Seedy Toe/White Line Disease

Sambo

Sambo

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Hiya,

Following my post about hoof help before - where I was concerned that Sam's feet were chipping after going barefoot just over a month ago. I had the farrier out, and he has white line disease :(

He has rolled his toes again to try to help, and he has given me some iodine to syringe onto the hooves where it is infected.

Part of our field is a bit boggy as we have a stream running through the field, the farrier said it wont make any different fencing it off now as it wont make it better/worse, and it is drying out.

Does anyone have any experiance of this? How did you deal with it?

Thanks.
 
Horlicks (a mare I ride al lot :D) had this. The problem was she ideally needed her shoes off, so the infection could be treated properly, but with out shoes she would be very foot sore.
I found the best treatment was this really harsh stuff, that you cannot get on skin (horse or human), and I think the farrier gave it to the yard to apply.
You can also try something like Milton spray, as this gets rid of bacteria (which is what White Line is). the foot should be kept dry, and remove shoes if poss, as it makes it easier to get to the affected area. Wash feet, scrub clean, dry off, spray Milton on, and let it soak in.

It worked for Horlicks :D
 
If you have the time / money, and your horse will stand still with it's feet in bags for ages, then CleanTrax is the stuff - IME it will clear it up almost immediately (http://www.ericnystrom.com/files/CleanTrax.pdf). Alternatively, I have heard white lightning is supposed to be good. You can buy them from barefoot supplies sites (e.g. http://www.equinepodiatrysupplies.co.uk/treatmentsGC.html). Personally I would avoid anything that is too harsh to go on skin, as you could end up damaging healthy tissue and then the foot gets re-infected a couple of weeks down the line.

Also (IMO, and I know a lot of vets / farriers don't necessarily agree) white line disease usually indicates an underlying problem with the diet / exercise (i.e. healthy white lines don't get infected even in muddy conditions).

You might find this interesting: http://www.hoofrehab.com/end_of_white_line_disease.htm
 
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Thank you, I will have a look at the links.

It's not a bad case, and before this (about 5 weeks ago) he was shod. So I wonder if the hoof is just not great quality at the moment. He is not foot sore at all - unless of course we ride over gravel and stoney paths on a hack. Then he walks carefully.

As for diet he is fed hi-fi, fibre plus nuggets, speedi beet, brewers yeast, D-Itch and Cider Vinegar.

As for exercise he is ridden about 5 times a week, I'd say he is in light work (some flat school work and hacking).
 
It could just be stretched white line, my farrier said mine had seedy toe but it turned out to be just stretched white line. Seedy toe is really smelly and oozy and sometimes crumbly. Does that sound like your horses?

If it's real seedy toe, you need to kill the fungus. ACV is really good for this! Also, hibiscrub daily. Iodine can be used but it is quite harsh so use to dry out the affected area once every couple of days. Some swear by ammonia and other things but the fungus that causes this is easily killed without harsh chemicals.

If it is stretched white line, this is where the white line is longer at the bottom of the hoof and the coronet band - it indicates that there was uneven pressure on the toe about 6 months ago (how long approx it takes for hoof to grow down) probably high heels so as the hoof grew it was pulled forwards away from the pedal bone. Did that make sense? Sorry if I'm rambling...

Anyway, see photo...

photo0114-1.jpg


I put that up so you can see that it will grow out. Those were 6 months apart. I think you will have to accept that as new horn grows, if the foot is well balanced, this shouldn't happen in future so it's a case of waiting for the old stuff to grow off :)
 
laura_nash said:
If you have the time / money, and your horse will stand still with it's feet in bags for ages, then CleanTrax is the stuff - IME it will clear it up almost immediately (http://www.ericnystrom.com/files/CleanTrax.pdf). Alternatively, I have heard white lightning is supposed to be good. You can buy them from barefoot supplies sites (e.g. http://www.equinepodiatrysupplies.co.uk/treatmentsGC.html). Personally I would avoid anything that is too harsh to go on skin, as you could end up damaging healthy tissue and then the foot gets re-infected a couple of weeks down the line.

Also (IMO, and I know a lot of vets / farriers don't necessarily agree) white line disease usually indicates an underlying problem with the diet / exercise (i.e. healthy white lines don't get infected even in muddy conditions).

You might find this interesting: http://www.hoofrehab.com/end_of_white_line_disease.htm
Click to expand...

Oh, sorry, missed your reply... I do agree there are lots of remedies out there.

And def agree on diet... less starchy the better.
 
Thanks, tallyho: his feet aren't smelly or oozey at all. They are very crumbely though.

The first picture is sort of how his feet look - but its like that all the way round and quite unever, and probably goes up the foot 1cm or so. The farrier has rolled this around so you can no longer see how uneven it was. He advised to use iodine twice a week on him.
 
Sambo said:
Thanks, tallyho: his feet aren't smelly or oozey at all. They are very crumbely though.

The first picture is sort of how his feet look - but its like that all the way round and quite unever, and probably goes up the foot 1cm or so. The farrier has rolled this around so you can no longer see how uneven it was. He advised to use iodine twice a week on him.
Click to expand...

Well at least there isn't much of an infection. I would kill any fungus there might be with an ACV and the iodine wash and just let it grow out.

If the hoof is say 8cm long from ground to coronet, I would say 1cm will be about 5-6 weeks growth taking into account srping growth spurt.

Just keep it as dry and as clean as poss until then.. in my first photo, the farrier actually cut it out, a year before it was much further around than that. He's had this for two years!!!

It can go undetected with shoes for a long time... at least you know it will be a thing of the past soon. Keep the hoof well balanced to keep the white line tight all the way to the ground and I do suggest reading Pete Ramey's blog.
 
hi my mare had white line on three of her feet only was crumbling at heal but couldn't see nothing on the front I went into bell hospital saw a lovely farrier called chris he used a a little drill to take away all the bad infected hoof which looked awful and the front one which I culd see anything turned out to be the worse one he cut out about 3inch high and wide of the wall of the hoof managed to keep shoes on so I could carry on riding he said to expose to air is the best thing for this and gave me swan anti Bac hoof dressing which u can get of the Internet to apply every day for a week then 2 times a week now all cleared up and grown out good luck .. I have now a much worse situation she has torn her of hind ddft I feel like giving up :-(
 
I just thought it would stop dirt and stones getting in there while it was growing out... not that stones themselves cause problems.

Fitting does seem confusing because there are different classes of feet shape and also, feet change shape. Gah!

The round shape, the slightly oval and sometimes squareish. If you wanted to try I'd try googling the different measures - it will soon become clear. And maybe ebay your first pair!

No, it won't be detrimental to the white line. It may even help as without hoof wall, I assume he is mostly walking on his sole so it could offer support until some wall grows back.

But, like you say, he's not saying he needs support so it's just for the white line. Anyway, just a thought.
 
My horse always has seedy toe/white line disease, he has rubbish feet even though he is shod every 6 weeks, he also gets thrush sometimes even though his bed is always mucked out every day, have accepted that he has crap feet. My cure for the seedy toe is I wash it out, dry it and then when completely dry I spray Footmaster purple spray on it, for the thrush I use a solution of jeyes fluid and warm water and tub the affected foot ( as thrush is fungal, the Footmaster spray doesn't work, his thrush cleared up within a couple of months, I still tub his feet once a fortnight to keep it at bay.
 
my farrier told me to get sulphuric acid from the chemist (its used to clean dentures) and put it on every couple of days using a pepet or needle to get it into the bacteria it really works, you can see it bubbling away, i would try that for seedy toe before the more expensive options its worked for my ex racer xx
 
Thank you!

I will look up hoof boots and do some research - I just wonder if the bacteria will thrive in this environment?

I've attached some pictures... does anyone have any views or opinions of them??? (sorry about feathers!!)

samofffront.jpg


samofffrontsole2.jpg


samofffrontsole1.jpg


samnearhindchip.jpg


samnearfrontchip.jpg


samhinds.jpg
 
One of our horses at the yard had it rather bad, couldnt keep shoes on and everytime healthy hoof grew it would just break off.
We kept him in a dry paddock when we could, then would keep him in a dry stable with a very deep bed. We tried hoof boots which seemed to help until he took them off! We also had his shoes glued instead of nailed.
We gave him a supplement that seemed to help called Seaquim (i think thats how its spelt?)
Also, we'd clean with sulphuric acid, then coat in Stockholm Tar.

By your photos at the moment, it seems ok. Obviously it isnt great but as long as you manage it well, you'll be ok :)

Your horse is beautiful btw :D
 
Thank you kadastorm :)

no, its not great - but definately not horrendous after looking up images on google! Today he hadn't gone into bog (feathers were still dry and white!) and his hooves were dry - I have them a good brush with a stiff brush and put some iodine on again as there was a new chip!

He will hold a shoe - but he hates wearing them, he is very tense all the time - with them off, he is sooo chilled!

Soo frustrating!
 
Another vote for Cleantrax. Yes the soaking is lengthy and a faff BUT it kills all nasties in one hit, penetrates too, doesn't sting and is non-necrotising. Fab stuff. Can't rate it highly enough. Get yourself some silver spray too ("Silvetrasol" from AEP Supplies - you can also get the Cleantrax and a soaking boot from there) and use the silver spray a couple of times a week to prevent re-infection. You can also use silver spray for thrush and minor cuts/grazes.... great healing properties and doesn't sting either :)
 
My mare had seedy toe in both fronts when she recovered from laminitis. My farrier gave me stuff called 'antibac' which I had to put on every other day. In 9 weeks there is no seedy toe in her front right. Her left foot still has a very small bit but this is going.
 
My boy had white line, I used milton (every 2 or 3 days) mixed up in a spray bottle to treat it, and a toothbrush to get into the nail holes/under the shoe. I washed the foot before treating it and I didn't wash the milton off. I also applied a tea tree hoof oil once a week - that is anti fungal.

That cleared his up within a few weeks.
 
I have now had a fabulous cytek farrier out, and he has front shoes and has had a cytek trim behind and he is going lovely! White line has all gone. No chips in a week and he is a lot more forward and happy in himself. After he had been correctly trimmed and toes rolled you could see the bruising this had caused his poor hooves where he couldnt roll his toes properly and was putting too much weight on his hoof walls.

He said its because his feet were trimmed straight, so his hoof wall was flat with his sole. He has now trimmed his hinds at a 45 degree angle, so the hoof wall is at an angle to his sole, which has stopped any dirt getting up and has also allowed better weight distribuition.

He has cytek fronts on as his feet had become quite distorted from this incorrect trimming, and his hoof was being stretched beyond its natural capabilities - hence why the hoof wall was seperating and dirt and grit was getting stuck up there and it was becoming infected.

I would like to stress the farrier I used does not blame the barefoot farrier - he did a very good job, but following traditional hoof trimming obviously doesn't work for Sam!
 
Rachaelpink said:
My farrier also sold me some antibacterial spray, can't think of name, it has a yellow label about £15.
Click to expand...

I think that will be Bactakill 55. It's doing wonders for my latest horse's white line disease (along with a decent diet and hoof supplement) - he's gone from losing shoes every week to going 7 weeks between shoeing in the space of 6 months.
 
Yes, Pat10, was Bactakill, had a look when i was at the yard this evening, was just about to post it's name when I realised you'd beaten me to it!
 
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