Moisturizing Dry Hooves

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From: Barb Peck 
Email: bpeck@us.ibm.com

Dry Hooves.

I'll pass along what was told to me by a Vet and again by a pharmacist friend :
   The only way to hydrate something that is dry (be it hooves or hands) is to put water on it, then temporarily 
seal it in.
 
   Hooves can be hydrated by letting your horse stand in a shallow pan of water for afew minutes.
 (Wet mud in OUR area of the country is bad stuff, cause when it drys on the hoof, it actually pulls moisture OUT of the hoof.  We have problems with wet-dry-wet-dry hooves).
   You can buy hydrophilic ointment in a drug store, which is supposed to take moisture out of the air to "moisturize" but if you live in an area with low humidity, this wouldn't be the way to go!  It's pretty cheap, & works as well as anything to soften heals & dried out frogs.
    The two products I've found that work the best on the ouside of the hoof, are Tuff Stuff, by Mustad and Keratex products.

Barb