cracks in cleft of frog

[amzy]

One of my horses has deep slits in the middle of the clefts in all frogs. If I part the slits with my fingers I can see some thick white matter. This happened last winter too and I spray purple spray on them, followed by stockholm tar to try and keep the mud out. The horse doesn't seem bothered about these but I just wondered if anybody elses horses had them.

 

[RachelB]

Sorry to sound thick, but where is the cleft of the frog? My friend's horse is slightly lame due to the middle of his frog splitting at the heel, and the split goes right into his frog apparently. She got her farrier to take a closer look (he's a remedial farrier) and he fitted eggbar shoes. The horse now moves much better and is sound (as far as I know). I'd get your farrier to take a look if it's something similar to this, and I know my friend keeps her horse's heels very clean as well now.

 

[amzy]

That's interesting! Sounds just like the same thing. Will get the farrier to have a close look next time he comes. Thanks.

 

[Theresa_F]

Cairo had feet like this until he went barefoot. He constantly got thrush unless you scrubbed every day and paid great attention to his feet. I now scrub his feet once a month (if that) and squirt on a little stockholm tar every couple of weeks as a precaution.

As long as you keep the cracks clean you should be ok - the only thing that got rid of Cairo's cracks was having his shoes off. He still a fairly deep frog cleft, but nothing like before and his feet are so much more healthy.

 

[FREESTYLER]

Hibbiscrub, Excuse spelling!! You can buy it from the chemist, usually cheaper than tack shops. dilute with warm water. Use it daily. Then dry with a towel. It is a pain in the butt, but sounds like a case of thrush. Use cotton buds to get into central cleft of the frogs Warmbloods tend to have this prob so my farrier says. I also bought a product called "thrush buster" which is magic, but only available from USA... if you have a friend going out there invest in some... it is brill. Not available in UK though.