equine hoof care – Patently Bay

I can get really bogged down in hoof goops and which ones to use. Eli’s hoof care routine got modified while transitioning out of the heel pad he had on his RF. I briefly posted about this earlier, but now have a better idea of what works and what doesn’t right now for Eli. I think it might be worthwhile to list my top 5 hoof care necessities that I use regularly on Eli for this season. Hoof care is a daily activity for Eli, so some of this stuff touches him every day on any given day. Texas weather means experiencing all four seasons in one day sometimes, and that can be really, really tough on hooves, so I take daily hoof care seriously.

Hooflex

This is the near-daily stuff I use on Eli. I paint it on the outside of his hoof frequently — maybe 2-3 days a week. I have been using it a very long time and I think it does what the bottle says it does. Sometimes I paint his soles, too, if they are looking a little parched.

Forshner’s

I swapped to Magic Cushion recently, until I realized Magic Cushion made Eli’s feet … angry … I have seen just how well Magic Cushion works on other horses. It is an amazing product, just not compatible with my horse’s hooves and soles. Enter Forshner’s. This is what I used all the time before Magic Cushion to alleviate hoof soreness. I have returned to it, and love the results I get when I use it on Eli. Plus, I think it is a little easier to work with and less messy than Magic Cushion. I can pack Eli’s feet with it without having to wrap, which I can’t say about Magic Cushion.

Sore No More Poultice

I want to say I asked sometime earlier this year whether Sore No More poultice was worth the steep price tag, especially just for bentonite clay. I am still not sure whether I couldn’t just go back to using Uptite and get similar results for almost half the cost. That being said, a thin layer of bentonite poultice on Eli’s soles on particularly dry days (like we’ve been having here lately) help keep his hooves a little more pliable and a little less brittle. The Sore No More poultice is definitely the easiest poultice to wash off, and it really does go on more smoothly than some other brands.

Corona Ointment

The perfect — perfect — salve for heel bulbs and the coronary band. Accept no substitute.

Durasole

This is now a fixture in my groom box, and Eli’s farrier has recommended using it about once a week on Eli’s RF sole until further notice. I like it better than sole paint because it doesn’t smell as noxious, although it is purple and stains, so some care in application is necessary (or not, if you like spotted purple breeches). I use a toothbrush to spread a thin coat of it on Eli’s sole and frog.

Whenever I apply the Durasole, I put Corona on Eli’s heel bulbs first so I don’t have to worry as much about getting Durasole where it doesn’t belong.

Any other good hoof goops out there that y’all like to use?

I am almost out of one kind of hoof packing, and thinking about switching to another, or possibly using both for different situations. This got me thinking about all the stuff I use on Eli’s feet. I know hoof care routines vary greatly from horse to horse and depend to a certain extent on whether the horse is barefoot, shod all around, or only in front, and how they are shod. It also depends on the ground the horse stands on or works on, which changes in different parts of the country and from riding venue to riding venue. And of course the weather makes a difference, too.

Eli is shod all around, turned out on a dry lot, works primarily on a sand/clay mix and sometimes grass if the fields haven’t hardened from lack of rain, and lives in a deeply-bedded stall (with wood shavings) outside of those other activities. The ground in Central Texas is predominately rocky, coupled with this pretty unpleasant dirt that turns to gummy black mud in wet weather. I don’t see going completely barefoot as an option here, not for a working horse. Eli has also been lucky enough to have a pretty damn good farrier for many years, and recently has transitioned to another pretty damn good farrier (so far) because damn good farrier #1 moved to Florida (which makes me so sad, but damn good farrier #2 worked with damn good farrier #1 before taking over horses). Currently, Eli wears aluminum (yes, I know he is not a hunter) in front and his RF has a pad, and he wears steel on his hinds, with small trailers. He doesn’t like to grow heel.

So what can I do day to day to take care of his feet? In addition to a daily supplement that has biotin in it (which actually really works on hooves and coat), I use 4 things on a regular basis to take care of Eli’s hooves.

Hoof pick. Not optional. Use daily.
Absorbine Hooflex 2-3 times a week on his hoof, and occasionally on his soles & frogs
Corona ointment on his coronary band and on any random grabs, which he inevitably has, even wearing bell boots 24-7 now
Hoof packing after an intensive workout or a show, or if the ground or footing is unusually hard, or if the weather has been persistently dry and the horny tissue of his soles starts to get too dry and flaky

Up until recently, I had only really ever used Forshner’s for packing his feet. There are lots of other ways to pack a hoof, such as with a sweat, or a poultice, or a drawing salve, or with another brand of hoof packing. I had minimal experience with Magic Cushion, another Absorbine product, but I could see how well it worked, and picked up a tub of it yesterday to pack Eli’s feet with after intensive workouts, after chatting with a few friends who use the product. Magic Cushion is significantly more expensive than Forshner’s, so for problems with just dryness, I am going to stick with Forshner’s and use Magic Cushion more sparingly, specifically for the workouts that involve a lot of jumping.

So there are a lot of other hoof potions and whatnot out there, like Farrier’s Formula (supplement), or Keratex (a whole line of various products, the hoof hardener being the one I hear the most about) , or Hoofmaker (conditioner) … I could go on. I have used Thrush Buster, Rainmaker, and Tuff Stuff in the past, along with Venice turpentine and pine tar and Epsom salt paste to pack (not all at once) …. There is SO MUCH out there for the hoof and so much that the hoof needs to be healthy. Not to mention so much that can go wrong! I heard from a vet a long time ago that one client had used so much Venice turpentine to toughen up her horse’s soles that the sole showed up like bone on an x-ray, which is clearly taking it way too far and completely undesirable.

So now what I want to know is: what is your hoof care routine?

Tag: equine hoof care

Hoof Care: Winter 2017 Edition

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