hooves are a mess!

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somethingorother

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Sorry, another feet post, inspired by the one below.

Not sure how much i can do about it, but my shares feet at the moment are absolutely awful! I think it is a long period of dry weather, and now several weeks of very wet which have made bad feet even worse. He is shod, and there are big gaps where previous nails have been and chunks of hoof have just fallen off, so the shoe is just bridging gaps in those places. No idea where the farrier is going to put the nails on monday when he is shod again.

What can we do to aid healthy hoof growth?

Personally i think that whilst he is still having nails put into them, then they're not going to recover. But there's no way his owner is going to let him go barefoot, plus he probably wouldn't be able to be ridden for a long time and he has another sharer aside from me. So, is there anything we can feed, especially anything that isn't a specialist supplement. Although still open to recommendations for those too.

Thankies and Dairy Milk in advance :)
 
I had a lot of trouble with franks front (stripey chestnut feet ... the white ones behind are fine :D) flaking and breaking off around the nail holes. After a bit of experimentation he is on naf profeet and I use hoof heal 3 times a week (as per Thefarrier on here's suggestion) and if I spot a crack forming I use cornecrescine on it. This seems to be doing the job, havent really had a crack in ages despite this dry weather :)
 
mine are too i know how you fill , this is the first year they look horrible , usally he has pretty good feet no cracks etc but at the moment hes got cracks going up and bits coming off at the side , got farrier coming out on monday , to see what he can do
 
hey i have the same problem, i feed naf biotin which is cheep and great stuff and apply kevin bacons hoof ointment which is also amazing stuff, farriers formula is really good but pricey but naf and kevin bacon does make a huge differance
 
I used to have awful problems with my TBs feet, they'd splay out then the clenches would come out, the hoof would crack and break off, and he would pull a shoe, at one point he was pulling a shoe at every three weeks! :O Anyway, put him on NAF Profeet, which seems to have helped a lot, and also I use kevin bacon's hoof dressing. At one point we thought we wouldn't be able to get shoes back on, and you may have to go down the route of glue-ons (very expensive so try to avoid!!). :) However now if we get him clenched up at about three weeks, he will do five weeks- so it is improving! I would get your horse on a supplement asap, even if it's just NAF biotin- they help so much more than I thought they would!! (we took him off it for a while and things really went downhill!) Good luck! xxxx
 
well not that i can talk coz my mare's feet are the pits in terms of shape right now, but we have her on NAF Biotin for the last 6 or so weeks and today my daughter just bought something but can't recall if she went for Cornuscresin or Kevin Bacon in the end
 
Thanks for advice so far *hands out choccy* Sounds like Kevin Bacon would be a good place to start, but he lives out so is it a problem to put on if he's going back out in the wet? I suppose he could come in for the days, but he would be a grumpy boy lol.
 
Putting stuff on the outside of the hooves is a bit of a waste no matter how much is claimed by the manufacturer. It is what you feed the inside that is most important.

Whether shod or barefoot, diet is key. Just like people some horses can eat junk and get away with it, others not so much.
 
LucyPriory said:
Putting stuff on the outside of the hooves is a bit of a waste no matter how much is claimed by the manufacturer. It is what you feed the inside that is most important.

Whether shod or barefoot, diet is key. Just like people some horses can eat junk and get away with it, others not so much.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree- ponys feet were awfull, she lost at least one shoe a week and feet just crumbled away- and as poster here said 03
no where for the nails to go as it would just split the hoof- ive had her for 4 years, shes never been on any hoof feed suppliment, she gets fed a minimal amount of hay happy hoof laminetic chaff and some top line build up nuts and garlic, she has cornucresin put on every day and her feet are almost perfect- they never crack and shoes stay on for 7-8 weeks, and I know it was the cornucresin because I went away for a month last summer and the useless people wouldnt put it on because you have to put it on with your hands because its thick paste and a brush wouldnt work and when i got home mr farrier wasnt happy and the shoes were hanging off and feet were cracking- and by the time she was sue again her feet were good again the crumbly bits at the bottom had sealed up and her feet looked good sorry for going on but I LOVE this stuff and think that everyone should give it a go :o:p:D
 
I used to use Naf hoof moist and profeet on the boy I used to loan and it worked wonders. He was in heartbars when he came to use and within 2months was out of them! I couldn't believe the difference, I am defo a profeet fan :D
 
LucyPriory said:
Putting stuff on the outside of the hooves is a bit of a waste no matter how much is claimed by the manufacturer. It is what you feed the inside that is most important.

Whether shod or barefoot, diet is key. Just like people some horses can eat junk and get away with it, others not so much.
Click to expand...

Absolutely disagree with this too. It takes a good 3 to 6 months for any feed based supplements to work so as you can start to see the difference. My little cobs feet were terrible. A whole chunk of hoof came off with his shoe on the front and he also had some reallt bad cracks on the other side. Managed to get shoes back on and my farrier recommended Kevin Bacon. I plaster this on twice a day whenever possible and it has made the world of difference. No more cracks and the ones that were there aren't getting any worse. Can't recommend the stuff highly enough. :)
 
My tb's feet were so bad, he pulled off both hinds and took most of his hoof with them. He is on topspec and a scoop of chaff, and naf hoof rub or kelvin bacons, which ever comes to hand first. And in 5 weeks his feet have grown so much they were hanging over the sides of his shoes and no new cracks. Had him shod again yesterday and most of the cracks have grown out now. I must admit i've started to turn out in overreach boots all round as he likes to tred on himself, esp behind, and he's shod every 5weeks without fail. ive only had my boy 3months and the differance is amazing. Plus ive got a very good farrier, who in fact trained THE FARRIER.
 
Cornucrescine is fab stuff, grew out a crack that ran from coronet to toe in 6 months (along with remedial shoeing)

I expected it to take at least a full year for the hoof to grow completely from top to bottom.

Mare had to be shod every 4/5 weeks though as the growth was so fast.

I didn't feed any hoof supplements at all, I fed biotin at the start but it had very little effect. She was well covered throughout so wasn't getting any additonal feed, on grass 24/7.

Didn't find Kevin Bacon to be much addition actually. She was having that put on her hooves prior to the start of the crack.
 
I was recommended calcined magnesite (cal-mag). It's really cheap at less than £15 for 25kg. A sack lasts about six months for my three horses and their feet have never been better! They grow more good quality horn more quickly. If their hooves are dry, i use vegetable oil on the hoof walls which seems to work well for them.
 
LucyPriory said:
Putting stuff on the outside of the hooves is a bit of a waste no matter how much is claimed by the manufacturer. It is what you feed the inside that is most important.

Whether shod or barefoot, diet is key. Just like people some horses can eat junk and get away with it, others not so much.
Click to expand...

Spot on.!!!
It's what you feed that counts, a good balanced diet. All mine are on topspec balancer and I never get any cracks etc no matter what the weather is like. My tbs came to me with very bad feet and now not one crack in site. Good diet = overall health. Even if they are fat a low cal balancer will give the nutrition they need without the weigh going on, with correct management.
 
im sorry i strongly disagree with LucyPriory Teddy is on a good balanced diet and his feet just arent designed to be good lol and Kevin Bacon has done him the world of good and the difference is very noticable if i havent used it for a few days.
 
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