White Line Disease or Seedy Toe?

I hope that this information and these pictures may be very helpful to those whose equines are experiencing seedy toe or white line disease.

My donkey, Ted, was a bit lame for quite some time on his right front foot. I tried different options of alleviating the lameness myself such as poultice, soaking, wearing a boot, checking for a hole in his foot, thinking it was an abscess. I noticed a bit of heat. Also, the heel of the foot appeared to be longer than compared to the other so I brought that to the attention of the vet whom I finally called after I exhausted all of my own efforts. The vet confirmed my observation and I had the farrier lower the heel very slightly. There was nothing left than to x-ray the foot a picture of which I am sharing with you. This revealed the cause of the problem. Seedy toe or white line disease which, in this case, couldn’t be seen.

At the suggestion of the vet, my blacksmith ground out a section of the front of the foot in order to give it air, a vital part of healing.

Front of hoof after the dead area has been exposed. The shoe was glued on and applied backward. This elevated the foot for protection and enables it to keep dry and clean. I lift the foot and spray Zephyrs Garden (all-natural herbal and homeopathic) Thrush Spray into the goove (channel) that was cut out along with the remainder of the exposed area.

www.zephyrsgarden.com has a tremendous spray for thrush and hoof fungus which I have been using to kill the white line disease. See:http://store.zephyrsgarden.com/servlet/Categories?category=Soothing Massage Oils. It is working very well.

Additionally, I am applying Sav-A-Hoof to the coronary band to speed and promote the growth of a healthy foot.