This message is from: Marsha Jo Hannah <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > "Cindy Vallecillo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > My fjord has week feet, thin hoof walls to be exact. The farrier > who has cared for his feet for five years told me before I bought > him that part of the problem was lack of exercise. > > This past year his feet have been improving. The amount of growth > between shoeings has increased and they have been less brittle. > > Today my farrier told me his feet have become really brittle, [...] > and he thinks it may be nutritional. > > I feed him half straight grass and half timothy. He gets about a > cup of bran with carrots every night [...] I give him hoof supplements. > > The one thing that is weird is, his barn mate, a warmblood mare, is > having the same problem with her feet (the same farrier > > Millbrae California
When I lived in the SF Bay Area (between Woodside and La Honda), our Fjords had varying degrees of hoof problems. The old mare was the worst; she barely grew any hoof wall, was very brittle, and always chipped out at the quarters. Even though we didn't ride her, I had to keep her shod (corrals were gravelled there, as were the roads to the pastures). One particularly bad time, my farrier grinned at me, and told me that Nansy's shoes were each held on with "4 nails, 3 clips, Bondo, and a prayer". My gelding chipped somewhat, and needed shoes (and pads in the summer) to protect him from the hard, lumpy ground. My husband's gelding had the best hooves---could have left him barefoot in the winter, although he needed shoes in the summer. Since we've moved to Oregon, all 3 of them are barefoot. Both geldings are doing well---good, thick, moist hoof walls, with plenty of growth. We haven't ridden much, although they seem quite comfortable on dirt (pastures); they move a little "carefully" on any gravelled areas. However, the old mare still grows hoof slowly, and is chippy at the quarters. Years ago, I had a Fjord breeder who used to be a farrier (Hi, Orville!) tell me that the old mare needed more calcium in her diet, so I should add a pound or so of alfalfa to her ration. Various other farriers have had me try giving her biotin, seaweed supplements, and something called Platinum Performance (mostly flaxseed meal). All seemed to be helping for a while, then not. (I think the flaxseed meal did the most for her.) However, the mare's problems are complicated by her age, arthritis (doesn't move around much), and a history of low thyroid, which was probably a precursor to her current case of Cushings syndrome. In CA, my gelding was getting ShoGlo (vitamins/minerals), Bio-Meth (biotin), and a little Equine Senior (carrier for the supplements) along with his timothy hay. My farrier had me use various hoof dressings---Tuff Stuff in the winter, Rainmaker in the summer. Here in OR, he's getting local pasture hay (mostly fescue, with some clover), and Horse Guard (vitamin/mineral, with extra selenium--- deficient in this area), again with ES as a "condiment". I have not needed to use hoof dressings. What I think has made the biggest difference for him is this area's nice sandy-loam soil, instead of the heavy clay in the SF Bay Area. Here, his corrals can be dirt, because the rain water drains away thru the soil (no gravel needed). Soil moisture stays fairly even, instead of being "clay snot" in the winter and "lumpy concrete" in the summer. My husband's horse and my donkey have had reasonably good hooves both places, without any supplements, other than vitamins/minerals, as above. Anyway, things for you to try: * Add some alfalfa hay (a pound or two, instead of some of the timothy). BTW, bran is very low in calcium, and if you're giving him more than a cup or two, might be making things worse. * Have your hay analyzed for its selenium content; supplement if needed. Don't just automatically supplement with selenium, as some CA hays already have borderline-excessive selenium, and too much is as bad as too little! * Try a supplement that has a lot of flaxseed meal in it. Bear in mind that it'll take 6 to 12 MONTHS for any of these things to make an obvious difference. Makes it hard to figure out what is working! Good luck! Marsha Jo Hannah Murphy must have been a horseman-- [EMAIL PROTECTED] anything that can go wrong, will! 15 mi SW of Roseburg, Oregon
