Today was bath day for my 6yo OTTB gelding, seeing as he’s been lame for about 2 1/2 weeks now. He went lame after the farrier came (he’s barefoot) and I believe he may have been trimmed short, seeing as he does not exhibit signs of anything else i.e no heat, swelling, etc. I picked up his front left hoof… to discover a hole in his frog! There is no discharge or odor, so I’m not sure if it is thrush seeing as I’ve never dealt with it before. He is not sensitive when I touch it, and it does not feel wet or sticky. Any ideas on what it could be?
First, I assume you contacted the farrier as soon as you saw the horse was lame? Or your vet? With the trim and the lameness occurring at the same time, might be a coincidence, but it might not be. If the horse is still lame almost three weeks after the trim, something is going on that requires attention - sooner rather than later
As to the hole in the frog, if its not stinky and/or mushy/spongy, then it is not thrush. Could be a puncture wound - through you don’t say how big the hole is. However, if its not bleeding, or draining, then its most likely superficial or could just be the frog sloughing off. Please post a picture - that would make figuring out what it is much easier, instead of just guessing.
Lame for nearly three weeks after a trim is not normal. How big/deep is the hole? Very difficult to say without additional info/being able to see it, but I would be calling the vet to examine and likely take xrays of that foot. Are you sure the lameness is in the hoof? Is he lame in the same leg as the hole?
I tried adding a photo, but it wouldn’t let me. The hole is big enough for me to put the tip of my thumb in it. The farrier comes today at 2. The hole is in the opposite leg that he is lame in (I have also been cold hosing and wrapping that leg with poultice) which is why I did not immediately call the vet. He has never been lame in the time I’ve had him (about a year and a half), and he has always been barefoot, and I’ve never switched farriers. I have changed his feed up a lot, but it’s been the same for about 3-4 months now.
(bold above is mine)
If there is no heat or swelling in the leg the horse is lame on, and you think its a short trim that caused the lameness, applying a poultice on that leg, wrapping and cold hosing isn’t going to help. And if you’ve been using this treatment for 2 1/2 weeks and are seeing no results (horse is still lame), a vet needs to be contacted - especially since this is a new issue with this horse, who as you say, has never been lame before. Might be a bruise, might be an abscess, might be something entirely unrelated to the trim. But a vet can address that.
So in short, I’d not be concerned so much with the frog (again, assuming no drainage, no blood, no stink, no pain), I’d be more concerned with the lameness in that other leg. But that’s just my opinion.
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Horse shed frog all the time, and if you have been cold hosing the other leg, the other feet will be getting soaked daily, which endourages shedding. I’s quite possible you are just seeing a place where the frog has shed
I agree with all the other posters. Get a vet out for the bad leg, and you can ask him about the frog hole while you are at it. And if the bad leg is sore because the horse was trimmed short, soaking that foot daily (via cold hosing) is not going to exactly toughen up the hoof. Soft hooves are more ouchy.
I am curious as to the logic of cold hosing and poulticing the leg when you figure the horse has been short trimmed. Was there pain or swelling in the leg?
Does he have shoes? In that case I would suspect a wrong nail, and that needs a farrier visit.
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Where do you live? Are your pastures soaked and is your horse turned out a lot in them? I live in So. Fla. and every summer at one particular barn my barefoot trooper would get what I have named, Wet-Foot-itis. Essentially the hooves got so soft they required sole paint to harden up due to the excessive flooding of the pastures there. Moving to a new barn cured that and it has never happened again. But if your horse’s feet are too moist/soft, they will go lame (in addition to getting abscessed).
How DEEP is this hole in the frog? It could very well be a puncture, and it could be infected. It could also be an old blown abscess or nothing significant at all.
Otherwise, the lameness could almost be anything. I’d definitely get my vet out for a lameness exam ASAP.
I hope the farrier was able to figure it out and help your boy. The fact he is lame in the opposite leg could have been from overloading it. Best of luck
