Hooves and water

[chickflick1066]

I was just scouring the archives and looking at posts which would tell me the use of seaweed as a supplement for hooves...what function does seaweed play.

In another post (by Wally I think) she states that water is the best possible element for a horse, can someone please explain why. Is it a sheet moisture thing?

Cheers,

Minta :D

[Purple Hugs]

have been recommended today to do this too, just a moisture thing.. :) stops the need for oils etc, as these aren't great for them.

[MelanieD]

Haven't tried seaweed but have read it can be a bit unpredictable with what exactly it contains. General hoof supplement is probably better if you really need something, even better is a good balanced diet or a feed balanced as most hoof supplements only contain things to help the outer wall and not the other structures of the hoof.

Most hooves can get enough moisture internally without needed to add any to the surface. Doubt that many horses will need soaking in the lovely UK climate. Getting wet and drying out repeatedly can do plenty of damage without adding even more soaking than they get natually. Far better than using anything oil based though.

[Wally]

Not sure about the seaweed thing, a lot of Shetlands here love it, straight off the beach, never seen a Shetland with soft feet, maybe there is something in it.

Our lot live in bogs, apparently the best plants grow there, they have almost constantly wet feet, only in mid summer will they have totally dry feet for a while before they are off into the bog again. Not one of ours has anything verging on soft, or bad feet.

I have a pot of hoof oil for shows, it is about 15 years old, that's how much it gets used in our place!

[eventerbabe]

formula4feet knocks the socks off most other (if not all other ;) ) hoof supplements and is well worth trying.

My farrier used to have us bed bonnie on 1/2 shavings and 1/2 damp straw to get some water into her dry feet (as she was on box rest at the time). seemed to work!

[mogadoga]

When i gave mine seaweed, his feet went amazing, as they wernt too healthy when i got him. And his coat is lovley!

[Wally]

Böd Ayre do a good seaweed supplement for animals, you can be fairly certain that the seaweed is from a clean source too.

The amount of water samples that are taken around here would spot a pollutant before it even knew it was there :D :D My man is off taking water samples weekly for water quality.

[chickflick1066]

Thanks :) I'm currently using Seaweed (NAF) and Hoof Moist (NAF) because her feet aren't cracking but are very dry...