Hoof Suppliments

I would like to start giving my horse some sort of hoof suppliment for her hooves, as she has a crack in one of them that got infected a few months ago. She is barefoot, I'm wondering what you guys would recommend?

To go from the inside out, putting a suppliment in her feed, if so, what do you recommend?

Or applying some sort of hoof aid/oil?

We have had good luck with Bio Bloom by KER. It is a coat and hoof conditioner that is designed not to interfere w/ your feeding program. It usually takes about 3 weeks to a month to start seeing the result w/ any feed additive. I started using it about a month ago and have noticed an accelerated hoof growth. If you need any help finding it or ordering email Anne there: aburton@ker.com or call.

Here is also an article on hoof supplemnts v topical treatments you may find interesting. Equine Review Article

My farrier recommended any feed through supplement containing biotin. My sis' QH has very thin walls and tender feet. He'll never be a barefoot horse, but he's been on Platform brand hoof supplement for about a month now. We're waiting for the next farrier appointment to find out if he sees any improvement.

While biotin is the main ingredient in hoof supplement products methionine and zinc are also important. Horses are unable to synthesize methionine so it must be added. Though it is not as well known to the average horseman, Methionine has been found be very helpfully to hoof growth.

Biotin is a a B vitamin that occurs naturally in many feeds such as oats, soybean meal,alfalfa, rice bran, and molasses. Most of their biotin requirements come from the fermentation of forages in the hindgut. Biotin effects the new hoof growth and research has shown that it becomes most evident in growth after 8 months.

I have heard really good reviews about World's Best Hoof Oil. It seems to fix a lot of problems with cracked and problem hooves. I have never used it. But it seems promising, with a lot of all natural ingredients. It doesn't hurt to check it out for yourself.

I also had a question to everyone, without having to start a new thread. Do you recommend doing daily hoof oils even if your horses hooves appear fine? Is there a downside to doing hoof oil or is it only positive? Thanks

Next Level Hoof Liquid is a good one (feed-through). It has all the good hoof building ingredients, plus MSM for improved blood flow to the feet.

When he's trimmed, make sure your farrier really rounds the edges of his feet, to prevent more cracking. Have him notch about the crack to help keep it from going higher.

If his feet grow slow, you might think about an overall vit/min supplement to help his whole diet.

Topicals don't do much. To keep infection at bay, spray the hoof and crack often with a would cleansing product and keep him OUTSIDE. Stalls have a LOT more bacteria and nasties than pastures.

We've had success with Farrier's Formula.

Feeding a good supplement will help in the future because it will strengthen the hooves.

It won't help now. I am interpretting that the crack is still there and if it is, it's still got a fungal infection in it and needs cleaned daily.

If you have something in your country to dry up milk cows so they don't get mastitis, that is what I use. Here it is called ToMorrow or ToDay.

It can be cleaned by soaking the hoof daily in a mix of warm water/iodine/clorox.

Use enough iodine to make the water dark brown.

Only use a capful of clorox (In water deep enough to cover the hoof). Clorox is something that more is NOT better.

Pat dry and shoot the cow dry into the crack.

If you can't get cow dry, get some sort of people anti fungal cream from whatever store you shop at and force it down into the crack.

In order to heal the crack, this will have to be done at least once daily but twice daily is better.

While hoof oil is a good thing for dry hooves, it will not do anything to help heal the crack when there is fungus in there. It may even make the issue worse.

Not a fun task

I deal with this every summer with one of my horses because our ground is very acidic in my area and very prone to fungus.

He is barefoot, trimmed every five weeks, his hooves get faithfully oiled, and I don't care what I feed him, he still gets cracks that won't heal unless I soak them and put some kind of fungus fighting cream or the cow dry in them.

Hope this helps

My farrier said that any supplement with 30 mg of biotin will work. If there is more, then he believed that you are just waisting your money bc they will just pee the rest out. I recently put my horse on majesties biotin wafers (she is a real picky eater, but she will eat these). I have not had her on long enough to recomend it, but if you have a picky eater, you should try them. Many people use farriers formula, and have great results with it!

My vet recommended MSM for my draft. It worked so well that several others at the barn started using it. Success all the way around.