Is it possible that the horse actually has canker, not thrush?
http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=2782
http://www.equipodiatry.com/canker1.htm
I believe it is more common in drafty type breeds.
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Don’t feel too bad, your horse stall care sounds fine and after all you have noticed the problem and you are working on fixing it.
I am interested in the outcome, I am a medical entomologist by trade and to me it sounds seriously weird for fly maggots to be found in a horse hoof under conditions you describe.
That is why I asked for the pics.
Hope your horse improves soon and keep us posted.
Agree researching canker or quittor.
How do you treat it when horse has maggots up in heel by frog…
My thoughts exactly. could very well be canker instead of or along with Thrush. Several other things to consider as well.
Maggots eat dead tissue, it’s one those dirty jobs somebody has to do, disgusts us but nature thought it was a good idea. Thrush is a fungus attracted to deep, dirty and moist living quarters, it’s nasty but really doesn’t kill tissues like bacteria can. Even a bad case doesn’t ring the dinner bell for maggots. I’ve seen truely disgusting thrush but no maggots within the cleft-have seen maggots around the coronet dining on secondary infection debris. Im sure maggots would love dining on the dead tissue within the hoof structure created by anaerobic bacteria but they can’t get in unless there’s a crack or hole.
IIRC, this is a Friesian? Right? Does he have full feathers? I’ve known horses that needed to have the feathers shaved to get at stubborn infections, scratches, creeping crud etc on the lower leg under the hair. And I think you don’t just have thrush you have dead tissures from an infection attracting the maggots.
Far as the stubborn Thrush? Thrush is similar to a yeast infection, yeast loves sugar. As a big, heavy bodied horse? You might be dealing with one of several conditions that raise the sugar levels in the body so yeast thrives. I think you should look in that direction, might be a simple dietary change could starve the fungus. BTDT.
Have you had any lab work done? IIWY I’d be pulling blood to see if something’s out of whack and check for signs he’s got a bacterial infection attracting the maggots, may need some antibiotics for that.
And read that Equinepodiatry article linked to. The second link. short and sweet, with pictures, points out Canker occurs in well managed horses too. You got this, you need to know as what you are doing now won’t touch it and wastes time and money.
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Thrush has some relation to the condition of the footing, but by no means is there an automatic causal connection between wet/filth and thrush.
Last year I saw and smelled thrush in someone else’s horse, and realized that I had never ever smelled that in any horse I’d had care of. I’ve worried lots about softish feet from wet, thought it might be thrush, but never had that overwhelming rot smell.
Horse with thrush was in at least as clean a stall/paddock as my horse, and getting a decent diet and care. The major difference was thrush horse has shoes and chronically contracted heels and frog, while my horse is barefoot. Thrush horse is also older, but doesn’t seem to have any metabolic issues.
Ironically, when I have my stall very clean with fresh shavings and the run-out freshly topped up with hog fuel, and there is no footing to pack in my horse’s feet, she ends up packing manure into her feet. She only poops towards the back of the paddock, and then avoids it mostly, but then it only takes one foot in the poop once, to pack it in. When the footing is a little more degraded her feet will pack up with wood fibres. But having her hoof packed up with fresh manure overnight doesn’t seem to bring on any infection, thankfully.
Also I know lots of barefoot horses that live on wet property over winter, aren’t being groomed daily, and don’t have any signs of real thrush.
Not blaming shoes per se, but just that while we think of thrush as primarily an issue of cleanliness and care, and those can be elements, not all horses in the same environment will get thrush, just as not all horses out at pasture in the rain will get rainscald.on their backs.
So as OP is in a barn with decent standards of care, I’d be looking at hoof condition, hoof shape and shoeing and trimming, and diet and supplements.
Man, old thread…
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oops you are right didn’t even notice!
Oh wow, I got a notification that someone had commented on this thread from 2012! So yeah, it has been 5 years and the horse does not have maggots anymore :lol: Man, that was a wild ride though! I still tell that story and it deeply traumatized me. He is still prone to thrush when it gets muddy, but biggest thing is a farrier that does a good job and can keep the frog and heel healthy. No maggots since then thank god!
To answer Halfpint, the thread resurrector, we treated with antibiotics and basically squirted iodine solution into the heel crack daily. The maggots would squirm outta there and it was exactly as disgusting as it sounds. But main thing is to work with the farrier to to not just trim the toes, but keep the frog, heel, and whole hoof healthy and happy.
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Dammit, need to start checking original post dates. Think the similar topics that pop up on the bottom of the page lead people to unintentionally resurrect dead threads and others to post on them without date checking the original.
I don’t have the similar threads links anymore. They disappeared when the changed the format recently. ?
This is always such a loaded question on this board! :lol:
Just adding - aren’t we all prone to feeling like bad Moms when something happens to our horses -
would’ve, should’ve, could’ve syndrome. We feel that way because we care about our animals.
Wow this was a very interesting thread. So glad the OP came back and everything is right with her horse. I learned quit a bit, thank you all.
