Toughening up soles?

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Nannon

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My ex racer had his shoes taken off in June/July - he kept pulling the front off and losing hoof so after discussing with my farrier we decided to take them off and let the new horn grown down. At this time he wasn't in work so was just pottering around the field not fussed :)
Last week we moved onto a yard closer to my house to start working him - he went footsore on the second day from hooning around the field but was ok within 2 days, I have noticed his soles are quite dry though? I've been putting hoof moist on his feet just to try and stop them cracking too much - the nail holes are coming down now. He's happy enough out on the road and in the school, there's not much gravel around luckily so doesn't look footy.
Is there anything I can do to try and harden his soles up?
Any ideas?
 
Feed from within.

I don't have any horses on my property who wear shoes. Many are TBs, WBs, Arabs, QHs, Apps, STBs etc the list goes on. All of them have great feet. I don't put any oils or potions on them, I just feed them good feed, top quality hay and they live in large grazing pastures which have ample grass and I think we have the best terrain for the horses as it's a very hilly farm. I've had a few WBs who have lived in shoes for their competition years and sometimes it takes them a week or so to get the hang of the feeling of no shoes and they might be a little tender to begin with but all of them come good and grow fabulous horn and most importantly, remain sound.
 
i hope you get some replies, Our new pony seems to have very sensitive feet even with shoes on. As per previous advice I have taken him off the grass and he is getting a multi supplement but was wondering about using keratex just on the soles. Used to use it years ago but didnt know what ore modern thinking was.
Spring feather are yours working and out on the roads ?
 
I use an iodine spray, if you can't find it in the horse shop then anywhere that sells poultry stuff will have it. It helps to toughen the sole and also helps prevent thrush. Once a week or so I give their feet a good pick out and inspection, spray it on the soles and use the brush on my hoofpick to scrub it around a bit.

Some people make a paste of sugar and iodine and pack it in to absorb but that sounds like a mess to me haha!

I do use a feed with added biotin and probiotics, and before that was adding brewer's yeast. Both of these increased growth, the farrier is amazed how much foot my little 2yo grows (quite an unnecessary amount in fact!).
 
mandwhy said:
I use an iodine spray, if you can't find it in the horse shop then anywhere that sells poultry stuff will have it. It helps to toughen the sole and also helps prevent thrush. Once a week or so I give their feet a good pick out and inspection, spray it on the soles and use the brush on my hoofpick to scrub it around a bit.

Some people make a paste of sugar and iodine and pack it in to absorb but that sounds like a mess to me haha!

I do use a feed with added biotin and probiotics, and before that was adding brewer's yeast. Both of these increased growth, the farrier is amazed how much foot my little 2yo grows (quite an unnecessary amount in fact!).
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I have always done as you've done, good scrub out of the hooves and apply iodine once a week (twice a week in winter) to the frogs/sole and never had a problem.
 
Mine has had his fronts off for a week and a half now - he is still a little footy (more on gravel) (shod and trimmed 3 weeks ago so not much foot left) and I've hibiscrubbed and put either kevin bacon or cornucrescine on every day, which is killing my back and hands atm! I am going to cut it down to 2-3 times a week from next week. Mine has good feet, but I am feeding him linseed and pro-hoof (when it arrives) to help him from the inside. He spends his days on grass (unridden atm) but I make him do a few laps of our small concrete yard every day to try and help him adapt.
 
Don't bother with lotions is my advice, and don't go near keratex with an extra long barge pole.

As others have said, it's all about the feed.
 
Thanks guys - we have done a bit of roadwork the past few days and he's not been too bad - fingers crossed!!
At the moment he's on good grass (cattle pasture) and one feed of Alfa A Oil and codlivine supplement, he's only been at the yard 2 weeks but putting on weight well already!
 
Good to hear you are doing well. What is it that worries you about the soles being dry? I dont think this should be a problem or make a difference to the hardness or strength of the sole- so i wouldnt have thought them being dry would contribute to foot sore- as the sole shouldnt be making direct contact with the floor, it is the hoof wall which hits the ground first before the sole should be doing. When the growth wares away or is cut back, his sole will be making contact first thus causing him pain on stones etc. perhaps his walls just need a bit of time to grow if he is staying unshod? Keep us informed :)
 
Nannon said:
Thanks guys - we have done a bit of roadwork the past few days and he's not been too bad - fingers crossed!!
At the moment he's on good grass (cattle pasture) and one feed of Alfa A Oil and codlivine supplement, he's only been at the yard 2 weeks but putting on weight well already!
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Some folk find they have issues with both dairy grazing and a alfalfa. My Tb's can't have too much alfalfa without getting footy so you may want to keep an eye on that just incase :)

Good soles grow from within, given the right help they don't take long either! A good balanced vit and mineral supp will make a difference, Pro-Hoof from Ebay is recommended (can give you the link if you need) and there is Pro-Balance too which is cheaper.

The soles should be able to make contact with the ground, the horse shouldnt walk on the wall alone. If your horse does struggle during the transition boots and pads can work wonders :)

Take loads of pics, it's pretty awesome to be able to look back and see the changes.
 
Don't put anything on the hooves except water.

You get a good hoof by working it had and feeding it well. Plenty of work and a good mineral/vitamin supplement such as Forage Plus - and a forage based low sugar diet.

And GIVE IT TIME - a good hoof is grown in 6 months it won't happen in a 3 week period! ;-)
 
I feed Equimins Advance Complete Meta Balance, and find it has grown very tough hard hooves on my gelding. I've noticed no one seems to mention that lately, has there been any problems with it I've missed whilst being away?
I don't put anything on his feet but the soles do crack and exfoliate every so often. It leaves more concavity each time that happens so don't worry about that.
Also, if the soles are too soft, that will mean less strength to withstand stones. Previously when my boy was shod, he went lame on hard ground as he was diagnosed with navicular syndrome in 2005.
When I had my geldings shoes off, I was surprised to find his comfort increased as the ground dried up and his feet hardened up so he didn't feel the stones as keenly.
 
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Some people make a paste of sugar and iodine and pack it in to absorb but that sounds like a mess to me haha!

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The above recommended by vet & farrier - mix a paste up & paint onto soles - brown sugar was recommended
 
So much useful information - I love this forum :D
I noticed like cracks around the sole at the tip of the frog so they looked dry if that makes any sense, should have taken some pictures! He was trimmed 2 weeks ago so the walls will be coming down before long I guess?!
Do their feet normally look messy at this stage - fronts look ok but the backs where the toe clips were etc look awful where they're chipping away.
Sorry so many questions - I've never had a "proper" horse in work with no shoes!
Will look at all the supplements you guys have suggested now, got to love night shifts ;)
 
dry soles as above are no problem, the cracking is old sole coming away there will be new sole underneath.

the sole, frog and hoof wall ALL contact the ground and all bear some of your horses weight but they will take time to strengthen.

keratex hoof hardner is a formula from the devil-I have known 3 people use it and at worst it made the feet a bit brittle and the hoof needs to be flexible to absorb concussion/impact and move as the horses weight shifts over it . At worst the horse ended up very lame with hardly any hoof left as they became so brittle that they shattered on the lower third-he was very very sore and really struggled for a fair while after that.

i agree with others feed him what he needs, low sugar, good supplement (prohoof or similar) and regular excersise
 
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