Seedy toe advice please

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miniwhisper

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Hi all, first post from new member. I have a 13hh Connemara x with seedy toe. Her hoof has just been cut back with a notch in the fromt to allow air to get in. I am picking out every day and syringing with 6% htdrogen peroxide. Am I doing the right thing? Is there anything else that I could do to kill the bugs? Someone else has suggested hibi scrub but I am not sure whether you should use this instead of or as well as the hydrogen peroxide - dont want to melt her hoof! Any advice or suggestions would be very welcome as I am a first time pony owner and really want to get on top of this before the winter.
 
Hello and welcome!

I have an ID x Connemara with a small patch of seedy toe under the front clench of his shoe. My farrier told me to put some Stockholm Tar (all good tack shops etc) in there until it heals. Working so far!
 
Carry on with the hydrogen peroxide, or even better, and safer, get some Anti-bac.
 
I think hydrogen peroxide is ok stockholm tar has worked for me in the past. Important that you have regular visits from your farrier and take his advice. After all he is the specialist in this area!
 
I have a 11yr old rescue thoroughbred she is unbroken and a companion horse to our veteran pony. We have had her since she was about 4 yrs. She arrived with poor hooves (which were the reason she had not been broken) For the next four years she had recurrant seedy toes and foot abcesses. The farrier worked on her with resections trying to keep the cracks open and clean and most important, apparently, keeping the hooves well rounded. Now she is ok no problems at all for at least two years.. I am not sure why it suddenly cleared but after her last abcess and a big course of antibiotics I just wonder if the chronic infection has at last gone
 
Hi, imo you need to also address causes of seedy toe which is usually weakened laminae which easily get attacked by bugs. This is addressed by diet mainly ie. a low sugar diet with good mineral balance to encourage good strong tight hoof growth.
Soaks in dilute milton solution or 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar in a gallon of water weekly will help too. There's a product called cleantrax which is less severe on living tissue.
Tyre/tractor inner tubes make cheap soaking boots.
http://www.hoofrehab.com/hoof articles by Pete Ramey.htm Scroll down for an article on white line disease. Other articles are interesting too.
 
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Thanks to all of you who have replied. Some people have suggested Stockholm tar but as my farrier has said that it needs to be left open to the air I dont understand how this would work (asuming from the name that it is thick stuff- but maybe not). Can anyone explain?
 
Agree 100% with amandap...

seedy toe/gravel/white line disease - whatever you want to call it - is a direct result of laminitic symptoms... i.e. inflammation of the laminae, stretching of the connection between laminae and hoof wall, allowing space for fungus/bacteria to get in. I would never resect a hoof or cut hoof wall away - simply not necessary. Sort out the diet (cut out at much sugar/starch as possible, including putting on restricted or even no grazing), get that white line growing back in tight and bingo - you will never see seedy toe again. If you don't sort out the diet you will be fighting the fungus/bacteria forever without actually addressing the cause.

So get the diet sorted and all I would treat the current infection with in apple cider vinegar or possibly clean trax. Peroxide will kill of healthy tissue - the last thing you need! There's nothing you can do about the resection now but let it grow out. Makes me sad that farriers still feel the need to cut away at hoof wall yet don't mention diet at all....
 
Tbh I wouldn't bother with the Stockholm tar. Many Farriers beliive it is necessary to resect the hoof ie. remove part of the wall to allow air in. Some of the opportunistic bacteria and fungi are not anaerobic so this doesn't always work unless you address other issues such as diet as well.

It's often a difficult problem to treat and imo needs an holistic approach and possibly removal of shoes for a period. If not addressed fully this tends to rumble on for months ime.
 
Thanks for the comments re the underlying cause but for the last couple of months the pony has been restricted to a relatively small area of very dry grazing to avoid overgrazing during the spring. We have had very little rain here.
 
The only way to succesfully cure seedy toe is to expose the causative micro-organisms to oxygen. This is best done by resecting the affected area back to healthy horn.

A chlorine based soak such as cleantrax should then be used to kill all remaining fungi.

If a large proportion of the hoof wall needs to be removed, the horse might need some form of bar shoe with frog support, to support the hoof capsule while it regrows.

Diet plays an important role in supporting healthy new horn growth, but diet alone cant rid the infection that is already present.

All too often, the farrier and/or owner is scared of resecting enough hoof, which leaves the most proximal area of infection still in the hoof, which will continue to spread upwards towards the coronary band.
 
Hi, You sound as though you know what you are talking about! Where do I get cleantrax? Is this a brand name or generic? Farrier came last week but is back to see another horse on Friday. Should I ask him to trim back more if he can?
Really appreciate any advice.
 
http://www.equinepodiatrysupplies.co.uk/treatmentsGC.html

As I said you can use car or tractor tyres as soaking boots.
I'm an owner not a professional but I see a problem with large resections is the internal structures are exposed to impact damage if say the horse kicks a stone or something as well as weakening the hoof generally. I have treated severe seedy toe/WLD (actually seedy quarter) sucessfully in three barefoot horses with soaks, packing and scrupulous hygeine as well as diet and environment changes. The WLD has to grow out so it isn't a fast process.
 
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