Crumbly frogs?

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chaps89

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Madam has always had good thick frogs. However with all this recent rain they've gone all crumbly and seem to almost be disintegrating. She's on a low sugar and starch diet with equimins advance complete already and her hooves are in otherwise great condition. Is there anything I can or should put on them for this? She's not standing in water but her feet do get absolutely packed solid with mud, they're picked out daily but she does live out.
 
I do find after a very dry spell then a very wet one this does happen, my farrier came today and both of mine had crumbly frog's and he said his seen a lot of it in the last few weeks, I don't think there is much you can do I think it's just them reacting to the change of ground.
 
Franks get chalky sometimes, sometimes it goes from that to a shed. I tend to give them a squirt with sole cleanse and keep an eye on his sulcuses while they are suboptimal and a bit spongey
 
Thanks all. I have a feeling that it may have been that her feet weren't picked out whilst I went away for a few days as even though it is still very wet around her her feet seem fine now, now I'm back and her feet are being picked out daily. Either way, odd. And I'll order some of the sole cleanse too as I've seen that recommended before on other threads.
As an aside, when the sole starts to shed should you pick bits off? I really want to pick all the flaky bits off when it happens but don't incase I'm not supposed to!
Poppy- she is shod all round and in work 5 days a week. I tried to take her hinds off twice (with a view to going totally barefoot) But she has quite poor movement behind, especially in trot when she can toe drag and so she was wearing them so quickly we had to re-shoe. (I looked into hoof boots but the consensus seemed to be they're not suitable for toe draggers. I've had a new instructor on board for a couple of months now though and her movement is improving all the time as a result, so it may yet be something we revisit. The farrier is very good and doesn't par or trim the frog though either which I understand is best?)
 
I pick of flakey bits but only when they are ready to come anyway ;) - essentially if they chip/peel off easily with a hoof pick they come off, I don't take my knife to them.

The thing with a shod horse and an non frog trimming farrier is that they probably don't get the stimulation/friction to remove any extra bits of frog (or sole) so may need a little more help than those of us who don't have shoes on.
 
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