You do not have to be around horses long before you hear someone say the phrase “no foot no horse”. Perhaps this is one reason why in the realm of equine supplements hoof supplements are prolific. A good number of horses have less than optimal hoof quality. Cracking, chipping and splits are common complaints as are thin soles and hooves that just don’t grow very quickly. Given that your horse’s four little digits have to support hundreds of pounds of mass, no-one can deny the importance of hoof quality. So, can those hoof supplements jumping out at you from the pages of equestrian magazines really help improve your horse’s hoof quality? Let’s take a look.

Nature is a curious thing, often rigged in the favor of the next generation over the success of current adult individuals. Some interesting metabolic changes occur during a horse’s pregnancy that are very similar to the changes that occur during a human pregnancy that in both cases favor the unborn individual. While these shifts in metabolism are crucial to the development of the fetus, they may have devastating consequences for some mares and in certain cases may lead to the unborn foal’s demise.