heel/frog help....

Hi can anyone help me, I have had my mare for 6 weeks now she has been seen by a farrier and he trimmed her frogs and put new shoes on, he has done a good job but yesterday I noticed on her back hooves where the frogs cones up between the heels, there are what looks like a couple of holes, on both of her feet, they are a few mm wide maybe the width of pencils, they seem deep and look like they go right into the frogs, I have honestly never seen anything like this on a horse before, there is no discharge, no heat she is not lame, and there is no smell, but any hole in the feet scares me especially with all the mud lately, she may get infections?? Can anyone help with what this is, the farries hasn't seen them but says some horses just have poor frogs and they can get holes, normally something has worked it's way out (but not sure how this happens on both at once) basically he said if she is not in pain and not lame don't worry, but I am terrified, please help...

Pictures?
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Hi,

Yes, pictures would help, but at a guess I'd say it could be thrush. This is an opportunistic infection that gets into unhealthy frogs. Perhaps your farrier just pared already damaged frog, but some pare frog as a matter of course, which also increases susceptibility to infection. There are plenty of different treatments for it. I tend to use diluted iodine to soak the feet when bad, or more frequently, squirt on some apple cider vinegar daily to keep it at bay. The horse's heels/frogs may be weak & sensitive, so I would stay off rough ground or protect them with boots or such.

Learning what you can about hoof health & function will help you keep your horse healthy & have a better idea of what's going on so you can deal with problems as soon as they crop up. Hoofrehab.com & Mayfield Barehoof Care Centre Home Page are 2 good places to start.

Thanks guys I will get some apple cider vinegar tomorrow, and I will take some pics too so you can have a look, and let me know what you think, I haven't slept for two nights it's driving me crazy

Sounds like thrush. I would look in to doing a soak of both feet to make sure whatever product you use really gets in there. Call your farrier too. He/she may be able to come out and cut off any trush infected frog, so the soak can work better.

Above suggestions sound correct,keep area cleaned to prevent infection,the vinegar should do or get anti bacterial from vet,if holes do not close over get vet opinion,keep horse on dry floorng.

Hi chaps I think you are right I can't load the pictures onto the site to show you but I have noticed them on her front now??? They deffo have only just opened up because they were not there the other day?? I am scrubbing her off with hibiscrub daily and spraying iodine spray into them, couldn't get the vinegar? Do you think this would be ok?? Thanks for the advice, also a friend of mine asked on another forum and someone said they where scent glands???? Has anyone ever known this, I never ever come across that before.. anyone got any ideas??? I think I will stick with the thrush road for now thanks :)

You really ought to soak her feet. Scrubbing and spraying only get the top layer of hoof.

I have had good luck soaking with Germ Control 24 by Earth Choice. I put just enough in a soaking boot or bag so that it comes up almost to the hairline on the back of the hoof. I let it soak for about 20-25 minutes. Repeat daily for 3 days, then every other day for a week. Within 10 days, the feet should be beginning to heal. Keep soaking 3 days a week until you notice significant healing (more than 50%), then you can stop soaking or go to once a week.
OdoBan Professional - Germ Control24
Germ Control Silver Formula Gal - CL-6020

You can also try soaking with White Lightning. I have heard people had great luck with it, but it's too pricey for me.
White Lightning Liquid ® 64 oz, White Lightning |Grand Circuit Products
They have soaking bags that are pretty affordable on this web site as well.

A couple of good topical thrush treatments that work better than others.
Thrush Ninja! Treatment for Equine Thrush
NO THRUSH - The First Ever DRY Equine Treatment. Natural, safe, Results in 3-5 days

Some good articles on Thursh.
Healthy Hoof - Solutions for Barefoot Performance
Healthy Hoof - Solutions for Barefoot Performance

The above talks about Oxine soaks, which are good, but you have to use the activator to really make it work. I tried Oxine without the activator and it wasn't very sucessfull. I prefer easy treatments, which I have found with the Germ Control24 soaks.

Article on White Lightning:
Healthy Hoof - Solutions for Barefoot Performance

Never heard that one before! What bits exactly are supposed to be scent glands?? I guess in some parts thrush could be so normal as to be looked upon as natural by some...

Agree that soaking the feet for around half an hour would be much better than just scrubbing, if there's any chance of any deep infections. I just use old inner tyre tubes(got free from tyre place) and make bags out of them(using rubber shoe glue) then holes along top to put a string thru to gather & tie them on. But if you do this daily for a bit, to treat it thoroughly, then you could revert back to scrubbing to keep it at bay until the hooves have grown healthy. While I'll bring in the 'heavy guns' to treat an infection, I prefer to use ACV as a long term preventative, as it doesn't harm growing tissue any way.

Thanks guys
Some really good ideas, I will give it a go, to be hnest I think she is just growing out the old scabby frog tissue, after having the really good trim, she is still sound and no heat in them or any sign of infection so I will keep up the soaking and blitzing and see how she goes

Thank you all
Sarah and pan