Keratex Hoof hardener - any good?

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Jimmy260910

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My horses hoofs are horrendous. All cracked and chipped, he threw a shoe last night which broke away even more of his hoof, I asked my farrier what to get to help and he just simply said 'oh it's to do with his diet' --- TOTALLY NOT HELPFUL.

A girl on my yard recommended Keratex Hoof Hardener to me and I just wondered if it had worked well for others?

I'm a student and pay for my horse myself and have little money so don't like to spend a lot of money on products if they're not going to work :)

thanks :)
 
It's to do with his diet .
Sort that and the feet will improve ,there are lots of threads on here about feet friendly feeding .
I do use keratex if I think it will give a horse short term relief say when the shoes are first removed and the horse has sensitive soles .
But it's not a substitute for fixing the reason a horses feet are in bad condition .
 
Goldenstar said:
It's to do with his diet .
Sort that and the feet will improve ,there are lots of threads on here about feet friendly feeding .
I do use keratex if I think it will give a horse short term relief say when the shoes are first removed and the horse has sensitive soles .
But it's not a substitute for fixing the reason a horses feet are in bad condition .
Click to expand...


Thank you,
He's currently out grazing 17hours a day, has a little bit of hay at breakfast and lunch and then he also gets a little bit of hard feed which is chaff and pony nuts.

Do you know of a supplement I can give to him to help his feet please?

In real need of advice here :)
 
A horse with poor feet needs a low sugar diet .
So that's resticted grazing soaked hay no food that coated with molasses so things like speedibeet plain chopped straw, micronised linseed .
I recommend the supplements from forage plus ( they have a website ) .
If it's been a long time since the horses feet had a break from shoeing they may need one ,speak to your farrier about this .
A search on here from threads about the barefoot diet will bring up lots of discussion on threads about this .
 
Goldenstar said:
A horse with poor feet needs a low sugar diet .
So that's resticted grazing soaked hay no food that coated with molasses so things like speedibeet plain chopped straw, micronised linseed .
I recommend the supplements from forage plus ( they have a website ) .
If it's been a long time since the horses feet had a break from shoeing they may need one ,speak to your farrier about this .
A search on here from threads about the barefoot diet will bring up lots of discussion on threads about this .
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for the advice, I'll look into this now :)
He was originally barefoot, and then he just had his two fronts shod but his back feet were becoming quite cracked so my farrier recommended putting shoes on his hinds as well. It's been an issue that I've had to deal with since owning him but seems to be worse this summer as he keeps throwing shoes and getting his hooves more and more damaged :(
 
Yes, you need to grow better quality horn and a low sugar/starch and high fibre diet with a good vit&min supplement is a good start. Forage plus and Pro Earth do really good supplements. Don't forget that the change of diet only affects the new growth, you need to grow out a whole new hoof capsule to have good horn from top to bottom. I'm not a fan of paint on lotions and potions.

Stimulation (via exercise) is also needed as is checking that the hooves are correctly balanced. GS is right, hooves can become 'shoe sick' and it's a shame that more people don't give their horses regular breaks from being shod these days.

It's always worth having a look at the Rockley Farm Blogspot, even if you are going to keep your horse shod as you will learn a lot seeing the horses' hooves improve as they go through their rehabilitations.

ETA - Rockley made an interesting post about grass recently. You might find that the grass you have is very high in sugar (eg if it's ex dairy grass or mainly Rye) which will be detrimental to hoof health.
 
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We have used Keratex on a couple of horses at work that had sand cracks due to their high workload, the fact that they had previously been badly shod and they are American! It was a short term help to a long term problem which we have sorted. One horse has great feet, goes barefoot in winter not a problem and shod in front in summer to help grip on slippy grass show rings. The other is still in training and his feet are a million times better.

It's not a long term solution but may help in the short term along with proper feeding. We also fed both horses the Datalife Hoof Supplement - can't think what it's called off of the top of my head!
 
I used it on my TB when he had very soft soles (only on is soles) It did the job short term but I stopped once they had hardened up.
It was diet related with him also. Once he was on a high fibre, low sugar, i also added biotin as the others have mentioned he started to grow really good hooves and held shoes perfectly.
It took a long time and lots of patience though.
 
I recently asked the same question! I've just started it, but will be making dietary changes as above too.

My horse has good feet but tends to be footy over stony surfaces, so essentially I would like her to be a bit tougher about them as she is going to be out and about more soon!

Advice on here to me said check diet as it needs to be low sugar, wth plenty of minerals. I think the keratin will help. But only as a temporary solution, or to help support the diet too. It's meant to be good stuff, but just use it on sole- not frog or coronary band. I've just started (three days in). No huge difference yet but will keep you posted!

Goodness and health from the inside is the best idea, is pretty much the overall verdict!! I guess it's like us. If we don't get the diet or vitamins we need, our hair, skin and whole system can suffer ie brittle nails, dull hair, joint stiffness etc. so yes, diet for long term fix, ketratex for a shorter term remedy while diet kicks in.
 
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I used Keratex on soft soles and it really worked. I'm sceptical about biotin: there is very little evidence that it works. I agree, though, that diet is very important and that you must be incredibly patient. Can your farrier not build up the hoof until it grows back and to keep him balanced?
 
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