Formula 4 Feet: with or without additional feed / supplements?

[Charlie31]

My farrier has recommended trying Formula 4 Feet for my horse whose hooves fall apart every summer. We've tried a few other supplements without much success but he reckons this is one he sees best results across his other clients with. It's worth a go.

My question is, do you feed it with or without additional vitamin supplements or balancers? It looks to be a general balancer as well as hoof supplement but I notice there's no vitamin A in it and some of the other minerals are possibly a bit low. But then again if I stuck a general vitamin and mineral supplement in as well I suspect I would probably be over-supplementing on some things. So I was just wondering what other people who feed it do.

I doubt it's a problem in the summer with the grass probably containing everything he needs but maybe more of an issue in the winter? He would usually just have Baileys Balancer (Lo Cal or Performance depending on time of year, workload etc), alfalfa and haylage in winter.

Thanks in advance.

 

[skint1]

Hi, I used to feed my mare F4F, she also had respiratory and joint supplements so I continued to feed those supplements. I think it would be worth a call or email to them to see what they advise, as I recall, they're quite friendly and knowledgable

 

[Crackerz]

I used to work for them, all the clinics ponies were fed it on it's own with just hi fi light.

 

[Charlie31]

Thanks for this. Good idea to give them a ring.

Do you happen to know why there's no vitamin A in it then Crackerz?

 

[splashgirl45]

i have been feeding f4f for a long time and just feed with baileys light chaff in summer and just add fast fibre for the winter. her feet used to break up in the summer but since feeding f4f her feet have been great. my farrier commented on how strong her feet were and asked me what i was feeding and said he had a few clients who also had good results...

 

[Charlie31]

Thanks for that. It does definitely seem to be worth a try so going to get some today. Sadly I can't feed fast fibre as it contains oatfeed and my boy is allergic to oats (I have a connemara with crap feet who is also allergic to oats, how ridiculous is that?) but it does sound like it would be a goer feeding it on its own with just the alfalfa then.

 

[Casey76]

I have two issues with F4F. First of all it is based in Lucerne meal, and I try to avoid Lucerne due to some horse not doing so well on Lucerne when they have bare feet. Secondly there is a lot of soya in it, and Omega-6 has pro-inflammatory effects. Despite being non-GMO, I won't feed soya when there are other high-oil containing sources out there (micronized linseed) which have a better balance of Omega-3 to Omega-6.