Our business is repairing trucks and we have parts stores. We have a lot of waste oil and I would never in a million years use it on any animal. Now HAZMAT has something to say about disposal. We used to burn it in special heaters which may make a comeback but would not use it for any environmental use. We’ve been in business since sping of 1976 in Chester County, PA. We’ve never given it to our customers with horses either.
If hooves are really dry I like Rain Maker Hoof Moisterizer but if you overuse it the hooves will get mushy. I think that if the hooves are cracking it is most likely because they are dry. Am I wrong. If my skin gets dried out it cracks and bleeds.
What about Novalsan cream, would that also help? I know it’s antisceptic but that wouldn’t hurt. But it won’t stay on like the Rain Maker would. I’ve used RM and I think it’s good stuff.
[QUOTE=bugsynskeeter;6297189]
Has there ever been any research done on the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of topical hoof remedies? I’d be interested in reading it if there has been.
For the record, I am of the opinion that topical dressings do not make a difference - nutrition and farriers do.[/QUOTE]
I believe there was such a study, which found most hoof topicals are a bunch of snake oil and malarkey. :yes:
[QUOTE=Frizzle;6297649]
I believe there was such a study, which found most hoof topicals are a bunch of snake oil and malarkey. :yes:[/QUOTE]
Do you know where I can find a copy?
[QUOTE=Frizzle;6297649]
I believe there was such a study, which found most hoof topicals are a bunch of snake oil and malarkey. :yes:[/QUOTE]
Our farrier once explained to me that hoof tissue is a specialized hair and that it is tubular, like a straw. The only way to “moisturize” a foot is put liquid in from the top (via good nutrition). The straws are held together by a “glue.” You can prevent loss of moisture in the “glue” (and the resutling breakdown) through topical dressings, but you really can’t put any in.
We don’t use much in the way of dressings unless we have unusual weather (very wet or very dry) or we’re trying to look good at a competition.
G.
[QUOTE=bugsynskeeter;6297189]
Has there ever been any research done on the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of topical hoof remedies? I’d be interested in reading it if there has been.
For the record, I am of the opinion that topical dressings do not make a difference - nutrition and farriers do.[/QUOTE]
Yes there is published research. You can read about it you sign up with “The Horse”
http://www.thehorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=3840&_ctl1%3AImage1.x=20&_ctl1%3AImage1.y=11
[QUOTE=Frizzle;6297649]
I believe there was such a study, which found most hoof topicals are a bunch of snake oil and malarkey. :yes:[/QUOTE]
Amen!!!
Usually quarter cracks are not from “dry hooves”. Remember the “quarter” refers to the rear quarter of the hoof, not the size or position of the crack. The hoof is cracked. Maybe the horse blew out an abscess that caused the crack (been thru this, so learned the hard way), perhaps bad shoeing, hard ground or combinations of those caused the crack. We float the hoof and put on a bar shoe. Not a problem with hoof moisture.
[QUOTE=Tom Bloomer;6297820]
Yes there is published research. You can read about it you sign up with “The Horse”
http://www.thehorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=3840&_ctl1%3AImage1.x=20&_ctl1%3AImage1.y=11[/QUOTE]
Thank you! I didn’t think to look there - the Horse is normally very helpful.
In my barn back in the ancient times, they did use used motor oil both on hooves and on rings! Also tube wormed, gave whole ears of corn to help the teeth, Reducine to eliminate white hair growing in when cuts were healing etc. Alot of this seems impossible to younger folks, but there was a time when not everything was regulated and information took days and weeks to disseminate not a fraction of a second.
I thought that quarter cracks are from an unbalanced hoof.
Skipping a whole lotta posts to respond to the OP.
Yes, I’ve heard of it. We commonly used used motor oil in the 60s for all manner of things, apply to hooves, and to healing scars and other skin maladies.
But having been in the environmental compliance business for a few decades, and knowing what’s in there, no, I would not use it. All sorts of yucky stuff in there (including radioactivity depending on the particular oil field, including some in Louisiana). Which is why you pay a fee on your oil change for hazardous waste disposal.
I did use Fiebings sometimes mixed with a bit of pine tar for years but more recently go w/rainmaker. But only very occasionally, mostly for shows and such or here in the desert if it is very, very dry during fly stomping season. But I really don’t ‘need’ to if the horse is getting the right nutrition which is the only real way to make a difference (along with exercise).
[QUOTE=tradewind;6298311]
In my barn back in the ancient times, they did use used motor oil both on hooves and on rings! Also tube wormed, gave whole ears of corn to help the teeth, Reducine to eliminate white hair growing in when cuts were healing etc. Alot of this seems impossible to younger folks, but there was a time when not everything was regulated and information took days and weeks to disseminate not a fraction of a second.[/QUOTE]
Yep! It may be that a lot of the More Outraged here don’t remember when there were only 2 tack catalogs–Miller’s and Kauffman’s and they pretty much had the same stuff. Our school horses lived into their 30’s without any worming, no bute, no shoes, and working 6-8 hours per week, gently. If someone went sore, they got a couple of weeks off. Most were fed no grain products whatsoever. Of course, we had pretty unlimited turnout acreage, and made our own hay. Calling the vet was a major business decision, seldom invoked; and interestingly, seldom necessary!
Thrush cure was, and still is, Clorox or hydrogen peroxide. Why use something expensive that doesn’t work when something cheaper than dirt DOES? A lot of the marketing today is driven by the fact that demographically women are buying the products; and they want stuff that resonates with the marketing of the cosmetics and drugs they buy to use on themselves. This in no way invalidates old-timers’ remedies!
You have to remember–before 1980 or so, “risk factor” was a term only ever heard uttered by wonks trying to predict the stock market; “health” was something we hardly ever thought about, it was certainly not something we purchased from “providers,” and it had not yet been elevated to a national neurotic obsession. Doctors, hospitals, prescription drugs were all below the radar of our daily consciousness, since they didn’t advertise; cigarette companies did!
The Safety Police and their liability lawyers were not yet checking our helmets, or girths or our underwear! 
And, if we thought about “the environment” at all, it was obvious stuff like “don’t dump the crankcase oil too near the pond!”
And the biggest difference of all–NO 24/7 news cycle, and no “Experts” constantly telling you what to do–you had to think for yourself, listen to people with more experience than you, and there wasn’t a howling mob of strangers ready to tumble out of the walls to stand judgement on your every move. It was a far simpler, far more leisurely world. You can believe me–I was there! 
When the frog and heel bulbs get dry or cracked, I tend to use lanolin - bag balm - on my horses, as I do on my own cracked (nursing) hands. Its a biological product (from sheep) not a petroleum product - I never found petroleum products to absorb into skin well at all. Think vaseline - its a heavier motor oil and basically provides a barrier to moisture, but doesn’t absorb into your skin. If you wanted to use motor oil on a horse’s hoof, vaseline would provide the same material much more cleanly.
Used motor oil contains metal shards from inside the crank case. No reason to use that. Use vaseline; however, vaseline doesn’t absorb and does nothing except protect from outside moisture.
Lanoline is verrrryy healing. If I have dry hands or cracked skin, (cracked nipples from breast feedin? the prodcut you buy at the drug store is lanoline. consider the $10.00 cost for THAT tube vs. the cost of a can of bag balm!) it heals almost overnight.
I put bag balm on frog and heel bulb, and rub into the coronet band. I don’t use other topical hoof dressings, unless getting ready to look good for a show for the many reasons cited in other posts. I use lanoline (bag balm) on cuts and injuries I want to keep from cracking as they heal, dry spot. This winter my horse seemed to have chapped lips from, I presume, drinking cold, icy water. Rubbing lanoline around his muzzle eased that greatly.
Just a product I like and the way I think about cracked healthy tissue.
Results are everything. Rainmaker did help my horses cracks in his hooves and it bought time for his hoof to grow back but as I said before, use in moderation as needed but cautiously as it can cause a mushy hoof if overused.
ding ding ding! we have a winner! 
We breathe fumes every day, all day…
But back-in-the-day we did all sorts of things - including pouring oil on dusty roads so I’m not sure a few swipes of oil did all that much damage.
My husband’s dad was a horse-logger. He was given a very lame horse. Poking around he found a tree knot embedded in the frog. He dug it out, dressed it with pine tar, healed it up and logged with that horse for many years.
There were few options out in the boonies, so people became resourceful.
Pete and repeat from 2nd page, post #35:
Quarter cracks originate from poor hoof form. Barefoot or shod. Doesn’t matter. If the hooves are not trimmed correctly then they will suffer in one way or another from that. If the hooves are trimmed correctly and kept in good form then good function will follow and new hoof growth will come in just fine. The crack will grow out.
One can slather whatever all over the hoof, the legs, the coronary … it ain’t gonna do no good if the hoof is not in good form - trimmed correctly for the individual hoof. Period. And that’s with other diet and husbandry factors aside.
In post #52 Tom Bloomer succinctly and accurately said it all so why is this conversation still at play?
[QUOTE=ptownevt;6298322]
I thought that quarter cracks are from an unbalanced hoof.[/QUOTE]
That is but one cause. They are also the result of treading injuries or from a horse with such conformation that even though the hoof may be balanced, it is unbalanced with respect to how it comes to the ground and loads. Quarter cracks may also result from incorrect shoeing or other hoof/limb pathology.
