Deep central sulcus advice please

[HelenBack]

I know this has been covered before but I just wondered if people could share their experiences on this or thoughts on my situation please.

My horse has been barefoot about 8 months now. Some time over the horrible wet winter I noticed his frogs on his front feet had got deep cracks in them and so set to work to sort it all out. I've mostly been using Red Horse products and I started out with Field Paste or Artimud and have now moved on to Hoof Stuff. Occasionally I've also used diluted Milton but I generally have to just squirt it in and then stuff some soaked cotton wool balls in there as he doesn't really tolerate hoof soaks very well at all.

I've got both central sulci to open up now, the one is doing better than the other but both of them you can actually see into and stick stuff in there. It all looks pretty dry and there is no obviously unhealthy tissue in there but they are both still really deep! I don't think they're getting any deeper but they're not really getting any shallower and I sort of thought they would start to fill in by now.

Am I doing something wrong and should I switch to more aggressive treatment or is the fact that they've opened up a sign that they're heading in the right direction and I need to be more patient with them filling in? Or might this just be what's normal for him if they otherwise look healthy?

I should add that he always did have fairly deep central sulci naturally when in shoes but more open and nowhere near as deep as this. His hooves have changed a lot since the shoes came off though and are more concave now so I wondered if this might be contributing. I also think that his frogs are getting ready to exfoliate so I'm hoping that when this happens it will have the effect of magically making the central sulci shallower but that might be wishful thinking!

 

[ester]

do you have any photos? I think that would be helpful.

 

[HelenBack]

Thank you. I need to get some up to date ones but I think it will probably be the weekend now.

 

[ForeverBroke_]

I was going to suggest all of the products you've used already. The field paste and hoof stuff really helped mine out.

Does he have quite upright feet?

 

[HelenBack]

I've always got on really well with Red Horse stuff too and it was a god send when he was growing out the old nail holes and had dodgy bits of white line. An old favourite was iodine, sometimes mixed with sugar into a paste but I liked the fact that the Red Horse stuff is more gentle.

I think he does have quite upright feet, yes. And quite small too. Does that make a difference?

 

[BBP]

I’ve got the same issue and think my horse is actually very sore on both heels and it has affected his whole posture. So it’s definitely something to tackle properly. I think I have always tackled it, got to a stage when I thought it was ok, then left it and they have gone deep straight away. I haven’t been patient enough and there must still be a lingering cause as to why they never stay good.

These photos are tonight, and when I use a thin flat screwdriver to pack hoofstuff into the crack it goes incredibly deep.

 

[Brownmare]

I have had success with using a length of ribbon gauze soaked in White Lightning gel to floss the crack, then a fresh length packed into the crack and the surface sealed with artimud.
If you can do this daily there shouldn't be much of a crack left in a couple of weeks. A good soak in Cleantrax will give the most stubborn ones a head start.

 

[HelenBack]

I’ve got the same issue and think my horse is actually very sore on both heels and it has affected his whole posture. So it’s definitely something to tackle properly. I think I have always tackled it, got to a stage when I thought it was ok, then left it and they have gone deep straight away. I haven’t been patient enough and there must still be a lingering cause as to why they never stay good.

These photos are tonight, and when I use a thin flat screwdriver to pack hoofstuff into the crack it goes incredibly deep.

Thanks for sharing your photos and I know what you mean about the crack being incredibly deep, I'm horrified every time I look at my horse's frogs! It's a real pain though isn't it and very frustrating given that most people probably don't even notice it in their horses' feet. I think I'm resigned to the fact that I'll probably always have to treat as though he does have thrush as even if I get on top of it now I think the moment I take my eye off it it will probably just start up again. I don't mind doing daily maintenance but do find hoof stuff a pain I have to admit.

I have had success with using a length of ribbon gauze soaked in White Lightning gel to floss the crack, then a fresh length packed into the crack and the surface sealed with artimud.
If you can do this daily there shouldn't be much of a crack left in a couple of weeks. A good soak in Cleantrax will give the most stubborn ones a head start.

This sounds doable and maybe the extra step in addition to the hoof stuff/ artimud will make a difference. Cleantrax is a no go unfortunately as he can't even cope with a normal soaking boot. It would have been my starting point otherwise but I might as well just take 20 quid and chuck it in the bin!

 

[Gloi]

I have to be careful that mine's heels are short enough. If he is short of work for some reason and he grows any extra heel the central sulcus closes up but taking them down by just a mm or 2 makes all the difference. Not sure why but I try to keep on top of them. He has no thrush in there. So long as yours has no thrush it might be worth trying taking a tiny bit off to see if it makes any difference.