Thrush Update!

 In my last post about thrush I posted this photo of a mare who had suffered from a serious central sulcus infection for 6+ years. This photo was taken in 2012.

 We tried just about everything to clear it up, but no treatment really seemed to promote healing of the infection or tissue regeneration. Things that worked on every other serious thrush infection I have seen didn't touch that one.  I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to beat it!

This photo was taken 2 years after the above photo. You can see the frog is definitely stronger, wider and healthier, but we couldn't get rid of that central infection! The pinkish color was due to one of the thrush medications that we were trying at the time.

In the past year we changed two main things, environment, and topical treatment. First, one of her turnout areas consisted of a hogfuel based footing. Hogfuel is, in my opinion, the worst footing available for horses in their turnout areas. It retains moisture, bacteria, and urine, is acidic, and is in a continuous state of decomposition so it is rotting material. It turns into nasty mud as it breaks down, horses often have allergic reactions to it which cause skin issues like mud fever and rain scald, as well as cause white line infections and frog rot. It is far too soft and moist to promote a healthy hoof and frog. This mare wasn't being kept on hogfuel,but one of her pastures was an old riding ring with broken down hogfuel, so access to that was removed. I think that was the first step to healing this infection. The hogfuel was no longer being pushed into the crevice which would have been continuously reintroducing bacteria and decomposing material to an already sensitive and weakened area.

Second was the use of a lovely little product called Special Formula 17900 Forte. It's actually a mastitis treatment for cattle, however it's a quadruple antibiotic, with hydrocortizone to help with inflammation. You can find all it's ingredients and info here:
 http://www.drugs.com/vet/special-formula-17900-forte-suspension-can.html

In the US you guys have a similar products, although I can't find one that treats the same range of bacteria. Unfortunately here in Canada you can only get this product from a veterinarian, and some are very willing to sell it to you, others require a vet exam, which I think for this purpose is totally unnecessary, but to each their own. Also the price can range dramatically, you SHOULD be able to find it for under $10 a tube.

Here is what the miracle stuff looks like, as you can see it has a perfect fine little tip to it that lets you get it right into deep into the crevice! It does come out quick though so be careful, you don't need much!

So.. what were the results? This photo was taken 2 months later

You can clearly see that the sulcus infection has finally met it's match. New tissue has almost completely filled in the central sulcus, and although her frog was going through a shed at the time of this photo it still had a healthy new frog underneath and on the road to a full recovery. Unfortunately we were heading into fall/winter and around here that means all sort of wet and sloppy conditions. We were a little worried that things might take a turn back to the dark side with the weather changes. So, how does that frog look now, 4 months later, in the middle of winter? 

Great! I am so happy for this mare that we finally got rid of that nasty infection, and have a new treatment for the tool box. I have since tried it on a few sulcus infections and they were gone by the next trim cycle. 

I have heard it's a good topical treatment for mud fever and rain scald too, talk to your vet if you think you might want to give it a try! 

4 Tips to a Happy Hoof Care Provider

I often work for new horse owners who aren't familiar with the job of a Hoof Care Provider and aren't really sure the general protocol when having one out to trim, or even things like scheduling, horse handling etc. Hoof Care is a tough job, but you can help make it easier!

Here are ways to be on your Hoof Care Providers (labelled HCP for ease from now on) list of favourite customers!

1. Be Ready 

Try and make sure you have your horse caught, as clean as possible, and ready to be worked with before your HCP arrives. In the winter, mud and rain can make for some very dirty horses.  If your horse has a blanket on that is really dirty or might hang low and get in the way, take it off. And if your horse is in heat or has some runny poop issues, a warning is appreciated before we head to the rear portion and risk various bodily fluids on our heads LOL.

While it's not necessary to have the hooves picked before hand, (we do carry hoof picks just in case! ) it does help keep our tools clean and working more efficiently, and we definitely appreciate getting the least amount of mud and other fun things all over us and our tools.

 Equine Professionals don't have the best reputation for being on time. Your HCP should contact you if things are running late so that you aren’t standing around waiting for your appointment. By being ready to go for the exact time of your appointment helps us stay on schedule all day for our other clients!

2. Be Present

This is something that sounds wishy washy but is very important for our safety.

We are relying on you to keep your horse standing as still and relaxed as possible while we work. .  There are a lot of risks involved with being a HCP, and the more personal injuries to our selves that we can prevent the better we can do our job! Horses know when you are distracted and will often take advantage of your less than present state of mind by being fidgety, rude, or nervous because they need your reassurance or attention to know they are in a safe situation.

 When there is a strange person doing odd things to their feet, some horses are old pros and don't even need a handler, others need you on the ball. What you are doing while this is happening plays a huge roll in how they behave. Many customers are so unfocused on their horse, that the horse is better behaved with no handler, than with a distracted one. When there isn't a human there who isn't paying attention, or isn't calm and confident leader, they relax and focus on the HCP and the job is done calmly and happily... point being, what you are thinking and doing on the end of that lead rope DOES make a difference.

Things like loose dogs, kids running around or distracting you, phone calls etc can all take your attention away from your horse and create tension and safety concerns for the person who happens to be attached to one of your horse's legs. There are a lot of risks involved with being a HCP, it helps us to feel safe and confident when you are present as well! 


3. Ask Questions and Listen to Our Advice

  Don't forget that you are paying us for our knowledge and expertise on the subject and we want to help you have a healthy, sound horse! So feel free to ask us questions! The other end of that however is, please be willing to follow our advice!

There are many methods, products, opinions etc out there, and you may not always agree with what we have to say, however, be willing to give it a try. We are (hopefully) basing our suggestions on experience, research and positive results and will try our best to answer your questions and solve the problems your horse may have but we can't do that if you don't follow our advice. If something doesn't work, or even better, if something does, let us know! We want to know all the hows and whys, and figure out what works best. Every horse is different, every situation is unique and what may have worked for us in the past won't always work every time so it's valuable information for us to know what does and doesn't work with the horses we are working on.

We can't help you, or your horse if you don't follow our suggestions for things like diet, topical treatments, footing, exercise, trim schedules etc. You certainly can't blame your HCP for issues within the hoof if they are making suggestions to correct or treat the issues and you do not follow those suggestions. Things like thrush, cracks, chips, laminitis/founder etc can all be treated or prevented if you follow the suggestions and guidelines set up with your HCP. Healthy hooves are a team effort! We can only do so much, you need to do the rest in between appointments.

You will never see me as happy as when I come to trim a horse, see that a customer has followed through with a plan we put together at the previous trim, and the horse has improved by leaps and bounds. There is a much happier horse and owner too!


4. Enjoy Your Horse! 

By enjoy, I mean, spend time with, train, ride and exercise!  A happy, healthy horse is one that is trained to be easily handled, is happy being worked with, and gets as much exercise as possible. Having your HCP out will be a non stressful, safe, and easy job for everyone if you have a strong bond with your horse, it understands it's job when it's hooves are being worked with, and is comfortable with it's handler and the routine. So start early with young horses so that it's an easy, stress free situation.

Hooves are strongest when they get a lot of exercise, so by all means, exercise your horse! Ride, drive, take it for walks, liberty work, etc or just make sure it has as much space as possible to forge strong, healthy hooves through movement. The concussion, twisting and turning within the hoof capsule, and various surfaces abrading the hoof all around is the foundation of healthy frogs, lateral cartilages and digital cushions, as well as sole depth/concavity, strong lamina connections and callus. Have your horse living and moving a lot on hard, dry and abrasive surfaces like sand, gravel, rock etc (within your horse's comfort level, to be determined by you and your HCP), as much as possible, even just a gravel patch in your paddock can create a ton of positive change in your horse's feet (another topic for another blog post I guess). Above all, exercise is good for the whole horse, so (obviously special circumstances excluded), encourage as much movement as possible.

The stronger and healthier the hooves, the more enjoyable our jobs are, because we are constantly working with happy healthy horses!

Of course there are always exceptions to every rule,special situations that these tips may not apply to,  and we can't always be perfect, but use these 4 tips and you will have one very happy horse and Hoof Care Provider alike!