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Abby 03-12-2008 12:47 PM

Horseshoers Secret
I feed my horse Horseshoers secret hoof supplement and my barn manager said its a waste of money and all I have to do is feed my horse jello packet every couple days to get the same results.

any opinions on this?

I think the Jello will make him sick as he responds very well to sugars, it makes him bounce off the wall.

DGW1949 03-12-2008 01:49 PM

The same cartilage-builders found in Jello are also found in Knox Gelatine(sp?). The difference is that Jello contains sugars, artificial flavorings, food-dyes and other assorted junk which is not found in pure gelatine.
Either will provide the building-blocks which aid in maintaning healthy joints, hooves, and if used for human consumption....finger nails.
Both are slimy if mixed with a liguid.
Both will "jell" if mixed in hot water and then refridgerated.
Either would be quite expensive, if given regularly, and in the amounts that a horse would require daily.
If that's the route you go, your best bet would be to simply mix-in a half-packet with a hand full of gooy sweetfeed and then stir the resulting mixture into whatever-amount of whatever-feed you normaly use. Otherwise, it might not cling to whatever feed you use and end up laying in the bottom of the feed bucket.

Or you can visit your local feed store and pick up a bucket of joint suppliment that contains dried/ground cartiladge. There's different brands available and different companys use different cartiladge. I've had the best results from the brands that use shark cartilage but I might just be an isolated case.

The main thing I'm stessing here is that it's the dried/ground cartilage found in Gelitane that does the work.....and it's also the ingredient that makes both Knox and Jello, gel.
So that respect, your barn manager is right.
On the other hand, I would be real hesitent about giving my horse (or kids) Jello. Reason is.... I'm not a big fan of processed sugars, food dyes, and artificial ingredients.

I hope this aint too confusing.

mayfieldk 03-14-2008 12:56 AM

Mm.. Not really.
Biotin does the work, and is a necessary amino acid in building hooves (and nice hair!).
All hoof supplements do is give your horse an overload of biotin (and lysine, the limiting amino acid. Basically, it is a amino acid in every protein that your horse needs to do just about anything!). People used to say to give horses carnation milk powder... and that doesn't have ANY biotin for their hooves (neither does jello, incidentally...) For some horses, supplements work.
My paint gelding had terrible hooves. He couldn't keep a shoe on to save his life, and when he pulled it, he'd pull about have of his hoof wall. To make a long story short, when he went without shoes, his feet looked TERRIBLE. So I put him on a supplement (master's hoofblend, I HIGHLY recommend it), after I took him to the new bolton center in PA (Where they took Barbaro) for colic and they mentioned that his feet were pretty horrendous. They had their farrier work on his feet there (In my opinion, one of the best farriers in the country. The man is amazing) and after taking the supplement for a year... he is barefoot and his feet don't EVER crack! I am amazed with how well the supplement worked. He actually has a hoof wall now!
It takes six months to a year to see results, however--most people don't stick with supplements long enough to see actual results. If your horse's feet aren't bad, then there is no reason to supplement him... but if they are, I would put him on a supplement for a year and see if they improve. It takes a long time, but for me... It was worth it.
Good luck!! Hoof problems can be a pain.

DGW1949 03-15-2008 01:08 PM

If you re-read my post, I was merely adressing the differences in various products which contain a specific building block.

Biotin suppliments may be a good thing also....but the effectiveness of any suppliment will be tied to whether (or not) that particular compound is missing and/or is needed for a particular horse.

I haven't personaly had much hoof (or joint) trouble with the horses that I've owned over the years. But of the few that I've owned which did need help, I found that the suppliments which list gelatine and/or dried cartlidge as a pimary ingredient worked fine for me. But just to be fair... those products could have contained some amount of amino acid(s) also....I realy don't remember.
On the other hand, it is for sure and certain that Jello and/or Knox Gelatine DON'T.

Sometimes there's more that one way to skin a cat.


barefoothooves 03-17-2008 11:12 AM

Hoof supplements can be a waste if your horse doesn't need them. If after 2-3 months you can't see any difference in the hoof quality that's growing down from the hairline, then it's not really adding anything the horse wasnt' getting already.

Jello is available in plain unsweetend, and yes, it's something that might help, but like it was mentioned, it's not cost effective to buy it from the grocery store in the quantities you'd need, for a large horse. We used to feed the dried milk to our horses years ago, and it did seem to help with some. But like any supplement, if you don't actually see improvement, you are wasting time/money.

However, I do feed Horseshoer's secret, the maintenance dose to one of my horses and it DOES help him, andI certainly don't think jello would do the job. The Horsehoer's Secret doens't have the highest level of Biotin, but it has a mix of other key nutrients that maximize absorbtion. Straight biotin isn't effeciently used by the horse. THe methoinine , lysine, etc help the horse utilize it. For the money H.S. Secret is the most affordable EFFECTIVE hoof supplement I've found, but I only feed it to one of my horses, the other doesn't need it.

Abby 03-17-2008 09:57 PM

My horses hooves were cracking, and were overgrown and in need of a trim badly but aren't growing fast enough to have all the trimming, I have to trim them every 16 weeks because they just aren't long enough for a trim come 8 weeks. I put him on a supplement and his hooves are doing wonderfully. I really like the supplement and feel its worth my money, it has done wonders for my moms QH too and I was curious if Jello was some super secret amazing thing that works really well as an alternative.

My2Geldings 03-18-2008 12:00 AM

Jello?! are you guys serious? I have never heard of that. It just doesnt make sense to me that would be the best thing to do.

very interesting post.

DGW1949 03-18-2008 01:52 PM


Originally Posted by My2Geldings

very interesting post.

Gelatine is not a nutrient in the sense that vitamins, minerals or amino-acids are. It is merely provides building blocks. Or to put it another way.... it contains raw-materials which the body can use for construction. Or, to be even more specific, gelatine (and/or Jello) contains processed cartlidge which is a compound that animals (and folks) can utilize to build (or re-build) their own cartlidge.... which in turn helps rebuild/strengthen joints.
And BTW, joint repair iis it's primary function when used in (or as) a suppliment. The fact that it can also help the hoof (or fingernails, in folks) is a side benefit.

But you are right. When used alone, plain gelatine is probably NOT the best thing to do for hooves.
There's better stuff available.

Sorry if I confused or mis-lead anyone.

My2Geldings 03-18-2008 06:02 PM

A very interesting post. Not sure I really wanted to know what was in Jello, since I am(or was) a Jello fan.

Thanks for the clarification. Muchly appreciated.


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