Celtic Hill Farm
Well-Known Member
What can i do to prevent cracks, and chips? Right now im just using a foot oil im going to apply every day. Is there supplements or anything like that?
DittoMy farrier bevels the edge to help prevent cracking. Last year I was using hoof dressing for what I thought was dryness, then later we had a wet period of time when I wasn't using dressing but all year I was plagued by white line separation and unhealthy thrushy frogs no matter what I did and how often I trimmed. I stopped any type of hoof dressing on advise of a natural horsemanship person who gave me some helpful advise, he told me to start spraying the feet with a dilute lysol solution to help heal and toughen the feet and protect from gravels forming. I started having my farrier do trims every 5 weeks so we didn't have long toes, and we started to turn the corner but progress was slow. The biggest and fastest improvement and difference is when I put about 4-6 inches of pea gravel in my paddock where the horses loaf at night, and OH MY what a transformation in the feet I saw after that!!. I saw turn around in about a month on the pea gravel! We had a terribly wet spring this year and my farrier says my boys now have some of the best feet he has seen anywhere in all his clients and he thinks it is due to the pea gravel and allowing the feet to dry out and get a break from the mud and wet ground. There is now no separation of the white line whatsoever , the feet are hard and healthy, they never chip and these boys can run and trot over hard ground with some rocks and they don't bruise or tippy toe or anything. The soles are perfect in depth and the frogs are awesome. The feet also stay in tip top shape for the whole length of time between trims and hold up to training and lunging etc. I am thrilled with their feet this year. Thought I would share what I did that made the difference. I would say, no to hoof dressing, yes to pea gravel and I do feed flax too just for good measure. best wishes...
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