Keratex hoof putty - has anyone used it?

[blueribbonpanel]

Keratex hoof putty - I’ve read good reviews about it.

Some of my older horses live outside in a run-in shed situation. Two of them have hoof cracks in their front feet. Has anyone tried using this product to fill in the cracks. Shoes aren’t a possibility-- I can’t put shoes on a 24 yr old retired horse, and besides, they would get pulled off immediately in the mud we have now. They also go somewhat crazy if I keep them in stalls.

Any other solutions. They aren’t lame. Yes, I’ve contacted a farrier, but they have pretty short hooves already.

[gypsymare]

Depends on what is causing the cracks. I had some really nasty cracks on my TBs feet from wet/dry cycling. They begin on the surface and move deeper as opportunistic bacterial and fungus take hold.

After struggling for a few years with different farriers I resected the cracks entirely and soaked 1-3x per week with oxine AH and painted with keratex hardener or formalin. 4 months later the hooves were perfect. I had tried both the soaking and the keratex previously but without opening up the cracks it didn’t do anything.

[Scribbler]

OP, why do you want to fill the cracks in, if the horse is not lame and is retired?

I went through a related problem, not with cracks but with some mechanical separation of the white line that started in a hot, dry summer when we were late with a trim. Like Gypsy Mare, we didn’t get this under control until my farrier (under the direction of our vet, who is also a farrier) did a “resection,” meaning cut back all the loose wall and let the new, attached wall grow out. We didn’t have any infection present, so I didn’t need to use any other treatments.

I can’t think it would be good to try to seal up cracks in a wet environment, where you would be trapping bacteria.

[S1969]

[QUOTE=blueribbonpanel;9026075]
Shoes aren’t a possibility-- I can’t put shoes on a 24 yr old retired horse, and besides, they would get pulled off immediately in the mud we have now. [/QUOTE]

OK, I’ll bite.

Why can’t you put shoes on a 24 year old retired horse?

My 22 year old retiree is the only one of mine who wears shoes. And we have mud, too. The only time the shoes were pulled off was when her feet were unbalanced (when I first got her). Once we got that managed, they have stayed on fairly well.

But I will agree that the answer depends on why the horse has cracks to begin with. The putty might help temporarily as a crack or abscess hole grows out…my farrier applied a similar product once when my mare had an abscess blow at her coronet. As the hole grew down, it stretched so he packed it so it wouldn’t fill up with mud. Not sure how well it would work on a crack from the bottom going up the hoof, though.

[SLW]

I use this product on otherwise healthy hooves that have a large chip or crack while the hoof is growing out. I buy it in a 50cc size and not the 180cc size shown here. http://www.vettec.com/adhere-180cc-black