White line disease

its often referred to as seedy toe.....can be difficult to manage, but is curable. It isn't life threatening.
Basically it is bacteria build up and attacks the sensitive whiteline of the hoof. It's easily recognised by farriers and can be lengthy to recover from, but can be done.
One of mine had it, but it did gradually grow out after my farrier dug it out and i applied iodine regularly to kill anything in there. One thing I found though was it was easier to manage if I kept the hooves as dry as possible....so on wet times I brought in on a big bed of shavings,not that pony liked it as lived out mainly....but needs must!
 
My gelding had it when we moved yards. With a great farrier and careful treatment it is completely manageable. Think it did take several months for his feet to be completely right again, (and kept him on farriers formula ever since) but no lasting damage!
 
Cazza525 said:
Is this a guessing game, or are you going to tell us the answer.......;)
Click to expand...

Lol - okay then.

They all started out the winter with healthy tight white lines, because they have a healthy low sugar/starch diet. Because their white lines were healthy there was no where for the bacteria/fungus to invade. For white line disease to start you need an inital weakeness/a crack or a gap in the structure of the white line - and what causes that initial weakness? The white line is the bottom of laminae. So it is some of those laminae that are damaged/weakened. What causes the laminae to be damaged/weakened? Inflammation. What causes the inflammation? Usually diet - too much sugar/starch.

All the word laminitis means is inflammation of the laminae - whether that is a small amount of inflammation that just causes a small amount of damage in the white line or the other extreme - a full blown acute attack. Liken it to the difference between a mild headache and a migraine.

Not sure why people find it so hard to accept that there are all levels of 'laminitis' going on - so just because your horse has white line disease doesn't mean he is about to get a full blown acute attack. Most likely he isn't. But diet is still the key to prevent white line disease occuring in the first place.
 
my little unshod mare got it from a small stone chip on the side of her hoof that allowed bacteria to get in.....not low grade laminitis/sugar starch problem or anything else.
 
because she is retired and i have a stony track to lead down to stables. My blinkin farrier had become illusive again and she was overdue a trim, hence the chip, then the crack.

He spent months apologising :)
 
I'd still argue that there was already a weakness in that part of the white line allowing the infection to get in. Horses not in work will never have as healthy tight white lines as working horses or those kept on true paddock paradise systems.
 
My mare had it in August, only saw it when I had her shoes removed. She'd been fat all summer, even for her good doer self - the white line separated (clearly visible) and bacteria got in causing WLD. She was the fattest this year ever - too much good grass at a yard where I couldn't separate/split the field. We've moved.
 
I'm not a vet or farrier, but my advice would be to look into CleanTrax. It's great stuff! Mine's WLD wasn't bad but CleanTrax cleared it in one day. Of course you do need to train your horse to stand still for ages with big boots on, and it is quite expensive though I suspect normal treatment adds up to much the same in the end. It only gets rid of the infection, you still need to wait for a healthy white line to grow down.

Mine's WLD was definately due to diet, he escaped into a big diary field and stuffed himself. No clinical laminitis or lameness, but the changes in his feet were obvious.
 
here in italy, its called 'Tarlo' and is quite common. The bacteria which are responsible for the condition are often found in shavings and it is extremely common that they are passed on via blacksmiths tools. The cure is....the removal of the hoof wall to expose the area damaged.The bacteria involved are anaerobic so the exposure to oxygen is fundamental. Iodine is a great help and daily washing/scrubbing with is of great help. It is also of great help if blacksmiths would sterilise their tools between horses. Sadly, I have known of a few cases which ended up in the slaughter of said horses.
 
my farrier discoved seedy toe in one of georges hind feet last shoeing. Hes been again today to reshoe and said the recovery is fantastic (only very small amount left)

I have been scrubbing out with hibiscrub every other day then covering the foot in iodine spray.

my farrier believes georges is due to his hock spavins. he always has his hind toes rolled as due to the spavins he wears his toes down quicker - incedentally this is where the WLD is so he thinks its due to that
 
My old mare suffered from this once. We caught it very early as it was predicted by my farrier as an inevitable part of an ongoing saga.

If I remember rightly, he had me soak the foot in a warm diluted hibiscrub solution for ten minutes, then douse the area in bactakill. It took a good while to go away, but that was probably more do with my circumstances than anything else.

The important things to know are that it is completely curable and pretty much easily curable. Trust your farrier and it'll pass soon enough :)
 
Not wishing to start a bunfight :) but I have noticed the only time of year my horse's White line changes is when the spring grass comes.

The rest of the year the feet look lovely and solid and tight underneath. In spring they go all splat and the white line stretches for a few weeks.

I find a wire brush useful for removing small stones during this time.
 
Ok I am really tired so probably somewhat blunt - apologies in advance

WLD need not be a big issue and it certainly doesn't need resecting.

Does respond very well to competent barefoot management though........... (ok I'll duck behind the sofa now!) :-)
 
Wow thanks guys, real insight. Ive been scrubbing and bathing in hibiscrub - will grab some iodine. Never thought of that - we use it at work on wounds and it makes a huge difference.

He is a little overweight and on some grass but has next to no hard feed (handful of hifi lite and handful of D&H pasture mix) just as a token. Hes also shod - incidentally, it was noticed most after he was shod when he was out on loan (my farrier was horrified and commented on the fact that the other farrier shod him with a smaller shoe than normal and so his heels contracted) but still noticeable now hes home.
 
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