Feet

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Lila

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With the change in weather, my horses feet are a mess. He's trimmed every 6-weeks, unshod and living out Working aprox 3-5days/week in a sand paddock.

He seems slightly foot sore walking over all the stone now and again. He never been shod.

What would you suggest to feed him to improve his feet except biotin (gunna pick that up in the morning) Any other good supplements out there?
 
I would suggest your first port of call is what to STOP feeding him - 24/7 grass. Try taking him off grass during the daytime and you will probably stop the footsoreness. I have one just like it and its very common.

What do you mean by " a mess"? The most common reason for barefoot feet cracking and fraying at the bottom edge is that they have been left too long.

For foot quality, lots of us feed Brewers yeast, which contains biotin so you don't need that supplement, and Magnesium Oxide which is low in fast growing grass, acts on the nervous system to damp down sensitivity, and is difficult to supplement with anything "natural".
 
Does a farrier or a trimmer look after his feet?

Its sounds to me like low grade laminitis, although i couldnt say for sure without seeing the feet.

Maybe pics would help if you have any?

If he has any growth rings, bruising, thrush or WLD, all of which could indicate Low Grade laminitis.

Whats his grazing like? Because the weather ha sbeen all over the place, maybe the grass has got a bit rich. Has he ever had any problems before?
What age is he?

What do you feed him for hard feed? other supplements?

Some people say that biotin doesnt make much difference to the feet, unless they are defficent in it. But its a B vitamin so should be plentiful. But you never know what they are deficient in without blood tests. But it wouldnt do any harm to give it anyway.

Magnesium is another thing that has shown to help. As does sodium. Maybe get him a rock salt lick, or try adding table salt to his diet.
Calcium too has shown to have benefits. Unmollased Sugar beet is good for this.
There are a lot of supplements for hooves on the market, so maybe trying one for your horse. One which has all these minerals. formula 4 feet, hoof first or something like that.

Have you made any changes to his diet, environment or farrier/trimmer recently?

You never know, the smallest change could cause these sort of things,
 
Thanks for your reply. He's in during the day for around 5hours and out the rest of the time. He gets a flake of hay when he comes in and not much else (the odd treat)
His feet were done 6 weeks ago and farrier is out next week. Im putting it down to the change in weather as he was fine until it changed.
Where should sell that Magnesium Oxide??
Have no pics of feet sorry. My farrier is really good i trust him 100% used him for 10+years but only had my boy since feb so he was done by a different farrier.
He's not showing any signs of lami no rings etc. I did think its more due to the ground being so hard then so soft and muddy all of a sudden?? He put alot of weight on as grass is good were we are but hes been on better (and the same before) and never had any problems. Hes 9yrs and iv upped his work to get some weight of him. This was him today and he seems to be working fine :) he looks alot bigger on here than he is though :)
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5313262&l=b5d826d744&id=510606909
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5313258&l=ab173a1e4d&id=510606909
 
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magnesium oxide is sold on eBay. Feed him 15 - 25 grams a day depending on his size. You can buy calmag from an agricultural merchant much cheaper if there is one near you.

What time is he in - it matters a lot. If he is only in five hours and can only be in 5 hours then they should be from 2pm to 7pm when the grass is much more calorific than at other times. I would extend how long he is in for, mine are in for nine hours with a similar amount of hay to yours.
 
cptrayes said:
magnesium oxide is sold on eBay. Feed him 15 - 25 grams a day depending on his size. You can buy calmag from an agricultural merchant much cheaper if there is one near you.

What time is he in - it matters a lot. If he is only in five hours and can only be in 5 hours then they should be from 2pm to 7pm when the grass is much more calorific than at other times. I would extend how long he is in for, mine are in for nine hours with a similar amount of hay to yours.
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He comes in around 10ish goes back out around 3. But ill take your advise and start bringing him in early and put back out around 7. I work evenings so i have to ask someone to turn back out at night which is why he goes out before i leave. But theres a few people who will turn out for me so that shouldnt be a problem :) I just dont like to put on people too much.
Thanks for the advice. Really helpfull
 
There is already a good post about what others feed barefooter.
Equimins Hoof mender has pretty much everything in :-) Might be worth a try.
 
Agree with the others - from the photos he is definitely rather plump. Loads of laminitis cases around at the moment and lots of my clients are reporting their formerly sound on all surfaces horses have gone a bit foot sore and feet cracking = both things down to diet i.e. too much sugar, which is down to too much grass. Dry weather followed by wet has meant the grass has gone mad and is extra sugary. He needs to be off the grass as much as possible, get his weight down (not easy I know!) and try the mag ox until he stops being foot sore and his foot quality improves. Surprised your farrier didn't suggest it was too much grass (low grade lami) - mention it to him next time.
 
Another thing, do you only work him in the sand school? I would walk him out on tarmac a couple of times a week for about 10 minutes to start to condition his feet. you can build it up gradually.
 
He's not showing any signs of lami no rings etc.
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Well they don't show rings until after they have been laminitic - the laminitis comes first - then the rings or event lines as we call them :-)

I would treat this as LGL and keep him off the grass as CP suggests - have you an area of really sparse ground or a concreted over area where you could give him soaked hay?
 
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