Question: My trail horse has had terrible feet for as long as I have owned him. The farrier says he has thin soles and no heel. Even when he grows foot, it is shelly and brittle. Someone mentioned adding a combination of gelatin and biotin to his diet to help his hooves. Is that advised?

My Warmblood-cross mare was diagnosed with myofibrillar myopathy through muscle biopsy. While my vet has been amazingly supportive and persistent in achieving this diagnosis, she admits that she is not well versed in nutrition. She mentioned that changing my mare’s diet, including the addition of an amino acid supplement, might help her become more comfortable and perhaps rideable. Can you help me understand what she’s referring to?

Lotus is my 31-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding that’s in moderately fleshy body condition (score of 6). He’s turned out on pasture for several hours daily. When stalled, he’s fed hay and given a balancer pellet. He’s becoming pickier about his hay, which is completely new for him. While I worry a bit about this fussiness, I am more concerned about the consistency of his manure, which occasionally becomes runny for several days. My vet suggested that age and frequent changes in forage could be responsible for the manure changes. Lotus is boarded at a small barn. Hay is delivered frequently, and each batch is different on visual inspection (color, maturity, weed content). Lotus is given pergolide daily for Cushing’s disease and bute sporadically for arthritis if I have ridden him more than usual. What are your thoughts?

I own a six-year-old draft-cross mare that is nursing a foal. She developed laminitis about a month ago from accidental consumption of livestock feed. Unlike most horses with laminitis, she needs to gain weight (currently a body condition of 3.5-4) to support herself and her nursing foal. She has access to free-choice grass hay and a mineral lick. I feed her 1 lb (0.45 kg) of a high-calorie performance feed once a day. I have some perennial peanut hay that I would like to feed, but I am hesitant to introduce this forage. Can you help?

I have a 10-year-old Icelandic stallion that I ride every other day, either schooling low-level dressage or trail-riding. He’s a body condition score of 7. He is fed 15 lb (7 kg) of clean, mature hay per day, 0.5 lb (0.25 kg) of concentrate intended for leisure horses, and several other products, including multivitamin, magnesium, and turmeric supplements. His coat is shiny, but his skin is dry with dandruff, so he itches a lot. It’s likely not sensitivity to Culicoides spp., as he itches year-round, not just in summertime. He also licks dirt sometimes and eats dandelions and thistles when he is turned out, so I wonder if he is getting the nutrients he needs. An allergy test revealed nothing. Any ideas?

What can you tell me about feeding hemp to horses? Are there any studies comparing it with flaxseed (linseed) and soybeans? Also, why is hemp in the banned category with the FEI and other national federations?

My 20-year-old Arabian mare is moderately thin with a weak topline. She has a history of insulin resistance and mild laminitis. The insulin resistance is kept in check by diet, exercise, and metformin. I ride her three days a week, just light work, but hand-walk her one to two miles a day when I don’t ride. For the last 10 months, she has eaten hay very low in protein (3%), but the new hay I’ve purchased is significantly higher (14%). She’s fed 12 lb (5.5 kg) of soaked timothy hay divided into three meals, 1.5 lb (0.7 kg) of ration balancer divided into three meals, and some supplements (natural-source vitamin E, magnesium, salt). Because of this change, I am considering switching her to a balancer pellet that is lower in protein.

My high-level barrel-racing horse runs out of gas going to the third barrel. The gelding has a history of tying-up, but I seem to have that under control with diet and exercise. Is there a pre-race supplement that might help with early-onset fatigue?

I own a 16-year-old draft-cross mare. She stands 16.2 hands and weighs about 1,800 lb (820 kg). She’s in moderately fleshy condition (BCS: 6). She’s stalled for 16 hours each day and in a drylot for the remainder of the day. She’s fed five flakes of soaked hay and four flakes of dry hay daily with two cups of ration balancer. We hit the trail two or three times a week, mostly walking and some short stints of jogging. She was diagnosed with PPID and is on pergolide for that. I recognize that she needs to lose some weight but how?

I have just acquired two very different Miniature Horses: one is dumpy and fat, and the other is petite and in moderate weight. I'm of the mindset that horses should have a constant source of forage, but this won’t work for them, as it won’t be long before these two are fat and fatter. Do Miniatures not need the same flow of forage through the gut to maximize digestion and minimize ulcer risk? How should I offer these horses hay?