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Veteran
Posts: 171
 
| What to feed?
What supplements?
What hoof care?
We are currently feeding a 14% sweet feed, and Hay, Farrier's formula double strength, and using keretex hoof hardener on soles.
We are having problems with hoofs chipping, breaking and keeping shoes on front.
Curious what others have used successfully and seen results.
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 Veteran
Posts: 254
Location: Kaufman, Texas | we have had good luck with low starch feed and glue on shoes with equathane pads. I feed the farriers formula also and some all natural supplements from a health food store around here. Good luck with your horse |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| I feed Omni cubes, free choice grass hay and Cur Ost Total. Couldn't get my thin soled horse to grow more sole until I started feeding this combo. Until i got his digestive system working right and general inflammation under control, I wasn't having any luck thickening his soles. |
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Member
Posts: 19
| Shoes with pour in pads help a bunch, It provides even pressure on the soles and allow them to grow. The only problem is when you stop using the pour in pads you have to toughen up the soles quickly or the new sole growth will erode very fast. |
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  Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
 
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | ack34480 - 2016-01-17 9:09 PM
Shoes with pour in pads help a bunch, It provides even pressure on the soles and allow them to grow. The only problem is when you stop using the pour in pads you have to toughen up the soles quickly or the new sole growth will erode very fast.
this. I will say that it's tough to keep the shoes on with the pour in pads. That was my biggest battle but from everything I've read and seen, that's the only way to thicken sole. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 999
Location: Sunny So Cal | THE Hoof Salve has worked really  |
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Expert
Posts: 2122
Location: The Great Northwest | I have noticed most thin sole horses are generically thin soled. I have found for my thin soled and poor hoof wall horse a product from Perfect Horse. It is a Blue Green Algae product from Klamath Lake, Oregon. It has helped a lot with hooves and generally everything. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | First thing I would do would be to ditch the sweet feed. My horse has thin soles and always has. He is prone to stone bruises, abscesses, etc. Now that he's been on a healthy whole-foods diet for several months the new growth in his hooves looks healthier but he still has to wear front shoes to be comfortable. I tried valiantly to keep him barefoot but he just couldn't handle it. |
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Member
Posts: 32
| I have used Kombat Boots. its a supplement. Really liked my one mare on it. You could defiantly tell a difference. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2457
| Fairweather - 2016-01-17 11:03 PM
ack34480 - 2016-01-17 9:09 PM
Shoes with pour in pads help a bunch, It provides even pressure on the soles and allow them to grow. The only problem is when you stop using the pour in pads you have to toughen up the soles quickly or the new sole growth will erode very fast.
this. I will say that it's tough to keep the shoes on with the pour in pads. That was my biggest battle but from everything I've read and seen, that's the only way to thicken sole.
To add to this ... I had great luck using a full leather sole insert between the shoe and the hoof. We packed the space between the leather and the hoof sole with Equi-pak. When we were happy with the sole replenishment, we used Jim Rickens to harden it up. We didn't have a problem keeping shoes on since the hoof wall was thick and solid. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| No shoes, paint the bottoms with Iodine twice a day and 4wk trims instead of 6. |
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 Whack and Roll
Posts: 6342
Location: NE Texas | The term, no hoof no horse, rings true here for me. If the digestive system isn't utilizing the nutrients the horse is consuming, the foot will be a direct reflection of that. All of my horses are barefoot now and I trim them myself. I feed alfalfa hay twice daily, one pound of whole oats once daily with Cur-OST EQ Total Support. This combination has helped all of my horses grow a strong healthy foot. We have to remember that a thin sole isn't corrected in a couple of days. It can take up to 6 months to increase sole depth even a millimeter or two, so it's a process. I paint the soles with keratex a couple times a week and keep them trimmed regularly so there isn't so much to take off at once.
On big mistake I have seen alot of farriers make is paring out the sole to make it concave when putting shoes on. The sole of the foot shouldn't be touched and scived out. A barefoot horse who has a healthy foot will naturally have soles that begin to concave a little bit. I do have boots on hand that I use if I get a horse who has been shod and then needs some extra support while his feet toughen up. There has also been some research that if a horse is barefoot and stalled, the urine and feces can keep the feet soft, so there may be a need for boots when stalled if you're finding that is an issue. |
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 Poor Cracker Girl
Posts: 12150
Location: Feeding mosquitos, FL | Herbie - 2016-01-19 1:41 PM The term, no hoof no horse, rings true here for me. If the digestive system isn't utilizing the nutrients the horse is consuming, the foot will be a direct reflection of that. All of my horses are barefoot now and I trim them myself. I feed alfalfa hay twice daily, one pound of whole oats once daily with Cur-OST EQ Total Support. This combination has helped all of my horses grow a strong healthy foot. We have to remember that a thin sole isn't corrected in a couple of days. It can take up to 6 months to increase sole depth even a millimeter or two, so it's a process. I paint the soles with keratex a couple times a week and keep them trimmed regularly so there isn't so much to take off at once.
On big mistake I have seen alot of farriers make is paring out the sole to make it concave when putting shoes on. The sole of the foot shouldn't be touched and scived out. A barefoot horse who has a healthy foot will naturally have soles that begin to concave a little bit. I do have boots on hand that I use if I get a horse who has been shod and then needs some extra support while his feet toughen up. There has also been some research that if a horse is barefoot and stalled, the urine and feces can keep the feet soft, so there may be a need for boots when stalled if you're finding that is an issue.
I told you already Herbie. You CANNOT bug my barn and then put my conversations on blast on BHW! What the hell! The similarities are getting a little out of control. 
I trim my own also and never ever ever touch the sole. I may trim a bar if it's getting laid over or scrape some flaky sole with the side of my hoof pick but I want them to develop a hefty toe callous. I struggled with long toes, underrun heels on my old gelding who was tender-footed on any kind of hard ground for years. He ended up in front shoes. Now that I've been trimming him, his feet have expanded probably two shoe sizes, his frog is massive and his sole is very concave. I'm kicking myself for not taking before and afters. |
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Veteran
Posts: 171
| Thank you all, I have some research to do.
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