Keratex / Bare foot - your experiences?

[BorgRae]

Hi!

My lad is barefoot (and has been for the past few months).

His feet look well, but when walking on stones or uneven ground etc, he is a bit footy.

What would you recommend? Friends have suggested Keratex, but before I buy, I'd like opinions

Thanks for your help as always x

 

[Spanish Eyes]

My TB had terrible feet when she arrived, and I tried a variety of products including keratex. Difficult to tell, but I don't think it made much difference to her feet - the most dramatic improvement was when I got her diet right tbh

 

[BorgRae]

What do u feed her?

During summer mine lives out 24/7, he also has a couple of handfulls of "happy hoof" and give him a bit of hay when he comes in.

During winter, he has Hay (not hayledge as he's fat) and 2 feeds, both just Happy hoof and carrots.

Should I be feeding something different do you think? x

 

[BorgRae]

Does anyone from the lunch time crowd have any suggestions?

What is a good "Barefoot" diet??

Should I do anything differently?

Many thanks

 

[KierelyMiss]

I never believed it until recently BUT gelatin from TESCO is amazing for helping feet. 2 sachets a day! works out 23p a day. its in the homebaking from Dr Oetker.

 

[Jojoeena]

I think it's really good stuff ! I used it on my unshod youngster, his feet got really soft with all the wet weather in the winter and (as it turned out) had a liver problem which was affecting his uptake of all the good stuff from his feed - Anyway, the Keratex really helped to harden up his soles until his problem was sorted and now his feet are back to normal.
So I would say, yes to Keratex, expensive but lasts a while as an interim measure and also look at his diet.
Good luck!

 

[0310Star]

Agree that Diet is the key.
But my mare needed a little extra so I used Keratex and it worked wonders

 

[ester]

I think keratex is formaldehyde based? possibly? so effective hardens by drying them out.

What is the current diet? Hard to tell if you should be doing anything differently without knowing

 

[BorgRae]

I think keratex is formaldehyde based? possibly? so effective hardens by drying them out.

What is the current diet? Hard to tell if you should be doing anything differently without knowing

He lives out in Summer - Normally I wouldn't hard feed in Summer, but as he gets a scoop of Happy Hoof in winter, my YO suggested I start giving him that in Summer as well. So in Summer he gets one feed, with 2 big handfulls of Happy Hoof, and a little bit of hay, then back out on grass.

In Winter - He has Hay (not Hayledge as he can get porky!), and two feeds, both with a couple of handfulls of Happy Hoof and some carrots.

Thank you

 

[MrsNorris]

Are you considering the hoof hardener or the keratex gel? I didn't like the hardener much, think it caused the hooves to split a bit if anything, because they were too dry, but the gel, which stops the hoof absorbing too much water and seems to keep the moisture levels more consistant, worked better for me. My boy was alway a bit footy on stones when ridden from the field, less so if he had been in and his hooves had a chance to dry out. With the gel, I can ride from the field and he is fine. Hope this helps.

 

[BorgRae]

Hmm, by the sounds of what you've said, I think he'd be better off with the gel!

What do you think about his feed? x

 

[ester]

so unrestricted grazing + molassed happy hoof? does he need the happy hoof?

I'm very much a newbie to this tho

any supplements? Magnesium oxide is usually advised for footy horses although it could be lots of other things too. Mine currently gets a concotion of fast fibre (no molasses ), magnesium, zinc and copper since we tested the soil + lysine, linseed and yea-sacc.

 

[BorgRae]

I always thought that happy hoof was low in sugars? Is that not right?

He can come off the happy hoof no problem as he actually doesn't need a hard feed.

I was initially advised by the feed shop owner that is was lami approved and was low in sugar! Eeek!

I can get some fast fibre if that's better and add the suppliments he needs (he doesn't get any at the moment). Should he be having all the suppliments you mentioned, or is Magnesium enough?

...Feed is a mine field!!!

Thanks for your help

 

[BorgRae]

Hmm, just done a little bit of google-ing and seen a suppliment called "farriers favourite" ...that seems to have evrything u mentioned above...

Has anyone tried this? Is it any good? x

 

[Oberon]

Happy Hoof is a mixture of straw, alfalfa, mint and Mogolo (molasses and soy oil).

It's not something I would feed to a horse who is feeling footy.

The summer's weather has led to lush grass, which has been high in sugar most of the time.

I use a product called Pro Balance +, which is a cheap mineral balancer designed to compliment the UK's mineral quirks. I do have a forage analysis and bespoke mineral plan to refer to - but the Pro Balance + is easier for my lazy self to use
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PRO-BALAN...ent&hash=item4165dfb281&_uhb=1#ht_1073wt_1037

I use it with Fast Fibre and Spiller's High Fibre Cubes for my old boy.

My younger lad is just at grass, but in winter he will get the mineral balancer with some unmolassed hay chaff and Fast Fibre.

Painting lotions on is ineffectual, costly and often causes more harm then good.

 

[ester]

I certainly wouldn't advise what was best for your horse.. the amounts I feed were calculated for me by my trimmer post grazing analysis.

forageplus make a barefoot orientated general balancer with regards to quantities, and there are a couple more but I can't remember them off the top of my head (poss metabalance maybe!?)

unfortunately laminitis trust approved doesn't necessarily mean it is the best thing to be feeding especially if the horse is sugar sensitive.

eta oberon got there before me

 

[MrsNorris]

Fully agree that diet is critical for all barefooters, but also feel that we really don't have ideal conditions in this country, ground is often very wet and unless you're lucky enough to have some hard standing in your turnout, hooves can quickly become saturated. Also, if you bring your horse in at night, the soaking and then quick drying of the hooves overnight can, imo, be detrimental to the horn quality. For my horse, maintaining a more consistant moisture level seems to result in better quality horn and less footiness than the constant soaking/drying/soaking that can happen. http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/images/icons/icon7.gif