Once again I am seeking the wisdom of the Horse Trailer World Community.  I have always heard that white hooves are softer than black, well I have a palomino racking horse with the dredded white hooves.  His feet tend to crack and peel regardless of the time of year.  I keep a light weight shoe on him and he stays shod all year.   Any suggestions on supplements or topical treatments?

I have used blackoil sunflower seeds without much success.  I have heard of a topical called Keartin but am worried because it is a formalin / formaldahyde product.

Happy Trails,

JacciB

Is that a picture of your racking horse ? He's gorgeous !!!!!

Yup, that's my boy.  Thank you very much for the input and the compliment.  RACK ON!

There's an old horse trader saying which goes like this . . .

"One white hoof, buy him"

"Two white hooves, try him"

"Three white hooves, deny him"

"Four white hooves, feed him to the crows"

I always keep this saying in mind when looking at horses.

It helps as much as yours did. 

I've had paints and appys with white feet and have never had problems with them. I always keep mine barefoot unless we are planing on going somewhere really rocky. I just use a moisture retaining hoof coating.  I got my last paint for $400 because of his 3 white feet and never had a problem with them.   I kept him barefoot for 9 years with out a problem. 

Having had Paints and Apps and Quarters all with one white foot or more I'd attack from both the inside and out.  Feed the supplement(s) your farrier recommends and also apply daily hoof oil or sealant.

If the problem is bad enough you notice it then you should be putting effort into both areas of treatment, mouth and hoof.  I would buy hoof oil in gallon jugs and mix other hoof creams with the oil in my applicator can...the mind of a Chemist is never happy with anything store bought, it needed my help IMO.  I also listened to all the local farriers/feed stores/equine vets about what supplement was currently found to be best for my problem and where to find it.  I can honestly say that I've never found a product that out shined the rest (heck, regular powdered milk has the most biotin), but consistency is absolutely the key in getting results!

So your title read hoof supplement or topical treatment, it should read hoof supplement AND topical treatment.

Good luck!

So with the powdered milk and paprika I should have my black and white appy with strong white feet. 

I was skeptical of the paparika at first, but I am happy to say that it has made my boy black again.  No more "liver" brown for him!!  I'd say thank you to whoever suggested it, but I don't remember who it was. 

Hi Terri,  I have not seen that post.  What are the details of the powdered milk andpaprika?

I am not clear on the amount but it wasn't over 1/4 cup I can assure you all.  I had an App with really shelly/flaky feet and my old school farrier told me to use powered milk and just "sprinkle some on as long as he'll eat it."  Great dosing instructions.  After about 11 months his feet were rock hard.

My later high dollar farriers were of the mind that if it worked stay with it...this was their take on 99% of feeding supplements too I might add.  I have tried all the fancy feed supplements with my show animals, but when it comes to the hoof you can't do better than powdered milk from my experience.

Supplement - make sure your supplement has the correct proportions of biotin, lysine, methonine, and there's another "ine" but I forget - I was told by an equine nutrition expert that biotin alone can't do it. It needs the balance provided by the other ingredients. The major grain companies (here in the Northeast) like Blue Seal, Poulin, and Purina have nutritionists who can tell you about hoof health from the inside out.

Topical - My farrier recommended venice turpentine. This stuff is nasty in that the consistency is somewhere between honey, varnish, pine pitch and glue. Sticky sticky sticky. I have just started using it as my older mare is getting a little tender-footed, so I don't know how effective it is.

Other - I also feed Omega Horseshine which is ground flax seed. It is high in the omega fats and is supposed to be great for their hooves. So far so good with my four bare-foot horses. I've been feeding that for years.