Following on from Faith's mild lami attack...

[spotti]

...I got chatting to the Vet re:diet and supplements. I've heard some good things about some supplements, not much change with others, and some that you should just steer clear of completely! The ones I was most interested in were ones aimed at laminitis prone horses or those aimed at helping the horse grow better/stronger/harder feet etc. According to my vet though there are a lot of 'fakes' or 'copycats' out there that don't really do much and can actually cause more harm than good. But there are a few out there that are based on sound scientific evidence that proves that it will do what it says on the tin.

My current dilemma is what do I believe?

I've heard good things about Global Herbs Laminitis Prone Supplement, Farrier's Formula, and also Formula 4 Feet. I've learnt to steer clear of anything NAF because...well...it's in the name...it's generally naff!!

My vet said if we were to use anything then Farrier's Formula is v.good, but I'm confused as to how to feed it...can it be fed on its own or will it need to be mixed with another food stuff? (asking mainly as Faith would put weight on if she was grazed on bare tarmac, hence could do without extra food if at all possible).

I'm confused! Any opinions or advice very much welcomed

[bonnyben]

I agree Farrier's Formula is one that can be trusted. I used to give it to the witch Pebbles.. ;D It seemed to help but she had chronic feet to be honest, chronic..

My farriers aren't great ones for supplements - they'd tell you it is all about the ground, the work they do and of course the shoeing!!!

Our ground is notoriusly bad - clay soil and very cloying and I remember the vet saying to me "S - if you lived in Berkshire Pebbles would have great feet.."

Fat lot of use that was..

[haffyfan]

The best one I came across was Feet first (or on those lines) by/linked to Paula Sylvester.

Argo did sell it and was where mine came from so you could try ringing them for more info on it?? I'm sure they'd know the one when you mentioned her name.

[joandlad]

Problem with any supplement is that if you're feeding X it often needs Y as well in order for X to do its job. The whole diet needs to be balanced but this opens a whole can of worms requiring soil analysis, hay analysis, working out quantities of grass eaten, amount of work done, etc, etc, etc. There are a whole heap of supplements on the market that have no clinical research behind them, just tradition. Some work but some simply do not. At the end of the day the foot is no different to the rest of the horse's body. It comprises of bones, tendons, cartlidge and blood vessels - as does the rest of the horse. So you shouldn't need to feed anything that is just specific to feet. Biotin, which is the supplement most people feed to improve feet hasn't actually been proven to improve foot quality, just foot growth. So you started with bad feet, spent a load of money on a Biotin supplement and now have quick growing bad feet. What has been proven is that the best diet for horses is a low sugar, high fibre diet, especially with laminitics. My personal opinion is that if you add a broad spectrum vit/min supplement you should be covering all bases in ensuring your horse is getting the vits/mins it needs (most excesses are excreted by the body if not needed).

As for lami-specific supplements if you want scientific proof you won't find any as no-one knows yet what actually happens in laminitis. The jury is out as to whether it's ischemia or edema. I've no idea how they can say that a supplement is going to stop laminitis when there are 101 different trigger factors. The best thing you can do is adress your whole environment (feed, turnout, stabling, work, stress levels - anything that has an impact on the horse) and change what you can to be condusive to a healthy horse (which includes its feet!).

[baymare]

hi. my horse mable had terrible feet.cracking,spliting feet,shoes coming off all the time.just breaking down of the hoof wall all the time.then i found baileys low cal balancer.my god i cant believe the difference.new hoof growing down in good condition.even my farrier said they were looking great.now im to scared to stop feeding this balancer.its taken 7 months and i am so happy with it.its quite expensive but its brillant.i feed this with hifi or molliechaff.she is looking super.bay.

[jane]

Hi Bay - I like the lo-cal balancer, it works out at about 50p a day for Deb's, have used it since I have had her and she looks great for a 20 year old lady, who also happens to be possibly one of the fittest horses in the valley.
I give her alfa-a lite and a handful of baileys conditioning cubes.

[spotti]

Jo, see that's kind of what I got thinking about when I was looking into stuff...that a supplement can't claim to prevent laminitis if no one really knows how/why it happens But totally agree on the broad spectrum thing.

Faith currently has Spillers Happy Hoof (in varying quantities depending on time of year/work load etc - at the mo she has next to nothing, just enough to mix the glucosamine into), Glucosamine for her joints, Garlic Powder for the flies and Devil's Claw Root again for her joints. Apparently the HH is a complete food so no need to add much else in terms of vitamin supplements etc.
Her feet have improved massively since swapping onto HH and in the past year or so she's had no lami lines at all, barely any cracking (except just before a trim), her hooves are smooth and look naturally nice and shiny.

To be honest I think she's doing well with what she's on, especially since it's low sugar/high fibre and Laminitis Trust approved - I was more on the look out for something to try and make the grass a bit safer at this time of year, but I guess changing the time she's turned out and making sure we avoid particularly dangerous periods will do the job just as well (if not better).

You guys have done what you always do and have reassured me that we do know what we're doing Thanks very muchly ;D

[racaille]

Now I've always been puzzled by supplements. I don't feed anything at all extra - P and R have always had nothing but ad lib hay and liberal carrots - but sometimes wonder if that is enough. P has a a salt/mineral block that he never touches. But horses in light work (which most of ours are) .... do they really need supplements?

P was reshod a couple of weeks ago and the farrier was ecstatic about his hooves - after 8 weeks of hard work on stones, they were in great nick. I do wonder if a certain amount of hard, dry ground is good for hooves, if a horse is always on soft ground, do the hooves get soft too? (Like our nails get soft after washing up?)

[duckles]

Racaille - I think in general that dry ground is better for hooves (although presumabley hard on tendons?) In fact I think horse shoes were invented in the wetter countries of europe. Still I have to admit that Cori - who lives out on wet soft ground (for a great part of the year) has excellent hooves, beautifully shaped, holding shoes for 12 -14 weeks without damage to him and always wearing evenly. While jb HAS thin soft feet that need pads and they get absesses in the wet and crumble in the dry. So I think that some horses just have good feet. I do give low cal balancer because my horses mainly feed on grass and the quality can vary between fields and times of year and I like to feel they are getting their vitimins and minerals. However, the other horses who have the same grazing don't get anything and are equally healthy so I suppose they are all more hardy than we think.