Tb throwing shoes whats best supplement

annar

annar

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 January 2010
Messages
69
Visit site
I have a 9 year old tb whom ive had 7 months, his feet were pretty crappy, very low heeled, long toes and flat footed when i got him, we are slowly working at getting them a better shape but they are cracking awfully around the nail holes. so much so that hes lost a shoe this week.

i have him on biotin, brewers yeast, linseed and paint with effoll or cornucresine and also feed a balancer but wondered if there is anything i can give him that will helo his feet?

it doesnt help that last time he was shod both fronts had to be redone as they were pinching his hoofs and nails had to be lowered, hence two sets of holes and the reason hes lost one. his backs are ok as he was unshod behind so no lines of nail holes yet. He cant go barefoot as hes having special shoeing for hind suspnsory damage along with kissing spine and SI damage. equally we cant afford time off for throwing as he has to be worked daily due to his injuries. annax
 
What you need for your horses feet is a damn good farrier and a daily application of Kevin Bacon Hoof Grease (bay leaf included) it is made out of animal fats and most farriers reccommend it. I pay £80 for a set of shoes and he is worth every penny, I used to pay £60 but front ones always fell off after 3-4 weeks and was charged again to have them put back on!! :mad:
 
For our TB mare our vet recommended Equine America Hoof Power Plus, if you look at the ingredients though there's a lot of seaweed and biotin in there, at the moment it's on horse's insurance as she needed remedial work. Also heard good things about Formula 4 Feet
 
After hearing nothing but good things about it, I've just stared my laminitic gelding on Formula4Feet.

It's too soon to make a judgement about it but my boy loves it and he can be fussy about suplements etc.
 
I'd also be one to say that when a good farrier shoes the horses they don't tend to lose shoes, over reach boots may help but be careful they don't start to rub. My mare who's half TB was always losing shoes, for a whole summer, then my eventer started so the current farrier was sacked and replaced and I have since not had any problems (touch wood!) with lost shoes! It's made a huge difference!
 
Farriers Formula is good. Have used it in the past with sucess. If you feed it you dont feed any other supplement or balancer or anything like that. remember it takes about 9 months for a whole new hoof wall to grow so you need to keep at it. it might be worth speaking to your farrier about taking the shoes off ,turning the horse out for six months,feeding the FF and having monthly trims.
 
Formula 4 feet made a huge difference to our lad keeping shoes on. He almost never lost one when he was on it. It took about 8 weeks to show any real difference I believe. Obviously a good farrier is the overall key though.
 
When I first got my tb he was keeping his shoes on all of 4 days!

Switched farrier and he very rarely looses a shoe. Shoes are put on with side clips, uses narrow nails and the nails much higher up the hoof wall than the old farrier did.

The Kevin Bacon dressing has really helped as well.
 
sadly i cant turn china away for any amount of time as hes currently rehabing and needs to be exercised every day to try and get him through his injuries otherwise i would take his shoes off. his feet were horrendous when i got him very flared and they are very small, also the farrier struggles as if he nails at a normal height he gets nail bound really easily hence why the foot has broken as he had two sets of holes too close after repositioning nails, my other horse who he shoes has always been fine. i just need his feet to grow as well as possible so we get plenty of growth to trim and not run risk of nailing same holes. He has side clips on already to try and restrict the hoof from flarinf anymore. i guess i just have to hope the new growth hes getting is better quality with the diet i have him on. His coat is glorious so he must be doing ok inside. annax
 
Overreach boots & try to turnout in a flat field with quiet company - charging around on hills isn't helpful.

If he's getting a good balancer then he should be getting everything he needs for hoof growth & adding a supplement such as F4F will mean he's getting too much of a lot of things - please be careful that you don't end up doing more harm than good.
 
I have a tb with dodgy feet.. I've got a remedial farrier and he has natural balance shoes, with double clips, the shoes have made a major difference to the shape of his feet and they don't move so don't wear the heels away. I also use the Kevin bacon and I paint Keratex hoof hardener around the nails.. His feet still don't grow much but he doesn't loose shoes. He has a complete vit in his feed.
 
Nari said:
If he's getting a good balancer then he should be getting everything he needs for hoof growth & adding a supplement such as F4F will mean he's getting too much of a lot of things - please be careful that you don't end up doing more harm than good.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't feed a balancer if feeding F4F.

I would like to suggest that you remove the shoes for now and use hoof boots instead until his hooves are in better condition. The nail will only weaken the wall at a time when they need to be building strength. You can always go back to shoes when the feet have improved if you need to.

I've always maintained that my gelding needed shoes, but after a prolonged bout of laminitis (since christmas) he didn't seem to be getting any sounder and fitting his heartbars was such a traumatic experience that I decided to have them removed and my boy now wears Old Mac's when walking out and the difference is amazing he's so confident when walking rather than tentative little steps he was doing before.

I'm not a barefoot convert, although I'm not putting down those who are ;), It's that I am now aware that you need to do whetever is best for the health of the foot at the time. Sometimes shoes are needed , sometimes they cause more problems and vice versa .
 
My feeling would be
Feed a more complete supplement than biotin (most horses need more than just biotin) you want a whole range of vits and mins
Don't moisturise everyday under any circumstances, as it will make the feet too pliable and they will crack, you will then need more products and more supplements to address the overmoisturised feet
Double toe clips on the front for horses who throw fronts
Barefoot or shod depending on what suits the horse
 
Hoof heal - Amazing stuff, I can give you a very long, but true story about the amazing-ness of this stuff!!

Limestone flour. hardens the feet right up!
 
GingerCat said:
You wouldn't feed a balancer if feeding F4F.
Click to expand...

That was my point GingerCat, as no-one had pointed it out I thought I would because even if OP knows not to other people reading this thread for advice might not be aware of the risk of overdosing on things.
 
you could try feeding him dengie healthy hooves, its meant to be a complete feed, with biotin and everything in it to promote healthy hoof growth, i feed it to taz who has in the past had bad feet, they are now much better thanks to kevin bacon hoof dressing, cornecresuint and alot of tlc :) and four weekly shoeing!
 
Keratex hoof hardener has made a big difference - really reduced cracking. Definitely worth a try - got it on eBay. Much cheaper than local tack shops :)
 
I too have a tb who I bought with apalling feet. I put her on formula 4 feet straight away and rubbed cornucrescine into her coronets daily. i also used keratex hool gel to protect her hooves from the ammonia / mud. This strategy worked really well and her hooves improved massively although she still had thin soles and the walls had a tendency to spread if left more than 6 weeks however we then moved south and the f4f stopped working!! Her hoof growth slowed down to about 14 months to grow a full hoof so I ended up getting our forage tested by forageplus and a mineral supplement made up to balance it - turns out we were massively short of magnesium, phosphorus, copper and zinc :rolleyes:

She has only been on this supplement a few days so too early to say if there has been any effect but I have also taken her shoes off to let the nail holes grow out and use hoof boots in the mean time. My original plan was to keep her shoes off just until she comes back into full work but actually I may leave them off altogether because I'm so impressed with the increased rate of growth and the fact that all the flare has vanished from her hind hooves. Her frogs have opened up too and in fact if you had told me I would never have believed that level of change possible just from taking shoes off!

Sorry OP I went off on one a bit there :o but hopefully some of my waffle may be useful to you :)
 
Ditto re farrier .... the shoes shouldnt be coming off if they are put on correctly ( my boss is 5times World Champion farrier so yes Im spoilt but I'm use to well shod feet) Majority of farriers can do a good job but dont always ! A good supplement will always help , its finding the right one for you and your horse , you have to take into consideration , what feed he's getting , hay , grass any other supplements ? As someone said previously dont oil/cornucresine everyday as it softens the hoof too much only oil etc once/twice a week .
 
Try Natural horse supplies, unbranded, minimal packaging and you pay P&P, but a lot of information there, plus a mix for hooves, i had difficulty getting both biotin and limestone four, they sell it in one pack, so you know it is balanced
 
An excellent farrier is amust as is good old fashioned cornucrescine applied everyday to the coronary bands. The best supplement I've ever used (and still do) is global herbs superhoof. My TB only needs 1 measure a day and holds shoes brilliantly and the quality of her horn is very good when she's on it.
 
In the past I had a thoroughbred cross with terrible feet. I started using Farrier's Formula until I found out that Top Spec balancer was the same price but offered the same benefits as Farrier's Formula and lots more beside. I switched to Top Spec and on the recommendation of farrier used Kevin Bacon's hoof dressing. For the next six years that I owned her I never had any problems and she rarely lost a shoe. It helped that my farrier was very good though.
 
I have tried all sorts over the years, effol, keratex, farriers formula, feed supplements. By far the best ever thing i used was LARD. Yes go in the supermarket towards the butter and marg and buy good old cooking lard! Cheap, easy to use and effective. don't worry about using it in hot weather as I was using it at 45 degrees c in Cyprus and it really was fab and now use it in UK in summer. My farrier recommended it and I thought he was absolutely nuts but it really did transform my horse's feet. You need to do it every day and also apply it to the underside of the foot, the frog and the heels. A good balanced diet for your horse will also be of benefit.
 
I use Limestone Flour (NAF sells it, among others). It's cheap and does a fantastic job. Gelatine is also good, you can give it to them as raw jelly (in a bar - they love it). Applying goose fat and tea tree oil is great too, as is eucalyptus oil in the old nail holes.
 
Started looking after a middle aged NF pony with "dodgy hooves" and after some research put him on seaweed meal and applied Keratex Hoof Gel to hoof both outside and underside. By the next farrier visit the results were already showing. He's had 4 farrier sessions since and the farrier is amazed at the results. I add one tablespoon to each feed ie 2T per day. Smells like the beach but hasn't put him off his feed at all. He has natural balance on the front and goes barefoot on the rear, on both hard/tarmac ground and soft fields without problems.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top