# WHAT is this hole in the colt's foot?



## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Is this an old abscess exit site? This is his right front.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

I feel more strongly about this one having been a burst abscess. This one is his left front.










The hoof wall is coming apart at this ring:










Thank goodness it isn't far from the ground.


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## malinda (May 12, 2002)

The first pic is thrush/rot in the cleft of the frog. The second pic may have been an abscess, but also could have been a puncture wound or thrush also. It looks like you guys are just plain waterlogged over there.

The third pic doesn't look like the hoof is separating, just a "heavy" growth ring and an abscess or injury to the coronary band that is growing out.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Guess the little groove didn't photograph very well. There's a maybe 1" long section of the growth ring where there is a horizontal crack. I had his foot up on the hoof stand and gave it a rinse with the hose. When he put his foot down and bore weight on it again, air bubbles and water sputtered out of the crack.

It is so... very... wet... here.

Thrush, eh? Greaaaaaat....


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Although, now that I re-read your comment, I think I understand what you mean. Even though there's a crack there, maybe it isn't separating?

This guy's hooves were so long that I have removed maybe 1/3 of the overall initial length of hoof. I thought that perhaps the long-term strain of the long toe was making the hoof try to separate at this ring.


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## malinda (May 12, 2002)

It's not separating, but will probably break off as it gets closer to the ground because it is compromised. It most likely has a "track" in the white line from the ground to the hole (caused by the abscess) - that is why you are seeing air bubbles and water squeezing out of it.

The thrush in the first pic isn't the black, icky type of thrush you think of when talking of thrush - that's why I say rot/thrush. It's more like if you kept your hands in water constantly, for days or weeks on end. Your skin would be so soft, it would slough faster than you can regrow it. That's what is happening to his frog. It's really hard to keep them dry enough when you live in a climate that is always wet. The one saving grace of our winters here in WI is that snow is the perfect moisture content for hooves and there is no mud to cause rot or thrush. Hooves usually look great all winter here!


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

The kind of thrush shown is what I'm familiar with because our springs can be really wet and because of how we do things, it's not easy finding any place to let them dry out. Perhaps malinda has more sophisticated suggestions but the best I found was coppersept (because it has staying power), a disposable diaper and duct tape. 

If you haven't used coppersept before, it bonds quite nicely to human flesh so without protection you're going to be dining on turkey and looking like a Smurf hybrid.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

I'm hoping that with proper trimming and more exercise (his quarrantine is over on the 22nd of this month, after which time he will start going for long in-hand walks down the gravel road), his frogs will open up and get better circulation. I hope this condition will be self-correcting. 

So he has dishpan hands?! Pickled coltsfeet? 

I'm starting to consider evicting the goats and moving the colt into their stall for a while, to get him up and dry.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Thanks for the warning, wr, I will be sure to wear gloves!


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Trench foot?


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## katybug (Aug 11, 2010)

You can also use a 7% iodine and white sugar paste as well if that's easier to come by. Slap it on his hoof and then wrap in a disposable diaper and duct tape.


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## jill.costello (Aug 18, 2004)

My shoer turned me onto using "Today" mastitis tubes for those deep frog-cleft infections. It's in a plastic syringe, so it's easy to put the tip right into the hole and fill it up with the good stuff..lol...

I agree maybe a "vacation" in a stall with dry bedding for several hours per day after treatment might help to dry/toughen up the "mushy" parts....


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## southerngurl (May 11, 2003)

Yea, it's a frog infection. I have a horse that gets those holes, it is yeast, he gets white junk in there. 

All those rings on your horses feet is showing constant metabolic disturbance. Too much sugar/too little exersize/mineral imbalance. If he's getting sweet feed or grain I would want to stop it.

While today is a great antibiotic that works well for bacterial thrush. It will not heal fungal infection, will actually make it worse by killing off the bacteria and leaving the buffet for the fungus alone.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

I've had him since the 22nd of November. Prior to that I don't know how he was kept. He's been in quarrantine since I brought him home; small muddy paddock, grass hay only. He will start getting exercise after his quarrantine is over.


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Had that problem here for a bit, until I figured out the Farrier was bringing it in on the tools.
Sigh ~~
I rotated Thrush meds for almost a month, wasn't doing much either. Found out Durasole, works the best for this kind of thrush.
http://www.durasole.com/

The heavy or thick ring/white line area on the bottom, is normal for an Icelandic horse hoof.

The rings on the outside of an Icelandic horse hooves, means he has foundered in the past.
The spring/summer and Fall pasture grass this year was extra rich and causing problems for a number of Icelandic horses.


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## southerngurl (May 11, 2003)

He does look like the newest growth may be better so maybe it was what he was eating before.


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## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

haven't read all the posts, but that looks like a horse going thru alkali. too much selenium in his system, did his mane and tail get really thin? is this the only foot doing this?


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Problem here in the NW, the selenium levels are very low to having none. I know the farm that this Icelandic came from and they did not get supplements.

My Icelandic's have also gone through this issue and it was brought in by the Farrier, on his tools. Is a type of thrush. 
Durasole got rid of it. ;O)


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

chewie said:


> haven't read all the posts, but that looks like a horse going thru alkali. too much selenium in his system, did his mane and tail get really thin? is this the only foot doing this?


All four of his feet have issues of one type or another; he went without any hoof care on soft turf for an extended period of time. He is 3. So he went through an important growth period without any trimming. His frogs were all very recessed and are still contracted and atrophied. I've had him since the 22nd of November. It's very wet here. We are selenium deficient, but who knows what he was fed (or what he unintentionally got into) prior to my having gotten him.

Mane and tail are pretty thick. Not a bushy as some of his breed, but pretty thick.


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## malinda (May 12, 2002)

He is not foundered. His white line is not stretched and the rings are even from heel around to the toe. It is highly unlikely that a 3 year old would founder, unless severely obese or some other massive metabolic or systemic shock happened to his system. The rings are feed changes or possibly bouts of illness.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

He does have an excellent white line - wish my Percheron mares' were as tight as his!


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