Bringing this back up because my horse was just diagnosed with WLD when my farrier and I noticed a black spot on the outside of the hoof. He dug into it with the hoof knife and got to healthy wall. There’s a new treatment called B-Gone that is supposed to be the bee’s knees on treating WLD now and cancels out the need to resection. However, should the foot be wrapped? I have a duct tape boot on it right now. Also, is stall rest recommended? My stalls are open with a small paddock attached. Should it be closed off? I’ve never had to deal with this before. Thanks for any assistance.
I would not worry about stall rest… movement is very important to healthy hoof growth and you want it to grow out as fast as possible. Limited movement would only inhibit this, but make sure he can get to a dry area at least a few hours a day.
I would treat 2’x weekly with 20 minute Oxine AH soaks. Activating it with citric acid or vinegar works better, but I have heard of it burning if activated with vinegar. The Oxine is much cheaper than CleanTrax or White Lightening and works just as well.
Here is a great article on preventing it from happening again and a link with instructions on Oxine.
https://www.hoofrehab.com/WhiteLineDisease.html
https://www.healthyhoof.com/articles/Thrush/ThrushRevisited.html
One of my horses is prone to developing seedy toe/early white line disease. The key to preventing it is to keep his feet trimmed regularly. The farrier and I have noticed that if his trim is delayed even a week, he is prone to develop a slight crack in the toe which can progress to seedy toe. If he does get a crack, it’s best to go ahead and notch it out; otherwise we can be chasing it for months. Last time this happened, farrier notched out the crack and I soaked with CleanTrax, and it grew out in 2 trims. I also use B Gone White Line, but I don’t think there’s anything magical about it. Ingredients are copper sulfate, epsom salts, glycerine, tea tree oil, and “other active ingredients”.
My horse is barefoot, and I’ve never put my horse on stall rest when we’ve had to cut out a crack. I turn him out and ride him as usual (with hoof boots). The key is to keep him trimmed so this doesn’t happen, or if it does happen, deal with it immediately so you don’t have to cut out much hoof.
The farrier was just here less than a week ago and he’s shod all around with pads in front. Thanks for the links BHK. So no wrapping and turnout is okay?
Turn out is fine and no, you don’t have to wrap, but should clean it daily and soak 2x a week with Oxine AH.
1 Like
I too was recommended Be Gone by my farrier when one mare got toe cracks which he said was White Line. I wasn’t convinced he was right but I ordered Be Gone and used it religiously even though I didn’t think it would work. But her cracks went away. I did shorten her trimming cycle by a week or two so that may have helped but she was not on a long cycle - maybe 6 weeks. It just has common ingredients so I was surprised it worked. So far no new cracks after a year or so. It is better to hit this problem when it is a small problem before it eats its way up to the coronet band. Ask me how I know!
This, I would not wrap it… one of the enemies of WL is air so wrapping would be counter productive. If it makes you feel better you can pack the area with some hoof clay. I’ve used DataLife Hoof Clay and like it.
When I was dealing with the hoof cracks I would pack the hole with Be Gone - it comes in kind of a paste. I did NOT bandage the hoof nor did I leave the horse inside in a stall. But my mud problems are pretty small- mostly where I drive the tractor down the hill - so the horse was never standing in mud.
Is the hole left in the hoof at the white line (ie under the shoe and pad) or is it higher up in the hoof wall? If it is somewhere you can access, the easiest way to keep it clean is to fill the hole with your treatment of choice (I just use copper sulphate powder mixed in vaseline when there is no sensitive tissue involved) and then plug the hole with cotton wool. This is quick and easy and works well. It only needs to be changed every 2-3 days.
It’s slightly up on the hoof wall, about the height of a clinch.
That’s good - it’s easy to access and keep clean. If the farrier was able to clear out all the diseased wall, without going all the way through the wall, then it shouldn’t provide any further trouble. As a couple of us have said, it would be helpful to keep it plugged up though because it will stop dirt getting in there.
It’s not deep enough to plug but I’ve been diligent about cleaning it out. Had to order the oxine and citric acid for soaking. Question, I would like to go trail riding tomorrow, would that be do-able or detrimental?
If horse is sound… I don’t see why you can’t go about business as usual 
It sounds like the area you’re concerned about should grow out fairly quick.
More questions. Just came in from treating his foot and I noticed the outside hoof wall, while normally black now has spots of white on it. Does this mean the WLD is spreading? It has me a little unnerved and worried about long term implications.
Can you get us a picture of what you’re talking about?
I just took a couple of pics. How do I download them here?
Should have a upload button on the bottom right when replying to a comment. Mine has an arrow pointing up
The green is the original spot with the B-Gone applied. Uploading is a heck of a lot easier now.
1 Like
