Best way of treating white line disease?

[seabiscuit]

Any advice? Farrier says use Hibiscrub and Keratex hoof disinfectant, but feet are so bad that I wonder if there are any better methods of treating this?
Also I read that regular soaking of feet in disinfectant can lead to nails rusting and thus making the problem worse? Other people are also advising using Jelles Fluid or Miltons??

Owens feet are nice and black and crumbly

and infection is really bad so need to tackle this quickly and effectively....

 

[lisaward]

have you googled it,i found loads
try this

http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?p=trea...br_bt&x=wrt


Treatment of “White Line” disease advocated by some people consists of the injection of a disinfection type concoction up the white line. This does work in some cases where you have caught it before it has become deep seated, This does cut down the work which is the reason we have the condition in the first place, but I have found that once it has travelled any distance up the wall of the hoof then the only guaranteed cure is the complete debridement of the area affected. Here after debridement we keep the horses on a rubber mat bedding with no shoes and a thin layer of saw dust in the toilet area, the whole being sprayed with a weak solution of disinfectant. This treatment takes a long time, sometimes months, but at the end we have a completely healthy foot to shoe and compete on, and this as far as I am concerned is the name of the game.

The current trend in the use of wide web shoes seems to be for the protection of the sole, and were commonly used on the continent as farriers tend to remove more or nearly all of the sole when shoeing there. With the UK method of shoeing this is not the case and with narrow web shoes with a higher profile had very little problem with bruising etc. The advantage of the older shoes was a greatly enhanced grip so quite why we have gone over to the European style of shoe I don’t quite know except as a statement of style which I am sure the horse is not pleased with, nor the rider/owner if they knew the reasoning behind the modern shoe or should I say lack of reasoning.

At this point I might add my current thoughts or bee in my bonnet about horse ownership, and that is that so many people have horses as a social adjunct to their life style and not because they have been brought up with them or wanted them all their lives. The result of this is that so many owners have no in-depth knowledge about keeping and looking after horses, except what they get from books with emotive titles written by so called experts with an axe to grind, and then only as a money making venture with no thought to the horse itself. The next thing they have to have is their own personal trainer, quite a lot of them being self appointed experts with only a little more knowledge than the owner but a glib tongue. I suppose it is a bit down market to have to have group lessons from a qualified teacher with what they and their trainer probably see, no hopers., at least this way they don’t have to be judged by their peers.

A major problem in this ‘instant’ age is a reluctance to allow sufficient time for a young horse to mature – both physically and mentally. Instead people rush out and buy gadgets that only ever work for a short time and, if continued with, may well cause long term problems. There seems to be a lack of understanding of the time it take to school a horse to a reasonable – let alone high – standard if one is to avoid creating difficulties caused by putting undue mental and physical strain on them. This is especially true when dealing with young immature horses. We now come to my point in that the current trend of instant fixes is spreading to shoeing. In a lot of cases the “New” fixes are no better and in most cases worse than the old. When the old ones worked why do we need the so called new except to make money for the people who hype them with no thought to the welfare of the animal and probable to reduce the amount of work involved (always a sales point).



So finally Farriers beware of quick fixes, reduced work load and trainers or Vets who apparently know more about your job than you do.

 

[seabiscuit]

You star!! Thank you!!

Also Just wondered if anyone had any personal experiences of treating it?

 

[brightmount]

If your horse was barefoot, I would say soak in 50:50 Milton fluid:water for 10 minutes each hoof but this isn't advisable with shoes on, a. it will rust the nails and b. the soak can't reach the white line properly anyway. The Rolls Royce treatment is Cleantrax, which I get from my EP, and you have to soak each hoof for 45 minutes in a long soaking boot. The gravity of the liquid forces it up the white line to reach the extent of the infection. You can get two soaks out of each solution; after 90 minutes the solution doesn't work any more.

You could do either of these treatments when the shoes are off for farriery. I think you will need to take them off, even if only briefly, to treat it properly.

 

[seabiscuit]

Thank you lyn- what is an EP am not sure how to get hold of this cleantrax?
And where do you get these long soaking boots from- is that the ones that are used for cold hosing?
Thank you for the tips though..

 

[brightmount]

EP = Equine Podiatrist

Here:
http://www.equinepodiatry.net/

and here:
http://www.epauk.org/

I'm seeing mine this week and will ask if he can supply the stuff to non-clients. I don't see why not, although I hire his soaking boot. You can improvise by making a long boot (apparently) of tractor inner tube, doubled up at the bottom, for those who have a plentiful supply of tractors.

(PM me if you want me to put you in touch with my EP for Cleantrax.)

 

[_daisy_]

I got talking to my farrier after he shod my horse and hed said how good her feet were. he asked what id been putting on them. I said my own home made hoof ioil. He asked what was in it and remarked
"well shell never get white line disease as all the ingredients you put in are to treat it!"

So I buy a tin of normal hoof oil (say Carr, dar and Martin) remove 2 parts of it (if 500ml then I remove 100ml). Then add 1 part iodine and 1 part eucalyptus oil. Ther you have it. Quite a cheap thing to make.

 

[Emma27]

my horse had it in one hoof and i just sprayed it with Bactakil once a day for a week and kept it clean and it was gone by the time of the farriers next visit to the yard!

 

[seabiscuit]

Sounds a fab combination- great idea- I will definately be putting that together to keep his feet cleaner in the future!

 

[seabiscuit]

Ooh That was lucky that you got rid of it so quickly! Where do you get backtokil from? Will throw everything I can at his hooves!

 

[Emma27]

you can get Bactakil from your feed merchant (thats what we are and we sell it) i think Trilanco supply it even if yours don`t sell it they should be able to order it in or else your farrier prob could although farrier will be more expensive i think its about £20 for a litre bottle

 

[lucy007]

Hi was reading your post and noticed you are looking for a shetland what exactly are you looking for and where are you,we are in Wiltshire. p.s. good luck with the white line disease.

 

[seabiscuit]

Thanks Scotch- now got a few things to buy so cheers everyone

 

[seabiscuit]

Hi there- I am looking for a shetland as a companion for my mare, also to travel in the box with her when she goes to shows. Have you got anything that might suit?
I am in Hampshire, near Winchester...

 

[lucy007]

Hi I have a 5yo chestnut mare, she measures just under 10hh and may suit the job. I can send you a couple of pics tomorrow if you would like to pm me your email if interested.

 

[Gladioli]

Hi My horse appears to have developed a touch of white line disease, my vet and farrier recommended antibac, but one they make up themselves which basically consists of eucalyptus and iodine. I clean his feet and then squirt some down the nails holes and the old nail holes everyday, then when he is shod, as this is the only time you get access to the white line, my farrier soaks some into his feet while the shoe is off and then shoes him as normal. Hope this helps

 

[luckilotti]

Agree with ScotchMist! Bactakil 55 - for my shetland we tried all sorts of lotions and potions and different things for the vets etc - in the end it was the bactakil that sorted it out - you should be able to get it from a farm store as i recall its used for cows? i really HIGHLY suggest you try this!
good luck and hope it gets better.