Worse environments are paddocks that carpeted in deep manure mud or manure dust. It usually presents with a characteristic foul odor and black, tar-like discharge, or may simply leave the frogs puny and tattered looking with with powdery funk under shedding flaps.It can also simply look like an otherwise normal frog, but has a pinched "butt crack" appearance to the middle part. Anyone familar with this? I've just got back from having a look. You can also use pruning sheers like the Corona AG 5030 Grape Sheers above to remove frog flaps.. Corona sheers are are easy to sharpen, have a curved edge and blunt tip. For pictures of health frogs look at the healthy frog pages heres;Healthy Fall Frogs, More Healthy Frogs. Thrush usually presents as foul smelling black matter in the sulci of the frog. hardware brushes are great for removing tattered frog and loose sole! The gravel drains well and scours the feet to remove tattered frogs and lose sole. Meanwhile the powder is protecting the new/tender tissue from being invaded by a whole new round of thrush. This can cause the horse to become uneasy during regular hoof maintenance and create unnecessary problems for you or your farrier. Paddocks filled with damp chipped wood are difficult to keep clean, and residual manure and urine are a bacterial reservoir that repeatedly infects frogs. Pea gravel laid 4 to 6 inches deep provides the best environment for healthy feet. Thrush contains anaerobic bacteria that flourish in tight cracks and deep central sulci. Thrush in horses is an unpleasant infection of the central and collateral grooves of the frog. I didn’t think anything about it since most horses were shedding frogs at that time. By the time a frog begins to shed, it is a flap of insensitive tissue that can be trimmed as if it was a flap of dry skin. Thrush Treatment Pete Ramey. The round gravel in the picture on the right worked great, but a smaller 1/4 inch pea gravel is easier to keep clean. Take a look at http://www.ntdry.co.nz/ There is a Where to Buy section. Owners should be able to use a sharp hoof pick with a point as sharp as a pencil to deeply and thoroughly probe the entire sole and frog, including the central sulcus, using between 3 to 5 pounds of pressure. — Anyway, when the thrush has run it course deep inside, this action can undermine the frog. If your horse has chronic thrush or poor frog development (persistently thin scrawny and dry frogs), check the diet, look at your horses weight and over-all health, balance the minerals, and if that doesn't work, try adding pro & prebiotics along with a yeast product like Yea Sac Farm Pack or Kombat Boots for a months to see if frog condition improves. Prior farrier's tried to lower his heels unsuccessfully over an 8 year period, and I was certain that taking him barefoot would resolve the height. 1. Shedding is a natural process and you should give your frog time to shed in a peaceful, safe environment. I was seeing feet with retained sole, characterized by deep commissure's, a flat sole and high bars. Dietary management, cleaning and maintenance has to occur on a regular basis. KOA – Complete 35 day wound video Journal in 1:15 Featuring DUST ON! The frog on that foot is really shedding … The A-to-Z timing will be based on the speed of your horse’s natural growth rate. You may want to help your frog shed by taking some skin off of him. 20 April 2013 #1. STEPHEN O’GRADY, DVM, MRCVS A: Thrush is a bacterial infection that occurs in the tissue of the frog, the V-shaped structure located between the sole, wall and bars in the heel area of the hoof.The disease begins when bacteria penetrate the outer horn, or epidermis, of the frog. If you have a horse with Thrush I would highly recommend you try this stuff. See the Thrush Treatments page here for more info. Thrush in a horseâ s hoof is a fungal infection of your horseâ s hoof or hooves. Frequency of application depends on the severity of the thrush. THRUSH is a combination of yeast, fungus and anaerobic bacteria, and it always needs to be treated AND prevented by balancing the diet. This owner argued that her horse had a great frog, and at first glance it looks okay, but the horse fought violently when I gently probed the central sulcus. This will help firm up that new tender tissue and allow it to regrow properly. I'm currently 1/2 leasing a pony, and she's boarded somewhere in a large pen (grass, with a dirt section) and it's dry - the drainage is really good. A healthy shedding frog isn't something owners should be afraid of maintaining between trims because there isn't a thrush infection, only health yeasts and fungus. If you see the groove disappear inward, undercutting the frog, this is another warning sign. Joined 8 June 2011 Messages 973 Location Yes, there probably is thrush by the look of the pic. Once established in a hoof, thrush lingers on through summers driest days, creating extreme discomfort for the horses that have it. Serving the greater SF Bay Area & Northern I've never experience such a quick shedding of the frog over the whole area. I have worked on more than 30 horses who were diagnosed with "navicular syndrome" or an unspecified lameness, including several horses that have been lame for years, and all were "cured" by a good barefoot trim followed by treatment for Thrush using Oxine, Usnea, Pete's Goo triple antibiotic, Dawn dish detergent, Lysol or White Lightning. My horse's frog seems to be "shedding" on both of his front feet, according to what I have been finding on the internet. . That is normal shedding of the sole. Most cracks in frogs can be helped by cramming MSM cream in there, stops the two sides rubbing against each other and gets rid of thrush. Thrush is a common bacterial infection that arises when horse hooves have been subjected to a lot of moisture or contact with wastes that contain moisture. These and Bonsai Concave Trimmers are great for removing frog tags as well as cleaning up chestnuts. At about the same time the rain started I started treating one of my horses with zinc oxide (40%) diaper rash cream + copper sulfate powder (ala Pete Ramey) to clear up what seems to be thrush … Specifically, the point of … Copyright If your horse won't stand for having his feet cleaned, hose the feet out thoroughly, scrub the cracks and crevices with Dawn dish detergent and a long bristled plastic scrub brush (a regular floor scrub brush works fine), rinse thoroughly and treat them for thrush. The resulting bacterial imbalance creates an opportunity for Thrush infections to take root. This horse is sound barefoot on trails - until he hits a rock in the frog area! It doesn’t mater what it is: leather cleaner, shampoo, first aid treatments…and thrush treatment. I know this can be normal - but is there a time of year to expect it, and how can I know it's normal? Treating it is over-kill.. FUNGUS is the black stuff you see when you pick out your horses feet for the first time in a few days. No Thrush – PRO TIP – July 2015… “**Shedding Frog**” We received a private message from a woman whose horse was shedding its frog. Expect a frog/heel shedding to begin after a week or so. An immature frog still looks healthy with a leathery skin, but smaller and undeveloped. [usually 20-50 days]  No Thrush is not “making” the tissue grow, it is “allowing” it to grow. Well it is spring time, ... Horses shed their frogs twice a year, any more than that and you want to check for thrush or other hoof issues. Added 2018 - Desert Thrush. If the thrush was severe, and the frog has been undermined, the rest of the frog may fully shed away. While frog shedding is normal, if you have never experienced it, it can look scary. Probably been there for a while and you exposed it last time you cleaned, hence the smell now and not before. Again, this is a great sign. So I started being very careful about how I trimmed frogs and eventually started examining diets looking for an underlying cause. Thrush is a disease of the frog. To guard against thrush, encourage your farrier to remove ONLY the shedding frog, cracked loose frog and "tags" that can hide debris in the sulcus and commissure, providing a nursery for thrush. You may see deep, black cracks; trim till all the black is gone and all remaining frog is open to the air. It’s finally starting to heal and doesn’t smell or have the yucky black substance inside the frog anymore. Even if you are treating for thrush, often the medicines can't breech these deep sealed areas. I had to admit to myself I had been causing thrush for years, by routinely removing the protective callus from the frogs. The sole is shedding out, the wall is too long -- just too much hoof there overall. While frog shedding is normal, … Continue reading → Thrush in horses is an unpleasant infection of the central and collateral grooves of the frog. The sulci may be deeper than normal. It is identified by a particularly unpleasant smell and an oily, black discharge. You can use a hoof knife to **very gently** scrape off yeast and dark thrushy film, but if left alone it will wear off quickly. 2. I pick his hooves regularly and apply anti thrush as a pretentative. I wouldn't be at all worried, since you are not seeing (or smelling) signs of infection such as thrush. Unhealthy frogs run the gamut from shriveled frogs entombed between contracted heels, to chronically shrunken frogs, to "greasy" looking thrush filled frogs. I would treat for thrush … A new frog seems to be growing underneath, and is the same color as the rest of his hoof. Flappy bits can just be normal shedding, should eventually all drop off and hopefully the new frog underneath would be healthy. The vet probed around and used the hoof testers, she then found that her frog had shed but it was all in one piece. Thrush – a surface fungal & bacterial infection primarily caused by Spherophorus neaophorus Fungus. ( Log Out /  With sulcus thrush and frog disease you might see the top edge of the frog begin to peel away. In fact, sometimes the entire V of the frog will shed at once, which really looks daunting. It just appears to be shrinking? The bacteria can slip inside that crack and eat its way toward the heel. At that time, the frog was gone from three hooves. Every spring the mare would get tender, her bars would enlarge and she'd get thin soled and pop an occasional abscess. But you are not quite done…. They respond to use/pressure like the rest of the hoof. With extreme sulcus thrush and frog disease you might see the top edge of the frog begin to peel away. Keep using your NT every few days. 3 days later she sheds the frog in her RF just as she did before in a big piece. It no longer needs to fight the thrush, so the body allows the necrotic/dead tissue to fall away. Using a cream like Zinc Oxide ointment, Dry Cow or triple antibiotic cream will help heal the infected and inflamed skin. A spot on his sole erupted, just ahead of the seat of corn, sure wasn't there the other day. It also cannot cause stinging or burning that would cause toe-first impact and/or a lack of voluntary frog use. The body does not want to allow it to shed because it is the only protection for the soft, tender, and vulnerable tissue underneath. Linda The answer is valuable, so we thought we’d share to all…. Don't pull it off unless it comes loose with minimal pressure. 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