I’ve know that using reducine on the coronet band DOES in fact speed hoof growth.
But the Farrier told me that while it does speed it up, the horn/hoofwall quality being grown will be extremely poor.
in his opinion the hoofwall grows thinner and more brittle than using nothing.
It’s an irritant to stimulate blood flow which in turn aids growth, theoretically. If the horse is nutritionally deficient with dry, flaky, brittle hooves? It’s going to grow a dry, flaky, brittle hoof faster. So farrier is partially correct but the Reducine does not cause that kind of crappy hoof…but it is a little drying.
Good nutrition and a high quality hoof supplement will grow the better quality hoof and probably faster then Reducine. Much less messy too. Takes about 4-6 months to really see a difference in hoof health, a year to get the crap hoof replaced by healthy new growth. People get impatient, feed well and wait.
. He has been not growing like usual for the past 2 years. he is on a ration balancer AND excellent free choice hay and is turned out daily. (pasture in the spring,summer,fall)
The only thing he is doing differently is he is not being worked as much as he used to ( which I know decreases hoof growth)
He is also on Farrier’s Formula.
Edited to add : He also has nice hoofwall but it grows slowly not. he used to grow 1/2 inch in his cycle of 6 weeks.
What findeight said. I can’t imagine any topical application making a hoof “grow” significantly faster than they already do. Hooves are made of keratin, which is a protein, so the only logical things to do are to make sure your horses diet has the correct amount of high quality protein, and then try to protect his hooves from environmental conditions (ie mud and water) that cause the hooves to become dry and flaky.
Chronic poor quality hooves can be an indicator that your horse’s diet is insufficient in protein, meaning the quality or quantity is not enough. OP, are you completely satisfied with his coat condition and body weight? Is the horse bursting with health, and just has bad feet?
I get ottb’s in for r&r and they invariably have bad feet. My blacksmith comes out and moans and groans and talks about possibly having to put glue on shoes and patch places, but after 60 days of a premium feed (TC Senior and TC 30%), and my diligence in fighting the drying effects of mud and water, we see dramatic improvement. What we see is that the horse had OK feet, but the constant exposure to water (they love to wash legs at the track) caused chronic brittleness and cracking.
As an aside, I thought Reducine was off the market due to the meth trade. No? I haven’t needed it in years but thought it was a decent product when I did use it.
[QUOTE=Laurierace;7942191]
As an aside, I thought Reducine was off the market due to the meth trade. No? I haven’t needed it in years but thought it was a decent product when I did use it.[/QUOTE]
Still for sale:
http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e07326-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5
I would think the pine tar in it would make the iodine difficult to access? Have certainly seen other high iodine products come off the market, but not this one…
For OP, try upping the FF dose and the amount of protein in your feed.
Different species but when I am sure to get at least 40 grams of protein daily my nails get hard and grow like crazy. Horses needs are different but they can be protein deficient with resulting brittle, flaky, slow growing hooves.
Nothing will help if the nutrients are not there in sufficient amounts. There are a couple of nutrition gurus on here, JB for example. PM her, she can tell what you need and how much.
Make sure his teeth are in good shape so he can digest properly and make sure he is not supporting a sizable colony of worms who steal his nutrients. Maybe check for ulcers, they can drag them down and create a bad hoof.
In addition to all of the above advice, you can also try slathering some Corona salve on alternating days - this will keep the coronary moisturized and healthy.
I’m not sure if the extra protein would really help… along with his Free choice hay he gets maybe a flake of alfalfa to munch on before rides/turnout and on cold nights.
I will try to moisturize his coronet to keep them soft and pliable. The only other thing i might be thinking is if he may be getting too little of copper compared to manganese.
Thanks for all the replies. If you have more to add feel free.
Someone posted this on here recently, and it is certainly worth reposting: http://www.naturalhorsetrim.com/FEEDING%20THE%20HOOF,%20Dr.%20Kellon.pdf
Feed the hoof properly, make sure the horse is moving as much as possible, and check that the trim is balanced. :yes:
[QUOTE=Frizzle;7943201]
Someone posted this on here recently, and it is certainly worth reposting: http://www.naturalhorsetrim.com/FEEDING%20THE%20HOOF,%20Dr.%20Kellon.pdf
Feed the hoof properly, make sure the horse is moving as much as possible, and check that the trim is balanced. :yes:[/QUOTE]
Intersting read, short and mostly in English too. Learn something on here all the time. Thanks for reposting it.
Thanks. I skimmed the article and will check it out more in detail in a little while. 
While skimming I saw the article mention freshly ground flax.
which reminded me that I forgot to mention he gets 8oz of freshly ground flax-seed a day.
It also mentions B6 to tie protein and other nutrients together. He’s not getting something if his feet are worse then they used to be. Or he is getting it but not in quantities enough to make a difference.
You need to analyze what you are feeding and how much based on his condition and estimated body weight, for example, what’s in the ration balancer per pound (on the label) and how much do you feed by weight? You mention alfalfa, what cutting and how many pounds per day? How much FF per day?
You may be able to just up the quantity or may need to change some things around.
I’ve had experience with about 10 horses, where the farrier asks if the horse is wearing back on track wraps. The answer is yes each time. Those horses all responded to the wraps by growing more foot (annoyingly too much foot on two). Maybe regular wraps (but loose fitting because we want increased, not decreased blood flow) will give the same result? The wraps used went from cornet band to just under the knee.
I’m not saying this will work for everyone and obviously not every horse can be kept in wraps. I just wanted to share my coincidental observation on a small number of horses.
And not just any protein. Hooves and hair contain contain a lot of sulfur which is easily observable by burning some of it. Therefore the important amino acid for building strong hooves is methionine.
Most good hoof supplements contain methionine in adequate amounts. Always check the labels and make sure your horse is being fed at least minimal recommendations. Top quality feeds also provide correct amounts of the three most limiting amino acids (lysine, methionine and threonine), again if fed in recommended amounts based on weight and activity levels. Alas, many are not fed that way.
I have found that feeding MSM (along with something like Source HF with minerals balanced for hoof growth) have helped feet grow well and healthy. MSM has a lot of Sulfur in it - it also improves skin and coat quality.
[QUOTE=trailpal;7944981]
I have found that feeding MSM (along with something like Source HF with minerals balanced for hoof growth) have helped feet grow well and healthy. MSM has a lot of Sulfur in it - it also improves skin and coat quality.[/QUOTE]
Exactly!
[QUOTE=trailpal;7944981]
I have found that feeding MSM (along with something like Source HF with minerals balanced for hoof growth) have helped feet grow well and healthy. MSM has a lot of Sulfur in it - it also improves skin and coat quality.[/QUOTE]
Ditto this, actually, buuuuut… My WB colics on it.
FWIW OP, I’ve been feeding a supp called Biotin Daily and getting excellent results. When the Evil Burrito was growing out hoof from being in a cast for months, this made a huge difference. I’m supplying it to my leaser now for a mare with WLD that had a major portion of hoof wall resected, and seeing improvements there as well. This in a mare who was getting a trim every 10 weeks because she did not grow hoof. It contains more biotin than FF, but less other stuff, and I’ve never used FF…so I imagine some sort of supplementation would help :yes:.
When did the growth slow? Lots of horses hooves grow slower in winter. Unless there is a growth ring, I really wouldn’t worry about it.
What should I do to help sole growth when farrier cut too much off?
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