Spinoff - powdered milk as a supplement?

[amymoyer1]

As a spinoff of the hoof hardner topic, has anyone used powdered milk as a supplement for hooves? Waaaay back in the 80s the farrier recommended powdered milk to help my QH mare with shelly feet. I guess the calcium helped, because it did make her feet a little stronger.

Just curious if anyone else has heard of this as a supplement.

[Laverne77]

I have not heard of using powdered milk, but I do know of an old timey trainer that gave his Hackney ponies gelatin powder to strengthen hooves. He apparently bought it in bulk at a restaurant supply store. It was lemon flavor and every pony got a little scoop of it with their grain. Who knows if it actually made a difference, but the ponies seemed to like it.

[JB]

1/4c of powdered milk contains around 14mg of calcium. ([source](http://Powdered milk serves as a rich source of calcium, providing nearly 12 percent of the amount you need daily in a 1/4-cup serving. The Institute of Medicine recommends that you consume 1-1.2 g of calcium daily.))

A 500kg horse doing nothing needs around 20gm

14mg vs 20gm is insignificant, so that wasn’t helping.

It’s possible there are enough of the right amino acids to potentially help a marginally under-fortified diet, I didn’t go digging that far

[goodhors]

You would get better results feeding soybean meal. Hooves are made of keritan, which is protein based. Soybean meal is a protein food. You don’t need to add a great deal to the food, but it really does help build better hooves, shiny hair. It is fairly inexpensive as a feed additive. We have the Elevator folks add it to our grain mix.

Raw soybeans are poison for horses. I never had any horse want to eat whole, cooked soybeans, just did not appeal to them when offered a handful. The soybean meal is cooked, ground fairly fine, blends in with grain. Horses seem to consume it readily.

Some horses are sensitive to soybeans, do not tolerate it, according to COTH posters. Luckily I have not had any such sensitive horses.

A protein additive is your best way to improve hoof quality. Remember, ANY hoof change will take a LONG TIME to show. Six months is about as soon as you will see real results on the hoof. Nine months or more, for a whole new hoof capsule to grow down. Exercise helps growth. So you will need to be persistent in feeding the chosen product and patient in waiting for the results to appear! Good hooves come from the inside nutrition! Paint-on products may help the walls you look at, add some moisture, seal the walls, but will not really make them BETTER walls.