Sore feet

[Jasper15]

I have a new pony that has been turned away for a while after injury, then having a foal and then no rider. She is currently barefoot and understandably foot sore on concrete/gravel etc. She is absolutely fine on grass and soft surfaces, including the school.

I have started to use Keratex hoof hardener and am slowing introducing road work which I hope to build up gradually. Luckily there are plenty of bridleways near by so she can still get her exercise.

Can anyone recommend any supplements to help from the inside? There are so many and I have got a little confused! Ideally I would like to keep her barefoot, but will put shoes on if needed.

Thanks

 

[Jessey]

The main thing is a balanced diet, avoid anything not naturally available to them like molasses and concentrates and provide lots of fiber/rough looking forage, horses do not naturally live on lush green fields (if you look up any wild/feral horses they only get green grass for a few weeks a year the rest of the time is brown/yellow and not much of it). You may wish to provide an all round supplement, like a balancer or a vit/mineral supplement if you have your pony on a restricted diet for weight loss. Most of the in feed hoof supplements just provide more of the foot specific vits/minerals for horses that are deficient in those things....like biotin, which is actually vitamin B7 which is naturally produced by the fermentation of fiber in the gut, so you can see how a good base diet can benefit there