Feed / supplements for hoof health

W

Walrus

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 January 2007
Messages
2,432
Visit site
Hello,


I'm up late reading pages and pages of information (mainly forums) about hooves. I'm re-assessing my pony's current diet (HiFi Lite, Spillers Lite Balancer) in light of the fact that he is still slightly footy on sharp stones and he also has thrush at the moment (am hibiscrubbing and purple spraying).

I'm reading so much my eyes are going funny and I'm getting more and more lost! Can anyone direct me to a reliable source with info on vitamin and mineral requirements etc. I keep reading about a prohoof which is on ebay - however I'm suspicious about buying a supplement with high levels of vits and mins from a shop on ebay that I know nothing about (does that make me snobby!).

I'm tempted to try the NAF Prohoof supplement and also their hoof hardener (NAF Rock Hard) that disinfects too - not that these have any more scientific grounding but I like NAF and I trust them!

Any info sources greatfully recieved!

:)
 
Progressive Earth who sell pro balance plus and another one on eBay can definitely be trusted. My boy is a Rockley rehab and is on Pro balance plus on Nic Barker's advice. It's good stuff, and easier to get than some others. Plus I don't know if it makes any difference to you or not but they include a bag of sweets with every order ;););)
 
bikerchickone said:
Progressive Earth who sell pro balance plus and another one on eBay can definitely be trusted. My boy is a Rockley rehab and is on Pro balance plus on Nic Barker's advice. It's good stuff, and easier to get than some others. Plus I don't know if it makes any difference to you or not but they include a bag of sweets with every order ;););)
Click to expand...
:D I got a curly wurly last time!

ProEarth are really good, good communication and service :) Also I'm told either brewers yeast/yea sacc and magnesium are also good.
 
I'm using Top Spec Lite on it's own, just with limited grazing (muzzle essential) and hay - and the difference has been amazing. He's striding out on dodgy surfaces now.

If your horse is footy, the primary concern is the grass imho - warm wet weather is producing lush grass, so try and limit that too.
 
Thanks guys, anyone got anything I can read about this kind of thing? The progressive earth stuff seems to have quite high levels of some minerals and vitamins, are they still within the published recommend levels? And if not is there any risk of over-doing it?
 
Shysmum he is on a bald paddock for 5-6 hours a day whilst most of the rest of the yard have 24 hour turnout. I suspect it's the thrush that's the problem, he hopped out riding the other day and I got straight off and there was a stone pressed in his frog, whipped it out, pony was fine.

Whilst I've been reading about thrush treatments I've read a lot0 about supplements but mainly on forums so was interested to know where else people got their info from?
 
Walrus said:
Thanks guys, anyone got anything I can read about this kind of thing? The progressive earth stuff seems to have quite high levels of some minerals and vitamins,
Click to expand...

That's the point ;)

Why don't you have your grazing analysed? Then you will know exactly what you need.

Pro Hoof, Pro Balance +, Equimin's Meta Balance and ForagePlus' Balancers are designed around the common trends of UK's forage. The higher levels of copper and zinc are to allow for the low levels found consistently.

Mel at Progressive Earth has been studying nutrition alongside being a successful UKNHCP trimmer for years now.
 
Yep, I understand that's the point. But I'm just asking for some information to read regarding those levels. Currently the only info I can find is forum based which is fine, it's good to read case studies and hear about people's experiences.

However, I'm just interested as to where the knowledge behind these supplements originates. Anyone know where this lady is studying nutrition? It's a fairly specialised area which I can't imagine there's much funding around so I'm not expecting loads of peer reviewed research but if she's studying somewhere maybe there is a little knowledge hub there?

My other question was regarding the long term effects of feeding these higher levels?
 
There seems to be very little good information out there - I'm suspicious that the reason that the reason it is so difficult to find quality evidence is that the isn't any. Anyone who suggests this tend to get a bit of a kicking' though (goes to find helmet).

One way to do this is to get a forage analysis and supplement what is low - they do thus at my yard but I guess it's eye wateringly expensive and then there is the question of the quality of whoever's doing it. But failing that a supplement of 100% RDA can't do any harm (whereas combining supplements containing megadoses really can). Then there's the question of what the RDA is.

There's the National Research Council's nutrient requirement for horses - although I hear that the studies used can be quite small scale.

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11653

Let me know if you dig out anything good. Because I do this stuff for my day job I'm quite good at assessing study quality. But probably PM me as the kicking gets boring after a while. Any - 'you don't know what your talking about as you only have 4 years clinical nutrition training' replies will be ignored.

Paula
 
Feeding for horn growth is in my experiance quite easy feed a good quality foot supplement .
farriers formula I have always seen visible results with this but some horses don't like the taste , I never saw any results with pro hoof as my horses hated it I am using one called farriers Favorite at the moment and see visible results with it . I was very disssapointed with formula 4feet which gave poor results verses farriers formula.
The feeding to reduce sensitivity thing is much more difficult.
 
Last edited:
Walrus said:
Yep, I understand that's the point. But I'm just asking for some information to read regarding those levels. Currently the only info I can find is forum based which is fine, it's good to read case studies and hear about people's experiences.

However, I'm just interested as to where the knowledge behind these supplements originates. Anyone know where this lady is studying nutrition? It's a fairly specialised area which I can't imagine there's much funding around so I'm not expecting loads of peer reviewed research but if she's studying somewhere maybe there is a little knowledge hub there?

My other question was regarding the long term effects of feeding these higher levels?
Click to expand...

Probably best to ask Mel about her level of study herself :)

There is frustratingly few courses that aren't part of a larger course or sponsored by a feed company.

Dr Kellon runs a few courses and most people start off there.
http://www.drkellon.com/aboutdrkellon.html

A few of us are waiting for this to come out
https://www.coursera.org/course/equinenutrition

There are studies and articles to read.

Feeds are formulated from the NRCs and stay within the limits of those recommendations. It's frustrating that most of the research regarding nutrition
is from the 70s and 80s, or based on other species. The supplements with higher levels of certain minerals work on going up to 150% of the NRC - which appears high but still within safe limits.

TBH - it's all quite new territory. The Yanks have been doing it for longer than us successfully.

I saw big improvements in my old boy when I balanced minerals this way (in reference to the forage analysis I had done) and it has helped provide that missing piece of the puzzle for horses who remained footy.

There are a great many horses who do just fine on the commercial supplements and feeds. If you have concerns - use them :)
 
Paulag said:
There seems to be very little good information out there - I'm suspicious that the reason that the reason it is so difficult to find quality evidence is that the isn't any. Anyone who suggests this tend to get a bit of a kicking' though (goes to find helmet).

One way to do this is to get a forage analysis and supplement what is low - they do thus at my yard but I guess it's eye wateringly expensive and then there is the question of the quality of whoever's doing it. But failing that a supplement of 100% RDA can't do any harm (whereas combining supplements containing megadoses really can). Then there's the question of what the RDA is.

There's the National Research Council's nutrient requirement for horses - although I hear that the studies used can be quite small scale.

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11653

Let me know if you dig out anything good. Because I do this stuff for my day job I'm quite good at assessing study quality. But probably PM me as the kicking gets boring after a while. Any - 'you don't know what your talking about as you only have 4 years clinical nutrition training' replies will be ignored.

Paula
Click to expand...

No kicking here :). I share your frustration with it all.
 
Thanks guys. Might contact the company directly and ask a few questions. Would also be interested in where the supplements are manufactured etc.

I admit, I have worked for a commercial feed company in the past so know they are formulated to NRCs and maybe that makes me more suspicious about these higher spec'd supplements. I also know the strict QA and auditing procedures they went through and how they use approved suppliers etc. which is why I'm wondering where these supplements come from?

Anyhow, that's my pondering for the day - it's clear that many people have had good results with these supplements which makes me think I should look into them.

Also - not sure testing my forage is the way to go - on a livery yard and hay is from several suppliers etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top