Fungus infection on toe of the hoof

[SunflowerPower]

Hey y’all,

I’m trying to remember the name of the toe fungal infection two of the horses have right now. The farrier pointed it out, and basically it looks like a perfect triangle grass crack on the front of the horses’ toes. He said that its a fungal infection, and the crack will grow at the same rate as the hoof, so it will pretty much just stay there until we kill the fungus. He said if we pack monostat into it it will kill it, but the owner doesn’t really want to do that (can’t say I blame her) so if anyone knows the name of the infection or some natural ways to get rid of it, I’d really appreciate it if you’d let me know.

We’ve been putting a few drops of tea tree oil into the crack, but I’m not so sure that’ll work.

[IslandDQ]

No Thrush should do the trick to remove the moisture and the fungus, it’s a great product!

[Marla_100]

Could it be WhiteLine Disease? If so White Lightening soaks will knock it out.
It’s made specifically for this problem. You’ll need either soaking boots or heavy duty freezer bags tied around the ankles as the fumes from the White Lightening mixed w/ vinegar needs to kill the ickies causing the problem.

[ToTheNines]

The term you are thinking of is “seedy toe”. It is white line. Mine got a little pocket of it with the wet weather this spring. Farrier cut a little notch in his toe (he is shod). The only thing that will get rid of it is cutting it out and using White Lightening.

[SunflowerPower]

Thank you all! I believe it is seedy toe, and looking it up online suggested that tea tree oil can help kill it in the beginning stages. It also suggested that peroxide might help to put some air on it. I think we might be able to get rid of it with natural methods since its still pretty small, but I’ll look into White Lightening just in case.

[One_Two_Three]

[QUOTE=SunflowerPower;8272229]
Thank you all! I believe it is seedy toe, and looking it up online suggested that tea tree oil can help kill it in the beginning stages. It also suggested that peroxide might help to put some air on it. I think we might be able to get rid of it with natural methods since its still pretty small, but I’ll look into White Lightening just in case.[/QUOTE]

I’d go ahead and treat it with something designed for white line. That can get pretty severe if you leave it to fester, and typically 1-2 applications of something like white lightning will knock out a pretty moderate case of wld. I alternated between the soak and the gel form. If it’s mild, the gel might work well for convenience…but I certainly wouldn’t skimp on proper treatment for it. Kick it while it’s mild.

[Marla_100]

Agree- knock it out with the proper treatment, the natural methods don’t work. And while you’re waiting for them to work, the WLD is spreading up into the hoof where you can’t even see it. It’s usually a much larger area than you suspect, which is why sometimes it needs to be cut out to stop the spread.

[Mosey_2003]

Yes, hit white line disease hard and fast, or it will spread.

White Lightning:
http://www.horsehealthusa.com/details/White-Lightning/354-15.html

[JB]

If TWO horses are having this problem, I would be looking hard at management, starting with the condition of the feet (ie farrier work).

It is entirely possible for well-trimmed feet to have something happen to allow WLD to take hold, but IME most of the time it’s happening as a direct result of poor trimming allowing and causing the white line to stretch and be more susceptible.

It would be well worth an xray to see just how deep this is. If it ends up being deep enough, a ressection is really a requirement, in addition to a good White Lightning or CleanTrax soak. If it’s fairly shallow, then the soaking may be all that’s needed, along with opening up a slightly bigger area to let more air in and allow for easier cleaning.

[SunflowerPower]

Ok, I’ll talk to the owner about it, probably buy some White Lightening myself… Any ideas for getting the horses to stand still while we soak? I have a feeling they will really resent my attempts to get them to stand in a bowl. Maybe hang some hay in front of them?

The farrier is really great, just the owner is really busy and going through some stressful events right now and sometimes forgets about the farrier and scedules him to trim a week later than the horses actually need it… I’ll talk to her about it, see what we can do

[One_Two_Three]

[QUOTE=SunflowerPower;8272659]
Ok, I’ll talk to the owner about it, probably buy some White Lightening myself… Any ideas for getting the horses to stand still while we soak? I have a feeling they will really resent my attempts to get them to stand in a bowl. Maybe hang some hay in front of them?

The farrier is really great, just the owner is really busy and going through some stressful events right now and sometimes forgets about the farrier and scedules him to trim a week later than the horses actually need it… I’ll talk to her about it, see what we can do[/QUOTE]

A hay net in front of them while soaking can help. If it’s not a severe case, the white lightning gel is an option, no soaking involved.

[Mosey_2003]

You’re supposed to use a bag with the White Lightning, not a bowl. Put hay in front of them.

[flyracing]

For soaking, ask the vet for used 5L LRS or saline bags (they save them for this purpose). Cut the end of where the IV is attached. Then fill the bag 1/3 to 1/2 full and place the foot in it. Once the foot is set down, use duct tape or vet wrap to secure the top by taping/wrapping around the pastern.

On another note, I like to cut out seedy toe while it’s small. It will either remove the infection or be diagnostic that the infection has spread farther than simply soaking can even be effective.

[Frizzle]

Put the White Lightning & vinegar in a 10L heavy duty dry bag, secure the top with an Ace bandage or Saratoga wrap or standing wrap, leave for 45 minutes. I would do at least 5 or 6 treatments (1 every few days) to make sure you kill everything. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00NARTQK0/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1439612982&sr=1-3&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A4580554011&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=41uZAYOPuUL&ref=plSrch

[WNT]

After losing six months to white line disease, I don’t mess around. We thought we had it under control until the horse went dead lame and we discovered the WLD had expanded through a quarter of his hoof and he nearly foundered. Treat it aggressively now (I personally have had better luck with Cleantrax than White Lightning, depends on the infection). Six months of stall rest and custom shoeing for the resection was not cheap.