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| I have been getting 10lbs of carrots a week from a local farm. Lucy gets carrots with her breakfast and dinner, and for photo taking purposes she even got to stuff her face with them straight from the bag. |
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| She thinks this totally rocks. |
So before she started the supplement, the farrier would compare her feet to soft cake. When he hammered the nail into her foot, the foot hardly resisted the nail. He barely had to tap the nail with his hammer to get it in, which is a bad sign. You want a hard foot to drive the nail into so that the nail stays put!
Today, my farrier exclaimed, "wow, this foot is actually making me work today!" What he meant is that her hooves have hardened up so much since starting the supplement that they were much more difficult to nail into. This is great news!
Her feet LOOK much better, too. She is growing nice heel, something that has always been a challenge. You can actually see lines on her hooves that signify big changes. These changes are moving barns (back in January) and starting the supplement. They're easier to see in the second photo.
Isn't it crazy how the hooves can show changes? I saw hoof lines when I took Shy off grain and when I got her. Luckily for me, since she is a Haflinger, she has pretty hardy feet. I do use coconut oil on them for conditioning and moisturizing. It works amazing!
ReplyDeleteHaflingers do tend to have amazingly hard pony feet! You are lucky!
DeleteWe have a horse in our barn that gets a pricey smartpak supplement called SmartSox and the change in his hoof was incredible. The line where new hoof was coming in really showed it. We were all super impressed. I have Houston on SmartHoof and his feet have never looked better. He has always had fairly decent hoof though. Glad Lucy is doing so well!
ReplyDeleteLucy is on SmartHoof also and I think the value for the money is really great. I am happy I chose that - I mulled over the different options and drove myself crazy reading the hundreds of reviews on SmartPak's website for each different supplement but in the end I decided I was so happy with the other SmartPak brand supp's I had Lucy on that I would give their hoof formula a try.
DeleteKate, do tell. Which hoof supplement is Lucy getting?
ReplyDeleteShe is on SmartPak's SmartHoof. It's $18/month and I am very impressed so far!
DeleteYes, I'm interested to know what you have her on too.
ReplyDeleteResearch shows that you need to grow a better hoof - once hoof horn has grown out of the coronary band the quality of hoof you have is what you have. If your farrier thinks her feet are harder already than it was probably a change you made about 10 months ago that has helped! Hopefully the new supplement builds on that and makes them even harder. :)
Exactly - I was trying to go about it the wrong way - you can't fix this type of thing from the outside with oils and whatnot. She needed to grow a better foot from the top down, and was only going to manage that with some help. I put her on SmartHoof. I am not sure how much moving barns helped; she certainly seems VERY happy at the new barn but at the old barn, she was out on grass so it's weird that her feet would be better out on a small dirt paddock. Oh well...I won't complain! :)
DeleteNot weird at all. I would fully expect her feet to be better off sugary grass than on. :)
DeleteThis makes me feel better! I'm in the over $70 club, too. :) My guy was diagnosed with ringbone back in June and, before he officially had the diagnosis, I started him on SmartPak Hoof. I know the hoof isn't directly related to the joint, but my thinking was: can't hurt. Also, he's got the crummy TB heels and his frogs are pretty weak-looking. So I'm glad you're having results!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I have Lucy on, too! I love their SmartPak brand supp's - they are great value for the money and really work.
DeleteGood to know. My guy has horrid feet and I'm thinking that might help him. I'll definitely keep it in mind. Thanks!
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