of liquid hoof moisturiser and it softens up.
 
rossiroo said:
Another Kevin Bacon user here, might seem expensive but it works and large tub lasts for ages. When it goes a bit hard in cold weather I add a little bit of liquid hoof moisturiser and it softens up.
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There is also a runny version of the Kevin Bacon dressing in a tin. I use this one.
 
Excuse me if Im being a little thick but just who is Kevin Bacon? It reminds me of the bloke in the film "Footloose"
 
My blacksmith always tells me the only thing that really changes a horse's foot is what you give them on the inside, not what you put on the outside.
 
shokkyy said:
My blacksmith always tells me the only thing that really changes a horse's foot is what you give them on the inside, not what you put on the outside.
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This - and what I have also found with one of my boys is that throughout the year, if you can maintain a level of moisture in the foot, that prevents the extremes of expanding and contracting that we are seeing with the periods of wet weather, then periods of dry and warm.

For myself, I mix up a concoction, which is lard, veg oil and stockholm tar - and a paint that on twice daily. By varying the amount of veg oil in the mixture when you melt it all together, you can make it softer, so still useable when the weather is cold (as opposed to set in the bottom of the tub!)

FWIW, Kevin Bacon lists ingrediants as "HOOF DRESSING is a 100% natural product made from animal fat and fresh laurel leaves that have been macerated to release their active substances" - to me, that sounds like lard, with leaves in it!

'Fraid I'm a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to lard. I'll buy the smartprice version. :)
 
I have used Kevin Bacon and it is really effective. For various reasons my horses ended up unshod and I read a lot of the barefoot posts on here and got more interested in hooves generally. Even if you keep your horse shod the same principles apply to getting horses with good hooves whatever the weather. Diet has made a huge improvement to my horses so much so that Kevin Bacon is a thing of the past.
 
Any dressing which is oil based will not allow the natural passing of moisture in and out of the hoof wall. It may look nice and shiney but its counterproductive. If you must put something on use a water based product like NAF Hoof Moist or buy Aqueous Cream from the chemist.
 
They are all a complete waste of time, most contain formaldehyde and other nasties which are ironically very drying. A fab invention by marketing companies to make the owner feel like they are helping their horse, when the feet are only a reflection of diet and environment :)
 
i had the same probled a couple of years ago and tried formula4feet(feed supplement) and found it worked for my mare. as she is a good doer and we have plenty of grazing so she only gets a handful of feed so i felt she was probably lacking in minerals etc.....
 
TigerTail said:
They are all a complete waste of time, most contain formaldehyde and other nasties which are ironically very drying. A fab invention by marketing companies to make the owner feel like they are helping their horse, when the feet are only a reflection of diet and environment :)
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This.

The only way you will improve the foot is to grow a better one.
 
spaniel said:
Any dressing which is oil based will not allow the natural passing of moisture in and out of the hoof wall. It may look nice and shiney but its counterproductive. If you must put something on use a water based product like NAF Hoof Moist or buy Aqueous Cream from the chemist.
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^^^^^
get your horse's hooves nice and wet then rub aqueous cream in, not only will the cream moisturise but if the hooves are wet it will help them retain that moisture, I saw a differance the next day and at about £2.40 from Sainsburys nice and cheap:o
 
I had this about ten yrs ago, farrier recommended just running hose over feet every day to get moisture in, make sure there are no deficiencies in diet, maybe feed biotin or farriers formula. Dont use any oil based product on the hooves as mentioned earlier, as you trapped what little moisture there is in the hoof but stop any more getting in. Hose worked for mine.
 
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