Thrush
Is a disease of the frog, most common to a foot which is hoof-bound or contracted, but all horses’ feet are subject to it when they are neglected. The frog, pressed on each side by the bors of the foot, and from the overgrowth of the hoof, becomes inflamed, and the result is thrush. (See Plate No. 22.)
Treatment if the Hoof is Hoof-bound.—The farrier, after removing the shoe, should use his rasp, and lower the wall of the foot all around from heel to heel; then, by the free use of the knife, pare the foot to its natural size. Also pare around the frog until the sole of the foot yields to the pressure of the thumb, then open the heels and remove the pegs that grow on each side of the heels. All this should be done before a knife is used on the frog. After all pressure is removed by this paring operation, the condition of the frog will show how it was affected by pressure on each side.
Next, by the use of the knife, cut a slice off the top of the frog, and carefully clean out the cleft, which suffers most on account of the direct pressure of the bors on each side of the frog. After this cleaning operation is performed, a warm poultice of flaxseed meal should be applied two or three times, according to the condition of the foot. When the poultice is removed, the foot should be washed out occasionally with castile soap and warm water, after which a little salt, ground into fine powder, should be forced into the cleft, and kept in by a mixture of tar and oakum as a dressing, after which an open shoe should be fitted so as to expand the foot gradually. This treatment should be pursued until a permanent cure is effected.
If the foot is in a state of contraction, it should be expanded under the instructions already given. By this expansion all pressure is removed, and a permanent cure is easily effected by following the instructions already given.
No liquid remedies, such as butter of antimony, or chloride of zinc, should be used, as they dry up the foot before the inflammation is removed.
By reference to Plate No. 22 a good idea may be obtained of the manner of paring out a hoof suffering from thrush.