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 Elite Veteran
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Location: MO | Edited to say trainer is a friend of a friend and they were helping keep horse in shape while finding a new barn to board at closer to their house. . Saying it was at a trainers for 5 months sounds like a long time. I have a friend that has had a horse at a trainer for about 5 months. Horse is in a stall all day, gets rode about 4 times a week and then raced on the weekend a couple of times a month. Horse comes up lame the day the farrier was out about 4 weeks ago. Front right. Can barely stand to get the left front done. Hoof tested clean and seemed to get MUCH better after walking around. In this 4 week time frame said horse is lame on and off, but seems to be 'ok' once moved around. Horse was ok for a couple of weeks.
I picked up the horse to take it to a race Saturday the 9th, and guess what....lame but not AWFUL. I was going to my farrier and we hoof tested every foot. He noticed the deep cracks but the horse did not flicnh when pressure was applied. He did flinch when pressure was applied to the outside on the frog. He said if he had thrush it looked like it was gone and the frogs were shedding so he trimmed them to further check, and found nothing. Horse wasn't even taking a mis step. He raced really well that night. My friend (the owner) picked up the horse on the 11th to have a full vet check on Tuesday.
The vet said after lengthy evaluation, that the horse had cracked frogs/heels. They have to pack the cracks with cotton and a solution he gave them. He gets bute the night before a race, the morning of, the night of, and then (if needed) the morning after. He said it would take about 6 months to heal. Horse had some really great runs this past weekend.
Here's my question. I have NO experience with this and it has me interested. What are your thoughts? Anyone else have experience? WHat was the outcome as far as healing time. What could have caused this? Is it something that may be in the stall floors? Or is it becasue he was in a stall so much? Is it something that could have been prevented if caught ealry enough? I can't imagine this happening in a short amount of time.
I forgot to add, the horse was in a stall basically all day and most of the evening except when rode. He was kicked out at night most nights except if there was inclement weather. Trainer's horse has had the same problem before.
Edited by Shushi 2014-08-18 1:32 PM
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  Northern Chocolate Queen
Posts: 16576
 
Location: ND | Without seeing pics it sure sounds like the horse has thrush in the central sulcus. I haven't read this article BUT it shows some good pictures of what it would look like. http://www.motorqueuenaturalhoofcare.com/beating-thrush.html Horses with contractod heels/frogs are very prone to thrush in the central sulcus. It's very painful & can easily make a horse lame. |
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | Thrush should be easy enough to smell... also keep in mind that horses shed frogs twice a year and it's getting to be about that time. |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | Can the heel bulbs move independently if you try to move them? The deep cracks and sheered heels are very painful. From what you are describing, it all makes sense and I agree with what they said to do about packing and treating it. Anything with the foot is going to take patience and time to fix. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2604
Location: Texas | http://www.nothrushshop.com/index.html
Look at the pictures and read this web site. There should NOT be any deep cracks between the heel bulbs! |
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Member
Posts: 11
| If needing to help promote hoof growth and healing Equdite corporation sales ECHR a hoof repair medicine that will help a ton and it has extras in it to help overall health to. Order on Fridays for free freight |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 950
Location: MO | I will go through and read these articles and info. Thank you!!!
His feet really don't smell bad like thrush so that's why I am stumped. I really appreciate the info and any other ingfo I can get. :0) |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 950
Location: MO | SaraJean - 2014-08-18 1:53 PM Without seeing pics it sure sounds like the horse has thrush in the central sulcus. I haven't read this article BUT it shows some good pictures of what it would look like. http://www.motorqueuenaturalhoofcare.com/beating-thrush.html Horses with contractod heels/frogs are very prone to thrush in the central sulcus. It's very painful & can easily make a horse lame.
THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could put a hoof pick almost all of the way in and he is really short strided right now.
Maybe time to look at a different farrier for the heels or talk to current farrier and see if there is a different way to trim/shoe him? |
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