i think hes now got an infection :S

china

china

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i posted a while ago about my tb's manky frog, well it was clearing well and then he went barefoot on thursday and his leg is now swelling from the fetlock up. he is very lame on the concrete still at the mo but is walking and trotting around the pea gravel but i can see he is ovbiously lame on this foot. im going to ring my vet for advice but does anyone have any tips for getting rid and keeping it dry while doing this!
 
china said:
i posted a while ago about my tb's manky frog, well it was clearing well and then he went barefoot on thursday and his leg is now swelling from the fetlock up. he is very lame on the concrete still at the mo but is walking and trotting around the pea gravel but i can see he is ovbiously lame on this foot. im going to ring my vet for advice but does anyone have any tips for getting rid and keeping it dry while doing this!
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Personally this doesn't necessarily sounds like it's related to the frog issue or barefoot either....if it's above the fetlock and he's lame might he a twisted himself and pulled a tendon?

Either way I'd probably recommend you cold hose the leg twice daily for 20mins a time, dry off and then stable bandage. keep in the box. make sure there is dry deep bed to absorb any mankiness from the frog and maybe salt water tub the foot to clean the frog if it's still ickkie.

HTH
Imogen
 
thanks for that. would be bloomin typical if he has done that, he doesnt do things by halves! il cold hose his leg and see what happens. iv got him on a deep bed at the mo as hes so foot sore, iv been using paper bedding for the first time and it makes a lovely deep bed. will have the vet out monday i think.
 
china said:
thanks for that. would be bloomin typical if he has done that, he doesnt do things by halves!
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:(
il cold hose his leg and see what happens. iv got him on a deep bed at the mo as hes so foot sore, iv been using paper bedding for the first time and it makes a lovely deep bed. will have the vet out monday i think.
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Sounds like a good plan. Good luck
 
I agree with Imogen. Fetlock up sounds other than foot related. Although I have just worked on a TB which had very minor fetlock swelling post deshoeing. X-rays had shown that his knee joints in front were unlevel, perhaps because of how he was shod. Certainly under the shoes there were a lot of issues, not just poor balance. The swelling went down over a few days.

Because you are uncertain of the cause it would be a good idea for you to your vet for a proper diagnosis. Preferably F2F rather than phone. I've seen a lot of horses struggle on for ages when the poor vet has been held at arm/phones length when really a visit could have sorted things out much more quickly.

There are also a lot of frog issues around at the moment. The very (relatively) warm weather (south of Watford anyway) coupled with a lot of rain is catching people out.

Salt water baths are a great idea if you can get your horse to stand for them. If the frog is still really thrushy speak to your vet about using Athlete's foot cream/spray. It can be very effective, but you need to know that it is the right product for your particular problem.

The feet will also need plenty of time/opportunity to dry off.

Hope it all resolves for you.
 
LucyPriory said:
If the frog is still really thrushy speak to your vet about using Athlete's foot cream/spray. It can be very effective, but you need to know that it is the right product for your particular problem.
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I don't often see lameness from thrush until it becomes really advanced - in one case we had to removed the entire frog and most of the sole :eek: - it did do the trick though!! :)
I've usually start with paring off the redundant and infected tissue but haven't then followed up with athlete's foot treatment - I am interested by this.... which treatment do you often use/have best results with and how often do you advise it's used??
Thanks
Imogen
 
he should stand in a tub, im having to do everything on rubber matting/bedding if hes standing about, hes strugling to walk on the conrete yard and have his feet picked up on the yard. im asuming this will come with time though once his feet have adjusted. i did think it was a coincidence (sp)that his leg has started swelling after having his shoes off so hopefully its nothing serious. my vet is fabulous and always makes time for me :) probably because hes got £1000 worth of visits and treatment from me ;-)
is it normal for his feet to be so warm, feeling his feet this morning they are very very warm, compared to what they used to be when he was shod.
 
Is the swelling definitely only from the fetlock up, or does it start around the coronary band and go up the leg from there? If the latter, it could point to pus in the foot somewhere (perhaps about to burst out at the coronary band), especially if the foot is also warmer than normal.
 
ImogenBurrows said:
I don't often see lameness from thrush until it becomes really advanced - in one case we had to removed the entire frog and most of the sole :eek: - it did do the trick though!! :)
I've usually start with paring off the redundant and infected tissue but haven't then followed up with athlete's foot treatment - I am interested by this.... which treatment do you often use/have best results with and how often do you advise it's used??
Thanks
Imogen
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Lameness from thrush becomes more obvious when the horse is unshod (sorry but very true) IF the horse is otherwise sound. It is quite individual some horses I do have horrendous thrush and don't notice, others have a tiny bit and its big drama time.

Thrush can hurt more than is commonly realised - for example:

I do one horse that had a very nasty 'injury' that made it moderately lame, and now it is resolving it is fine. Last time I did it there was a tiny bit of thrush in a front foot which I very gently looked at and the poor thing behaved as though I were sawing its foot off. (Which I hasten to add is not part of the process.)

I only use AFC if the salt water/major hygiene and sudocrem routine is failing. This sometimes happens especially at this time of year and/or the horse is not working hard enough. Or if like my horse you decide to do a sliding stop and use sharp tarmac blocks as a brake and hack your RH frog to pieces in the process (twice).

Having discussed AFC with my vet, I just get a good quality OTC product for my own horse. Owners have to discuss with their vet and proceed similarly. But the end result is usually the same.

I use the spray on for non sensitive/not frightened of aerosols horses with deep cracks in the frog or very deep collateral grooves. Otherwise I use the cream but this is harder to get into the fissures and if you have a sore horse it naturally carries the risk of 'hoof in tooth'. I apply as per the instructions on the packet. Usually twice a day after throughly cleaning and drying the area.

White lightening gel can be also be useful, but it is pricey and I've not found it any better than AFC.

If the horse is otherwise sound then exercise (preferably on something dry like tarmac) is great.

Had another horse, moderately lame on gravel which had quite bad thrush. The environment it lives in is unhelpful at best. Owner is devoted, but limited in what they can do - although they always do their best. To cut a long story short, the owner exercised the horse for something approaching 15 hours a week, much of that on the road. Wind forward a couple of months and the thrush is gone and the horse is 'rock crunching - ie sound on gravel/stones etc). This is an effective technique but consideration must be given to the horse's comfort at all times. Please also note that the 15 hours was built up to steadily in a specific exercise programme with careful monitoring. The horse didn't go from thrushy to rock crunching super star overnight :-)

As always trying to find things that the owner can manage/afford and the vet is comfortable with. And are not toxic to the horse.

I did come across one case of owners applying toilet cleaner because "On the telly it says it kills all known germs" and in the process they had also destroyed the frog. And ended up with a horse that reared every time they went near its feet.

Ditto for a lot of the foot/frog treatments widely available - they are so harsh they destroy healthy tissue along with the bacteria. While promising much and costing more.

Not a fan of applying anything to a horse's frogs that I wouldn't put on my own skin. A healthy frog may be tough and leathery, but it is still part of a living sentient being.

So golden rules - check with your vet first, don't believe the marketing hype, and if you wouldn't put it on your skin, don't put it on your horse's frogs. And if possible give your horse lots and lots of exercise.
 
well iv washed his frog out with a syringe, dryed it all out and sprayed it.
having looked at his leg 2nite his fetlock is swollen and its travelling up his leg but his pastern seems ok. iv cold hosed it and bandaged it for the night and will monitor it, iv left a message for my vet and will get him to have a look if it hasnt reduced by monday. hes tucked up in bed for now. thank you all for the advice.
 
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