Equine Anatomy & Disease

Question:  I am currently feeding Platform Hoof Formula. I have a horse with a crack in his hoof and would like to know if there is a better Hoof Supplement for his feet. The hoof does not seem to be growing back together. His hooves are trimmed every six weeks.

Answer: I compared the hoof supplement you’re feeding now with several others on the market and your brand seems to have the most popular ingredients (biotin, methionine, lysine, zinc and copper) in the most common ranges for each. How long have you been feeding this supplement? Horses’ hooves grow anywhere from 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 inch per month, so it can take eight months to well over a year to grow a completely new hoof.
    There are several other factors that determine the rate and quality of new hoof growth in your horse such as his overall nutrition, the amount and type of exercise he gets, and the day-to-day environment of the hoof (wet, dry). Unless he has other health conditions you didn’t mention, feed two percent of his body weight each day in a high-quality forage and complete his diet with a fortified grain, ration balancer or multi-vitamin/mineral supplement. Make sure fresh water and salt are available at all times. Provide as much turnout as possible (24/7 is ideal) as well as additional exercise such as riding or lunging unless the hoof crack has made him sore. Though it’s best to keep hooves at an ideal moisture—neither too wet nor too dry—going back and forth from wet to dry conditions is worse so do what you can to keep the moisture level in his feet as consistent as possible.
    Finally, your question reads like your horse has a vertical crack—maybe a quarter crack? If it’s severe, your veterinarian and farrier may have to work together to stabilize the area. Sometimes this can be done with just a shoe, other times more extensive measures must be used such as inserting metal wires into the sides of the crack and pulling it together. Of course, any infection must be cleared up first and any dead tissue removed to allow healing.

Question: I was wondering if you could tell me anything I could do for my yearling mustang filly. She is underweight, although she's on about six pounds of mare and foal feed a day, vitamins, good quality hay and plenty of fresh water. She also has access to good pasture. She has been examined by my vet and he recommended vitamins but I wondered if you could recommend anything else I should be giving her?

Answer: To really give you the best advice, I would need to know things like your filly’s weight and body condition score, also your parasite control program, the kind of environment she lives in (weather, stall vs. turned out, individual or herd) and how long you’ve had her. In lieu of those details, I’ll just provide an overview of “the usual suspects” that lead to thin horses and what to do about them.
    Horses can be thin for medical reasons and non-medical reasons. The medical category includes things like parasites, diarrhea, infections, etc. You said your veterinarian checked her out, but I’m curious if he/she performed fecal exams (a regular qualitative fecal exam as well as fecal egg per gram count) since parasites are pretty high on my list of why young horses are thin. At this age, she could still be harboring roundworms (ascarids) in addition to large and small strongyles, so it’s important to make sure she’s being dewormed appropriately. Also, did he/she perform any bloodwork, like a serum chemistry and a complete blood cell count (CBC)? Finally, it would be unusual for a horse this young to have a serious dental problem but a complete physical examination should include an inspection of the mouth and teeth.
Now for non-medical reasons your filly may be thin:
1. Is she getting about two percent of her body weight per day in good quality forage? You may need to weigh your filly and weigh your hay to answer this question. If she’s on pasture, make sure your stocking rate is not too intense and that the pasture is still good quality grass and not mostly weeds.
2. Is she getting the amount of fortified grain that the bag recommends for her age and weight? If you’re feeding less than the bag recommends, she’s not getting enough calories (energy), protein, vitamins and minerals and you need to either feed more or supplement these nutrients with another product.
3. Is she burning calories staying warm where you live or fighting for food and space in a herd? If so, she may need to be kept differently so she’s not using up valuable nutrition meeting her basic energy needs or fending off competition.
4. A yearling is a horse that is still growing so make sure you’re feeding her like a young horse and not an adult horse. Yearlings need increased amounts of energy, protein (amino acids), calcium (in the proper ratio with phosphorus) and other vitamins and minerals. However, simply giving her more “vitamins” without taking into account what she needs and what she’s already getting isn’t the way to go about it and may cause excesses and imbalances leading to serious conditions.
    One last note: she’s a breed that is generally considered an “easy keeper,” so you may want to be careful giving her too much traditional grain, especially when she’s young, as some believe this sets horses up for Equine Metabolic Syndrome and insulin resistance. Instead, experiment with putting weight on her by supplementing with the limiting amino acids lysine and threonine, adding fat to the diet, and seeing if pre- and probiotics improve her ability to digest feed.

Reprinted with permission from AAEP. To view the entire article please visit www.aaep.org/ask_the_vet.php