how to improve feet, horse back from loan with bad feet

J

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just got my horse back from full loan and am very disappointed/sad how she came back!
I Thought they'd taken great care of her? I don't know if it was just the last month notice I gave them that they left her in a field or what. As when I've been to see her though the loan she looked and was going great.
but she has come back with really bad sweet itch in her tail, a little bit of mud fever and very fat.

but the main problem is the loaners took off her shoes, as when she went on loan I kept her barefoot. I was upset when they shoe'd her on all 4's at the begin of the loan as they never asked and i would of preferred her barefoot, they never asked about taking them off either! as I would of asked my farrier what was best.
but now her feet are in bad shape, I've been applying solid hoof oil daily and today we rode her for the first time. it was just in the sand school that has soft sand, but afterwards her feet were badly chipped.
does anyone have any recommendations on how to improve her feet? (her shoes came off last week)
my plan is to keep her off work for a week or so, apply the hoof oil and see from there but don't know if i should get a supplement to help?
 
get your farrier to come and trim them and put her on a good hoof supplement - mine is on pro feet by pro earth (get it from ebay) he had his shoes removed in sept and hasn't had any chips, only a couple of small ones as the nail holes grew down!

mines also not been trimmed by a farrier since sept as he's got to self trim for medical reasons and is doing a good job on his own! I have a radius rasp and neaten up any scuffed before they turn into anything more serious
 
It's mostly about diet. If your on Facebook then look for the barefoot groups, they are full of very knowledgeable people

I feed mollichop hoof kind, linseed meal and Spillers balancer. For weight i feed fibre beet. Not what he groups recommend as they go I to specialist feed. Mostly about keeping sugar OUT Hoping it will work for a new one I maybe having (subject to vet) he has horribly dry cracking feet.

If he does come to me the first thing I will do is try an regulate the moisture, ie so it doesn't go wet, dry, wet. If it's dry dry I will hose feet

Also fb groups most don't like to put oil on. I do use Kevin bacon's as find it amazing
 
Thanks guys,
I'm going to go out and get some supplement and the Kevin bacon ointment tomorrow, as it has good reviews, and see how we go,
Soulful can you name a few of the fb pages as I can only find 2, I think on fb thanks
 
I'm only on two

Barefoot approach to whole horse health. (Great info but a little too fanatic for me sometimes, maybe I am just not ready for it yet lol)

Barefoot horse owners group uk
 
They will chip from the nail holes down when shoes first come off. If your farrier keeps the edges tidy they will soon fix.
Just a warning - my horses wouldn't touch the pro hoof supplement and it was quite expensive so don't buy loads at once until you have tried it!
 
Chipping back is normal when shoes are removed .
The horse just needs a good hoof friendly supplement and time .
 
Clodagh said:
They will chip from the nail holes down when shoes first come off. If your farrier keeps the edges tidy they will soon fix.
Just a warning - my horses wouldn't touch the pro hoof supplement and it was quite expensive so don't buy loads at once until you have tried it!
Click to expand...

Thanks, I was thinking of getting that if I buy this new cob
 
It has to start with diet; that is the starting point as without a good diet nothing will grow in the quality and quantity you need for good hoof quality.

Try both micronized linseed and brewers yeast as they are both huge hoof and skin improvers - and cheap as chips compared to other products.
I had huge improvement for Lacey when using Formulae4 Feet but her feet were awful from the coronet band down not just at the edges due to a lifetime of neglect; my farrier was amazed at the difference in just six weeks and he didn't know I was giving her anything either.
 
My pony had rubbish feet for years and I used to feed him linseed oil and apply Kevin Bacon's hoof grease. No improvement whatsoever! then about 18 months ago I started using cornucresine and it's made a huge difference. I also have just started feeding seaweed meal which seems to be helping!
 
I think if her hooves were in good condition at your place before then naturally they will return to their usual condition soon enough (since you were obviously doing whatever it was right!). Id get your barefoot trimmer back out to tidy them up first of all, then I'd just restrict her grass intake since you're at risk from lami and obviously loads of grass isn't great for hooves anyway and give her a high spec vit & min supplement. I dont personally think oils etc. do much apart from making owners feel like their doing something because the hooves look shiny ;) I had joy with feeding Farriers Formula and you feed it in very small quantities (since you dont want the calories).
 
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