So are these barefoot feet looking ok?

I wouldn't think you'd need to be road walking him. All being well, the foot should adapt to the new lifestyle/surface over time (in my uneducated opinion) - it doesn't need to be good enough to walk on roads.

Thrush-wise, I have found that a horse can have pretty miserable thrush and yet have feet that smell fine, depends on where the thrush is. I'm another one who'd want to be stuffing those clefts. Much easier to do so while he's stabled, so it has time to set without getting muddy, and you wouldn't need to repeat too often. Having said that, you're the only one here who knows whether the cleft has been improving in the time since you've been treating the thrush.
 
stangs said:
I wouldn't think you'd need to be road walking him. All being well, the foot should adapt to the new lifestyle/surface over time (in my uneducated opinion) - it doesn't need to be good enough to walk on
Click to expand...
Of course not - I have absolutely no intention of walking him on the roads, i wouldn't even attempt it. He's off in 2 weeks, it won't make the slightest difference and if he got loose hand walking it would be disastrous as we are off a 50mph main road.
 
Birker2020 said:
Whatever for? He doesn't have thrush!
Click to expand...

Really??? do you honestly believe that? or just trying to save work.

I am at a total loss as to why you are unwilling to help him. Truly amazes me. His feet are lousy, his frogs dreadful and from your pics he most certainly has infection yet you are not willing to take action for a couple of weeks to rectify the problem. This doesn't involve any expensive vet or farrier just you. Materials to resolve it are minimal. Scrubbing feet out twice a day with salt water costs just about nothing. Would you ride a horse with mud on it's back, just slap a saddle on or would you clean it? No different to the feet. I'afraid 7.30 start doesn't cut it with me. I started at 7 and did all the horses before I went, often around 9 horses. Problem was solved with a good alarm clock. ;)

Look at your feet especially pic 3 in your first post. Then look at Red's pics in post 19. Can you see the difference? how overgrown your frogs are, how many cracks and crevices to harbour infection? Your horse lands on his heels. That is for him around 700kg landing on those frogs. It is sore.

Your farrier should have pointed out the poor condition of them and advised treatment. Very lax farrier.

I don't want to "nit pick" but to me this falls below the standard of care I would expect someone to provide for their horse. Just comes across that in 2 weeks he'll be gone.
 
O
paddy555 said:
Really??? do you honestly believe that? or just trying to save work.

I am at a total loss as to why you are unwilling to help him. Truly amazes me. His feet are lousy, his frogs dreadful and from your pics he most certainly has infection yet you are not willing to take action for a couple of weeks to rectify the problem. This doesn't involve any expensive vet or farrier just you. Materials to resolve it are minimal. Scrubbing feet out twice a day with salt water costs just about nothing. Would you ride a horse with mud on it's back, just slap a saddle on or would you clean it? No different to the feet. I'afraid 7.30 start doesn't cut it with me. I started at 7 and did all the horses before I went, often around 9 horses. Problem was solved with a good alarm clock. ;)

Look at your feet especially pic 3 in your first post. Then look at Red's pics in post 19. Can you see the difference? how overgrown your frogs are, how many cracks and crevices to harbour infection? Your horse lands on his heels. That is for him around 700kg landing on those frogs. It is sore.

Your farrier should have pointed out the poor condition of them and advised treatment. Very lax farrier.

I don't want to "nit pick" but to me this falls below the standard of care I would expect someone to provide for their horse. Just comes across that in 2 weeks he'll be gone.
Click to expand...

Oh for goodness sake give it a rest and stop trying to provoke me. Its so sad.

I really couldn't care less what you think.

And if you think that I'd spend 23k over the next 10 years on retirement livery for a horse I didn't love or care about then you are totally out of touch with reality.
 
Birker2020 said:
Whatever for? He doesn't have thrush!
Click to expand...

It isnt that easy to see his frogs as there is a fair amount of stuck on poo in the photos.

But it looks like you have CRACKS and CLEFTS in the frog, and if you do, you HAVE THRUSH, whether it smells or not.

And whether the vet or farrier says there is thrush or not.



And frog oil AFAIK is not typically well recommended way to treat thrush, and in winter, thrush is fairly insidious and keeps coming back.

So you can treat, and a few days later if ground is wet / horse treads in soiled bedding over night thrush can try and take hold again.

Best case scenario as he's going in three days - get a stiff brush, salt water, and scrub really clean, dry feet with old towels / standing in clean bed. Pack feet in sudocrem rubbed well into frogs and pushed into cracks. Repeat every night for his last few nights.

Stiff brush / old towels / salt water / sudocrem should be very readily available locally.

Also possible that the retirement livery will treat it for you going forwards.
 
Those frogs are not right .
You can’t always smell thrush .
I would get some leovet frog medic and squirt into all the cracks and fissures you can find . It is what it is you have not got much time .
 
Last edited:
Birker2020 said:
Whatever for? He doesn't have thrush!
Click to expand...
The reason I posted pictures was to show that a frog shouldn't have cracks like that. Once they do, unless they are cleaned thoroughly the cracks will never disappear. There will be infection in there. The fissures will be rotting and growing on the inside. It disappoints me that many people think it is normal. Well, it is sadly normal, but it is not correct.

I also think that 3 weeks, or just 2 weeks as it now is, is sufficient to make a huge difference. I would get some nippers, take off anything ragged, soak in Cleantrax and then wash/dress daily if you can't manage to do hooves twice a day. I have even used kitchen scissors in the past to remove anything ragged.

Couldn't the livery yard manage to clean/dress the other end of the day? Presumably they are already picking feet so could stiff brush and apply something at least?

By youngster had his shoes off in September, he is just coming to the 6 month mark later this week. I had intended to re-shoe but he is doing so well we will continue without for now.

You can see that his frogs are different to the retired one's, who has been barefoot longer, these are skinnier and a bit pointy. There is not as much surface area to the ground, not as beefy, as people say. They are, however, healthy, as in not infected. The feet themselves are a bit flatter, not yet as strong. Rigsby's are functional bare feet, BH's are still needing boots for anything other than a short hack. But, no fissures in the frogs. This one is more comparable to yours, as in more recently barefoot. I am pleased with them as a less than 6 month transitioning horse, but hope they strengthen up more in the foot generally.

335072361_936865617496333_595012172483582862_n.jpg
 
There's a reason 1) we're all saying the same thing, 2) I took the time to export the photos to powerpoint, add circles and reupload them to try and help explain what we were seeing. 3) I'm really wondering why you even asked if you think they are fine.

I will also add that even when not actively thrushy I've had improved frogs when treating prophylactically a couple of times a week.

As he's going on livery I think it will be academic anyway though.
 
ester said:
There's a reason 1) we're all saying the same thing, 2) I took the time to export the photos to powerpoint, add circles and reupload them to try and help explain what we were seeing. 3) I'm really wondering why you even asked if you think they are fine.

I will also add that even when not actively thrushy I've had improved frogs when treating prophylactically a couple of times a week.

As he's going on livery I think it will be academic anyway though.
Click to expand...

I'm glad you took the time to do that. Hopefully this thread will help other people to know what they're looking at, and how to deal with it, when they do a barefoot search on here. There are several detailed and knowledgeable responses here which people who know what they are talking about have bothered to write and follow up on.

You can only try to help.
 
Red-1 said:
I did appreciate @ester 's post but had to look up the meaning of a word as I did wonder what they were doing with condoms for the feet!!! 🤔🤭
Click to expand...
Presumably ribbed to stop him slipping….. sorry 🫣. Unfortunately or should that be fortunately, I can’t see the picture ester has posted but there really are some very knowledgable people on here, willing to share their experience, for which I, for one, am very grateful.

edit: sorry rowreach I seem to have duplicated some of your comment.
 
I'm finding the responses very interesting, too. Thank you to those who continue to post in a very reasoned and informative way.

My Arab's feet have been looking raggedy, so I assumed a bit of thrush had set in. Just a few days of a good scrub with a stiff brush and apple cider vinegar have really improved the look of them. Amazing how much better they look with just a few minutes care for a few days. Minimal effort really...but then I want to do the best for my horse.
 
gryff said:
I'm finding the responses very interesting, too. Thank you to those who continue to post in a very reasoned and informative way.

My Arab's feet have been looking raggedy, so I assumed a bit of thrush had set in. Just a few days of a good scrub with a stiff brush and apple cider vinegar have really improved the look of them. Amazing how much better they look with just a few minutes care for a few days. Minimal effort really...but then I want to do the best for my horse.
Click to expand...
Yes, once you get to the bottom of infection, I am always surprised how quickly they can improve.

Also, funny, I have commented on the athlete's foot thread in the club house, how apple cider vinegar cured my own foot after all the preparations failed, included 2 that were prescription only!
 
Unconcerned senior mare (has Cushing's) munching at her hay net while both front feet are soaking in cleantrax solution 🤣. Those are Shires poultice boots.

Interestingly, neither she nor her daughter have had thrush since they both went on the oily herbs (oregano, rosemary, thyme) - they were both prone to it before.

109606

Cleantrax is awesome stuff, it would likely do the OP's horse a lot of good to have a couple of soaks in it before he goes.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Unconcerned senior mare (has Cushing's) munching at her hay net while both front feet are soaking in cleantrax solution 🤣. Those are Shires poultice boots.

Interestingly, neither she nor her daughter have had thrush since they both went on the oily herbs (oregano, rosemary, thyme) - they were both prone to it before.

View attachment 109606

Cleantrax is awesome stuff, it would likely do the OP's horse a lot of good to have a couple of soaks in it before he goes.
Click to expand...
QUOTE]
I’ve only ever used cleantrax with soaking bag’s snd the recommended amount of water (lots).

Do you find cleantrax works as well when you aren’t using the recommended volume of water for soaking

The guidance says quite a lot of water (and cleantrax per foot, think idea is need solution to come fairly high above foot in bag so when it reacts get sufficient pressure to get into all cracks and crevices.

interested if get similar results with far less water. Do you not use all the pot? Again I didn’t think it kept once opened? Or do you find it does?
 
Fieldlife said:
I’ve only ever used cleantrax with soaking bag’s snd the recommended amount of water (lots).

Do you find cleantrax works as well when you aren’t using the recommended volume of water for soaking

The guidance says quite a lot of water (and cleantrax per foot, think idea is need solution to come fairly high above foot in bag so when it reacts get sufficient pressure to get into all cracks and crevices.

interested if get similar results with far less water. Do you not use all the pot? Again I didn’t think it kept once opened? Or do you find it does?
Click to expand...
I now make up the cleantrax solution as per the destructions but then divide it into two equal volumes which I divide between the two poultice boots. The cleantrax liquid comes well over the coronet band and up the pastern, which seems plenty high enough.

I do have the cleantrax soaking bags which I use for the post soak fumigation. There's a pic somewhere of the same mare wearing the soaking bags in front and the poultice boots behind! It speeds up the process to treat all 4 feet which still takes over a hour, and I find it just as effective.

ETA

109623
 
Tiddlypom said:
I now make up the cleantrax solution as per the destructions but then divide it into two equal volumes which I divide between the two poultice boots. The cleantrax liquid comes well over the coronet band and up the pastern, which seems plenty high enough.

I do have the cleantrax soaking bags which I use for the post soak fumigation. There's a pic somewhere of the same mare wearing the soaking bags in front and the poultice boots behind! It speeds up the process to treat all 4 feet which still takes over a hour, and I find it just as effective.

ETA

View attachment 109623
Click to expand...
I only have one soaking bag so sometimes take turns (if there is a big issue) and sometimes do as you have done and make the solution to the correct strength and split it. I use the boot on the worst foot and a bucket on the other. Even this way, it does a lot of good. I then soak some wadding in the spent solution and use plastic bags gaffa taped on with bandaging and more gaffa tape. I leave that while I do the other pair, bandage those too then go and warm up, as they always seem to need doing when it is blasted cold!!!

Yours looks like a very professional set up compared to mine, with the sight of 2 feet swaddled in bags, one in a proper boot and one in a bucket 😂

It really does work though. Mr Red is a bit hmmmm about having the bottles in the fridge...
 
Tiddlypom said:
I only know of the first meaning!

I must have lead a very sheltered life!
Click to expand...
I have some North American friends, but thought the second meaning was pretty universal! Genuinely never knew of the first meaning!

Reminds me of a night I was on patrol with the local PD in Denver, we stopped a known drugs trafficker and he had tubs of coffee beans in his boot. They were convinced drugs were in there and were using the smell of the beans to hide the smell of the drugs, but had nowhere to tip them to have a rummage (they were to the top of the tub). I suggested simply tipping them in his boot, as they were only beans not grounds and could be collected back into the tub after. They gave me such a strange look, and suggested the tub of beans would not fit into the man's boot, plus they would not be allowed to ask him to take them off 😂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top