Horse Joint and Hoof Care
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Explore the basics of horse joint and hoof care to learn how to keep your horse healthy with supplements, vitamins, and minerals.
by Heather Smith Thomas
The old saying is no foot, no horse, and it is still very true. A horse is only as sound as his feet and legs. Today there are hundreds of treatments for joint and hoof problems. Some are therapeutic, aimed at helping an injured/damaged joint or a damaged hoof heal or to minimize the pain and inflammation within an injured or arthritic joint. In contrast, others are prophylactic, given to the horse to prevent injury and damage, and are generally administered orally.
Many of the products horse owners utilize for joint and hoof health are added to the horse’s feed. Most of the “hoof health” products contain vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that tend to help produce stronger hoof horn as the hoof wall grows, while many “joint health” products contain ingredients that are called nutraceuticals. These products are neither a food nor a drug but seem to provide health benefits and promote joint health.
Joint Health
The list of products that claim to aid joint health is long, but the main ingredients for most of them include glucosamine, chondroitin, or hyaluronate — a salt derivative of hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid increases the viscosity (slipperiness) of the joint, providing lubrication and nutrition to the lining of the joint — the synovial membrane — and therefore helps prevent wear and tear that leads to arthritis. There is another type of ingredient that has some benefits for joint health. It is called cetylmyristoleate, and some products contain this ingredient and seem to be good for cartilage health.
MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) is a nutraceutical that is often included in joint supplement products and is probably the one that’s been in use the longest for joint therapy (in humans and animals); some horsemen began using it 50 years ago. MSM is an organic compound derived from DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) and provides a dietary source of bio-available sulfur, one of the elements essential to the formation of connective tissue. It seems to help relieve the pain of arthritis and possibly prevent more damage. Some people use several “natural” products, such as herbs or homeopathic products for joints. One is called Devils Claw, and another is called Zeel, a combination of botanical, zoological, biochemical, and mineral substances. These products contain numerous herbs that are mixed together to have a beneficial effect on the joint. Whether or not they work, we don’t know, but some horse owners claim to see some benefits. Certain joint products may help one horse but not another. Proper hoof care plays a huge role in protecting leg joints from excess stress and strain. Hoof balance (with feet kept properly trimmed/ shod and not allowed to grow too long and alter proper hoof angle) significantly influences the stresses applied to a joint. If a horse has minimum strain on the joints, this also helps prevent joint injuries.
Hoof Health
What you feed your horse can affect hoof health, but some horse owners take this too far and think they can resolve any hoof problem by feeding hoof supplements. These products are often overused. A horse on a natural diet of green grass gets the needed ingredients for strong hoof horn (protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals). Horses at pasture generally have the healthiest, strongest feet with a nice natural shine.
Old-time horsemen used “Dr. Green” when a horse had hoof problems — turning the horse out on pasture to resolve a deficiency. Many horses today live in stalls, small pens, or paddocks, eating unnatural feeds. In these instances, an unbalanced diet (or a horse’s inability to absorb or utilize enough of certain nutrients) may lead to unhealthy feet. In these situations, a hoof supplement may be necessary.
Certain elements of diet are needed for healthy feet. These include amino acids (protein building blocks) such as methionine, glycine, proline, and glutamine. Vitamin C and copper serve as catalysts in forming strong horn. Essential fatty acids are needed for proper moisture maintenance and pliability. Vitamin A and calcium are also crucial. Green grass supplies these needs, and a healthy horse creates the necessary B vitamins, including biotin, in his gut. Biotin improves weak, thin-walled feet in some horses when fed over long periods (9 to 12 months, since it takes that long to grow out a new foot), but most horses don’t need this supplement unless they are stressed and cannot produce this B vitamin in the gut. The hoof also needs a proper balance of trace minerals for optimum growth and strength. Lack of selenium, copper, zinc, or magnesium are common issues.
There are several good hoof supplements, and some contain MSM along with the other ingredients needed for optimum hoof growth. Some contain probiotic yeast, which strengthens the immune system, is a source of B vitamins, and aids digestion. Soybean meal is also a good supplement for hoof health. It is high in protein and has the double sulfur bonded amino acids like methionine that a horse needs to grow good feet. You don’t always need a hoof product if you can feed a little soybean meal. Many horses grow healthy feet on 1/4 cup of soybean meal daily, along with proper and consistent hoof care.
You can usually tell if a supplement is making a difference in a horse with hoof problems. Though it takes about a year for a hoof to grow from hairline to toe, if you see a healthy change in hair growth in the tail and mane, you know you’re on the right track. This can show up in 1 to 2 months; new hair at the base of the mane and tail is thick and shiny. The same process occurs in the hoofs; it just takes more time.
Many hoof care supplements include biotin, methionine, and zinc. Some products are elaborate blends of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and probiotics. The latter aid digestion and are included in hopes they’ll help the horse manufacture more biotin in his gut through enhanced action of microbes during fermentation of roughages. Selenium may be necessary if feeds are short in this important trace mineral. Selenium works with vitamin E to help protect the fatty ingredients that serve as mortar to hold the hoof wall together. The amount and quality of these fats help determine the hardness and resilience of the hoof wall.
Dietary supplements can usually improve poor feet, but excessive supplementation can create hoof problems. Too much methionine can block the absorption of zinc, copper, and iron, resulting in hoof horn defects. Too much selenium can cause excessive but poor-quality horn growth and cracks around the top of the hoof. Selenium is necessary but toxic in excess; it has a narrow margin of safety. Too much is bad for hooves. The current recommendation is around 1 mg per day and no more than 5 mg per day for an average size horse. Scientists think too much is unhealthy because when there are high levels of selenium, it starts replacing sulfur. This causes the breakdown of hoof material. Signs of selenium toxicity include loss of mane and tail hair, poor hoof horn, and even hooves sloughing off. Excess vitamin A can cause brittle feet. Overdoing any supplement (or adding several products to your horse’s diet for various purposes) can lead to overdoses, which can be harmful.
Another nutrient often found in hoof supplements is iodine because it plays a role in proper metabolism. Its function in the body for regulating metabolism is related to hoof health. Many things are interrelated. That’s a challenge in understanding nutrition; we can’t just focus on one thing (and think a certain mineral or supplement will solve a hoof problem) because that one thing influences the others — and too much of a good thing can become a bad thing.
Regarding hoof health, Stephen Duren, Ph.D. (Performance Horse Nutrition), uses the analogy of human health, looking at poor fingernail and toenail quality. “This is often related to nutrition. People used to think that just consuming gelatin would create stronger fingernails. We’ve evolved from that simplistic thinking and know more about how diet affects fingernail and hoof health. In horses, we know how some specific proteins, amino acids, and B vitamins stimulate hoof growth,” says Duren.
The hoof is a dynamic structure that is continually changing and growing. “A diet that is poor in 9 months can result in poor hoof quality, weak or brittle hoof horn, and perhaps a situation where the hoof can’t hold a shoe. Diet today affects future health and integrity of the hoof wall,” Duren says. By the time you see poor hoof condition, there is a lag time before the horse can grow new hoof horn. Owners must be working on hoof health via diet all along and remember that the hoof grows slowly. Even if they start feeding a better diet or a hoof supplement, they won’t see immediate change.
It takes about 9 months to a year to grow a completely new hoof, all the way down from the hairline to the ground surface. In one study, researchers found it took up to 3 years for some horses’ feet to show improvement with biotin supplementation. Another study found that intermittent feeding of a hoof supplement (such as 2 months on and 2 months off) showed no improvement in hoof characteristics. Also, if supplementation ceases, improvements may be lost as the new hoof horn grows.
When selecting a hoof supplement, most nutritionists suggest using a product in pellet form. These are often more readily consumed by the horse and less apt to blow away in the wind or remain stuck to the bottom of the feed trough. If you have a horse that doesn’t really need grain, there may not be enough feed to topdress with a powdered product, so pellets are easier.
Make Sure the Product is High Quality
There are so many products to choose from, and some have more consistent quality than others. It pays to look for quality assurance indications in terms of manufacturing practices. For instance, the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) has a seal of quality on products made by approved member companies. This assures the horse owner of quality in manufacturing practices, consistent label guidelines (everything in the product is correctly disclosed), and that the manufacturer participates in an adverse-event reporting system. There are many consumer peaceof- mind benefits if you choose a product with the NASC seal.
Heather Smith Thomas ranches with her husband near Salmon, Idaho, raising cattle and a few horses. She has a B.A. in English and history. She has raised and trained horses for 50 years and has been writing freelance articles and books for nearly that long, publishing 20 books and more than 9,000 articles for horse and livestock publications. Find Heather online at heathersmiththomas. blogspot.com.
Originally published in the May/June 2023 issue of Countryside and Small Stock Journal and regularly vetted for accuracy.
