RC: sole and frog

[Jennifer Hixson Layman <jlayman@leland.Stanford.EDU>]

My horses are in very large paddocks, but they still get muddy, and if I
don't clean feet daily, and treat with a bit of koppertox or trush buster
once a week (during the wet season) my horses will get thrushy regardless
of a pared frog.  Last winter during El Nino I pulled shoes since I wasn't
accomplishing any riding.  I found that thrush was greatly reduced without
shoes, even during El Nino.  The shoes seem to really hold the mud on the
foot more.  I am having to watch for thrush much more this winter with the
shoes on and the off again, on again rain/dry.  The type of soil they are
housed on may have a lot to do with it too.  Our soil has a bit of a clay
consistancy and is rather sticky.

IMHO... shoes have more to do with thrush than the condition of the frog.
My farrier pares some frog away, but nothing drastic (I will explore this
further).

Jennifer

------------------------------

>No, Tom, I am not an expert....As far as the cleaning the cleft goes and
>getting thrushy- I would think that any horse who is going down the trail
>on any kind of regular basis and kept in normally clean conditions (not>
>standing in manure) would not get thrush regardless of whether the clefts
>of his frogs are routinely cleaned or not.   My advise would be to clean
>the foot well with the reasoning being that there could be a rock, nail,
>piece of glass or other harmful item stuck in there - if the dirt in the
>cleft actually is helpful, it will accumulate there in between cleanings
>anyway....

>All IMHO...

>Laura Hayes, NE (an oldie)



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