Feeding for hoof growth?

[Gracie21]

Sorry, probably been done to death!

Pony has very nice feet, but they grow very slowly! It's proving a problem now that he's in proper work, his fronts are obviously wearing away. The farrier has said that this would happen with increased work and he will probably need shoes...But is there anything I can add to his feed to help promote growth first? Would rather not shoe if I can avoid it!

Currently fed-Baileys 4, alfa a oil, general supp, calmer & splash of linseed oil.

ETA: He's ridden on grass mostly, no roadwork. His fields are flinty so guess he wears them down there too. Also on decent grazing with as much hay as he can fit in

Thank you

Fresh melon on offer!

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

You don't say what size of pony, but for something about 14.2 I would recommend 25 gm of a mineral mix for barefoot horses, or as recommended. This is far in excess of the daily minerals in a few pony cubes.
Measure out the linseed oil or use micronised ..... in summer you don't want him to get fat, so 25gm/ml is a minimum, 50 gms better.
No molasses , no lickits, no chaff with molasses/moglo. The calmer may have magnesium, but a good mineral like pro hoof / pro earth balancer [pro earth] will contain magnesium and other similar ingredients, , so maybe phone them for advice, you may not need the calmer.

To the astonishment of many people hooves don't "wear away", provided the horse has a good diet and the exercise is managed progressively he should grow enough hoof to compensate for wear. Walking on tarmac 20 minutes per day or more is ideal. He should be exposed to a variety of surfaces, if only soft surfaces the feet will not "toughen up" I used to keep my boy in an old lane for a few hours per day, he got access to hedgerow herbs and was not on soft earth all day.

I did not know about barefoot diet, and for years I shod horses as soon as they came in to work .......... I can't believe I ever did this!
I trust the farrier is not trimming the soles when he is trimmed, he should not be footsore after trimming, but some farriers are too keen on using the knife on the frog and on the sole as this is the way they have been trained to prepare feet for shoeing.
Check out Rockley Farm blogs ......... they r- habilitate horses, so many of the feet are exteme, but all are barefoot.

 

[Gracie21]

Thank you He's 14.2hh! He isn't a good doer, not sure he has fat in his dictionary haha! I don't think I can justify taking him off his calmer at the moment, it's doing too much of a good job! I can't hack on tarmac unfortunately, we're on a busy A road, but that does make sense, I will try and fit some road work in when we box him out on hacks! I will google mineral mix, thank you

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I note you are on flint, does that mean chalk, you may not be on "average" grass, maybe ask locally if there are any special dietary issues.
Most calmers are magnesium based, providing 3-10 mg of MgO, plus yeast sac and herbs, most barefoot diets provide 5-10 mg, this is why I say you may not need both in the long term, I used Feedmark calmer, but reduced it when I moved on to "the diet"
Re manufacturers, some to look at are
Pro Earth
Forage plus
Equimins
Feedmark
You are going to find that the cost of minerals all year round is quite expensive, about the same as shoeing! So you need to find the most economical supplement without compromising on quality.
I like one with ingredients for gut calming, you can buy the MgO and add this to something like Equimins Original, but as you are experiencing diffiiculties at the moment it is better to go for a mix which you know is already balanced for barefoot.
I used Dengie non molassed chaff
and soaked speedy beet, NOT molassed sugar beet nuts.
Some barefoot horses do not do well on alfalfa.