Feeding programmes for horses with poor hooves

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Charlie31

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I'm interested in what people feed to their horses with poor hooves. Not just the specific hoof supplement but what they feed alongside it as well.

My horse has thin hoof walls that tend to dry up and break off below the nail line in the summer. Usually his feet are looking better again by now but this year they're not. I think there are some farriery issues to address but I'm reviewing his feed as well to see if this helps.

He is currently fed Baileys Lo Cal or Performance balancer depending on his workload, along with Alfa A Molasses Free and a hoof supplement (currently Horse First Hoof First but it doesn't seem to be helping). He looks and feels well on the Baileys apart from the hoof issue, and I have the issue that he is allergic to oats so can't have anything with oatfeed or oat straw in it, which does limit my options a bit.

So my options are stick with the Baileys and try a different hoof supplement or ditch the Baileys altogether and try something completely different. Lots of people have recommended Formula 4 Feet which seems to be a balancer in its own right but looking at the spec I think some of vitamin and mineral levels would be low if I fed it on its own. So not sure about that but equally I'm wary of feeding it alongside the Baileys and overloading on something.

Another option is Blue Chip. Obviously this is more expensive and I'd need to check the ingredients but I'd be happy to pay if it didn't have oatfeed in and it helped. Has anybody had any success with this?

TopSpec balancers are out due to ingredients but I could try their supplement and ditch the balancer.

Or I could try something else entirely...

Basically I'm just very confused with all the different options available and the conflicting advice that seems to be out there nowadays. So really I'm after suggestions from people who have managed to turn their horse's hoof health around.

Any thoughts, comments or ideas are gratefully received!
 
I do find that hooves do dry out more in the summer as they get less moisture so I do run the hose on them every few days and it does help but both of my horses have quite healthy feet.

I only feed fast fibre graze on chaff and micronised linseed, you could try adding linseed it is very good for hooves and coat, to be honest all the balancers you mention have added molasses which is not good for hooves so in your situation I would ditch those and put him on a supplement meant to improve the feet and I would also add linseed to his diet, if your worried about the vitamin and mineral content the Allen and page does a range of no molasses and low starch that have the right vitamin and minerals if fed at the correct amount, might be worth having a look at the range and see what would suit him.
 
I'd cut out what your currently feeding him. I'd give him a small carrier feed, speedi beet/agrobs something like that. Then add salt, linseed and a mineral balancer. I use Progressive Earth Platinum Plus but there are others. I'd also be cleantraxing his feet in case of infection.
 
Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately the Allen and Page feeds are out due to them containing oatfeed but I had been thinking about linseed. He does already have linseed oil in his feed in the winter, which I forgot to mention before, but I'm aware that linseed itself is probably a better choice. I had slightly chickened out of feeding it in the past because of concerns about weight gain during the summer. His weight is pretty much spot on and he doesn't get fat but I think this is largely down to exercise and he certainly doesn't need any extra condition! Is there an optimum amount to feed to give the health benefits without him getting lardy do you know?
 
I feed linseed all year to 2 Arabs who can be reactive to certain feeds and never had a problem with it having a negative effect, they can't have molasses and alpha a sends them loopy. shame about the Allen and page having oats in maybe just put him on a supplement aimed at hooves I have never had to use one so can't recommend I am afraid.
 
It's ded easy and there are countless posts on here about it. Micronised linseed (anything from half a mug to a mugfull per day), speedibeet and a chaff (pure easy for example - avoid alfalfa and anything that says laminitis trust or hoof safe!). Then add a supplement - equimins, forage plus, progressive earth). Forget FF, top spec etc.
 
I've had the big boy nearly 12 months now and he's nearly got feet I'm not embarrassed by. Awful when he came to me with big chunks falling off. He's on an 8 week trim cycle with limited pasture, hay, kwik beet, plain chaff, small amount if copra (because he sulks if he doesn't get it when I'm feeding my other horse) & a touch of linseed. Balancer wise he's been on both Equimins advance complete and a Forage Plus winter balancer. Both high spec & I can see the results. Highly recommend either of them.
 
i fed formula4feet when my mares hooves broke up during a very hot summer(yes we have had them) and they really improved. i stopped feeding it and gradually her feet got worse, so started again and feet improved so much that farrier commented how good and hard they were. i continued to feed it till i lost her recently and just fed with baileys light chaff adding fast fibre (she wouldnt eat speedibeet) in the winter to bulk the feed up..
 
Thanks all, some really helpful suggestions here. I think I'm going to give the linseed a try and see how he gets on with it, and will have a look at the different balancers mentioned too. Alfalfa and molasses have no effects on his temperament whatsoever but bog standard pony nuts can send him off his rocker! So hopefully the linseed will be fine but I found somewhere that sells smaller bags so at least I won't be too much out of pocket if it doesn't work out.
 
I'll take some pictures, but a few months ago I have changed my horse to a diet of 500g Thunderbrooks Herbal Chaff and 400g alfalfa pellets 2x per day, with ForagePlus Healthy Laminae balancer, and am super excited about how much thicker her walls are coming in!! (AND she's half TB with $*** feet...) I know alfalfa is frowned upon for some reason, but I've never had a problem with it, I feed for protein because that's what muscle and hoof is made of!

Another thing is that if you use any hoof dressings you should stop or at least cut back. A lot of the ingredients (petroleum based, aldehydes, etc) denature or "break" proteins, and the hoof wall is made of protein so....

Before this, I had her on a Nutrena feed (we were living in TX before moving to the UK), Farrier's Formula Double Strength and some free choice magnesium and was very happy with it. Didn't realize how much room there was for improvement!
 
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Low sugar, starch (I use agrobs because he actually eats it well!), micronised linseed and equimins advanced complete.


Alternatives for the equimins would be forageplus, prohoof (ebay) and equivita.
 
ohmissbrittany said:
I'll take some pictures, but a few months ago I have changed my horse to a diet of 500g Thunderbrooks Herbal Chaff and 400g alfalfa pellets 2x per day, with ForagePlus Healthy Laminae balancer, and am super excited about how much thicker her walls are coming in!! (AND she's half TB with $*** feet...) I know alfalfa is frowned upon for some reason, but I've never had a problem with it, I feed for protein because that's what muscle and hoof is made of!

Another thing is that if you use any hoof dressings you should stop or at least cut back. A lot of the ingredients (petroleum based, aldehydes, etc) denature or "break" proteins, and the hoof wall is made of protein so....

Before this, I had her on a Nutrena feed (we were living in TX before moving to the UK), Farrier's Formula Double Strength and some free choice magnesium and was very happy with it. Didn't realize how much room there was for improvement!
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I have to admit I like alfalfa too and all the evidence I've read has suggested it's good for hooves. The molasses free version is very low in starch and sugar too.

And yes, I am guilty of slapping on the Kevin Bacon hoof dressing most days in the hope it will help. To be fair his hooves were crap before I started using it and they're still crap since but I had read something recently about hoof dressings not being such a good thing after all and had been wondering whether I should stop but I'm in that stupid situation now where I'm afraid to do so!

ester said:
Low sugar, starch (I use agrobs because he actually eats it well!), micronised linseed and equimins advanced complete.


Alternatives for the equimins would be forageplus, prohoof (ebay) and equivita.
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I'm liking the look of the Equimins so far but my only worry is that it does look to be very high in selenium. I think I look into the nutritional breakdown too much sometimes. Hmm.
 
I feed agrobs aspero chaff, speedibeet, micronised linseed, salt and his minerals. Never have any problems with his feel crumbling in dry weather
 
No and there's no point doing one because I'm on a livery yard where the hay and haylage are provided and are extremely variable. So I tend to try and work on desired averages for those for whom forage analysis isn't a viable option and I though for selenium it was about 1mg per day? Could have totally dreamt that though knowing me. I read bits and bobs here and there and then get into a pickle with it all.
 
i would look at the supplements that barefoot people use. These are often equimins advanced complete (or metabalance), any of the forage plus balancers or the pro hoof range.
I find the equimins one excellent and have used it on 6 horses for many years. I also feed copra, dengie alfalfa pellets and micronised linseed, plus salt and vitamin E oil
 
agreed it is higher (yes you are right on the 1mg/kg) but it would take a lot more to be unsafe. I certainly know plenty of barefooters who feed it with good results :) and Dr Kellon I think advices 1mg per about 250kg bodyweight which would fit the equimins spec fairly closely I think. I know when I did the math based on that I wasn't too worried given the forage results I have for either location (v. different soil types).

Just plump for one of the barefooter type supplements IMO ;)
 
lol no, I'm not that mean, just that to within a certain degree, apart from thunderbrooks which prob is not optimal, they are all much of a muchness.

I own a ridiculously fussy native so if he eats one we have stuck with it. I used to self mix, decided against the hassle and to start with he ate the pellets much better than any powder (and could not feed anything else) ... we then had to move onto the powder when he started leaving the expensive pellets in the bottom of the bowl! Back on the pellets again now ok though!
 
Mine is barefoot (Rockley rehab so has shocking feet before!) and a poor doer, training at medium and has pretty good feet that are functional over all surfaces. Since being barefoot (and on a decent diet) I've never needed to put any lotions or potions on his feet, they look shiny and healthy on their own, even in the middle of summer.

He's fed unmollased sugar beet, Alfa pellets, oats and omega rice. He's fed equivita ultra, extra magnesium and salt as supplements plus ad lib haylage.
 
My daughters Welsh section a is barefoot and has pretty decent feet now - having spent the last year having hoof wall separation growing out after an episode of low grade laminitis when we moved yards last summer. Being a good doer she gets a daily token feed to get her supplement into her of micronized linseed, a handful of chaff (currently Hi-Fi Lite but will be looking to switch to Agrobs or Thunderbrooks once its finished), salt and Progressive Earth Pro Hoof. In the summer she gets a little garlic added and in winter some unmollased sugar beet.
 
ester said:
urgh garlic :p *shudders*
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Why is garlic evil? Genuine question.

Also should we be adding salt routinely? I add it in summer when he's been sweating and in the winter he has a salt lick but now there seems to be conflicting advice about whether or not they can get everything they need off their licks so I'm wondering if I should be chucking some into his feed every day.

I do miss the old days when my pony would get bran and pony nuts, and in the winter I would mix it all together with treacle dissolved in hot water to make it extra tasty and warming for him. Yum yum!
 
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