Thanks for your comments Carolyn. Years ago my horse shoer was shoeing Border Patrol horses on contract and met a student at New Mexico State University who was finishing his Doctorate, in some field related to ruminant management or equine nutrition, who was contracted himself to evaluate how the Border Patrol was feeding their horses. The student, Justin, was also a hand with horses having previous worked on a ranch and feedlots in Kansas, so my shoer invited him when it was time to trim and shoe horses at the stables I was managing years ago.
Since, at the time I had three horses to be shod and also held horses for other people, I spent the whole day, every six weeks, at the farrier's stand with these two and was able bother Justin with questions about equine nutrition and supplements. I remember Justin was not too supportative of supplements in general, but did say something to the effect that if any supplements work, then hoof supplements would be it, providing they have the necessary amounts of Biotin, Methoinine and Lysine in the formulation.
I actually contracted Justin at a later date to give a presentation on equine nutrition, which resulted in some people quiting their practice of feeding sweet feed and probably creating some grateful horses as well, as some needed more feed and other less.
Back to horse feet and supplements,.........my 22 year old roping horse turned up three legged lame one day and a subsequent vet check and x-ray revealed that he had broke the wing of his coffin bone in his rear, right hoof. My shoer said that he had only seen that twice before, on much younger horses, and that he had success in getting these horses sound again. If I was willing to try to bring my horse back to soundness, he was willing to try.
My shoer fitted bar shoes on my horse for 9 or 10 months and I kept that horse on Horseshoer's Secret hoof supplement. When the last bar shoe came off we had the same Vet take x-rays again, but the Vet was pretty sure because of the age of the horse that he would not be healed. I had a feeling he was wrong, and I was right as the x-rays revealed a complete heeling of the coffin bone. While my shoer deserves most of the credit, I do believe the hoof supplements provided the necessary nutrients for the hoof to heal as best it could.
Today, my main horse is Junior, just a grade horse out of Mexico. Hoof problems are pretty common in horse's who do not get consistently good feed, but when I bought Junior years ago my shoer said his feet were in terrible shape,......big outside flairs in the bars, thin hoof walls, dropped heel bulbs on one back foot. My shoer did not have much hope of this horse turning out to be a good horse for my horseback law enforcement duties in the back country. But Junior never failed me,..never lost a shoe except the time we were loping and hit a sink hole where he over stepped and sprung a front shoe which I had to finish pulling off....that's were a Hoof Wraps bandage came in handy to protect that foot as we moved back to the horse trailer.
I also put Junior on hoof supplements, alternating between Farriers Formula and Horseshoer's Secret. My shoer did his usual great job, but still today he say's Junior's feet are still terrible, but he also remarks that Junior's soles are healthy and he grows alot of foot between shoeing. I attribute that to good, consistent feed and the hoof supplements.
So Carolyn now that I've bored you to death, the bottom line is that I do believe hoof supplements work. But also believe that not all horses need them, and that a horse would have to be on hoof supplements for 9 months or more to be able to tell a difference. Hoof supplements can't fix conformational problems, but can (I believe) give your horse the nutrients for as healthy of feet that is possible for him - combined with good farrier care and consistent, good feed. And if you put a horse on good hoof supplements, then consider not telling your farrier and see if he or she notices a difference.
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