Help with Seedy Toe?

Question

I just bought a horse that had really bad feet the first thing I did was get his feet trimmed only to find he has Seedy Toe.

If anyone know a good method of fixing this a would be very grateful. Also how long does it take to get rid of?

Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

It depends on how bad it is.  We just treated a horse at the office I work at that had pretty severe problems in all 4 feet.  Doc did hoof wall resections on all 4 to get to healthy tissue.  Now it's just a matter of him growing new feet.  The horse was sent home with instructions to keep him in a clean DRY environment.  He was also started on a good hoof feed through supplement (foundation), and will have his feet sprayed every other day with a formalin solution to help keep the tissue dry/kill off harmful bacteria.  It's going to take months for this horse, he basically has to grow new hoof wall from just below the coronet down, but he's much more comfortable than he was when he came in.  Hopefully your horse is not as severely afflicted to the point of requiring resection.  But a good supplement and a dry environment will help to get him on the road to recovery.  

Answer 2

I found this online that might help:

http://www.petalia.com.au/Templates/Stor...

I think it depends on how severe it is, but it might be a farrier/professional's job.

Answer 3

I assume your farrier has cleaned it out and trimmed back the wall in the affected area, so all you need to do is try to keep it clean and apply something which will kill any bacteria and any other 'bugs' that want to make the area their home. It's important to remember that the 'bugs' that cause seedy toe can't survive when they're exposed to the air, so keeping it clean is important.

I've seen people use lots of different things on seedy toe, including methylated spirits, mouthwash, iodine mixtures and diluted bleach. It really depends on your preference and what you have available, just be sure it's something that's safe to use on the hoof that won't dry it out too much or damage it.

If you clean the area regularly and apply something to kill the 'germs', then it will grow out as fast as the hoof grows down new wall.