More thrush - turnout question.

[poghag]

This was in Laura's thread, but by the end it was a hijack, so I've given it its own thread.

I've got a question then... my horse is now coming up a month into naked feet, and is in for 4-6 hours a day but with feet generally unpicked so they dry out slower (under advice; was this good advice?), nice clean straw bed, but is out in the wet the rest of the time(has some harder areas to stand on, but they do have a bit of a coating of mud by now). Should I be thinking of keeping him in for longer as he's a bit thrushy too? Is it a case of as soon as he goes out he will be infecting his frogs again? His left frogs are a little thrushy and atrophied but his right frogs look really good (curiously).

Maybe I should be cleaning feet religiously as he comes in... will start the de-thrush routine... but is this a fool's pursuit if he's on turnout? With everyone saying when you go barefoot the horse needs to be able to move move move, I wasn't even considering keeping him in.

Do people just sacrifice something? Horse not out for clean, healthy feet, or horse out and daily reinfecting with nasties? Or is this where I go for it and try to take over the mini-paddock and get loads of road stuff and pebbles down so although he isn't walking around that much, it's an area about the size of 12 stables and his feet will be off mud. This will be a mission for me though and will probably take several weeks to sort out, and he can't be in there that much (unless he's all day in then all night in this bit; otherwise YO will insist he goes in the trash paddock at least some of the time as I can't be seen to be a "special" case).

He was a bit thrushy with shoes, so this isn't a new thing just coz I've taken his shoes off.

[welshcobzrule]

I would think picking out feet was the way to go. Oxygen is the enemy so try and keep them dry and when turned out try and pick out or get someone else to pick out frequently. Don't leave the same mud in them for too long. You could give then a scrub when you bring him in before going into his nice clean dry bed.

[lauracwd2]

That's interesting because my understanding of thrush was it was more common in stabled horse (that might be way wrong on my part) and Gande has always had really healthy feet when he was out 24/7 (field had some mud, some grass, some wood chips and wood floored shelter) but now he is in I feel like his feet don't look so nice.

Have Pogs feet just started looking thrushy or has it always been an issue?

[welshcobzrule]

I try and keep Leisa's straw bed really clean and always take the wet out daily because straw heats up very quckly when wet and this is when you get foot probs. A deep shavings bed is good and I have noticed that Hoppy's shavings bed does not heat up

[Maislow]

I usually pick out feet when the come in from the field & touch wood mine have never had foot problems

[shellyfeb68]

I just had Iggins shoes off........EP has instructed that I scrub them with Borax then plaster them in sudacrem.

Iggins is only brought in to feed, feet done quick groom then turned out again. Don't know if this helps any

[lauracwd2]

I should add that when Gande was living out 24/7 his feet were only getting picked once or twice a week - I realise that will probably horrify some people but it's the way I've always done it and I've never had any problems with feet.

[Folly]

The ideal would be to have a stable large enough to have an area with no bed so that he could stand on a semi hard surface and let the air get to them. The trouble with standing in a bed is that it is warm and damp the bacteria's friend. Outside at this time of year its cold and damp.

We hose ours off when they come in and pick their feet out. Although they usually empty their feet of their own accord on the newly swept yard.

[ejectorseat]

I wouldn't worry about turnout PH. The bugs that cause these things are in the soil and on the hoof every day and normally don't cause any problems, it's just when they have some dead tissue to take a hold on that they cause a problem. I would do whatever thrush treatment you've been advised to do (Jaimes advice in the other post is great) and crack on, time will do the rest. If you've been advised to clean every day then do that, but otherwise don't as too much washing and cleaning can exacerbate these things.

Interesting theory about the picking out. I've not heard that one before although I've heard that barefoot horses are better on straw that shavings for the reason that shavings dry the hoofs out too quickly... Also, I pick out when Z comes in out of habit and to check for nasties but my EP suggests not to bother in normal circumstances as the packed in dirt provides support for the hoof.

(My husband has just explained to me how that works but I'm also watching TV Burp so all I heard was "blah blah.... collateral grooves... blah... internal arch... blah blah..." )

[Phelpsie's Boys]

TV Burp... best show on TV... sorry, nothing to do with thrush at all, just a big up for harry Hill...