Looking for everyone’s favorite/best hoof supplement and if they’re actually worth it or another waste of money ?? a lot of people seem to feel feed through Joint supplements aren’t worth it or proven unlike injectables…does the same hold true for hoof supplements too?? I’m looking to try and feed only the necessities supplement wise as it gets quite pricey when you’re giving to more than one horse .
Thanks in advance
Horse people are the absolute worst about spending money on crap without any hard proof it actually works, so I appreciate what you’re saying.
I do think some hoof supplements do work but haven’t bought any for so long that I’ll let other’s respond. Farrier’s Formula comes to mind, but again, I haven’t bought any since forever so it may be passe at this point.
I personally feed BOSS to my horses a/k/a Black Oil Sunflower Seeds. I have bought TBs off the track with sketchy feet and 6 or 8 mos later, they are barefoot in the pasture with excellent hoof quality. I think it also puts a wonderful bloom on their coats/manes/tails. They are high in fat, vitamin rich and economical to feed at 1 cup per feeding/2 cups per day. I feed them to all of my horses who are all barefoot with excellent hoof quality. YMMV
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Hoof supplements aren’t like joint supplements. It’s very hard to get things like chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine past the stomach so it can do any good, or get the molecules small enough to be absorbed if it does get past.
But hoof supplements contain minerals and amino acids, all of which are digestible and usable. They might contain some vitamins too, also usable.
So the real question is - what is deficient in the horse’s diet such that it’s negatively affecting the feet. Quality protein? Add some amino acids, lysine and methionine, common in hoof supplements, and easily added on their own. Copper and zinc are low or “low” because of high iron? Cheap and easy to add. Just need more growth? Adding biotin might be what’s needed - also cheap and easy.
Just want to throw the book at it? Find a product with useful amounts of all those things.
And don’t forget to evaluate the quality and frequency of the trim, as low quality/too infrequent will start affecting hoof integrity, and you can’t feed your way out of that.
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Been using this for years. Great product at a reasonable price.
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I think the diet is pretty good …easy keepers get just Buckeye Gro N Win or some get Buckeye Gro N Win and TC Senior, and some get just TC Senior …one laminitic pony who is now getting Ontario Dehy Timothy Balance Cubes and some TC Safe Starch Forage …one Just looking for good overall support …
What are your thoughts on the supplement Equinety ?? It’s pure amino acids that target and “tickle” the pituitary gland?? I’ve seen a lot of ads for it lately on facembook…wondering if this is a miracle worker like it seems to claim??
Given that a lot of forages are high in iron, it’s not hard to be low in cu/zn as a result, even with a diet like that
What are your thoughts on the supplement Equinety ?? It’s pure amino acids that target and “tickle” the pituitary gland?? I’ve seen a lot of ads for it lately on facembook…wondering if this is a miracle worker like it seems to claim??
The ads for it make me :lol: it’s not anything I would spend money on. Most of the AAs in it are not a deficiency issue for horses, and the ones most likely to be aren’t there in any really significant amount.
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I’m a big proponent of analyzing forage and then looking at the rates of minerals/vitamins your horse is actually getting vs the recommended amounts so you can spend your pennies wisely. My “catch all” supplement - one that includes good levels of Cu, Zn (critical for good hoof growth, interfered with by high iron and therefore almost always key to supplement), Se (for my area) and vit. E (absorption of Se) - also includes a TON of stuff I don’t need to supplement because it’s readily available in my forage.
By customizing my supplement I spend WAY less and actually get my horses what they need. Which, in my case, is the above: Cu, Zn, Se, vit E. everything else is covered by their forage. I also toss hemp seed in as added fat and AAs (some will say it’s the devil and use flax instead, others claim its the high-holy grail of fat supplement. For me, my horses like it and it’s cheap, so I go with it.) I don’t feed any grain or commercial fee, just soaked molasses free beet pulp and timothy cubes as a carrier for the supplement (plus more calories for my gigantic equine hoover).
If forage testing isn’t doable, I’d recommend either supplementing just Cu and Zn (you can get them as plain powders you mix yourself from a bunch of places: horsetech, california trace, mad barn, etc.) OR going with a good pre-mix supplement like California Trace, Horsetech Arizona Copper Complete, Mad Barn Amino Trace Plus, or Vermont Blend - all of these have excellent levels of Cu and Zn, good AA profiles, and no added iron (which most hoof supplements DO include, which is infuriating!). A main differentiator between those supps is inclusion/levels of Se - you’ll need to be very careful about over supplementing Se if your forage has it in sufficient quantities or if any of your feed supplies if. Se toxicity is no bueno (but neither is deficiency - so getting a handle on how much Se your horse is getting is really key).
I get my custom mix from Mad Barn, which is a really awesome Canadian option. My go-to “catch all” supplements from them are Omneity or Amino Trace Plus.
TL;DR: Analyze forage and customize supplement if possible. If not possible, supplement either Cu and Zn individually (150mg and 450mg daily respectively is a good place to start) OR use a good pre-mix supplement: California Trace, Vermont Blend, Horestech Arizona Copper Complete, Mad Barn Omneity or Amino Trace Plus. Avoid ANYTHING with added iron.
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There has been plenty of research that established biotin, a B vitamin, as the best nutrient for hoof quality. My gelding has pretty good feet, but has shoes in front in part because he needs a 2 degree pad. A couple of years ago he got a teeny-tiny horizontal ding on a rear hoof halfway up the wall.
It looked like it would grow out but a very shallow crack developed after a couple of months. I put him on biotin which took care of the crack, but there was also a significant improvement overall. The farrier says the hoof walls and soles are stronger and thicker. The areas around the nail holes don’t crumble. It takes upwards of a year for the hoof to grow out so you have to allow nature to do its thing.
I use Bioflax 20 from HorseTech.com. The base is food grade ground flax. A serving is a small scoop, about 60 cc for 20 mg per day… Among the things I like about HorseTech is that Rod, the owner, is available by phone or email to help you figure out what is best for your horse. I’m also feeding HylaSport CTS for joints and soft tissue support, and natural vitamin E.
Other things I like about HorseTech are the free shipping, free cookies, and amazing customer service. He always has a booth at Equine Affaire. It is a family business. I like to support “local” businesses over the big box sort of places. Iowa is not local to Maine, but my horse was born in Iowa, which is good enough for me.
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Good point - my custom mix also includes Biotin as it is an excellent addition to diet to improve hoof growth. However, if the diet is deficient in Cu and Zn, or super high in Fe (thus blocking absorption of cu/zn), or super high in sugars which wreaks havoc on laminae, Biotin isn’t going to make up for those issues. Diet has to be balanced before Biotin can work its magic.
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Dr. Redden’s Biotin 100 with 50 mg DL methionine per serving. Made a difference when multiple other supplements did not.
http://www.nanric.com/product-page/nanric-extra-strength-biotin-100
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Just know that more than about 20-25mg biotin a day is wasted.
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I feed both my horses human grade biotin along with Uckele copper and zinc. My one elderly TB horse is going on 31 years old and despite having Cushing’s, he has great hooves. The other TB is my rescue project horse and he’s been going barefoot for over two years now and also has super strong hard hooves. Here’s the link to the human grade Biotin. I feed 30mg daily . https://www.gootbuy.com/deals/nutricost-biotin-vitamin-b7-10000mcg-240-capsules-gluten-free-non-gmo-coupon
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I used HoofRite for years and thought it was the one that provided me with the best, noticeable results. I used it on three OTTBs with great success.
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Some people have mentioned testing the hay and balancing from there…problem is my hay isn’t always from the same fields or same supplier for that matter …so while I could test and see what’s lacking in my current hay by the time I get another load it may be totally different stuff so that’s why I’m looking for a good all around hoof supplement to cover the essentials
I’m trying to decide between Grand Hoof + MSM , or Horseshoer’s Secret Extra Strength -these both seems to have ample amounts of key ingredients …and higher amounts of copper and zinc compared to most others
California Trace has more cu/zn than those 2, double (or more) cu/zn than the Grand Hoof, for example. You can also get a Se-free version (probably a good idea given the current diet), and feed a half or a whole serving. You’d need to do a cost comparison to see what would be more economical.
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I use Nu Hoof Accelerator by Select the Best. I also feed Uckele Equi VM as my vitamin/min supp.
I have also used the Horseshoers Secret EX Strength.
ETA: FWIW she grows hoof fast enough to support a 4-week shoeing cycle.
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Neither of those supplements has the recommended daily requirement for zinc (335mg). The horseshoer’s secret is ok for copper (recommended daily requirement is 85mg).* The other piece to consider is that if you can’t test your hay, it’s honestly best to assume that your iron (or manganese) content is such that Zn and Cu absorption isn’t optimal and likely needs to be bumped up.
Vermont Blend or Arizona Copper Complete are in the same ballpark price range as these, and will do a WAY better job helping your horse’s feet:
https://customequinenutrition.com/pr…/vermont-blend
https://horsetech.com/equine-supplem…opper-complete
California Trace has a no-selenium option if you are unsure of Se levels (though your local agriculture office can likely tell you whether your area is deficient in Se)
https://www.californiatrace.com/prod…-no-se-powder/ - for $100 bucks you get a $200 day supply of something that is going to be lightyears better than the two options you’re looking at.
I’d highly recommend going with one of those options (or MadBarn if you’re in Canada :)) over Horseshoers Secret or Grand Hoof.
*https://equi-analytical.com/nutrient-requirement-tables/ - here is my source for nutrient requirements!
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1lb of the Grow N Win has more than half the RDA of zinc (181mg), depending, of course, on the weight of the horse, which we don’t know, so I’m just using your 335 number. They don’t need to contain all the RDA - these horses are already eating a ration balancer and/or TC Sr (though we don’t know the amounts) plus whatever is in their hay. Maybe that isn’t enough for a gien horse, but without a forage analysis we don’t know how much the current diet has, or the relationships to iron.
California Trace has a no-selenium option if you are unsure of Se levels (though your local agriculture office can likely tell you whether your area is deficient in Se)
Always test the horse for the circulating Se based on the current diet, before supplementing. But I agree, it is very likely you would not want to add another 2mg Se (full dose of CaT), though 1mg might be ok.
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Very good point, I cut out any mixed grains/RBs from my diets partly to get rid of added iron/sugar, and partly because it’s miserable for my brain to calculate ratios from too many sources! I tend to kind of forget about them. Whoops! The 335 I used was for a 500kg horse in light work per the NRC - so definitely making assumptions on my part.
From my understanding, Cu and Zn can very safely be consumed at well over the RDA (the supplement I use supplies more than double to combat high Fe and Mn in my soil and water), so given that, I’d think it’s better value for money and more likely to be effective to go with something very high in Cu/Zn than the two supplements already put forward. But it’s definitely true that without a solid understanding of the forage, you’re kind of tossing darts in the dark.
OP - even if analyzing your forage isn’t possible due to multiple sources, if your hay is at least sourced in your general area, your local agriculture extension probably has analysis data that you could use as a baseline. Also
Also wanted to mention that CEN, the company that makes Vermont Blend, also has a plain copper/zinc mix that is really really cost effective, and would be a safe bet if you’re unsure of Se levels: https://customequinenutrition.com/collections/supplements/products/copper-zinc-blend-free-shipping
It’s what I would feed, even being in Canada, if I didn’t have the need to supplement Se and Vit E - adding those in ad hoc ends up being more expensive than having a blend made, annoyingly!
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