[PaintedMare]

Hi I have a problem. My friends horse has completely lost his frog. I mean u can see the navicular tissue. The farrier said to soak his feet in Epsom salt twice a day for ten days and pack it with icthamal at night. This is just for pain management. Then he's going to put a special shoe on to help but I was wondering if there is anything to help the frog grow back faster. I heard something about a product called ToMorrow, but I haven't been able to find any. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[drkate]

Tomorrow is a mastitis product for cows that can be used in horses feet in cases of severe thrush. If that is the reason for this horses lack of frogs it may help kill the thrush.

 

[PunksTank]

I would love to see pictures of that - sorry if that's morbid - we had a horse with a similar issue, but she lost much more of her hoof from a canker.
Our horse who lost that portion of her hoof had the rest of the infected tissue cut out. We kept her hoof in one of those large boots that surround the entire hoof. 2-3 times a day we would take it out, put a plastic bag around the hoof and fill the bag with hydrogen peroxide. It would fizzle and bubble all the infection away. We'd take off the plastic bag and put the boot back on. It took almost 6 months for her hoof to grow back completely, a little deformed, but sound.
I think with just the frog tissue gone it wouldn't take so long. Talk to your vet/farrier about hydrogen peroxide - it's incredibly cheap and works miracles.

 

[PaintedMare]

Thanks PunksTank. I'll try to post pics sometime tomorrow and ill ask the farrier about the peroxide.

 

[PaintedMare]

This is the best pic I could get the black parts are mostly icthamal

 

[countrylove]

Subbing... I'm having the same exact issue
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[Blue Smoke]

YIKES, those heels are incredibly long, I'm not a hoof expert so I'll leave any in depth critiquing to more qualified people here, but if the frog doesn't get much contact with the ground (those high heels wont allow proper hoof function nor proper frog stimulation) it will atrophy away, which is what this looks like to me. If your farrier can't see the overgrown heels I would suggest you at the very least get a second opinion on how he is being trimmed...

I would personally wait to put any sort of shoe on until you get a second opinion, either IRL or someone on here, you may actually do more harm than good.

You could head over to the hoof board with pictures of all feet, also explain how hes living and what hes being fed, and the experts over there can give you a better idea on how to deal with whats going on, and why it is happening.

Good luck

 

[PaintedMare]

The farrier was going to try to trim all his feet that day but he couldn't because the poor thing didn't want to put any weight on his hoof. The regimen we are doing now is for pain management and to get his feet so he can stand better next week then he is suppose to trim them and put the specialty shoe on. Thanks for the advice I just wish I could do more for him right now. He's an old stallion and my horses dad so I really want him to get better ASAP
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[Blue Smoke]

There are better options than just not trimming, trim and boot, trim and cast with pads, but not trimming this guy is probably one reason he is in pain. My gelding had atrophied frogs (not quite this bad though), at first he was unable to have much frog stimulation at all, but we gradually lowered them each trim and his frog has bloomed because of it, he just was not getting the required frog stimulation his hoof needed.

The more stimulation the frog gets the faster it grows, so its sort of a double edged sword, his frogs hurt because they are weak and atrophied and hurt to be in contact with ground, but in order for them to grow and become healthy, he needs that stimulation. You can support him with boots/pads or casting/pads so there is some protection there for him after a correct trim, and gradually bring those heels down to where they should be, and allow some protected stimulation in the mean time with boots/casting.