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I had a horse with soft feet. He also damaged his coronet band, which
grew
down in a crack clear thru the wall to the white line.
I started him on biotin and methionine at the rate of 15 mg a day. I
had
an increase of hoof integrity as the wall was much nicer and had shime
as
it started to grow. I did alot of thinking about the problem, and
decided
to try some more food suppliments. I added dairy milk replacer at the
rate
of approximately 1 cup per day. It was impossible for me to see any
improvement at this point as the feet had not grown down yet.
When the feet grew down, my horse was able to hold shoes without the
wall's
crumbling around the nails. His crack was minimal, one could feel and
see
the line down the hoof, but it was tight together. I was able to have
him
shod without clips for normal riding. I still used clips on all four
feet
for the harder use stuff. One winter, we did not feed the biotin or the
milk replacer to this gelding and the crack grew down again. It was
over
1/2 inch wide. The walls were again crumbly. Shoes were hard to keep
on.
Once again he went back on the biotin and milk replacer, and the feet
went
back to the better condition.
We then started driving this horse on the roads. We had some of the
crumbling walls at the nails, so we started him on double doses of the
biotin, and again saw some improvement. At this point, we were using
regular shoes, with clips and borium for slipping. We added pads and
that
tore up the walls worse as the shoes would work/move even more.
A friend had started using the Slypner shoes, and said she had very good
luck with them. She was having bleeding problems and soreness with her
driving horse, after driving on the roads.
We ordered them. Could not find a shoer who would put them on, so my
husband (diesel mechanic) had to start shoeing again. We really liked
them.
Bonnie remember: "A horse's feet mirrors the ground that it walks on".
To add to this, your horse's problems come from the environment along
with probably incorrect shoeing. Adding Biotim with milk replacement may
help but only in a small portion. A change in the weather with proper
shoeing resolves the problem not the Biotin.
Slypner shoes are advanced technology one most are not ready for
especially the farriers. Using the correct size eliminates shaping of
the base plate somewhat but very little shaping has tobe done. The
inserts can be used in place of pads. They can be pulled in the mud to
give the best traction instead of caulks. I use the inserts in front and
the base plate in behind on soft trails as well as very rocky trails.
I hate to see people get hung up on supplements when the environment and
correct shoeing does the trick.
Carl J. Meyer D.V.M.
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