Help - Emergency - Lame

[ChevalNoirFarm]

I don't know what my Clydesdale has. His frogs are turning to mush!! When I go to clean the crevice on either side of his frog in all four feet, the frog disintegrates!! It's coming out in mushy little chunks. It does not smell like thrush at all. His white line area also seems a little softer than usual, however his hoof wall is intact. He seems slightly off in the front and is noticebly agitated when I pick out his right front and right hind. Please help. I will hopefully be able to have the vet out tomorrow AM. Does this sound like White Line?? Any ideas??

[Red Amor]

Um hi

draughties seem to need more help than many other horses it seems to me
I dont know wheather its because there so big and people find it hard to do regular preventitive maintainence or what , but most I see are ordinary to say the least
not haveing a go at you mate , at all

can you or your Farrier trim up the hooves and frog and then bath the entire hoof in a 10% solution of copper sulphate and warn water ,
do this regularly and he should come good fairly quickly
also once the hooves are looking better you could start painting on a 2 to 1 part mixture of stockholme tar and turps or kero
see how ya go
:)

[ChevalNoirFarm]

He is reguarly trimmed (never shod) and I paint him w/ Hawthorne's once a week as preventative maintenance. I have been trying to get my farrier here for the last week to no avail........isn't returning phone calls (fairly normal for him) I'll try what you recommended but what I'm really curious to know is what is this?????????

[Gary_Miller]

A farrier not returning calls shows a lack of professionalizm and carring for his clients. If I were you I would look for a new farrier. Its farriers like this that give the profession a bad name

Gary

[Double C Forge]

Yes Gary is correct. That is very unprofessional in my opinion as well. Similar story their is a farrier in our area that very regularly will show up w/ alcohol on his breath as early as 9 in the morning. I have recieved many customers on account of him. I personally do not drink but don't mind ppl that do but please be responsible & professional about it.

Chevalnoirfarm: Not to insult your intelligence but is it possible what you are seeing is frog simply shedding? Is the horse in a very wet enviroment? Standing in lots of mud, urine, manure or anything of the sort?

[ChevalNoirFarm]

Not insulting, typical questions. The answers are both no however. He has access to pasture 24/7 as well as stalls (picked twice a day, deep bedding, immaculate) and the pasture has been very dry. I actually did get ahold of my farrier this morning at 8 am and he was out by 10 (lives very far away). He pared a good amount of dead tissue off the frog on all fours and said the thrush we fought a month a half ago was just buried deep in the tissue (hence no smell). He thinks lameness is due to him clipping himself on the right front. I will keep you updated. He recommended flushing w/ hydrogen peroxide for next few days on the right front (it's the worst), drying, and applying the Hawthorne's goop to all four.

I agree that the not calling thing is very upsetting. The problem is he is the only farrier around who will work on Clydesdales. (even though mine doesn't have shoes and stands like an angel)

[Double C Forge]

That I can understand. There are alot of farriers that don't like to work drafts at all. Maybe he had some reasons of his own as well. Glad he found what the trouble was. The peroxide will work and also you can use koppertox. I reccomend it and use it myself on my own horses. Good luck w/ everything.

[Jason Maki]

The weather around here, NE Ohio, will change VERY fast. It was exceedingly wet for weeks, them popped dry and windy. The frog was probobly mushy wet (like the environment) with a little infection. When the ground snap dried, the outer layer hardened, trapping the ick. I've had good success using Sav-a-Hoof injected into the sulcus and any splits. Your shoer probobly removed all of the removable frog, so attack the infection from the inside. The gel comes in a wormer type tube, I would use it daily for a week, then 3x a week until your next trim. Good Luck!
Jason Maki

[Rick Burten]

Drafters are very prone to hoof Canker. I suggest you go to www.equipodiatry.com. There you will find many excellent articles , including one on Canker and one way to successfully treat it.

While I am not saying that your horse has canker, it should be eliminated as a possibility as quickly as possible.

Rick