Why have my horses hooves turned black?

[River's Edge Farm]

I have two Haflingers that usually have very light colored hooves (no black) but this winter they are coal black! Although the are not growing as rapidly during the winter (I am located in Maine) I keep them on their normal every eight week trimming with the farrier. He is due back very soon. These horses are not on any grain....only hay and hay extender (for the crunch) and powdered kelp. The kelp is the only difference in their diet since last winter. They are both very heallthy, but someone recently suggested they may be lacking something in their diets. Neither horse is shod. What is up with the change in color??? Thank you!

[Phil Armitage]

Wow, that is strange. Did the hair above the hoof change color? Sometimes nutrition changes or lacking something or too much of something can change the color of the coat and the color of the hair line is the color of the foot. I would definately look into this maybe ask your Vet to check it out and draw some blood for testing.

[River's Edge Farm]

The hair around their hooves is still white like always. The kelp has a lot of bioten in it and maybe it's just making their hooves healthier? Aren't dark colored hooves healther? I will discuss this with my farrier....he's fresh out of school so probably hasn't seen as much. Thanks for your input!

Anne

[Shockn&Gucci_rule]

Aren't dark colored hooves healther?
Anne
Haffies are just such awesome horses! (all horses are awesome of course, but Haflingers are just really super cool in my biased opinion! :p )

Anyways, pigmentation of the hoof does not effect hoof hardness or health. The myth about white hooves being weaker is just that, a myth. ;)

My Haflinger mare has striped hooves, and btw, I'm in Maine too. :)

The color change of your Haffie's hooves really does seem weird -- if you find out what the cause is, please post and let us know! Thanks!

[River's Edge Farm]

Hello....I enjoyed looking at your web site and it's very nice! I believe our girls are related :) My two Haflinger mares are full sisters, ages 6 and 8, and are from an Austrian mare Orsa (Oxalia x Afghan II) and their sire is Nobleman of TOF. Are you a member of the Northeast Haflinger Association? Good to 'meet' you!

[caballus]

Kelp is naturally high in iodine. Too much will wreak havoc with the Thyroid. Unless they need the extra iodine, I'd be careful of that. Iodine, of course, can change pigmentation so perhaps that is the reason for the change in the hoof color?

--cab

[Jason Maki]

When flamingo is born it is white, but the little kelp shrimp it eats turn it pink. Maybe the feed you are feeding is changing the pigmintation of the horn? Just a wild guess, have a vet check it out!
Jason Maki

[Red Amor]

Gday guys
Are the horses kept in a stable /yard with saw dust in it

i worked in a mill for many years with my dad and brother the eucalipt or gum trees saw dust would turn your hands black as tar in staning your hands feet in any folds of skin like around your eyes your neck , in the fold of your elbows

when it rained and the puddles would be staines black and this stained water would turn steel wood cloth skin black as night

the tannons in very organic soil will do the same on a lesser scale

maybe this is what is happening ?

[Phil Armitage]

The hair around their hooves is still white like always. The kelp has a lot of bioten in it and maybe it's just making their hooves healthier? Aren't dark colored hooves healther? I will discuss this with my farrier....he's fresh out of school so probably hasn't seen as much. Thanks for your input!

Anne

Anne, I actually learned at an Equine nutrition clinic held at UNH that you can give a horse too much biotin and this can be harmfull. More is not good, the correct amount is good. I do not know what that is. Farriers Formula did a study on levels. Farriers Formula is made by Life Data. Could be a good place to start researching. Good for you trusting a guy fresh out of school, hope he has at least apprenticed with an established Farrier.

Good luck and let us know what you find, sounds interesting.

[Jeanette James, CESMT]

Kelp is naturally high in iodine. Too much will wreak havoc with the Thyroid. Unless they need the extra iodine, I'd be careful of that. Iodine, of course, can change pigmentation so perhaps that is the reason for the change in the hoof color?

--cab

Caballus hit it on the head. That's exactly what I was going to say. They may be getting too much iodine in the combination of feed, hay and supplements. If that's the only thing you've changed, I'd be real suspicious that's your culprit. Problems can arise from iodine overload.

Jeanette

[River's Edge Farm]

Well, I know that by living in Maine that is isn't from a Euchalyptis tree but that was interesting nevertheless.

I get my kelp meal from North American Kelp here in Maine and use the recommended dosage of just 1/2 oz per horse per day. That isn't an excessive amount of iodine or biotin. I will double check with my vet just to be sure though.

Thank you for your input!

Anne

[caballus]

Biotin is a B-vitamin and water soluble meaning whatever is not needed by the body is eliminated in the urine. It is not stored in the fat. Therefore it is pretty much impossible to "overdose" on it. Iodine, however, is not a water soluble; it is stored in the body. Too much affects the thyroid and is known to cause either hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, in susceptible individuals, as well as increasing the risk of thyroid cancer. That's why, when it is advised by vets to add tbsp or so of salt to a horse's feed to increase thirst that it be straight salt - non-iodized.

--caballus

[River's Edge Farm]

This is the analysis breakdown of the kelp meal that I use. As you can see, it does not have a high percentage of iron. I only feed 1/2 oz per horse per day. I'm anxious to speak with my vet and will post what he has to say.

Minerals and Elements (%)

Aluminum
.193

Antimony
.00014

Barium
.00128

Boron
.0194

Calcium
1.904

Chlorine
3.68

Cobalt
.00123

Copper
.00064

Fluorine
.03265

Germanium
.00001

Gold
.00001

Iodine
.0624

Iron
.08956

Lantanum
.00001

Lead
.00001

Lithium
.00001

Magnesium
.213

Manganese
.1235

Mercury
.00019

Molybdenum
.00159

Nickel
.0035

Nitrogen
.0624

Phosphorus
.211

Potassium
1.28

Rubidium
.00001

Selenium
.00004

Silicon
.1642

Sodium
4.18

Sulfur
1.564

Strontium
.07488

Thallium
.00029

Tin
.00001

Titanium
.00001

Tungsten
.00003

Vanadium
.00053

Zinc
.00352

[Gary_Miller]

Here is another example of feeding unnecessary supplements?

I don't think any "natrual Horse" ever ate Kelp.

Give your horse some good Hay or better yet Pasture and he will do alot better. (Boy I bet that will stir up alot of contraversy.)


Gary

[chang-kuao-lo]

Take a bit of sandpaper and see if the black is superficial, or if the wall is black all the way through. One thing I have noticed since moving to Maryland, is that in some of the police barns we work in, the feet and the shoes seem to have a strange hard, black coating on them which comes off with rasping/wire brush, it seems to have something to do with the type of shavings used in the stalls. Is the kelp the only recent change, or have you changed bedding as well?

BTW: Black feet are no better than white feet. Almost all Belgian draughts (which aren't really belgians at all, that's another story) have white feet, I have yet to see one with crumbly or soft walls. On the other hand, almost all thoroughbreds have black feet, and they are notoriously bad-footed.

[chang-kuao-lo]

Sable Island ponies eat kelp. Icelandic ponies eat pickled fish!
Mares eat oats
Does eat oats
And little lambs eat ivy ;)

[Gary_Miller]

I stand corrected.

Gary
See I told you I was a rookie.