Help with weak hoofs

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Sallyanne95

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My boy seems to get getting cracks in his hoofs?
He had his shoes taken off about a year ago as not working and was on 24/7 turn out. In February I put him into a stable he gets turn out about 6 hours a day and is still bare foot but no ridden work is being done. He had his feet trimmed 18/03/14.

He is a four year old ex racer (only trained) and his feet have always seemed pretty good up until lately.

Any recommendations as to what I should do to help his feet or is the farrier needed?

Thank you.

Will attach some photos in a mo.
 
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What is he being fed?

An ideal diet that is food friendly is high fibre, low starch. For example I feed unmollassed chaff (to bulk feed up), speedibeet, linseed and a hoof supplement. This seems to work for my boy and his feed are pretty good, vastly improved from how they were when I first got him. He also gets daily turnout and haylage at night.

I'm sure someone who knows what they are talking about will be along soon! But I think the key is to remember that strong hooves comes from suitable feeding. Could be that the change in hoof stimulation since he came in may have had an impact on the hoof.
 
I had to change his feed as it was giving him to much energy.
He gets a jug of mollichaff calmer, a handful of applechaff, some garlic, mint and seaweed plus some carrots. He also gets about one maybe two haynets after he's brought in and throughout the night.
 
have you a sole view of that hoof? At first glance too, the whole hoof looks rather tall and that the outside wall of the bottom inch or so has been rasped, though that might just be an impression from the picture.
 
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Sallyanne95 said:
No I haven't got a photo of sole sorry. Farrier is saying I will need shoes on. But I just want something extra to help strengthen it ontop of that
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Shoes are not required to heal cracks, they have to grow out (even with shoes) with appropriate diet, good trimming and plenty of movement. Quarter cracks are sometimes also caused by quarters being left too long.

http://www.hoofrehab.com/WallCracks.html

Also have a look at his diet article.
 
It would really be worth taking some more photos if you can!

He looks like he may have a bit of flare and also there doesn't seem to be quite as much of a roll on his hoof as I like personally. He may also have some stretching of the white line all of which can contribute to cracks. I wouldn't know what to do about the full length crack as my horse has never had one, has your farrier/trimmer seen it?
 
martlin said:
That crack needs some attention asap.
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I agree with this, get a vet to look at it as it can cause a whole host of problems, my mare had a crack much smaller than that at the front of the hoof and it ended up infecting the pedal bone, she has had an op to remove the infected bone but is still not sound so dont leave it.

I would scrap the mollichaff and apple chaff its full of molasses, try a molasses free chaff unmolassed sugar beet and micronised linseed my mare has been on this for over a year now and her feet are so much better no more cracks, he may need a vitamin and mineral supplement too if he is lacking in something it often shows through the feet.
 
DD265 said:
It would really be worth taking some more photos if you can!

He looks like he may have a bit of flare and also there doesn't seem to be quite as much of a roll on his hoof as I like personally. He may also have some stretching of the white line all of which can contribute to cracks. I wouldn't know what to do about the full length crack as my horse has never had one, has your farrier/trimmer seen it?
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Yes I have sent farrier these photos and all he says is he needs shoes on him
 
IMO, shoeing and therefore peripheral loading the hoof isn't the answer. The coronet band seems to bulge upwards over the crack which does make me wonder if the horse's hoof is too long in that area.
 
Get rid of the sugary/starchy feed, and get the horse outside and moving around for more than 6 hours/day (preferably 24/7). His feet look rather tall...has the farrier said why they're that shape, or how shoeing is meant to help?
 
If I had a horse with feet like that and the farrier said that the way to fix them was to shoe, I'd be looking for another person to look after his hooves.
 
spookypony said:
Get rid of the sugary/starchy feed, and get the horse outside and moving around for more than 6 hours/day (preferably 24/7). His feet look rather tall...has the farrier said why they're that shape, or how shoeing is meant to help?
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He's had to go onto this feed as others weren't working for him (made him to crazy) it's the only feed he's calm on but he's not on much. The yard I'm at that's the only hours we get to turn out as week days the owners turn out no it is a Sunday and he is currently busy but he'll explain more to me when he comes out. What do you mean about being too tall and the shape?
 
Gloi said:
If I had a horse with feet like that and the farrier said that the way to fix them was to shoe, I'd be looking for another person to look after his hooves.
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Not just the farrier has said about shoes I've had half people telling me to shoe half telling me not to so I'm a bit stuck ATM but I do trust my farrier he was highly recommended and has always been good with my horses.
 
Sallyanne95 said:
He's had to go onto this feed as others weren't working for him (made him to crazy) it's the only feed he's calm on but he's not on much.
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You can get similar feed to this that won't make him crazy but without the high sugar content of the molassed feed.
 
You need to read up as much as you can, so look at barefoot sites regarding their treatment of hoof cracks and look at remedial shoeing of hoof cracks. Then decide what is right for your horse. The world and his wife can tell you what they would do, but you need to decide what you are going to do.

If you want to stay BF, maybe this farrier isn't the right hoof care professional for your horse?
 
Sallyanne95 said:
I assumed it would be okay as the website says 'Mollichaff Calmer is low in sugar and starch' and it also has the hoof kind logo...
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Look on the labels themselves for the % of starch and sugar. Often feeds branded as low sugar or good for laminitics aren't actually that when you read the labels more carefully. Look to see the products don't contain molasses or molasses under another name such as mol-glo
 
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Faracat said:
You need to read up as much as you can, so look at barefoot sites regarding their treatment of hoof cracks and look at remedial shoeing of hoof cracks. Then decide what is right for your horse. The world and his wife can tell you what they would do, but you need to decide what you are going to do.

If you want to stay BF, maybe this farrier isn't the right hoof care professional for your horse?
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I'm am a bit unsure as I am getting so many different things send. In all honesty I don't mind if he has shoes or not he currently doesn't have them as not in work but will be having shoes soon anyway as will be getting into work and money isn't a problem I'm just wanting what's best for my horse as that's all that matters.
I asked the farrier and he recommends just front shoes but what I was mostly looking for was advise on here was on hoof creams and supplements. He normally has good hoofs and I've used this farrier ever since I had him and it's just been the last month they have got like this and I'm thinking maybe it's cause he went from getting turned out 24/7 to bring stabled and he just needs a little extra something to help but that bit I'm unsure on what to use. There's so much out there and I just wanted really people's personal opinion on products they have used and what helped them.
 
Faracat said:
You need to read up as much as you can, so look at barefoot sites regarding their treatment of hoof cracks and look at remedial shoeing of hoof cracks. Then decide what is right for your horse. The world and his wife can tell you what they would do, but you need to decide what you are going to do.

If you want to stay BF, maybe this farrier isn't the right hoof care professional for your horse?
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This.
Do your own research and make your own mind up. Hoof care is about the whole horse as much as shoeing or trimming.

ps. Using creams etc. will just clog up the hoof. If you are getting him shod anyway then some disinfection might also help.
 
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OP - there are a lot of threads on the forum about feet and how to get them as strong and healthy as possible. Mollichaff is for horses like jelly babies are for children - way too much sugar in them to be healthy. You need to be looking at a low sugar and starch feed with high fibre. And it doesn't matter how long you have been using this farrier, if his only answer is that you need shoes on then I would be looking for someone else. There is no substance that you can put on hooves that will improve them - health comes from within. Good luck - I hope you get it sorted.
 
He will talk to me better about it when he comes out but ATM he's saying I will need shoes which tbh is all I asked him.
Everyone says about low sugar and starch but how much would you class as low??

What are the best supplements??
 
Good supplements for hoof health include Pro Balance and Pro hoof (both from ebay) and the ones made by Forage Plus. Generally the cheaper ones, or just adding biotin alone, doesn't really cut it.
 
The seaweed you're feeding isn't good for hooves. Ditto what others have said about the feed you use. Carrots are full of sugar. A handful of Fast Fibre (small pellets that you soak for a few min) would be a better feed if you want a token feed when others are fed or for a horse in light work.

If as you say all the change in his hooves has happened since you stabled him and you feel that something is "missing" I'd suggest that something is exercise.

Is the crack on the surface layer of the hoof wall or does it go all the way through? I had a horse with a crack which went 1/2 way through the wall for about 1 1/2" from the ground and to stop it getting any worse the farrier rasped a small 'V' at the top of it quite deep, this stopped the crack going higher.
 
Sallyanne95 said:
I just wanted really people's personal opinion on products they have used and what helped them.
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What has worked for me with two tbs and a warmblood that had a crack very similar to the one your horse has on each front foot.

- Cutting out ALL sugar. Ignore the headlines on the bag that say low sugar or laminitis trust but read the white labels and check that it does not contain molasses or molglo. If something is molasses free, it usually says so in big letters on the front. If it doesn't, it probably isn't.

One of my tbs goes from beach donkey to lunatic if you let him have a sniff of mollichaff or similar so I learned to read labels and avoid sugar the hard way.

- A good supplement, I make up my own to a forage analysis but one of the forageplus or progressive earth ones are good.

- Exercise, lots of gentle hoof stimulating exercise. If yours isn't in work yet then leading him along the drive or a track for 10 - 20 minutes a day will do good.

- in the case of the one with a crack, a very minimal trim that just bevelled the edges of the crack so it didn't catch. The cracks grew out, one very quickly, the other took 6 months but eventually you couldn't even tell there was a crack.

No potions or creams ever helped, nor did the majority of commercial supplements.
 
Read, read and read some more. Learn about barefoot and trimming and feeding and remedial shoeing. Read threads on here, Rockley farm blog and Pheonix forum. You will never shoe again, if you're prepared to really educate yourself on this subject. Listen to what people are telling you - change the diet, get the right supplements, the right trimmer and the right exercise regime and you'll never look back. Good luck!
 
If that farrier has been looking after your youngster his whole life (how long have you had him?), and he hasn't said anything to you about diet or exercise while allowing the hooves to look like that, and his only solution is "shoe" without an explanation, then regardless of how your other horses coped, I wouldn't trust that farrier to know one end of a rasp from the other. I think you need to do some research yourself into feet and nutrition, so that you know what questions to ask; the suggestions by others as to places to read are all good! :D If a yard limited a youngster to 6h turnout/day, I'd be moving yards if at all possible. Good luck with getting this sorted! :)
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
The seaweed you're feeding isn't good for hooves. Ditto what others have said about the feed you use. Carrots are full of sugar. A handful of Fast Fibre (small pellets that you soak for a few min) would be a better feed if you want a token feed when others are fed or for a horse in light work.

If as you say all the change in his hooves has happened since you stabled him and you feel that something is "missing" I'd suggest that something is exercise.

Is the crack on the surface layer of the hoof wall or does it go all the way through? I had a horse with a crack which went 1/2 way through the wall for about 1 1/2" from the ground and to stop it getting any worse the farrier rasped a small 'V' at the top of it quite deep, this stopped the crack going higher.
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The seaweed says it's good for hooves?? I don't think it does all the way through.
 
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