face
Posted : 2/5/2010 11:06:16 AM
We have a horse that had very bad hooves as well. He was lucky to keep shoes on for a month and the shoes were destroying his hooves. We made the decision to remove his shoes. This was a LONG PAINFUL process as his was 16 and had shoes on since he was 1.
Our vet recommended giving him flax seed meal, nothing fancy, just plain ole flax seed meal. It has to be MEAL, not the plain seeds. The most cost effective way of getting it is from here,
http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/flaxseedmeal50lb.aspx. It is a 50lb bag and you have to keep it refrigerated which may be a problem for you. One bag would last you one year! We have 6 horses and they all get a couple ounces a day for dinner. It is also good for their hair. Here is some info on it:
http://www.horsetech.com/flax-benefits.htm Keeping moisture in their hooves is also important. Since we are having a wet winter that is not a problem for us as they are always standing in nice moist (and cold) mud!! Our farrier, and we have a nice one as well, recommends putting pine tar on their hooves for moisture. Again, just plain ole pine tar. He claims a lot of the hoof dressings have a bunch of crap that is worthless and a waste of money. Last summer I had a bottle of baby oil in my tack box which I used on my horse, real easy to squirt and rub in.
The end of the story is, the horse with bad hooves now has very strong hooves. He still has issues walking in rocky areas, but it is all in his head!