Daily hoof care

[taylorelaine]

What should daily hoof care look like? I know hoof health mostly revolves around nutrition and hygiene, and I want to make sure I’m following all the right steps in keeping my horse’s feet healthy. I pick their feet twice daily and clean their stalls twice daily, but are there other daily steps I should be doing?

Should I be taking daily precautions against thrush and white line? I don’t want to wait until an issue is full-blown. I know some people spray iodine on the soles of their horses’ hooves after picking them out daily. Is that okay to do every day as a prevention?

My horses are in Florida, and we’re heading into the wet and muddy season. Are there extra steps that should be taken?

Also, should hoof hardeners like Venice turpentine or Keratex be used? I was told by a farrier once, a long time ago, to use Venice turpentine daily on the sole, making sure to avoid the frog. I was also told never to put anything on the hoof walls like conditioner, except during the wet season when a moisture barrier should be painted on.

I’m just wondering what should be done—or shouldn’t be done—daily for healthy hooves, and what extra steps should be taken during different seasons.

[PaddockWood]

Daily hoof care to me is many things and maybe you’re already doing these:

1. How are they standing? How is their posture? Are they four strong table legs standing directly under their body? Or “goat on a rock” as the expression goes. Does that make sense?
   

2. Observe them at the walk. Do you see heel first landing?

3. Have you totaled your diet and they are getting enough protein, zinc, copper and the three aminos?(threonine, lysine, and the other one is escaping my brain) Providing strong nutrition helps prevent thrush etc.
4. Is your toe short? Are they on a regular schedule ideally no more than 4 weeks apart?
5. The latest thinking is ideally you put nothing on the foot you wouldn’t put on your own skin.
For me then it’s Red Horse Products - Artimud for any crevice or issue not looking perfect. Just a smear and it’s amazing how it improves things quickly. All natural. You can use your bare hand to apply it.
6. And yes, check for thrush or issues every day. Apply Artimud proactively if it gets wet. Thrush is very painful.
7. Confirm you have an open frog at the back, right? No deep crease that can be holding thrush -
pain.

8. Avoid stalling - stalling reduces the digital cushion - the strength of the back of the foot. The more they move and move correctly, the more they build a strong soft tissue inside the foot. Assuming that foot is landing correctly.
9. Ideally shoot xrays every year to confirm your feet are in balance. That is the #1 lameness prevention advice I’ve heard from our local sports med vet.

That’s my 2 cents

[RhythmNCruise]

I’ve run the spectrum from borderline negligence to obsessively attentive to my various horses’ hooves over my 36 years of horse ownership, and somewhere in between works for me and my current horse. He’s barefoot and has thin soles, so I apply Durasole fairly frequently. I try to pick his feet daily, sometimes twice a day if I’m riding.

That’s pretty much it for daily. He is never closed up in a stall, but has access to one and I pick it at least daily, twice a day when possible. His 1+ acre turnout gets dragged daily. If wet/muddy places begin to develop around the barn, the farm manager adds sand, which is nice. Stalls are kept super dry. Pasture drains quite well, so the horses are rarely in wet footing for very long. That helps a lot.

No hoof dressings or oils or anything like that. They literally do nothing positive but make the hooves “pretty” to humans.

My horse gets trimmed every five weeks by someone skilled in barefoot trimming and hoof rehab. She’s always just a text or call away, and we have a great relationship. I can send her pictures of things that I have questions about and she will call me as soon as possible, usually within the hour if not before. Never underestimate the importance of a good farrier/trimmer.

And I feed healthy amounts of biotin, copper, and zinc.

[pony_baloney]

I have a barefoot trimmer appointment every six weeks. My pony lives out 24/7 in a “dry” lot, which has been mud for a while. Every hoof picking includes a few squirts of a 50/50 water/ACV mix.

[SonnysMom]

My farrier is a big believer in Farrier Barrier. He hates bathing and hosing horses. If you need to sponge, hose, bath do it as little as possible and apply Farrier Barrier right before to repel the water.
I had finally gotten my horses feet to a good point about 5 months ago. Due to life circumstances I have not been doing the Farrier Barrier much or virtually at all in the last 3 months (or riding for that matter). He has had a few other people ride him during that time but at best they would have applied the barn’s Fiebing’s hoof dressing. Guess who lost 3 shoes in 5 weeks. Oops.
I mentioned the Fiebing’s to farrier as better than nothing. His response was nope, throw it away.
I have used Farriers Formula for about 2 years. Recently switched to Omniety, but not long enough ago to make a difference on throwing shoes.
I work where my horse lives. I need to just keep his Farrier Barrier in front of his stall to apply when I bring him in.
I am hoping to get into a better riding schedule. Riding and regular movement can help with hoof health.
In general his feet only get picked when he gets ridden or groomed. But not daily. We have 32 horses at the farm. We don’t pick hooves every day for everyone. He has never had thrush, WLD, etc…
He is shod every 5 weeks this time of year through early winter and every 6 weeks in the winter when his hoof growth slows.

[Pehsness]

Pick daiiy, dry bedding, lots of movement, 3-4 week trim cycles, thrush deterrent like hoof doctor once or twice a week.

[SonnysMom]

I hope you expect everyone to be rich and own their own farm. I don’t know of anyone that shoes at 4 weeks. Hell, when I was younger 8-10 weeks was normal. This time of year I do 5 weeks, winter is 6 weeks, so I have evolved. I have have not heard 4 weeks.
Stalling: hmmm… standing outside and stamping at flies is so good for the feet.
The horses at the farm I work at are turned out in excess of 12-14 hours per day in large fields. Yes, we have a few in big round pens for 12-14 hours due to Cushings or IR. They all get as much turn-out as possible.
My boss has 18 horses. Yearly xrays aren’t in the budget.
Yearly xrays only help if the farrier and vet are able to communicate well and are on the same page.

[PaddockWood]

Oh no. Just ideally was my point. We know long toes are a huge problem so 4 weeks is why I said that. Mine are barefoot so no shoeing costs. And as little stalling is an ideal again. We all know movement is so good for them.

And Shoofly Leggins are $15 bucks a leg and then no stomping. Priceless really.

Again xrays is a best practice - if possible and surely not if you have 18 horses.

[gradytb]

2 OTTBs. Both out 24x7 and they come in to their stalls to eat morning and evening. In the evening, they will be in a couple hours. Sometimes they just like to come in and stand in the aisle or a stall in the hot afternoons. Stalls are always kept clean and dry, using PDZ on wet places. No manure or urine stays in the stalls more than a couple hours, unless they are in overnight for extremely bad weather. Both are on the Tractor Supply Dumor hoof pellets. I used Farrier’s Formula for several years but saw no noticeable benefit and the Dumor has shown better hoof quality for ½ the price. #1 has pads and shoes in front correcting improper angle and weight loading. Always sound after we adjusted for that. Still, shelly walls and thin soles and nothing changes that. No shoes behind and the hinds are always perfect. They require a little smoothing off at 5-6 weeks but that’s it. #2 has better feet. Hasn’t lost shoes. Regular shoes w/clips (both horses) up front and nothing behind. I do use oil once or twice a week because it’s so hot and dry here that they really dry out. Pick their feet every few days to check on everything and if I ride. They get reset/trimmed every 5-6 weeks. #1 might lose a shoe and pad occasionally.

[Simkie]

Daily hoof care here is picking feet +/- using a wire brush on the sole.

Anything additional is based on observations from there. From thrush to scratches to being cranky about picking up a foot to inability to pick up a foot.

But nothing extra happens just as a matter of course. Pick the feet, notice any issues with feet (or limb, or horse) and treat if there anything amiss.

[Kyrabee]

Picking feet daily. She does have a skinny deep foot so in the wet months, I do use something (either NoThrush or Pure Sole) as prophylaxis.

She did get thrush in her hinds in ‘23 but I think that was due to inadequate stall cleaning. The only time she has had thrush in her 23 years. She had been in that pen and stall the previous winter with no issue. When one of the barn owners left, stalls started getting cleaned better. She had no issues last winter.

[GraceLikeRain]

Hoof picking daily. Application of farriers fix 15 minutes before rinsing her off (daily this time of year). Copper, zinc, biotin. Pick her dry lot daily. 6 week shoeing cycle. Shoo fly boots to try and minimize stomping. Equiderma thrush in a squeeze bottle all over the frog and into the grooves any time it gets damp for more than a day or two. She lives in bell boots so I try to invert them when grooming and make sure her feet are drying out as much as possible.

Her hoof quality is moderate and we’ve had some issues with pulling shoes and hoof quality but the above is my best balance of attentive but realistic.

[atr]

The most important thing is a correctly trimmed, balanced, and shod if appropriate, hoof. That should keep thrush and white line at bay. Feed appropriately, keep picking regularly and watch for any anomalies and you should be good to go.

Personally I’d avoid using caustic chemicals on living tissue prophylactically.

[SadieRidingHorses]

I’m at a barn where many horses are on a 4-week cycle at least part of the year, and it has meant a huge improvement for my horse’s feet. So I agree with you!

[Kyrabee]

Neither of those products I use are caustic.

PureSole is like salad dressing for the feet. It does work. That is what I used to clear up the thrush she had 2 years ago. They also make a paste that I used in conjunction with the spray and it got rid of the thrush. Since then I have just been using the spray during our wet season (winter/spring).
Ingredients… Bentonite Clay, Apple Cider Vinegar, Organic Coconut Oil, Zinc Oxide, Organic Olive Oil, Green Tea, Organic Olive Leaf, Organic Calendula Flowers, Organic White Willow Bark, Organic Oregano Leaf, Goldenseal Root, Oregon Grape Root, Essentials Oils of Oregano, Lavender, Eucalyptus, Rosemary, and Tea Tree.

It smells like salad dressing too. The
No Thrush does have copper sulfate in it but I have used it fairly often and noticed no adverse effects.

[PaddockWood]

Tell us more please. What improvements have you noticed?

[RhythmNCruise]

I’m glad you mentioned Pure Sole. I have some of the wax and the mud and I keep forgetting about it.

I’ve been slathering on the caustic stuff lately (Durasole). It’s probably going to be the thing that kills me off eventually, but my horse is so much more comfortable with his tougher soles. It stopped potential white line disease in its tracks too when twin abscesses burst out of the white line on both hinds. He lost a decent chunk of one hoof in some wet weather after the blowouts and I’ve been religiously applying Durasole ever since. He’s sound as can be and his feet are like iron even though it has been raining for days now.

Still, when things settle down, I’d prefer to return to something a little less severe.

[SadieRidingHorses]

I don’t know that I have a very good answer - personally, I feel like I’ve gone from fighting a constantly losing battle against crumbly cracks and long toes, where I was holding my breath in week 5 or 6 and applying keratex and durasole like a mad woman, to a situation where her feet look strong and well-balanced, shoes (just on the front) stay on, and I really don’t have to think about it much because there is no issue. I don’t use any hoof products anymore. Some of this might have to do with the superior care/nutrition that she gets at this barn, but I think a lot of it is the shorter cycle.