Strengthening/ hardening hooves

[MrA]

Any thoughts on this please

Ale is barefoot all round, backs seem fine but he's footy after a trim if he stands on a pebble or something.

New trimmer who said his feet are pretty crumbly/ soft. Not helped by the very wet weather we have had.

Feed wise he gets a handful of molases free with advanced complete balancer. Restricted grass and then hay.

No raised pulses, no heat, no growth rings or any other signs of anything sinister.

He lives on grass but has an area of hard standing that he visits at least twice daily to eat hay, fine on there never sore.

I wondered about starting to do some in hand walking with him on the roads to help his feet? How much would I need to do? As he's a little sore occasionally would it be wise to start with hoof boots?

Anything else I can do to help benefit his feet. Farrier actually mentioned he's going to try and widen his frogs through his trims as thinks they are a bit restricted currently and more frog means better blood flow.

Any other thoughts? I'll try get some feet pics today!

 

[Jessey]

The trim shouldn’t make them sore, is the trimmer taking off sole or something? If so tell him to leave it alone!
You could do some hand walking, whatever you can manage will help, I’d just start little and often.
I’m not a big fan of topical hoof dressings these days, iodine is said to dry the foot out if the wet is the problem, keratex hardner is effective, silver feet is one dressing I quite liked, it seemed to help keep nasties at bay and is all good natural stuff.

 

[MrA]

Ale just shed all his soles and frogs so that can't of helped it's just on stones that he's a bit sore, but it's not really worsened by the trims, more by wet weather as his feet seem to soften.

I use silver feet in summer. Good thing about this new trimmer is he said it's about correct diet and movement more than products.

Some pics frog difference is dramatic between backs below



And his fronts

 

[MrA]

Some outside pictures too, first trim by new guy so interesting to look on in reference in the following months

Back

Front

What looks like an event line at the top is just his periople I believe

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

Those are a nice shape, those feet.

I have got Sid on ForagePlus's Skin and hoof supplement, because feet come from the inside out. Road walking would be great for Ale, my trimmer's suggestion is a minimum of 20 minutes 3 times a week to have an effect.

 

[domane]

I once asked my farrier what the best thing is for improving hooves and he replied "feeding biotin".

 

[Kite_Rider]

To be fair Ale, with the amount of wet we’ve had and the fact he’s living out I’d be very surprised if his feet weren’t a bit soft, farriers and vets all seem to have different opinions on what’s best, some say biotin, others farriers formula, others shoes etc
Unless the weather dries up I can’t see how walking him in hand will help either, if his hooves are soft then he’s going to feel stones and be a bit sore, but I may well be talking utter garbage, I’m not a vet or farrier.

 

[Doodle92]

Not barefoot but Robins feet crumbled dramatically. Formula4feet worked miracle for him. And silverfeet a few times a week but that was added later.

 

[MrA]

Thanks everyone! I will look at new supplements, I've been using the one he's on for years and it's an alrounder. I've used many others including formula for feet but he's a little fussy with his eating (weirdly) and he just loves current one!

I think you are right @Kite_Rider about waiting for the ground to dry up before doing any walking, been a very odd spring but weather looks drier now.

Have got the vet Wednesday for his jabs so will see how's he's walking over stones then and go from there. Can also ask their advice too!

 

[carthorse]

To be fair a general supplement should have all he needs in it, maybe just check the biotin level - off the top of my head I think the recommended amount is 20mg a day, but don't quote me on that.

 

[Jessey]

If he’s just shed his sole and become footy with it I wouldn’t rush to change too much, it will take a little while for the newly uncovered sole to callus up.Normally the soles shed slowly but with the dry to wet we had it might have just come out too quickly.

 

[Lollykay]

Hi. If I may add my thoughts

1. His back frogs are nice and plushy and wide. The front frogs are narrower but that can be typical for front hooves and not something to be overly worried about

2. The foto with your blue watch band in view. I think l see some Whiteline at the back quarter and that may be why he is foot sore after the trim. I would clean that out really good, with a pick, then brush, then pour some good thrush meds in there. I prefer anything that the main ingredient is gentian violet. Wear latex gloves as that stuff does not come off easily.

3. Yes, you see a ridge on that hoof. What changed for him in the last few months? Pasture? Hay? Feed pan stuff? Is that ridge on both front hooves or just one?

If only one, he could have got his leg caught in something, pulled loose and this is the ”growing down” result. One of my horses still carries a vertical ridge-like scar on one hoof from when he was run through a fence as a five year old — he is coming 26

Ale could also be dealing with sub-clinical laminitis that wouldn’t even be enough to raise digital pulse, much less show anything on x-raysm yet enough to make him foot sore.

In the end, he has pretty hooves but, for my part, adding Biotin would be a good thing. Even better would be Life’s data hoof supplement if you can get it.

Life Data Labs, Inc. Makers of Farrier's Formula® Hoof Supplement

Welcome to Life Data Labs, Inc. Makers of Farrier’s Formula®, the #1 Farrier Recommended Hoof Supplement for horses. Improve hoof health with equine nutrition.

www.lifedatalabs.com

 

[MrA]

Hi. If I may add my thoughts
1. His back frogs are nice and plushy and wide. The front frogs are narrower but that can be typical for front hooves and not something to be overly worried about
2. The foto with your blue watch band in view. I think l see some Whiteline at the back quarter and that may be why he is foot sore after the trim. I would clean that out really good, with a pick, then brush, then pour some good thrush meds in there. I prefer anything that the main ingredient is gentian violet. Wear latex gloves as that stuff does not come off easily.
3. Yes, you see a ridge on that hoof. What changed for him in the last few months? Pasture? Hay? Feed pan stuff? Is that ridge on both front hooves or just one?
If only one, he could have got his leg caught in something, pulled loose and this is the ”growing down” result. One of my horses still carries a vertical ridge-like scar on one hoof from when he was run through a fence as a five year old — he is coming 26
Ale could also be dealing with sub-clinical laminitis that wouldn’t even be enough to raise digital pulse, much less show anything on x-raysm yet enough to make him foot sore.
In the end, he has pretty hooves but, for my part, adding Biotin would be a good thing. Even better would be Life’s data hoof supplement if you can get it.

Life Data Labs, Inc. Makers of Farrier's Formula® Hoof Supplement

Welcome to Life Data Labs, Inc. Makers of Farrier’s Formula®, the #1 Farrier Recommended Hoof Supplement for horses. Improve hoof health with equine nutrition.

www.lifedatalabs.com

More than happy to hear anyone's thoughts!

Okay thank you will try not to be so disheartened about the size of his front frogs.

Will keep an eye on the ridge, he used to get them all the time but I would imagine this was from the really hard ground we had for 2 weeks this winter as he got foot sore then

As for lammi no heat or raised digital pulses but I can ask the vet their opinion today. Will also see how his feet are on stones.

Thanks pretty sure my supplement has recommended amount of biotin in but I will check!

Thanks again for all the advice

 

[Doodle92]

I found Robin needed more than just the biotin whether in recommended levels or not. And from other horses I have known (at work etc) just adding biotin didn’t do anything.

 

[Frances144]

Formula 4 Feet - I can’t recommend it highly enough, works brilliantly. Worth every penny.

 

[MrA]

I'm going to do some more reading on formula 4 feet, used it before when Ale was shod so may consider switching back!

No concern from vet today, feet look healthy and he doesn't think lammi or anything but just to keep an eye, try doing gradual work on hard surfaces and to see how he goes with new trimmer too as he likes what he is aiming to do.

 

[PePo]

The problem with biotin is that IMHE it helps encourage more growth, but not necessarily better growth.

I've had good results with Equimins AC or Progressive Earth.

P was sensitive after a trim when he had sub clinical laminitis (he's back to rock crunching barefoot even straight after a trim) but if you're sure that's not an issue, I'd try using Stronghorn by Red Horse as it's a lifesaver over winter/wet conditions. It's highly recommended by my EP.

Does he have boots he can wear after a trim? That might help too, especially if you're planning on doing more road work to help his feet.