Strange guests in a horse's frog

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mdcwheeler

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I treated the feet of a cob type horse just brought in from the field for mild thrush today. He's cast 3 shoes and lame, seeing the farrier tomorrow. I've finished working at those stables now so it's not really my problem but I don't like leaving a horse helpless like that and I was wondering (hoping) if anyone could enlighten me.

I found some very strange and unwelcome squatters in his near fore frog.
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Little white worms/larvae/maggots feasting away in the central cleft of his frog, just on this leg. I'm pretty sure this is what's making him lame and uncomfortable as they seem to have got into the sensitive tissues. His heels are warm and soft and he has thrush in all four feet. I was wondering if anyone ever came across this or something similar. My first thought was that they were probably larvae of worms picked up from the poo in the field (yeah, grassland management wasn't one of their fortes
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He's the only one of the 7 horses brought back into the stable suffering so badly. The others have just cast their shoes or grazed their limbs.

Any ideas?
 
Yes, situtations similar to this one pushed me to look for work elsewhere. Too many and the camel's back finally broke!
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Unfortunately the owner is quite tight on spending money on the vet, especially on things that don't seem that important.... I'm hoping that the farrier will notice tomorrow and do something about it! I did ask one of the girls to point it out to him. It's really horrible and poor thing was really suffering!
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If the thrush has gone deep, it is likely that it is making him lame. In bad cases of thrush the gunk can burst out higher up the leg. If complications set in then it can prove fatal. When most people say their horses have thrush, they usualy mean a bit of grott... this pony has the real deal. Not good.

Maggots in the frog are not unusual in warm damp conditions. Poor hoof hygine.... the thrush will be providing them with lots of rotting tissue to live on and in.

Maggots only eat dead tissue, so in a way they are doing the horse a favour. Maggots have been used in medicine for thousands of years (and they still use surgical maggots in this country today) they are used to clean wounds of rotten tissue. Not saying it is good they are in the frog... its just interesting!
 
We have had this before with a horse with very deep clefts and mishapen frogs from years of not having thrush treated before he came to us. Farrier pared the frog back as far as he could comfortably as a starting point, if you are near an agricultural merchants then buy some spray which is meant for sheep to treat foot rot soooo much better than any horse treatment but it does stain like a b****er !!! and obviuosly pick out feet as often as poss. They do come good eventually but it will often mean treatment everyday as if we even miss a couple of days the frogs become soft and start to smell again.
 
Try also the yellow "Battles" summer fly cream for sheep you can get it from the vets or I think agricultural merchants sell it it treats fly blown (maggotty) sheep and it's not very expensive.
If it has got maggots it will be a clean wound.
 
Well lets hope they are maggots!

Does anyone think they could be worm larvae? Isn't it the perfect condition for them to grow in the cleft of frog, warmth, moisture and plenty of food? I suppose they could migrate into the veins from there and to which ever part of the body they usuall affect... When I first spotted them that had been my initial thought.
They were tiny little white things about 2 to 4mm long and barely 1mm wide and there was an enormous quantity of them.
 
worm larvae do not migrate in that way - they cling to the grass and are ingested by horses they cannot enter the body in any other way. What you are describing are maggots, they are only young ones as so small but as they eat and mature they will grow.
 
I have registered just to answer this!

My cob also has horrific thrush in 3 of her feet. She has had it for years. She also got maggots in her feet last year when she was living out in the summer, and I can assure you it was nothing to do with neglect or bad management!

I have tried everything, including domestos, hydrogen peroxide, purple spray, salted water, hoof cleanser, even a formaldahide (sp??) solution.....her bed is deep and dry shavings, and I pick her feet out twice a day. It will not shift, and it is right up inside her frog.

Please don't assume that thrush is just due to bad management....sometimes it is just due to the horse! I am willing to try anything, but doubt very much that anything (besides perhaps paring half her foot and flesh away) would work.

Fwiw she hasnt ever been lame as a result.
 
A squidge of wormer paste into the frog will kill the maggots. Not all maggots are good, some fly maggots will eat live tissue as well as dead, so its best to get rid of them asap.

Cutting out sugar in the diet, eg SB and coarse mixes can sometimes help chronic thrush. Cleantrax is also very good at banishing a deep seated infection.

My TB has been prone to thrush since I got him and can sympathise. Poor foot conformation seems to play a big part in these persistant or recurrent cases.
 
the best thing i have found for dealing with nasty thrush is noof and copper sulphate crystals from Trinity Consultants. It's the only thing that is actually helping to shift my boy's thrush after a year of battling with it!
 
I have emailed Trinity Consultants to see what they have to say.

My farrier had mentioned that there was some kind of copper sulphate poltice (for want of a better way to describe it), but it wasnt meant to be used whilst the hoof was producing the black goo, which of course, my mare's feet do continually.

My point was more that some horses have thrush, and it isnt alwaysthrough neglect or mistreating that they get maggots!!
 
Hmmm I agree, I don't think it came about through neglect and mistreatment, just lazyness and a lack of commitment, they've been running this business for too long!

But it's obviously the first time he's had such a bad case of thrush (judging from the reactions of the staff that have been there longer than me).

I've known tea tree oil to work on thrush in the past, maybe nature's the answer!

Maisy, how did you deal with the maggots in your mare's frog?
 
I use a Copper and Zinc Gel with Aloe Vera made by Fearings for hoof problems in sheep and cattle, always treat after farrier has been and a few times in between if necessary--old pony has mild problem
http://www.fearing.co.uk/category.cns?cID=2

The bug which causes thrush is the same as that causing foot rot in sheep--smells just the same!!
My father used to treat sheeps cleats with diluted formalin!!

The guests will be maggots --you can catch them at egg stage and scrub them away with warm lightly salted waterif hooves are checked daily, this is similar to fly strike in sheep and these maggots do eat flesh--horrible literally eaten alive if not spotted. Horses normally stamp the flies away but an older horse or one not in good condition may not.
 
I actually left them there, as a friend of mine said that her horse had had them one day and the thrush was gone the next. He, however, had it around the outside of his frog, rather than in deeply like Maisy gets it.

The maggots did clear up the thrush in the 4th foot....or rather, it cleared up after they had been there, but werent any help with the other 3!

I have asked every vet I have met and my farrier about what else to try, as i'm not really sure how far up inside the frog it can go, and what happens then iykwim! As I mentioned, I have had her for nearly 7 years, and she hasnt gone lame with it yet, but I'm still hopeful that I will find something to cure it one day!!
 
I have a 3 yr old mare who had these little guests. they were burrowing in her frog back by the cleft and into the cleft of the heel. In all the yrs i have had horses i have never ever heard of them getting worms(maggots) in that area. she had a little thrush but nothing super severe. however they were eating holes into her frog and when my dad (he's my farrier) was shedding some of the frog off it almost had a swiss cheese appearance from them chewing holes into her. i felt so bad....her stall is clean and dry and her feet picked when i ride. she was wormed 6 weeks ago. We have a 35% hydrogen peroxide that we sprayed into her her hooves which really irritated the little buggers. I also styripped her stall down and put new bedding and sprayed that down with HP too. It has only been a day so i will see how this works out in the next week or so and keep everyone posted! It is gross and i dont wish this on anyones horses.
 
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