Feed Advice please to help improve feet

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BarneyTheChestnutOne

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Hi all,
Farrier came this week for my boy and has said that he has soft/ thin soles in his front feet. Posted in new lounge and got some great advice that the diet he is on now is probably playing a role in his feet problems.
I appreciate that diet is an important factor with feet so would like to get this right.
Barney (15.1hh 9yr old gelding of unknown breeding) has just started living out on relatively poor grazing but comes in every day for a rest, ride and feed.
At the moment he is fed 1 scoop happy hoof, 1 mug micronised linseed, 2 mugs topspec leisuretime balancer and I have just dropped the topspec cubes from his diet but he was getting 1/2 scoop of these. Supplemented biotin, magox, yeasacc, salt and equimins flexijoint.

On advice in New Lounge I will swap Happy Hoof to either Healthy Tummy or Healthy Hooves? Am I right in thinking these are molasses free? I would like to feed a balancer still so does anyone have any suggestions for a feet friendly balancer? Would you keep his supplements the same?
Thanks in advance for any advice
 
Healthy tummy is molasses free
http://www.dengie.com/horse-feeds/healthy-range/healthy-tummy/


Theydo a molasses free version of healthy hooves
http://www.dengie.com/horse-feeds/healthy-range/healthy-hooves-molasses-free/

They all seem to have added vits and mins and so if you are using a balancer and adding things too, I would just be aware that your horse's diet may not be as balanced as it seems.

My preference would be a balancer such as Spillers Lite balancer
http://www.spillers-feeds.com/products/balancers/lite-balancer/
which is a pellet and contains a good range of minerals for a hoof friendly diet OR a plain chaff or speedi beet with a supplement such as TENS daily balancer
http://www.tensupplements.co.uk/daily-balancer
 
Thank you for your reply. I spoke to the lovely people at progressive earth today and I am going to try a molasses free chaff and micronised linseed with pro hoof as a balancer to replace the top spec one. I can remove the magnesium oxide From his diet too. So I will just supplement with yea sacc and flexijoint. And see how we go from there. Does this seem OK do you think?
 
Sounds like good advice to me, assuming he is in good condition. Mine don't eat plain chaff very well (they have HiFi molasses free) so they have SpeediBeet as the base to their feeds and the skinny one who can eat linseed has this to mix the linseed into. They have never looked better - two have been on the molasses free chaff, linseed and ForagePlus balancer diet for just over six months and have looked great on it.
 
He is in good condition now and has kept weight on this last winter on his current diet but it has had an adverse effect on his feet. In previous years he has lost condition in the winter. I think for the summer living out he will not need any additional calories but I will monitor him closely on his new diet by weight tape and visual checks. If he looses weight I will research now so that I am prepared an alternative weight gain feed than the topspec? Thank you
 
What your going to feed is fab, pro feet is very good and not full of cheap fillers ( a real bugbear of mine)
Happyhoof = full of sugar
Topspec= sorry I know a lot of people like it but its base is cheap cheap fillers and a vit pre mix! Which is very poor .
 
thatsmygirl said:
What your going to feed is fab, pro feet is very good and not full of cheap fillers ( a real bugbear of mine)
Happyhoof = full of sugar
Topspec= sorry I know a lot of people like it but its base is cheap cheap fillers and a vit pre mix! Which is very poor .
Click to expand...

Great thank you, off to look for a molasses free chaff that is tasty enough for my fussy horse! If not soaked high fibre cubes might be the best option it seems?
 
Have you tried Allen & Page Fast Fibre? Fab stuff, all of mine love it! I'd suggest that first over soaking cubes.
I'd love to see pics of your boy and his feet to see how he improves ;)
 
BarneyTheChestnutOne said:
Great thank you, off to look for a molasses free chaff that is tasty enough for my fussy horse! If not soaked high fibre cubes might be the best option it seems?
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I used Dengie non molassed LO ALFA as it was tasty and uses oat straw, which I like, and it also mixed well with Fast Fibre to make it a nice texture and taste, I preferred s/beet [NON MOLASSED eg quick beet] and chaff and minerals , this was fed along with micronised linseed, more in winter, less in summer [work dependent of course].
 
Hi sorry hadnt seen your replies. Tried fast fibre a couple of years ago and he turned his nose up at it :( we have now swapped over to Hifi molasses free, micronised linseed, pro hoof, yea sacc and flexijoint. He was a bit fussy to start so have been adding 1 mug of spiller a high fibers cubes. Are these ok or is there a better alternative to make his feed a bit more appealing for him so he will eat it.?

I will get some pics of him how he is now over the weekend and try posting them. He is overweight so hope to see an improvement in this. He is just coming back into work after 6 weeks field rest for an injury so hopefully this will help too :)
 
Many find Spillers high fibre cubes great as a tempter with no problems. If after say 3-6 months you aren't seeing much improvement try one of the forage plus balancers. Don't forget possible negative effects of sugars in grazing and hay.
 
amandap said:
Many find Spillers high fibre cubes great as a tempter with no problems. If after say 3-6 months you aren't seeing much improvement try one of the forage plus balancers. Don't forget possible negative effects of sugars in grazing and hay.
Click to expand...
Thank you I will continue to use a mug full of the cubes for now then.
He is out 24/7 on a well grazed field (not much grass left) 2 and 1/2 acres with one other horse. He has access to hay when he comes in to be ridden and gets an hours rest beforehand approx 5 times a week though he mostly just snoozes so doesn't really tend to eat much when in :)
 
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