hardening up frogs and keeping feet dry?

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splashnutti1

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Hi everyone i posted before about my lads feet and finding the maggots in his frogs which left deep crevices in his frogs and up his bulb of heel which left him foot sore :(

Its now 7 weeks on and the vet has seen him 3 times since and is happy with progress but says will take a while for the crevices to heel completlely and him to get a nice firm frog again, farrier comes every 6 weeks and cuts away any excess to allow new growth.

He is no longer foot sore frogs and feet dried up lovely and hardened off and back to his usual forward going self and has stopped tripping etc although vet did say he may be up and down for a few months as wet weather will soften the frog again. I was still treating with a foot wash with dettol and hibiscrub every weekend, feet picked out daily and fly summer cream is squished into the crevices then foot is sprayed with terramycin.

My problem is now the wet weather is here it is going to be harder to keep the crevices clean and dry currently i am having to wash them at night fetch him in onto a shavings bed so they dry and then spray before turn out.

Does anyone have any ideas what i can use to harden his feet and frogs up and to help protect against the wet?
 
I doubt there is anything you can just paint on. Much as I hate not doing 24/7 turnout you might need to stable him overnight for a while to give the feet a chance to dry out and any remaining infection to clear. If you treat then turn out straight away you'll just keep the cycle going.

Once the frog is healthy again then go back to full turnout. It may be worth looking at diet, have a look through the posts on here about minerals/barefoot/thrush, etc.
 
Clean shavings dry the feet well. Would it be possible to cover the worst affected feet when turned out after applying whatever cream is working best ? If he doesn't have shoes on, I'd walk or ride him on tarmac to stimulate the circulation in his frogs as well.
 
Hi Nudibranch thanks for your response he is currently coming in at night has his feet washed and sprayed then onto dry shavings which dries his feet out lovely then i treat again in the morning, ideally i like to keep mine out longer but his situation means he has to come in so is going to be a long winter with early mornings mucking out! :(

He is only fed safe and sound and pony nuts plus vitamins as is a good doer and generally has good feet, has no thrush or remaining infection now vet gave all clear on that , is just the damage the maggots left taking time to sort itself out.
 
dogatemysalad said:
Clean shavings dry the feet well. Would it be possible to cover the worst affected feet when turned out after applying whatever cream is working best ? If he doesn't have shoes on, I'd walk or ride him on tarmac to stimulate the circulation in his frogs as well.
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Yes he is on the clean shavings at night, its a lovely thick new bed :) I wondered about wrapping his feet in vet wrap and then isulating tape (did this when poulticing and kept feet dry)

he is only hacking on concrete at the moment, i am avoiding sand as dont want it in the crevices so hopefully this will help?
:confused:
he does have shoes on?
 
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I'm more than a little bit in love with the hoof dressing from Kevin Bacon at the moment, it doesnt exactly dry the frog but its sticky/greasy in texture and stops the worst of the mud sticking for at least some time
 
splashnutti1 said:
Hi everyone i posted before about my lads feet and finding the maggots in his frogs which left deep crevices in his frogs and up his bulb of heel which left him foot sore :(

Its now 7 weeks on and the vet has seen him 3 times since and is happy with progress but says will take a while for the crevices to heel completlely and him to get a nice firm frog again, farrier comes every 6 weeks and cuts away any excess to allow new growth.

He is no longer foot sore frogs and feet dried up lovely and hardened off and back to his usual forward going self and has stopped tripping etc although vet did say he may be up and down for a few months as wet weather will soften the frog again. I was still treating with a foot wash with dettol and hibiscrub every weekend, feet picked out daily and fly summer cream is squished into the crevices then foot is sprayed with terramycin.

My problem is now the wet weather is here it is going to be harder to keep the crevices clean and dry currently i am having to wash them at night fetch him in onto a shavings bed so they dry and then spray before turn out.

Does anyone have any ideas what i can use to harden his feet and frogs up and to help protect against the wet?
Click to expand...

If the frogs are infection free, I would cut out all the products and treatments, because I think they risk overdrying the frog, and potentially causing more problems than they resolve. Frogs, like our skin, actually need a population of bacteria - it's normal and healthy.

I would consider getting something like Red Horse Field Paste, coating the feet well when dry and then turning out as normal.
 
get some red horse hoof stuff and fill the crevice up. I am doing this at the moment for when my boy is turned out and seems to stop the worst of the mud getting in, also aids healing :)
 
Brightbay said:
If the frogs are infection free, I would cut out all the products and treatments, because I think they risk overdrying the frog, and potentially causing more problems than they resolve. Frogs, like our skin, actually need a population of bacteria - it's normal and healthy.

I would consider getting something like Red Horse Field Paste, coating the feet well when dry and then turning out as normal.
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I am still treating with spray on vets advice to prevent any thrush returning and making matters worse but could put something on top of spray for protection from wet :)

Can you get Red paste from any local tack shop?

Welsh d - do local tack shops sell the kevin bacon hoof dressing?

will look into them both.

xgemmax - does it squish into the crevices easily?

thanks
 
splashnutti1 said:
I am still treating with spray on vets advice to prevent any thrush returning and making matters worse but could put something on top of spray for protection from wet :)

Can you get Red paste from any local tack shop?

Welsh d - do local tack shops sell the kevin bacon hoof dressing?

will look into them both.

xgemmax - does it squish into the crevices easily?

thanks
Click to expand...

the red horse products are here https://redhorseproducts.com/shop-2/hoof-care/

yeah fairly easily, if its not a really deep crack they recommend the artimud, basically the same stuff but not as 'thick' :)
 
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