Feed ideas to help hoof growth for the poor doer

BarneyTheChestnutOne

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Hello, I am thinking of changing one of my horses feeds to aid the recovery of a hoof injury, where he has damaged the pedal bone, due to being trimmed too short and his sole being thin. He is currently being treated by the vet for this injury.

He is a 15hh welsh x TB 19years old, lives out on average grass with ad lib hay (though he doesn't really choose to eat much hay, probably 2kg in summer and 8kg in winter)
He is currently fed 1/2 dry scoop spillers senior super mash and 2 mugs of baileys performance balancer. Now he is moving onto the summer field I would like to use the opportunity rather than removing the mash for summer, to find a better diet for his feet, that can be adjusted for summer/winter.

I think he is allergic to linseed as although he is OK on the balancer, when I have tried to add a mug to his feed for weight gain over winter, he became incredibly itchy and came up with dry flaky skin within a couple of days of each try.

Feeds I have tried previously that he won't eat, I'm sure there are more than I can remember:

Pink Mash
Speedibeet
Soaked Grass Nuts
Copra

Any ideas most welcome please :)
Thanks all in advance!
 

PurBee

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Healthy good amounts of amino acids, biotin and zinc primarily grow hoof horn - i would opt to add a specific hoof supplement that combine all these nutrients, but dont know which ones are any good.
Sometimes the amount of nutrients in many ‘specialist supplement mixes’ are really quite borderline low and are mainly bulked out with cheap ingredients so do pay close attention to the amount each dose gives the horse. Most ingredients give amounts per kilo, not per dose, so pay close attention to the actual amount per dose and ignore the shiny hoof marketing pictures and spiel!
You could buy the amino acids/biotin/zinc separately from places like forageplus and mix them up to make your own blend - which you can add to any dampened down feed he already likes, to help the powder stick.

Here’s a good all round article on hoof health and key nutrients required:

https://thehorse.com/191783/feeding-the-foot-nutrition-of-equine-hoof-health/
 

dorsetladette

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I've got my old lad on spillers supple and senior balancer, which I really rate. It has the right amount of everything in it. As the grass is coming through he is now just on this and a small scoop of speedibeet.
 

Peglo

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My old haffie gets a mix of spillers senior mash and R&B readymash and flexijoint suppliment. She also gets a big bucket of grass nuts and speedibeet as she’s lacking teeth although seems less interested in that bucket now the grass is coming through so must be managing to eat grass. Her feet are growing crazy quickly but she’s always had good feet.
 

BarneyTheChestnutOne

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Thank you both, I will read into these suggestions :) I would really like to get it right for him. I am also conscious that if I went for the supplement route, I will need to find a hoof friendly feed to carry a hoof supplement that he will actually eat.
 
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