Feed for barefoot, thrush and working

Evil_Cookie

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Hi guys, I'm looking for some advice. My mare has always been shoe-less and has always been sound over anything. I'm starting to get concerned with a deep central cleft in 3 of her frogs, extending back and down the heel. They aren't obviously infected or gooey, but I'm guessing thrush is too blame. I'm going to pop out and get some hoof stuff and field paste today as the keratex hoof disinfectant is doing very little. Question is, is her diet fueling the problem? She's on equilibra, 1 scoop of spillers cool mix, garlic and a joint supplement. She is out 24/7 on good grass. But I need a feeding system that can be altered via quantity in response to work and grazing quality. She only gets 1 feed a day, hence no chaff or beet, also need to keep feed less than 2kg due to this. Would a different diet be beneficial or is it better to topically treat the thrush?

I'm curious about fibergest and tiger oats, but not sure if this would work as a'barefoot' diet?

Should I supplement her feet aswell as the balancer?
 

tallyho!

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The 20% starch in the cool mix seems the obvious culprit here... plus the new grass growth contributing to an excess and a change.

If you look for Oberon's posts or PM her she can give you a useful list of diet ideas that might help.
 

Brightbay

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I have battled with this for years - deep central cleft, a decent barefoot diet, forage only (FastFibre or speedibeet, a sprinkle of High Fibre cubes, linseed, and vitamin/mineral supplement). Grazing is restricted during growing season. Hooves look superficially good but never great, and spraying/packing cleaning frogs with just about every product on the market made no difference.

He got a couple of abscesses last year and I swapped to ForagePlus (first the Winter Hoof Balancer, and in the last month the Summer Hoof Balancer).

In three months of feeding, despite being out 24/7 in a wet, soggy field, two clefts have grown over perfectly, and two are clean and getting shallower every day. Interestingly, the two that are a bit behind are the two I experimented on with sheep foot rot spray in February (I did both right feet and left both left feet as a comparison - the two left hooves now have lovely frogs... go figure ;)).

So I would say if frogs are bad and not sorting themselves out with a bit of topical stuff, get your pasture/grass tested for mineral balance, and then feed accordingly. In the meantime, the ForagePlus stuff seems to work reasonably well... (I am certain from the underlying rock we live in a high iron area but haven't been able to get grass tested yet as it's been very slow to grow this year).
 

Clava

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Interestingly my tb has never had a deep central sulcrus, but has now developed a central line in all her hooves, previously thrush was more surface (and that has gone)...it is a never ending battle.
 

Evil_Cookie

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As the deep central succlus is her only issue, I'm not sure we need to move over to more expensive supplements or balancers, love the look of forageplus, but not the cost unless she really needed it. - she's fully sound and still landing heel first. I will definitely think about moving onto a lower starch higher fibre feed in replacement of the cool mix. Are ERS pellets a good option? What other feeds are suitable - she's in medium work and can be fussy with what she eats, alfalfa and oils are a no no.
 

amandap

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I can second improved frog health from Forage Plus balancer. Low mineral levels especially copper have been anecdotaly linked to thrush. Makes sense really, all tissue will be affected if the horse is short of minerals or has imbalanced minerals in their diet. FP mineral levels are based on common shortages in UK forages they have had through their company. It may be worth having your grass and hays tested if problems continue as of course there are regional variations. I also feed a simple, forage based diet ie. no mixes and keep sugar intake as low as possible.

ps. The cost may look a lot but tbh, you get what you pay for, minerals of good quality are not cheap and I have found so many benefits I am loath to change. The hoof health one also contains lysine which is often short. You may well find it doesn't work out more expensive as you will only need something to carry it in not loads of mixes.
 
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Lego

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The mineral balancers can look expensive, but if you work out costs, it may not be...

I worked out that if I fed Pro Hoof, in a carrier e.g. speedibeet, it was far cheaper than feeding enough of any other hard feed to get recommended levels of vits/mins. So my lad gets Pro Hoof, speedibeet, micronised linseed as a staple, with a sprinkle of graze-on and/or hi-fi nuts depending on season and workload. He looks fab, and since being on the more comprehensive balancer (Pro Hoof), his feet have been improving drastically, and he has been needing less and less hard feed to maintain the same energy level and condition....

I think I worked out that Pro Hoof was 90p/day, plus around 50p worth of linseed, and the same of speedibeet/nuts/graze-on.

Before, he was having 1.20/day of 'complete' chaff, plus 1/day of biotin. Plus about a mug of conditioning nuts a day, and brewers yeast etc. :rolleyes:
 

Evil_Cookie

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Thanks guys, I gave her feet a good clean out last night, they are not as bad as I first thought, only one is deep, the other three, while not perfect are not awful either. Only one frog is bad, its shedding, has a deep succlus and the heel has gone soft. Still no soreness, even when packing the crevices or on the hack afterwards. I'm going to look at her food, she is gleaming at the moment, and just at the right weight. I'm thinking forage plus, but need a energy cube or mix which I can vary levels of depending on workload, and a high fibre cube base to take the supplements. I don't want to feed beet or chaff/alfalfa, due to time and I'm not always the one to feed her. Anyone have any suggestions?
 

Hen

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Are you not able to accommodate even the quick soak unmollassed beetpulp? 10 mins cold water or just a few minutes if you have access to warm - just thinking that that would solve your energy, calorie-boost and supplement carrier needs in one and it's easy to vary quantity based on weight/energy fluctuations. The forageplus mineral balancer mixes in really well to this.
 

amandap

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Also, speedi/kwik beet soak in 10 mins and can be left overnight. Despite what many think beet does provide energy and is highly digestible. It usually doesn't provide hyper-ness though. :D Of course there are some horses it doesn't suit.
 

toomanyhorses26

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I am in a similar boat here in needing something that's adjustable according to workload and providing a bit of sparkle- my horse struggles with sugar beet when unfit (he has had quite a drastic hobday so if not fit anything too runny for want of a better word - comes out his nose :( any alternatives for the sugar beet ?
 

Evil_Cookie

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I don't want to rely on sugar beet as my mare is out 24/7 and I'm not always the one to feed her. The person who does is doing me a favour, they already have to stand around while she eats slowly, soaking time would take longer, I dont want to take advantage of their kindness and have them standing about for a long time. Soaking overnight wouldn't be practical either due to storage space. I also don't want to add chaff as this will slow her down further.

She's a fussy mare too, not sure that coolstance would go down well. I like the look of Rowen Barbury forage and fibre. Need to see a sample, but it looks pretty tempting and would replicate her cool mix with just 4.5% starch. Its low energy so this would be a good base to add supplements too. Adding something similar to ERS pellets. Micronised linseed or other high oil energy feeds to this as required.

Does this sound sensible?
 

LucyPriory

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I like the look of Rowen Barbury forage and fibre. Need to see a sample, but it looks pretty tempting and would replicate her cool mix with just 4.5% starch.
Does this sound sensible?

It doesn't list the sugar content, which is always a cause for concern. It does contain moglo, which is a modified version of molasses. I avoid feeds with molasses. For my own horse most of the ingredients are on the danger list.

Kwik beet doesn't have to be runny - I make mine crumbly like cake/bread crumbs - and in the bucket in which it is fed.
 
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