Poor quality hoof - suggestions to improve?

[tractor]

My farrier commented this morning that my 18 year old cob is growing plenty of hoof, but that it's poor quality. Can anyone recommend something to improve this? He's fed daily at the moment, 1 scoop cubes and 1 of chaff. He's on good grazing, and has good hay/haylage if he has to be in at night. Thanks!

 

[MrsNorris]

Try him on some Pro Hoof or Pro Balance (bit cheaper) from progressive earth on ebay, has everything a horse needs to grow good feet. I feed a bit of linseed too, and try to only feed low-sugar feeds, if your chaff is mollassed, change to one that isn't and maybe try hi fibre cubes instead of regular if you don't want to mess with his diet too much.
There's loads of threads about feeding barefoot horses so take a look at those, the recommendations will help grow good feet for all horses.

 

[JillA]

The amino acid often missing in poor hoof quality is methionine - you can get it from Forageplus. bear in mind though that nothing can affect the existing horn, only that that will be growing and it will take some months to see a difference. And yes, a diet low in sugars and starches (cereals) is important for healthy feet.

 

[MrsNorris]

The amino acid often missing in poor hoof quality is methionine - you can get it from Forageplus. bear in mind though that nothing can affect the existing horn, only that that will be growing and it will take some months to see a difference. And yes, a diet low in sugars and starches (cereals) is important for healthy feet.

Pro Hoof supplies quite a good dose of methionine (3000mg), Pro balance only has half that amount, but it is quite a bit cheaper and seems to work pretty well for lots of people, I've used it successfully in the past for my cob. Copper and zinc are also really important and these supplements both have a good amount of these too.
ForagePlus balancer is probably the best though, but its a bit out of my price range...