Moisturise or harden?

[Hayz]

My mare has brittle feet and I dont know if that means I need to moisturise them or harden them and what to use? I was thinking keratex to harden but what about moisturise?

ETA- She has chunks coming off!
Thanks xx

[Trewsers]

How about feeding Biotin? We use the Gold label stuff - its brill, really improved our horses feet. You have to use it for a while tho to see a result.

[Hayz]

Hiya

Forgot to add she will be put on this anyway! :D

[MelanieD]

Brittle with chunks coming off sounds more like a bit of infection, and don't assume it isn't because your farrier hasn't mentioned it, a little bit of ming around the nail holes is pretty much normal rather than seen as a problem. Soaking in borax regularly should help a lot. When I had similar issues with one of mine a few years ago I did find hoof hardener helped but it didn't come anywhere near sorting out the problem completely.

[Hayz]

Where can i get borax?

It wont hurt to try. How much and how often?

[Trewsers]

Ah! Didn't realise you were going to use a feed supplement as well. Isn't the cornucresine range meant to be good? They seem to sell a lot of ointments / oils in our tack shop by them.

[Trewsers]

Try a chemist for borax?

[Wally]

Can't hurt by giving her feet a good soak daily for 20 minutes.

[Hayz]

BTW- The reason a chunk came of was becuse it cracked all the way round.

Do i soak them in water and borax?
Does it matter she was shod today?
She has very flat feet with no heel

[MelanieD]

You can get borax from chemists. Milton and virkon are also good if you can't get borax but I'm not 100% sure you can use them with shoes on so would need to check that, I'm certain borax is okay to use with shoes on. They're all mild enough and water based that you could soak with one of those and that'd make sure the feet are getting enough moisture (though not likely to be a problem in the UK most of the time) and treat any infection in one soak. Once a week for 10-20 mins is plenty if soaking for infection.

If the feet are generally a bit cr*p then its pretty likely there's some infection in there and it does cause cracking and chipping.

If you want to try hoof hardener then do it after soaking in borax or something to make sure you've killed off any infection first. Hoof hardener can help if she's been out in mud all winter as damage from standing in wet mud too much doesn't help with cracks and chips.

[Hayz]

Now we have this issue too! :(

http://www.newrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109877

Silly chemist didnt know what i was asking for!

[gingeremmie]

You can get Borax in Wilkinsons, it's with all the washing stuff.