My lease horse’s hooves have not been growing. In fact, in 8 week shoeing intervals he did not grown enough hoof for the farrier to take any off and still have something to nail to. The last time he was out he didn’t take any off any just rasped a clean edge and applied glue on shoes on his fronts this cycle in hopes he’ll grow some hoof for next time. I had the vet out to take blood and see if there’s something nutritional he’s lacking but the bloodwork came up normal. I’ve been feeding hoof supplements and applying a vet recommended hoof conditioner but, of course, that’s going to take a while to see a difference. He used to have a normal hoof with normal growth patterns but lately it’s been extremely slow and barely growing at all. Both farrier and I are flummoxed over this and not sure where to go next. Anyone have any “miracle cures” for horses who have slower than normal hoof growth?
Per my farrier’s recommendation, I recently did a 30 day regime of farrier’s formula hoof supplement for my mare with poor feet. Can’t say it’s a miracle cure, but it seems to have had some benefit between the last two trim appointments. Farrier is due back on Tuesday, and may do another 30 day round, depending on what he thinks.
A complete hoof growth cycle takes 9-12 months typically. In my experience, it takes at least 3 months to see results from any feed-through hoof supplement, as it will only be visible in the new growth at the top of the hoof. What’s the horse currently being fed? I’ve had much better results by addressing the nutrition program as a whole (adding a ration balancer or similar), rather than “spot-treating” with biotin or Farrier’s Formula.
What is his current diet?
Biotin has shown useful for increasing hoof growth (for those for whom it will work, it’s not a given).
When was his normal growth, and what things changed when you started seeing a slowdown? Time of year? New hay? New barn? Less or more work? Used to get feed then didn’t?
He just moved to a new barn at the beginning of the month but the slowdown began before that, early-mid summer. Other than that, nothing has changed, diet remained the same, same hay, same grain, same supplements. Work has remained the same as well; ridden at least 4 days a week.
Did the vet agree that the hooves aren’t growing?
Is this the same farrier you have been using all along?
Last fall we had winter shoes put on one of our horses. I called the farrier to have them reset at 6 weeks, and he said the hoof didn’t have enough growth so he rescheduled for 9 weeks out. The horse had been barefoot and had a short hoof when the shoes were put on, and then after they were on he did grow, but the sole dropped and the toe ran out at the same time which I think fooled the farrier into thinking that the hoof hadn’t grown?
IMO, the shoe needed to be set back at 6 weeks, but I wasn’t shoeing him so I left it to the person who was. Unfortunately, he trimmed the sole at the toe when he did reset, so then when the shoes were pulled 6 weeks later it took some time for the hooves to re-condition to go barefoot again.
I going to shoe him myself this winter because I want to test out my theory that if the shoes were set back at 6 weeks and then reset again at 12 without trimming into the sole, then the toes won’t run out as much, the growth will show as longer walls because the sole won’t drop as much, and the hooves will recondition faster when the shoes are pulled in the spring.
If I can remember, I’m also going to make a mark in the hoof wall up by the coronary band so I can keep track of how much the hoof actually does grow in 6 weeks.
Sorry, haven’t been on here all weekend. The vet didn’t have an opinion on whether the hooves were growing or not and this is the same farrier I’ve been using since day 1. I’ll try to take some pics and post but since he now has glue on shoes that cover the area where the previous nail holes were it would be hard to judge growth.
But, good pictures will make it fairly easy to judge hoof form/balance 
Ah, Okay, I’ll see what I can do.
Well, that’s kind of what I am wondering. If the hoof is growing forward, for example, it may not look like it has grown a lot but it might be just as much growth. And not having nail holes may make it harder to see.
Pictures would definitely help.
