Seedy toe (well feet) and Rubber matting?

Snowysadude

Snowysadude

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So I managed to get a farrier out to my boy today, his feet have been crumbling away even though hes on a hoof suppliment and hoof creams reccomended and prescribed by the vet - he took the shoes off and :O :O his whole foot (well all 4) fell apart. He said he had really bad seedy toe and it looks like it had been there for a while - so bad that is was in the whole foot and in all 4 feet!!

I asked how he got that when I am treating his feet - he said the bacteria is anerobic so stop using hoof cream as it keeps the air out and that it most probably came from his urine. He said that all the cases he has seen on horses with it in the back feet have been on rubber matting without the normal thick bed you have on concrete. He said that the only explanation he has is that the urine splashes up onto their feet and thats how the bacteria gets in, through old nail holes and any cracks (which my horse has cracked heels so didnt help!).

So does anyone else have a horse that has experienced this and isnt laminitic?? Or is my horse just an oddity (no change from normal for him!)? Thank you!
 
My old pony had seedy toe & i was recommended to use was Hydrogen Peroxide watered down slightly.
I syringed it into the hoof which definitely helped but it did take a good 6 months to be clear of it all.
A good trim every 6-8 weeks also helped too.
She didn't have laminitis either.

Best of luck as your pony sounds really bad with it.
 
Thank you Perrie I will try hydrogen peroxide as well I have some antibacterial stuff from the vets I have to put in every day as well :).

Katd66 someone else said that to me as well, I have just ordered my food to be delivered tomorrow but will look into it (see what my farriers formula has in it as well!) and possibly get some next week! Thank you both :)
 
urine and droppings can damage horn (hooves), so it is a good idea to put something absorbent on top of mats to help alleviate this problem.

A study was conducted into hoof dressings, the outline results can be seen here:

http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=3840

The article finished with:

5 TIPS: Proper Hoof Care

1.A proper diet and hoof care program are the most important weapons against hoof problems.
2.Hoof dressings don't seem to have much of an effect on good-quality feet, but can further damage poor feet.
3.Poor conditions (i.e., muddy, dirty living conditions with lots of feces and urine) can further damage poor feet.
4.Hoof wall achieves maximal fracture toughness when relative hydration stays at approximately 70-75% moisture.
5.Hoof dressings with drying agents such as formalin decrease elasticity of the hoof wall, causing it to be more brittle.
 
Thank you lucy!

So in short does that mean a nice clean bed (he gets skipped out at lunchtime anyway and mucked out every evening as it still out in a not yet muddy field at night), feet kept clean, and only using a hoof moisturiser not hoof oil (what about kevin bacon? anyone) will help his feet. Along with killing off the infection from the seedy toe (with what the vet has given me and hydrogen peroxide) and keeping him on the farriers formula?

Hes on a deep bed was deep littered with a good layer of clean over the top but took all the wet out tonight to be safe and have 4 bales of shavings coming tomorrow (cautious mummy much?!). Hopefully with time I can sort his feet out, I so regret just using the yards farrier who I didnt rate and not insisting that the yard kept him on a deep bed on the rubber matting (what I wanted and did at the weekends but they just wore it down in the week) when he was on full livery! Glad I have him on DIY now though so hopefully can get this sorted out :)
 
definitely keep him on a deep, clean bed if he has to come in, rubber mats with a small bed really takes it toll on the feet. you cant beat a good scrub with hibi scrub initially and rinse and scrub with quite strong salt water twice a day. i would rub cornecresine into the coronet band every day and leave the rest of the foot alone, and very regular trims every 4 to 5 weeks to keep trimming the rot away. a packet of gelatine in feed used to be a help to poor feet, and relatively cheap. Foot rot spray for sheep is effective too, but all the washing and scrubbing and treating the rot wont improve the condition if he is still stood in urine and pooh. could you not leave him in a clean field for a few weeks, and just fetch him in am and pm to do his feet and feed him? Good luck
 
thank you ofcourseyoucan :). He will now be on a deep clean bed with wet taken out daily - he used to be skipped out 2X daily (still will be) but just the top layer of wet taken out of the bed to leave a firm base.

He had the farrier today and he has cut out lots of the rot. He also treated the hooves and I just picked up the stuff reccomended by him (an antibacterial and antifungal mix) from the vets. He will now be shod every 5 weeks, he has such poor feet he needs this anyway! Vet has also prescribed farriers formula about a month ago and that has worked wonders so have got a repeat prescription for when this runs out. Will look into the gelatine and the seaweed now and see what one comes out on top. I would never leave him stood in on poo!! Hes not a pony btw hes my 17hh belgum warmblood competition horse so is looked after well - had a different farrier 4 weeks beforehand and he said abseloutley nothing about his feet even though they were falling apart then as well!

Unfortunatley cant leave him out its the yards rules that they have to be in either in the day or during the night and I am pushing it leaving him out at night still but will continue to do so for as long as possible!! Thank you again!
 
that seems silly he cant be out all the time. oh hun sometimes I wonder how the pair of you are both still standing. love to both of you and if you want some reccomendations of where to go when you come back to notts let me know if your not going back elms - think DIY is the answer again. x
 
Just a note about seaweed supplement Plz be careful I put my boy on it a few and weeks ago as its supposed to help coat condition n it made him really naughty and grumpy It contains a lot of iodine and can be toxic if fed too much
 
Thanks Cally :). Do you know what I worked out today (and have been crying most of the day about it).... I have owned him a year now and in that year we have not had more than 2 weeks consistant work without something going wrong... dodgey saddles, splints, overreaching, going cold backed when winter hit, then being diagnosed with kissing spine/closeness, then the collapsed hock, then the other splint, then the navicular scare, then collapsed heels and cracked feet and now we have the seedy toe/foot rot :(. I cant afford any of this any more my horse has put me in such a huge amount of debt treating all the problems (and trying to prevent them I do take care of him honest)!!

Thing is its not like I havnt been taking care of him!! Hes always booted in the field and when ridden (overreach boots as well), hes well groomed, hes well checked (feet, back, teeth etc), kept fit when in work and always brought back into work slowly and following vet/physios strict advice. But I stupidly love him even though the dealer has offered me a full refund if I send him back, but I cant do that he already sold him to me knowing all these problems from the last owner who sent him back with the vet papers (thank god I found them really) and its not fair on him or anyone else to send him back now :(.

Anyway hey ho enough of me feeling sorry for myself!! Sometimes you get delt the crappy card in life and I'm still waiting to find honest people that are selling as have never had a 100% perfect horse, even Toby had a heart murmer (not going to list all the other horses with problems here!!). 5 stage vetting are useless, insurance for me is a godsend ;). I swear insurance company should put a black mark next to my name saying "the one who has an eye for dodgey horses - dont insure!!" :P xx
 
Could you not put him out as a companion and find something you can enjoy.

He is gorgeous and such a character but clearly has big issues - maybe someone on here would want him on loan? You are in the best years of your life and you need a horse you can ride daily and get out and have fun on.

I know I laugh at the snowy saga diaries but at some point you need to say enough is enough x
 
I did think that at one point cally but he needs too much work at the moment on his feet etc and I would only trust myself to do that (sounds stupid but if full livery yards dont do it I cant expect some stranger to!). Also with the steroids in his back he can be ridden like normal, hes been in work for 2/3 weeks before all of this (no wasnt 100% sound and not really consistent video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdVQaX0fTwE). I had just got my confidence back on him after, well, his not so good times :p. So dont really want to loan him out now cause he can do what I want if this foot treatment works.

I have decided nothing else can go wrong as have had every joint including the back x-rayed and scans on all the tendons and suspensorys! So now just feet and he is back to work as normal - this will happen this time!!
 
at least this time it can be fixed and you know exactly what it is.

hes being such a good boy in that video if a little too laid back lol - I want to see you on him though not others
 
Yea he has really changed cally thank god!! :D no more rearing then bronking me off for the foreseeable future (although cant blame him his back hurt - hes also hypersensitive! And you picked a bad day to visit - he had never done that one before :p). I cant wait to get a video of me on him, have some clips from hacking (like on the motorway bridge was me) but none of it is interesting enough, need someone to come out when I am doing fittening work in a few weeks to film the cantering as school work is boring and he needs to get back into jumping :). Its a pain though as the only clips I ever get are when I am filming! xx
 
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