I’m trying to keep water out of my horse’s feet as when it rains his feet get soft and his shoes rip off almost sideways, taking a good chunk of the wall off with them.
So I’m looking for solutions to keep the foot as dry as I can in wet weather. I can’t keep him out of the rain and taking the shoes off isn’t an option either.
Does pine tar work? Has anyone used it? Does it stick on for a decent period of time or does it get wiped off as soon as they walk through grass?
I’ve tried some hoof oils and they seem useless, as soon as you turn the horse out the grass just wipes it straight off the foot.
Is there such a product on the market that dries on the hoof and creates a thin waterproof film?
My farrier recommends Durasole and Keratex hoof hardener. I’ve also used that iodine putty stuff in the winter to prevent thrush. I like to use it a week’s worth of rain is expected.
Well, nothing will really make your horse’s feet waterproof. And it’s more likely that it is only losing shoes in wet weather it’s not because the foot is soft, but because the ground is soft/muddy and it is stepping on his shoe. Wet or not, a few little nails won’t prevent a horse from pulling a shoe if it really grabs one while moving.
Durasole and Keratex are both useful products. I’d also get bell boots, and also talk to your farrier about the trim to see if that might be an issue.
I don’t think it’s the trim, I wish it was.
My horse is 20, is pigeon toed as well as having long pasterns, so his weight doesn’t drop down his leg into the back of his heels, it drops down his leg and over the side of one heel as that’s what is underneath him. That off-centre load places the stress in the hoof in a different spot to where a normal hoof would. He’s also quite a big horse but his feet are a good size.
It wasn’t much of a problem his entire life (wet or dry) and he was barefoot for most of the 9 years I’ve had him but he went lame almost a year ago. Xrays taken, nothing terribly serious other than age-related wear and tear but he had bar shoes and pads put on and has been good since. He’s being trimmed and shod by the top vet-referred corrective farrier in my state. If his trim isn’t sufficient, there is no other or better farrier I could see within 600 miles.
He’s been doing well in these shoes for almost a year, but the trouble starts when it rains for a week and I think it’s because he’s pigeon toed. When you look at the way his feet are turned, the lateral nails are a little bit closer to the front of the horse/hoof than they are on a normal hoof. The nails on the medial side have never given trouble, just the ones closer to the front which is where his foot breaks over. I think they must get most of the stress of daily life. Once the foot gets too wet, cracks start appearing between those lateral nails and the wall just comes away and falls off, right over top of the nails. The shoe then gets loose and eventually comes off. It’s almost like nailing into drywall, the whole thing just gives away around the nails, it just disintegrates despite there being no cracks or separation in the days prior.
He’s already in bellboots. The above is all just my theory but I am hopeful that trying to keep the moisture at bay is my best chance.
I’ll give the keratex a go. I was hoping to avoid the Formaldehyde due to it being carcinogenic but at this stage it’s probably worth a try.
If his feet are otherwise in good shape you could try Keratex gel. Not sure if it has formaldehyde or not but it seems less noxious. Honestly, though, I would probably use the Keratex Hoof Hardener in your situation. The hoof hardener would be helpful in keeping those nails in, as well as keeping moisture out.
Ok that is helpful; it still could be a “hoof/trim” issue but it may not be one that can realistically be fixed because of the horse’s conformation. Have you talked to your farrier about this? It might be possible for him to avoid nailing at that stress point if he can get enough nails in the foot overall.
Certainly it won’t hurt to try Keratex. I also found it helped with crumbling nail holes, although for my horse it was usually when conditions were dry and hard, and she was stomping at flies.
I use Keratex Hoof Gel on my horse when I need to try to create a bit of a barrier between his feet and a moist environment. If you can apply it in advance of when rain is called for, you’ll have better results than if you wait until his feet are already wet.
Is he out 24/7, or does he come into a stall for any period? The shavings my horse is on are very dry (it makes it a bit of a pain to muck), and the BM very kindly picks his feet at turn in. As a result, his feet get really dry standing in his stall, which helps a lot.
ah yes, I think that is quite right.
Every traditional farrier I’ve ever used with this horse has said the same thing - his feet are just a case of trying to bring them back to as normal a shape as we can get them. His hoof wants to distort and if left unchecked will sort of splay out and spread out, it just seems to be the way the feet want to compensate if they’re given the choice. They’re not spreading out from separation at the white line, but if you split down the foot down the middle of the frog from toe to heel, one side of the foot ends up noticeably wider than the other side, like it’s affecting the shape of the hoof capsule itself.
The horse was also barefoot and sound for quite a few years with a barefoot trimmer but as he got older and the ground got harder from drought, he ended up with lots of bruising in his sole and heels. I didn’t think boots were an option as he seemed to be getting bruises just chilling in the paddock so that’s when I had the bar shoes and pads put on.
It’s an interesting learning experience for sure. Pigeon toes weren’t something I’d refuse an otherwise-good horse over provided there was no deviation in the knee… as my own experience and that of friends had been that horses generally get along just fine on feet that are turned in below the knee. I can see now that pigeon toes can definitely lead to unsoundness… the foot just doesn’t deal with concussion the way it’s intended and it’s noticeable when the ground gets hard… and/or when the horse gets old with other wear and tear… and/or perhaps for bigger horses, I don’t know really. It was never a problem for me because he’s a dressage horse so works in sand… so he never went unsound… but for cross-country horses or maybe even horses who work on the road, I bet they’d be more likely to go unsound faster than my boy did.
I’ll know for next time and won’t buy another (competition) horse with pigeon toes, they may get along just fine but it’s best avoided really.
For interest’s sake here is a pic of one foot when he was with the barefoot trimmer, before the bruising and lameness started.
Have you talked to your farrier about this? It might be possible for him to avoid nailing at that stress point if he can get enough nails in the foot overall.
That’s what he’s doing at the moment, nailing in elsewhere though he has said those nails will need to come out soon as it’s not good to keep them nailed where he’s done it. The wall was in such bad shape there was just nowhere else to nail.
His go-to hoof concoction is copper sulphate mixed in a bit of water and sprayed on, but that’s to kill of bugs and thrush. I actually think spraying the water mixture on them every day has made my horse’s feet weaker as when I’ve been the most consistent in spraying them, that’s when the feet fall apart the fastest. So I guess I’ll try some non-water-based goop and see how I go.
He is turned out 24/7 yes so can’t avoid the weather unfortunately.
My local tack shop did actually carry this brand! Not the hoof barrier but the hoof dressing, which sounded like something else. They could order the barrier in but it was $60 for a 500ml bottle and with no ingredients list I wasn’t keen.
Keratex seems the popular choice, unfortunately my local tack shop didn’t have it so I’ll have to order them online but the hoof gel sounds spot on what I’m looking for.
In the meantime I grabbed one of everything they did have and I’ll give each of them a go to see how they perform. I don’t have high hopes as while they all have different active ingredients, they all seem to be a blend of some type of oil and I’m not personally convinced that oil does a thing for hooves. You paint it on… wait however long in the hopes it’ll dry up a bit… turn them out and within 10 steps in the grass the stuff has usually been slicked right off the foot. And if any of the other ingredients would help, I suspect they’ll just run off along with the oil.
Joseph Lyddy Farrier’s Choice
Equinade Hoof Grease
Kelato Hoof Prime
and plain old Stockholm Tar
So I guess this’ll be a bit of an experiment, I’ll post back how it goes with each of them. I’ll also order some of that keratex gel as I think that’s going to be the winner!
Just thought I’d come back and give an update on this post.
I gave up on the above products and have been using Keratex Hoof Gel for the past couple months and it’s been great so far, the feet aren’t breaking up like they used to and I haven’t lost a shoe yet.
My farrier didn’t know I was using a product and has commented on my horse’s feet holding their shape better, which was an unexpected benefit. As he’s pigeon-toed and long pasterns his feet kinda compensate with an odd shape but farrier says they’re holding together better and his heel is holding up under him better than it used to.
Summer will be the true test as it’ll be hot, wet and muggy but so far so good, very pleased with this product. I picked the hoof gel instead of the hardener as I’m a bit funny about formaldehyde, I didn’t want my farrier handling feet that I’d put formaldehyde on but not sure if I’m just being silly.
Oh no, it disappeared. I added a post, had some trouble adding a pic and then it said it was awaiting approval by a moderator as the post got marked as spam. Now the post is gone. Is it gone-gone or still waiting approval somewhere? Was it really considered spam?
edit: IT’S BACK. The universe works in mysterious ways
I don’t have high hopes as while they all have different active ingredients, they all seem to be a blend of some type of oil and I’m not personally convinced that oil does a thing for hooves. You paint it on… wait however long in the hopes it’ll dry up a bit… turn them out and within 10 steps in the grass the stuff has usually been slicked right off the foot. And if any of the other ingredients would help, I suspect they’ll just run off along with the oil.
