Does Keratex hoof Hardener work?

[marge2]

Has anyone ever tried Keratex Hoof hardener or Hoof gel ( waterproofer) .

DHorse has lived in pretty much 24/7 since last June. Despite obsessive picking out, her front feet are suffering a bit from always being on warm bedding. We are getting a bit of thrush / pus which has made her lame recently. She has always had lameness probs in front when ever the ground is hard ( summer) or frozen ( winter) due to softish soles. I asked the farrier about using stockholm tar to protect them from the wet and he said it was a nightmare messy faff to use.

Someone here suggested Keratex Hoof Hardener, but its expensive so befoer I try I wondered if anyone has used it and what you reckon to it's effectiveness.

[Callisto]

I've always used stockholm tar on thrushy feet - it is a bit messy but it is also cheap and it works a treat. I had a horse with very brittle feet and I used conucresene (sp?) on him. After 6ish months his feet were much better.

[marge2]

Thanks. There is some at the yard I could use, but I want to harden them too. Does this help with hardening feet as well?

Her feet don't seem brittle, they look quite good on the outside and shoes stay on.

It's just she is such a damn wusss when it comes to stoney or frosty ground. Goes lame so easily if she steps on a stone.

[Callisto]

Sounds like she has thin soles, but there may be something else going on because it isn't normal for a horse to be habitually lame on hard ground. Personally, I would get a good remedial farrier to have a look and go from there.

[marge2]

Yeah she does have something going on inside her off fore. Vet saw her yesterday to check up on laminitis progress in backs. All good there thank God. Can dump the heart bars ( Woohoo)

He says she has a touch of arthritis in her off fore. She also has some weird 'calcification' thing going on. ( seen on xray) Not sidebone, not sure whether it's got a proper name - it's on a tendon in the foot. Not really cureable, but we have to shoe every 5 weeks to keep feet balanced to minimise pressure on the problem bit.

We had gel pads on the fronts for a while which helped the soreness on hard ground, but the vet said to take them off as they can make soles soft.

Grrr they are ALREADY soft!!

I need to get them hardened up underneath. Hence question re Keratex.

[Callisto]

I don't know then. I've never used keratex, but I've never heard anything negative about it. Hopefully someone else will be able to tell you.

Re: the arthritis, have you tried a glucosamine supplement? It is meant to be brilliant.

[olderyetwider]

Re the arthritis and weird calcification thing, our heavy mare has sidebones (I know yours aren't, but probably similar principle)and slight arthritis and I give her glucosamine, but dried rosehips have had the most amazing effect on her. She is virtually skipping along!

[frostyfingers]

I've used it on the recommendation of my farrier - he was happy with the results. You do need to be careful where you apply it, read the instructions carefully.

As always it takes a while to work, but as I say the farrier felt there was an improvement.

[marge2]

Dried rosehips. Wow. That's a new one on me. Where do you get them? Apart from off a rose bush?

Will get the Keratex stuff and glucosamine. She's on so little feed though not sure whe ther she will eat it as well as the bute that's the reason she gets hard feed.

[Callisto]

You'll have to wait until autumn, but the hedgerows are usually filled to bursting with rosehips from October. I've made rosehip syrup before now which was delicious.