Hoof problems please help!

Smurph

Smurph

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Hi, I bought an exracehorse about a year ago. I turned him away for the winter as he was just off the track. I've had problems from the beginning with his feet. I can't keep shoes on and the more he loses them the more damaged his feet become. I got to a point the farrier couldn't get shoes on him anymore. He has thin soles, and his hooves keep breaking up to the nail holes. I tried barefoot for a while with Cavallo boots, but I can't keep him in them all day and he's not sound in them. Eventually he got so footsore I tried the IMprint shoes only on the front. He was sound in front with these and was on boxrest for a month to try to get his back feet back to some kind of condition to get a shoe on (they are still not there yet, nearly sound as he can take the weight in his front feet again). the problem now is I started limited turnout as he was climbing the walls, he has protective boots front and back. He's lost 3 Imprint shoes in one week. brought him in tonight and they are both off again, he was out for an hour.

Already using formula 4 feet, keratex and slow release high protein diet as suggested by 3 different farriers that come up to the yard.

I'm running out of ideas, but don't believe that nobody has come across this before!
 
My old loan horse came to us with broken walls and heart bars on with supports out one side. Where ever the clip sat on his right foot, that part of the wall would fall away.
We put him on Naf Pro feet and biotin to start and then carried on with just Naf Pro Feet liquid. Within 2 shoe fittings he was in natural balances and kept his shoes on :) you could definitely notice a difference if he came off it for 1 month.

I converted a friend from F4F to naf when she saw the difference in his feet and I am defo a fan of it. :D

I also put naf hoof moist on them too, which also helped :D
 
Thoroughbreds esp racehorse breeding generally have cr*p feet! Cornucrescine is always good to try aswell but its just gonna take time. We've got a retired racehorse in the field (happy hacker/hunter now) chestnut, white socks - cant get worse feet! He is much better this year having spent the summer at my mothers by the sea, dont know if this has improved the hooves or not but maybe try seaweed in the diet just in case! Certainly wont hurt!!
 
ye unfortunatly tb do tend to have poor feet farriers formular is very good to feed and kevin backon hoof dressing is the best it will get the hoof growing much stronger so will be able to take shoes speeking from experiance
 
Another vote for kevin bacon hoof dressing! It's brill! I also use cornucrescine twice a week for maintainance purposes so could be worth a try...

As for supplements, It's trial and error. What works for one may not work for another. I'm currently using seaweed and so far my boy's feet haven't deteriorated but it's still early days ( his feet were worst coming out of last winter). May be worth a try. Another good one is the dengie coat and hoof supplement. got given a tub by one of their reps to try and I have to say that his feet did improve on it een though it was out of date!

I'm very careful with my boy to keep his diet low in sugar as I do notice he is more 'footy' when the grassis lush.
 
Oh Smurph, I really feel for you, I've been through exactly the same with my ex racer. mine is barefoot now and has been for about 6 weeks. He's sound on grass and in the school but still footsore on concrete and stones. I ride him in cavallos which are great and he's totally sound in them at all paces and on all surfaces.
If I was you, I would persevere with barefoot. Is he sound in the field? The more he's out, the quicker his feet will harden up. My boy is definitely getting better with time. Also get a good barefoot trimmer. My farrier was fantastic, but the barefoot trimmer has really made a difference since I changed over.
I'm so pleased with how my horse's hooves are improving that I'm probably going to keep him barefoot now.
I undertsand how desperate you must feel. Feel free to PM me if you need to let off steam!
x
 
Been there, got the tee shirt. You need to get his diet right first of all, and the best person to advise is a good barefoot trimmer. I'm guessing he has under run heels and long toes? It will take a while to get him right, but rather than having him tear off shoes and do more damage, I'd give him time to adapt to barefoot and build up hs hoof quality. it can take a while, it was 4 months before I could ride my first barefoot OTTB, I used hiking socks to walk him to his field.
Once you get the feet and diet right, you might want to consider shoes again, but you need to get the feet to nail them to first!
 
Ex-racers aren't born with bad feet they have bad feet because they've been shod from far too young, way before the feet have had a chance to develop and they're fed very high sugar/starch diets.

Cornucrescine will only encourage growth not quality growth and keratex has some very nasty chemicals in it that will do more harm than good in the long term.
Painting things onto the foot wont do much as that hoof is already there (bit like you can't glue spilt ends back together) you can only grow better quality hoof which is all down to diet.

Try looking at a few of these for diet recommendations but you're looking for low sugar and high fibre with good minerals and magnesium.

http://www.performancebarefoot.co.uk/
http://www.barefoothorses.co.uk/
http://www.progressivehorse.co.uk/

As his feet are so bad I'd also consider the possibility that he's either insulin resistant or has other metabolic issues, try doing a search on barefoot on here and you'll find loads of info, whether you shoe or go barefoot is up to you but as 'intouch' says you need some foot to nail the shoes to first. :)
 
I echo the metabolic issues suggestion.

What should make a difference is low sugar and low carbs. TB's are overfed carbs and it's quite likely that he has developed a problem with digesting them (think Steve Redford. To keep fit to row he had to eat so many calories that it made him diabetic). You need to strip as much carbohydrate as possible out of his feed - check your bag labels for molasses, wheat syrup and corn syrup. If you feed straights, feed him oats not barley. Buy unmolassed sugar beet. Soak his hay if you have to. You will know within about a month if this is going to be the key. His soles will rapidly start to harden up, and in six months he'll grow a different quality of horn.

Boxrest will do him little good, I think, as he needs movement to make his feet grow. you might also find that 25g a day of magnesium oxide, available on eBay or much cheaper from an agricultural merchant as Calmag (£9/25kg) will help a lot with the sensitivity.
 
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Thanks for all the advice so far and will try everything especially Kevin bacon stuff as this seems to have come up a few times.
But I need to ask everyone who has managed to get their TB horse barefoot how sore did they get before you seen improvement. I tried him and only lasted 2 weeks as it took me 30mins to get him in from the field one day as he was so sore. Lame on grass, lame in the school, lame on concrete and uncomfortable in his box. He had all his weight on his back feet as he just couldn't stand up on his front feet. Tonight when i brought him in he looked sore again (not as bad as the 2 week stint more just footsore) but he was only out for an hour. If this helps long term I'll persevere but should I? it was quite distressing to watch. I do think this would be the best option for him as nails were destroying his feet, hence the Imprints but if I can't keep them on I'm stuck again.
I'll look at all the links for the feeding too - it was the farrier who told me what to feed him at the moment as trying to get the diet right for his feet.
 
Hi, really sorry to hear you're having so many problems. Can I ask what you are feeding him at the moment (not supplement wise but generally)? I ask because what I've noticed is that horses with really good feet tend to be one with a carefully balanced diet and possibly a good hoof supplement if needed.

My two are barefoot with very good feet but are not fed a typical "barefoot" diet. They have Winergy Growth/Senior and a supplement called Grand Complete (it combines lower, but still effective for maintenance, levels of joint, hoof, coat and digestion supplements). The winergy feed is very low in starch (5%) but does contain molasses etc in it. However, it is cereal free, high in oil and very well balanced. I'm also careful to ensure that any supplements I give don't unbalance the diet generally. I would look at Grand Hoof or Grand Hoof pellets, they're made by Grand Meadows, as I really rate their supplements and they're very well balanced in themselves whereas some of the hoof supplements around aren't.

Other options are topspec comprehensive balancer, of healthy hoof chaff. Both of these have a hoof supplement in them and I've heard really good things about both of them in terms of improving hoof quality.

Hope this helps. :)
 
It might be worth getting a trimmer out to help you with diet and maybe some boots as they're all different, for instance I have one who at the moment needs boots and pads but the pads have the frog area cut out as he can't take the weight on his frog, this will change with time but right now its what he needs.

If you have a vet coming for any reason ask them to take bloods and test for insulin resistance so you can act accordingly, how much grass does he have access to?
We tend to think that skinny TB's need lots of grass (I know I used to) but i've since discovered that grass is the devils work!
 
I use NAF hoof moist on a daily basis on my TB to help with the cracking, especially around the nail holes, this seems to have helped. I don't have him on any hoof specific supplements but I do have him on Pink powder (promise I'm not a NAF representative!).

I find that my boy's feet just don't grow quick enough and the farrier is practically having to nail back into the same holes :( He advised me to use hoof moist on the hoof wall and spray purple spray on his soles as he has thin soles. I was also told to spray iodine on his soles by my vet to help harden them. Not sure which is best but they both seem to prevent him getting bruised soles.

My lad also used to be on natural balance shoes when I first got him and these also seemed to really help him.

Hope you find a solution that works for your neddy :)
 
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