Hi all,
Haven’t posted in a while. Have some questions on what to feed my 21 year old TB plus a half leased pony to address a couple issues.
Issue 1: scratches and hoof issues
My old guy is still in work 6 days a week. He mostly does low level flatwork and small courses, and lots of hacks outside. Hopefully we will get out to schooling jumper shows this summer but definitely nothing crazy. Overall, he looks and feels fantastic. He gets plenty of age appropriate maintenance for his various age related infirms, but one of the things I’ve never really been able to fix is the scratches on his hind pasterns. I have a good prescription ointment that makes it go away, but it always comes back. Also, he is prone to cellulitis and recently had a big blow up on his hind leg, a couple days after nicking his coronet band on a cavaletti. I would like to put him on a copper and zinc supplement to see that helps prevent the scratches. He does sometimes get abscesses, loses shoes, etc so I’m wondering if I should add biotin as well. Preferably I would find a supplement that adds all 3 of these in adequate amounts so I don’t have to add 3 more things to his already somewhat complicated feed plan.
TB eats 6 lbs of Purina Impact Pro per day, plus a maintenance scoop of Super Sport, and 100 ml of Mad Barn W-3 oil. He gets free choice orchard grass hay while stalled, 4 lbs of soaked alfalfa pellets at lunch, and is on pasture at night (round bale in winter). He also gets Zyrtec and Equioxx daily, so in all it ends up being a lot of stuff for the barn workers to give him. I feel very reluctant to add anything else to the list.
Issue 2: perfect pony with thin soles
We just started half leasing a wonderful pony for my daughter, who became lame on his left front after a regular farrier appointment. We did a full workup with the vet, including x rays, and the only issue found was thin soles. Our farrier is very well respected in the area and works closely with several top vets. After examining the X-rays, he had a plan going forward that involved adding pour-in pads and adjusting his trimming technique. After pads went on, pony was dramatically better. However, he was reshod last week and became sore again for a few days. I know growing sole takes time, but I’m hoping that adding biotin to his diet will help. Suggestions welcomed.
Pony eats 1 lb of Enrich Plus per day, orchard grass hay and is on pasture with a muzzle at night (round bale in winter with no muzzle). No other supplements.
If I ended finding something that had all three things, I would just feed it to both!
