Hoof care and moisture

[Jennasis]

My horses feet look GREAT! I think the farrier and I have finally knocked out my horses white line disease. His feet look healthy, strong and crack free…and I’d like to keep them that way. I was wondering about my hoof care regiment, which is as follows: Pick out hoof each day before riding. After riding, pick out again and paint sole of hoof (entire underside) with Kopertox, and paint a strip of Kopertox around the rim of hoof including toe. Then massage corona ointment into the coronet band.

Does this sound ok? My horse has bar shoes up front, and regular shoes with clips in back. he used to be very prone to cracking and chipping.

[Jane]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jennasis:
One of the things that drives me batty is that our barn aisle is dirt/sawdust, so whenever I put any goop on his feet it ends up full of dirt and stuff.

We have one small section of paved aisle, but I have to walk through the unpaved part to get to his stall. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

How about putting down some mats over the dirt? it would require lots of sweeping to keep the mats “clean”, but it works…that’s what we do in our tack stalls at shows. Just make sure the ground is leveled before you put down the mats.

[Jennasis]

My horses feet look GREAT! I think the farrier and I have finally knocked out my horses white line disease. His feet look healthy, strong and crack free…and I’d like to keep them that way. I was wondering about my hoof care regiment, which is as follows: Pick out hoof each day before riding. After riding, pick out again and paint sole of hoof (entire underside) with Kopertox, and paint a strip of Kopertox around the rim of hoof including toe. Then massage corona ointment into the coronet band.

Does this sound ok? My horse has bar shoes up front, and regular shoes with clips in back. he used to be very prone to cracking and chipping.

[Bacchus]

My horse has fantastic feet–I’m just lucky. But, when it’s dry, I “paint” his entire hoof, including the coronet band, every other day with corn oil. During the rainy season, I leave his feet alone, except for picking them every day. We had a show Saturday, so I put corn oil on his hooves the night before, then before I went into the ring I just buffed them with a towel. They looked great.

[Louise]

Though, I have never heard of that treatment, if it works, I’d say keep using it, though, using kopertox that much scares me a little - that’s pretty potent stuff. One thing I might add, if you are not doing it already, is Farrier’s Formula, or one of its knock-offs. I find that really helps my horse’s horrible feet.

[Zimt]

Ugh, OK I am getting so much confusing information from different people that I don’t know what to do!

I live in CA - very dry. I have been painting Keratex (hardens hoof)on my horses’ feet (outside only, 2x per week) as they’re a bit crumbly and he’ll be barefoot for the winter in a few weeks.

However, now I see cracks in his heels - on the bulbs. They don’t look sore or red, just dry. Now I want to wash his feet and apply oil (softens by sealing in moisture) instead, but I am worried that he’ll be ouchy when the shoes come off.

Should I:
a) stop with the Keratex and get into a regimen of oiling the feet to help the cracks?
b) continue to toughen up his feet with Keratex in preparation for barefootedness?
c) wash his feet as usual, apply oil to the heels and Keratex to the toes and sole? or
d) Keratex before riding to harden, wash and oil after riding to seal in moisture?

Am I tripping? Is that too many options?

ack!

[Cactuskate]

I feed the Biotin Plus (with the peach colored label) and an extra teaspoon of methionine I get at the feed store.

I, too might question that frequent use of Kopertox. If it is to keep thrush from happening wouldn’t it have a drying effect? Maybe not. My farrier suggests it once a week with the egg bars I have in front.

My favorite topical hoof dressing is Fiebings. I buy it by the gallon, pour it off in one of those little cans with the brush in it.

I have 3 out of 4 white feet to deal with. And here it is beyond DRY. In stall, arena, everywhere. So far we are not too shelly and hold on to our shoes.

“The older I get, the better I used to be, but who the heck cares!”

[Jane]

I think the bottom line, when it comes to hoof care, climate and footing (ring, stall, etc.) play a big part. Your best bet is to ask your ferrier and or your vet; they know your horse as well as the environment the horse lives in, they would be in the best position to give that advice.

[Houdini]

Farrier’s Formula works really well. I would adjust using koppertox to depend on the weather. If the ground is really soft and wet then I would use it. If it’s a dry day however you might want to skip it. Also keeping the stall as dry as possible will help. When Houdini went from having a dirt floor to having a mat it helped a lot. Oh and in the summer I would bathe him only when absoulutly necessary. Any standing around in water for long periods of time I find to be destructive to the hoof.

[jch]

We live in the fungus/thrush belt so we spend lots of time playing with various concotions to kill the stuff. Our farrier has been experimenting with cholorox mixed with water and a little bit of dish deteregent. He says that with a really bad case, soak the hoof in the mix. We have just been spraying it on and the results are dramatic! We have no fungus on the horses that are using at that treatment, but the other horses do have thrush. Pretty nice to find a solution that is easy and cheap!!

[Jennasis]

We had a pretty dry spell here for a while, but that’s when I noticed his feet getting pretty thrushy. Now they look good since we’ve gotten his fungal issues under control.

I’ll Kopertox once a week, unless we experience a rainy spell. I have Fiebings, so perhaps I can do the corona and Fiebings everyday.

Now should I be applying anything to the bottom of his feet over the frog and such? I’ve always painted on the Fiebings on the outside of the hoof (think nail polish). Should I be doing the entire hoof?

One of the things that drives me batty is that our barn aisle is dirt/sawdust, so whenever I put any goop on his feet it ends up full of dirt and stuff.

We have one small section of paved aisle, but I have to walk through the unpaved part to get to his stall.

[breezymeadow]

JCH - What proportions of this do you mix?

[Therese]

I agree with those above on the Koppertox, cut it down to 1x per week unless your treating active thrush. It does dry out the feet something horrible if you use it too much.

Speaking of which…

I just got my horse in from quarantine in CA, and Arizona is just a tad different than Germany! What recommendations do you folks have for keeping feet from being too dry? Just the 3 weeks since she’s been in country and her heels are dry and aren’t cracking, but I can see it starting. Her sole is okay, but getting to the crumbly stage. I just got Feibings, which was my standard when I was in Pittsburgh, is that going to be enough here in Tucson? I clean her feet well, and then paint inside and outside with it (just started yesterday.) Anything else I should be doing, or is it a wait and see kind of thing?

[jch]

Seems like its about 50/50 cholorox and water with a “shot” of detergent. He wasn’t real exact-he said different people had used differing percents, but all had good results.

[Tap2Tango]

Yup yup! Use the fiblings on the wall and the sole and frog. Our barn is the same way and we have one set of cross ties over a rubber mat. SO After my ride when I’m untacking him I first pick out his feet and apply the hoof dressing then I give him a nice healthy grooming…This gives that dressing time to set and “dry” plus you get to bond w/ your horsey! Seriously, this has made SUCH a different in me and Sparks relationship. He is actually HAPPY when he sees me pull up!
~steph

What does it take to be #1? 2 is not a winner and 3 nobody remembers!
~Nelly

[ErinR]

My farrier recommends only using Keratex. When we took the shoes off my mare he suggested coating the bottom of the hoof as well as the outside, avoiding the frog and coronet band. With this precaution I was able to take the shoes off(front only she had always been barefoot in the rear) in the middle of summer without her taking one bad step or acting ouchy at all.

The website for Keratex points out that desert horses have no foot problems and that moisture is the enemy of good feet. This made sense to me and I haven’t used a moisturizer in over a year and my horses feet are great. But to be fair I should point out that none of them ever had bad feet to begin with.

[matt3443]

Yeah! I like how he told you too only put it around the coronary band too; it gets into the nail holes and makes the nails really slippery - shoes’ll come off ten times easier. AND, if you put it on BEFORE you bathe it puts a water repelant layer between the hoof and the water and your horses feet don’t dont dry out! Good for the show horses who get bathed to death over the warmer months.