Please tell me what topical hoof products have worked for your TB with poor hoof wall quality. Currently using a product called “Repair Hoof Oil” sold by Hagyard Equine Clinic in KY and I have had moderate success with it. His feet are still on the soft side (especially the sole) and crumble. Horse has an intense job as an upper level eventer and I will lose my mind if I can’t get his feet more solid. Nutrition and shoeing are good, not looking for recommendations here. But if someone has used a supplement and achieved positive results I would like to hear about it. I have used Keratex in the past and might go back to this, but wanted to check if there were other products.
venice turpentine and iodine
I also like this product (which contains the above), but it may not be competition legal for you because it also has DMSO.
Sorry, I haven’t found anything as effective as the Keretex Hoof Hardener (not the hoof gel, which is good for generic maintenance).
I agree 100% with MontysGal. Keratex hoof hardener had done wonders for all three of my OTTBs. Now I just use the gel for maintenance, but started each of them with the hardener. Farrier is very happy with results.
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Good stuff. I feel like I’ve posted this 5 times this week…but put Hawthorne’s turpentine(has a brush applicator like hoof oil) on the outside of the hoof in addition to the sole. It works miracles. Obviously not up to the coronet band. It really imporoves the hoof wall.
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I’ve used keratex and found that it did really make a huge difference. I also found that Farrier’s Fix seemed to do a good job of hardening (it contains venice turpentine).
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The only topical I’ve ever seen do something is Keratex.
Remember, tho, TB feet wind up that way from: Too much sugar/starch in the diet, not enough minerals for the area (especially copper and zinc) and not enough continued movement on varied terrain, plus a poor trim.
I’ve rehabbed plenty of “typical TB” hooves and not one has continued with shelly, thin, crumbly wall when the diet, the environment, the exercise and the trim were brought into alignment… they’ve all gone on to have amazing feet, most of them barefoot eventers.
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I didn’t notice any difference using keratex hoof hardener (and I stuck with it for over a year)…this is what I use now that I really like
https://www.argentoeq.com/collections/hoof-care/products/leovet-revivet
I would use it every day until you start to see some improvement. It will last you a lot longer than the hoof hardener too.
My thoroughbred had absolutely disastrous feet and they’ve really improved with this product. I had him on farriers formula but then switched to this and like it even better
https://www.argentoeq.com/collections/hoof-care/products/leovet-biotin-zm-liquid
It lasts about 6 weeks
Soft/shelly feet do not need anything on them that’s going to perpetuate that. No oils, creams, greases, ointments, etc.
The Keratex Hoof Hardener is one of the better choices. Tuff Stuff has a place. There are a few others of that nature. The goal with those is mostly to keep excess moisture from entering the foot from the outside.
I would not discount the diet needing improvement. Just because they are getting pretty hay, or lots of grass, or enough of a quality feed, doesn’t mean the diet is sufficient for healthy hoof quality.
Many diets are high in iron due to not just the forage, but the added iron in concentrates. This equates to low copper and zinc. Even when those things are added in with the feeds, it is easily not enough to make up for the high iron.
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My TB (with a long history of ‘meh’ hoof quality) was getting plenty of TC Senior, great grass and hay, and his feet went to pot a few years ago. I wish had taken before and after photos after starting him on Focus Hoof, I watched the line from when he started on it grow down his hooves for nearly a year. I kept him on it for two years, and used either Keratex or Crossapol three times a week.
He is is no longer on the Focus Hoof, and I use Farrier’s Fix oil whenever his feet are going to get wet, like a bath. My farrier recently commented he has the hardest feet of any of his clients’ horses.
Make sure if you ice your horse’s legs and/or feet regularly (as some eventers do), keep his hooves dry. Someone had a great suggestion of wrapping the hooves in a plastic bag, then putting the legs or feet in ice/water.
My farrier recommends painting the hoof w/ effol BEFORE they get wet to protect them from getting too soft by multiple trips to the wash rack. But the thing that I’ve found to be the most effective is Farrier’s Formula double strength.
I love, love Hoofmedic by Animed. Supplement. Very reasonably priced. My OTTB’s feet improved SUBSTANTIALLY. Went from not being able to hold shoes, to barefoot with boots for 4-5 shoeing rounds and the Animed, to BEAUTIFUL, solid hooves. Love this supplement. His feet look amazing.
Ditto on the Keratex. But as others have said, DIET is key. You can’t make great hooves from the outside in – only from the inside out. The Keratex is a band-aid – not a long term solution.
My mare’s feet were pretty bad when I got her - very soft, shelly, and she was often sore-footed. We dealt with abscesses often as well. In my experience, nothing topical worked well for her. What did work was to switch farriers. There wasn’t anything wrong with the first one but his work didn’t align with what this mare needed. I’m not saying you need to do that in your case - just that it helped in my scenario.
My mare grows a lot of hoof, it just isn’t great hoof. So I have her shod every 6 weeks and that has helped a lot. When she was barefoot, I had her trimmed every 2-3 weeks and that worked well too. Going any longer just isn’t great for her.
I know you said that nutrition was good but are you sure that things can’t or shouldn’t be tweaked a bit? For my girl, going free-choice hay (in slow-feed nets) really helped. So did adding 1/3 cup of chia seed per day. She’s also on a joint supplement that has MSM and another called Hoof and Coat, made by Springtime. My vet is a rockstar and she evaluates what I feed/supplement periodically to help me ensure that there are no holes in my program for each of mine. I also send her my hay analysis when I get a new load of hay so she knows where we’re starting at.
Best of luck on finding something that works for your boy, OP! Let us know what you come up with please.
I’ve started feeding BiotinPlus to my TB who has bad feet. The difference in the last six months is amazing. This is a horse that literally had one hoof being held together by appoxy after a bad quarter crack and repeatedly pulled that shoe off towards the end of his shoeing rotation.
Keratex.
But I agree that diet can help. Obviously genetics are genetics, and nothing will change that, but good diet will go a long way.
For some unknown reason, my TB mare’s hoof quality improved when I switched from Triple Crown Senior to Nutrena Safe Choice Senior. We really cannot account for it in any other way…my farrier has agreed that the hoof quality is better. (That said, it’s still not amazing. She will never have the feet my warmblood mare has, no matter what we do.)
Tuff stuff for the nail hole area on clean dry hoof. Venice turpentine for the soles. Cornucrescine for the coronet band.
Farrier’s Formula Double Strength made a huge difference for my horse’s cracking, shelly feet.
