Good Supplements for hooves

None of the big name supplements worked for me. As soon as I started to feed haylage, her hoof quality improved dramatically as did the amount of hoof growth.
 
Progressive Earth, Forage Plus or Equivita all do good ones. You want high copper and zinc in the righ ratio and NO iron. Its also worth adding a min of 25gms of salt and 100gms of linseed :)
 
I was struggling with hoof growth in the summer (we had none!) so I started him on the Horse First Hoof First recommended by a friend in Ireland along with a 20gm scoop of salt and had massive hoof growth of good quality horn. Due to the cost and I wanted a more GP supplement I switched to the Horse First Keep me Sound which he is doing great on. Good regular hoof growth and a lovely shiny coat.
 
FrankieCob said:
Progressive Earth, Forage Plus or Equivita all do good ones. You want high copper and zinc in the righ ratio and NO iron. Its also worth adding a min of 25gms of salt and 100gms of linseed :)
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This exactly, there's no difference between a shod or barefoot horse. They're all horses and all need the same vits/minerals.
 
Of course as well as looking at what else you need to be feeding, you need to first look at what you're currently feeding. If you are seeing problems with your horse's hooves then there is most probably a problem with too much sugar. I spent many years trying to find answers to my pony's poor hoof quality. I asked farriers, vets and many an experienced horseman. No-one had any answer for me. I shudder to think of the money I wasted on useless hoof supplements over the years. It wasn't until I decided to take my pony barefoot (I'm not suggesting this - don't worry, although you should look very closely to see if there is any blackness around the nail holes - this is infection) that I realised his diet had been inappropriate his entire life. I'd always known I had to restrict his grass because he has a tendency to balloon at the meerest sniff of grass but I had no idea the HiFi Lite and Equilibra balancer I was feeding him was so bad for him (the HiFi Lite is covered in molasses and the Equilibra contains iron which not only is abundant in most UK grazing but also restricts the uptake of other minerals such as copper).

Well done for realizing you need to make a change to your horse's diet. My advice would be to read up on what people are feeding their barefoot horses, it really will make a huge difference to yours.
 
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