Dynamic Hoofcare

18/12/2025

29/06/2025

01/06/2024

Erna, eine liebe 2 jährige Border-Dalmatiner Weibchen sucht wegen Trennung ein neues Zuhause. Sie ist Kinder gewöhnt und schmust gerne. Bei Interesse bitten PN

28/05/2023

Thrush.

My last post showed you an image of a slice through the horse’s foot at the area by the bulbs. You could see that the slice through the digital cushion had light showing through the “slit” meaning it was not dense healthy frog tissue. That part sticking up is called the frog spine or frog stay. It should be a thick strong structure that bisects the digital cushion, and looks a bit like a shark fin. It’s important because it helps to stabilise the back of the foot and helps to resist the shear forces that can occur between the heels. It also has numerous micro cartilage strands attached to it, and they attach to the collateral cartilages. They help to keep the cushion strong, resist tearing and resist it being stretched outside its allowable stretch.

Photo 1 shows the effect of thrush. It’s affect can be hidden to horse owners unless they investigate the slit in the centre of the frog, towards the back to the foot. A slit is not healthy and needs investigation. Thrush actually eats away at the frog tissue, destroying it, and making it fragile.

Photo 2 shows a foot with a nice healthy frog spine. It’s not in exactly the same plane as photo 1 but it demonstrates well what we should be seeing. The frog spine consists of dense frog tissue and it is robust and thick. Look carefully at the white strands in the digital cushion, they are the fibrocartilage strands that I mentioned above. Many of you asked me to show you a healthy foot to compare.

If you can sink your hoof pick into the frog then there is trouble. Trouble that needs your help.

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