White Line disease

[Minouri]

Sometimes talking to your friends about their horses makes you feel so grateful to have yours. Give me my going blind sometimes trippy Appy anyday.

My friend has a QH that was diagnosed with White Line Disease about a year ago. Looks like they've been dealing with it with the farrier since then.

She boards and told me that her horse goes wild when the other horses start going in. He somehow got his back shoe stuck on the electric fence and half tore it off in his panic.

They had the barn farrier put it back on (not her usual farrier) and somehow he did it wrong. Which caused the hoof to begin to crumble?

Her farrier came out and took off most of the hoof. She said there is so little of it left that she can't ride him. She also said there is no cure for what he has.

Is that true? Is there really no cure? The whole story sounded a little strange to me.

Maybe it is that kind of paranoia that made me bring my horses home where I could control their environment.

I was wondering if anyone here had ever dealt with white line disease and beat it.

I could have sworn there was a woman at my old barn who said her horse recovered completely from it.

I'm reading about it online. The articles I've read so far seem to keep saying it depends on the severity of it....but I haven't come across one yet that said it was incurable.

Thanks.........

[CarolU]

I've never dealt with it, probably becasuse it is either winter and frozen or dry and hard here. Very healthy hoof environment. But, it has always been my understanding that it is cureable, just requires a lot of work, treatment and pads. Here is a whole site (from the professionals) on it: There are others, just google it.

http://www.horseshoes.com/advice/whitelinedisease/whitelinediseaseindex.htm

[DSDECKERT]

It is cureable - but it's a long process and I believe air is the best cure for t....so taking off the outside of the hoof and allowing it to air out (from what I've heard) is the best solution. Sorry for your friend, that stinks.

[SandyMM]

Two of our riding horses had chronic white line when our previous farrier trimmed them - went on for over 2 years. 2-3 barefoot trims and they haven't had a problem in over a year and hooves are _much_ healthier looking all around. The heels/frogs are wider and more supportive, there is virtually no cracking/splitting/chipping even after a weekend being shown in PFHA classes and ridden aroud the showgrounds - not always the most conducive hoof health in these parts...
Our barefoot trimmer spent the first two trims taking away the hoof wall that was causing the pulling away that caused the hoof wall to separate from the hoof (kind of like pulling a fingernail away from the 'quick'/nail bed).... once this pressure was relieved, we saw very quick improvement...

[motorgypsy]

It's caused by the same thing that causes thrush - anaerobic bacteria in the soil. They get in because somethig has stressed or split the white line allowing the bacteria to get in. Thrusbuster does work but you have to keep after it constantly cleaning, timming and filing until it grows out and in the meantime keep the horse's feet as dry as possible. We are fighting seedy toes which is a form of white line disease in Arwen and she is totally sound but the areas haven't grown totally out yet so we everyday we clean and put thrushbuster in the areas. I've also had very good luck with nail hole disinfectant (Centaur Forge online), thrushbuster and pack the hole or crack with wonderdust until it is filled. Yes it's annoying but yes it can be successfully treated and you want to get it as soon as possible. One farrier cleans it out, fills the area with iodine crystals which you can buy at feed stores and seals it with a disinfectant wax you can buy from farrier supplies. My friend said it worked wonderfully well also.

Obviously the horse needs a good diet to grow good feet though and without it all the treatment in the world will do no good.

[jodiTowne]

I had a problem with a crumbly white line....guess seedy toe vs. white line disease...not sure how to define it. Used White Lightening and barefoot trimming for a while to let everything dry out (it was during a very wet season). It only took the one 2-3 week treatment and things look good. Sounds like your friends is more extensive, but I want to know how the injury and "bad" shoeing caused white line...thats the part that seems fishy!

[lalecl]

Well I guess we like to do things the simple way :lol: My horses had white line and my farrier did a resection by removing a prtion of the hood exposing the white line to air. We cleaned hoof twice a day with a gentle brush and sprayed with a mixture of vinegar and water.This changes the ph balance of the hoof. He also had usa till/'turn the main paddocks to expose the white line in the dirt to the air. Was all gone by the next trim

Sure beats trying to get horse to keep foot in a soak several times a day and saves time

[motorgypsy]

Bacteria get in the nail holes is one way they can get it. Seedy toe I "think" is truly white line disease but just in the toes area. We filed so the toe did not hit the ground and was constantly exposed to the air. You can defniitely get seedy toe from a crumbly white line in the toe area so I'd be sure to file it smooth and back it up to keep it out of the moisture.

[Minouri]

I'm going to forward these posts to my friend. Maybe she'll find an idea in it that she can discuss with her farrier or vet since whatever they are presently doing isn't working.

I know they are incredibly diligent about keeping his feet clean. She said they go nightly and put something on it.....but I forget the name of what they put. Like I said, she told me she had been battling it for a year.

Not really sure about the shoe thing either. She said the shoe was put on wrong and that the hoof started to crumble ....I think she meant due to the white line disease.

I had no idea what to tell her since my experience with hoof problems is very limited.

I was thinking that putting a shoe on a crumbly foot might not be the best idea....but I kept my mouth shut.

[Linda Y]

Another use for Listerine.
We had one here that had a bad case of white line. Sprayed his foot with straight listerine several times and it is gone.