My farrier mentioned today that I need to feed one of my mares a hoof supplement. He said either Farriers Formula, or Horse Shoers Secret. Is one better than the other? If you feed a hoof supplement what have you had the greatest success with?
I’ve been using Horseshoer’s Secret Extra Strength and I do really like it. Using it for my newer guy for a few months. We just took shoes off of him a month or so ago. I did have Farrier’s Formula in my SP for one month but that’s probably not long enough to judge.
I just use plain old biotin.
I’ve seen the best results with California Trace Plus.
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Why did your farrier say that?
Can you post pictures of his feet? The horse, not the farrier :winkgrin:
A farrier really does’t have any information on recommending a supplement because he (usually) doesn’t know what your horse is eating, therefore doesn’t know if any hoof quality issues are, or could be, caused by dietary deficiencies.
The best hoof supplement is the one that fills in the gaps. That could be Farrier’s Formula, it could be California Trace, it could be an amino acid supplement, it might be just straight copper and zinc.
What is your horse’s whole diet?
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She was on a pretty cruddy run of the mill feed when I got her a few months ago. I have just started switching her over to Seminole Wellness Dynasport. He says she has very very very little hoof wall. We put front shoes on her, but even her hinds have very little hoof wall. I can get pictures tomorrow. She gets 4 flakes of good quality coastal in her stall during the day, 12 hours grazing on good grass, magnesium supplement for issues unrelated to this, 2oz of kelp 2x a day, and 1\2 scoop of Dynasport 2x/day. She is a fairly easy keeper
Since you just got her, and she was not on a good diet, give her current diet a chance. The Wellness line is good. How much does she get, in weight? Or, what size is your scoop?
Make sure you’re feeding at least the minimally recommended amount. If you’re not, due to calories, then add 1/2-1lb of the Seminole Equalizer to get the nutrition up.
How much does that hay weigh? Or, how much do the bales weigh? Is her weight good?
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The hoof will grow out from the coronet and take usually just under a year to grow down, so if you changed up her feed two months ago you could expect to see any difference next summer at the soonest.
The hoof needs protein and various minerals which is what the various hoof formulas contain. As JB says if you know the protein in your hay and the nutrition values in your grain feed you can have a better idea what is missing.
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A good diet and good trim are the most important to improving the quality of the hoof. Looks like you can get away with feeding as little as 2.5 lbs a day of the Dynasport, and a wild guess would be a 2 qt scoop weighs in the neighborhood of 3 lbs.
If I’m looking at poor hoof quality, I feed more protein and a fat supplement. I’d use a ration balancer such as TC 30% and add flax. I get great results with crappy footed tbs in 2 - 3 months.
I find that if your basic diet is complete and you are feeding a quality protein source, you don’t need to buy expensive supplements. How is her overall weight and coat condition?
Her weight is great (not too heavy nor too skinny) and her coat is shiny. Its just her feet we are having problems on. We have front shoes on her now but the farrier is thinking we may have to shoe her all the way around
I feed Foundation Formula by DAC to my old Belgian mare who has white line disease , her feet have never been better .
I’ve had good luck with both Farriers Formula and Blue Seal Winning Touch EZ Hoof. Improved diet should help quite a bit, but I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to add a supplement as well. Just remember that you have to stick with it for 9-12 months before you reap the rewards!
I’ve had good luck with Farriers Formula on more than one horse, it is my go to hoof supplement.
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Biotin here, also. That’s what research is showing is most effective. My Paint gelding has okay feet, but got a shallow but very annoying quarter crack that wouldn’t grow out. I put him on biotin a couple of years ago. The crack grew out and there isn’t much crumbling around the nail holes now. The farrier says keep him on it. I get mine from HorseTech.com. It’s in ground flax.
I used this for growing out a hoof crack. It worked fairly well. I still feed it as a copper/zinc supplement.
https://www.scahealth.com/scah/product/ultracruz-horse-hoof-care-supplement-horse-supplement
Give the new feeding program time before adding unnecessary supplements. Have a crappy footed horse nothing changes it. He’s kept well trimmed , his feet are what they are crappy,he’s sound so good enough.
Hopefully the improvement in protein quality will solve your problem. I’ve never put hind shoes on my show horses, they competed very successfully without them.
Thanks everyone!
