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Frogs

Maria Duran
 

Hi all, 

Can someone tell me:

- Do frogs shed seasonally? Is it normal to almost totally lose them so that they can grow renewed again or not?

- What's the reason for a frog not having central sulcus? The horse I take care of was unshoed in the hinds about 3 months ago. The frogs have developed quite wide inmediately but are painfully soft and whithout central sulcus both hinds the same. I had never seen that. The frogs are totally flat.
What's the cause and is there something to be done?

Thank you very much!

María Durán
Madrid,  Spain 
Lavinia Fiscaletti
 
Edited

Hi Maria,

Yes, they can shed seasonally. They can also shed quite a bit when your rehabbing a hoof, changing the weight bearing and the work load they are doing. They will also shed if the heels have gotten too high so there is no ground contact and wear on them.

Every frog is individual, but again, it has a lot to do with health, wear, remodeling, diet. If those feet were in shoes for a long time, the frog is likely underdeveloped along with the digital cushion, lateral cartilages and every other structure in the back half of the foot. Healthy frogs should have a rubbery texture that is firm, not soft - think like a super ball, not silly putty.

Make sure the diet is supplying all the needed nutrients to support healthy growth; trim is allowing for heel first landings; feet are in boots+pads so that landing correctly is comfortable otherwise the horse will do everything it can to NOT land on those weak, painful heels.

Time will be the biggest thing because you can't develop a strong, resilient back half of a foot overnight - it takes lots and lots of correct use to build it up into a good, strong, functional structure. Here's one of Pete Ramey's articles on frogs:

http://www.hoofrehab.com/FrogTrim.html

--
Lavinia

Moderator/ECIR Support
Maria Duran
 

Thank you so much Lavinia for this great explanation. 
The questions were from two different horses but I perfectly understand.
About the unshoed horse is one from my riding school. I take care of him but have very little control over what can be done. He is 29 yo and has been unshoed now (only hinds) after all his life on shoes. He has very little depth in collateral grooves and has developed quite wide frogs but are very tender. He is clearly sore. What I wanted to know about his frogs is the lack of central sulcus. Do you know the reasons for a frog being flat without central sulcus? It is very weird to watch. Also is there something to be done about it? I am trimming his hinds as good as I can as they don't pay the farrier for the hinds.

Again thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge.

María Durán
Madrid, Spain.
Lavinia Fiscaletti
 

The entire foot is weak so every structure is "misshapen" - including the frog. With time, as it becomes healthier, the shape of the frog will also change to what you are more accustomed to seeing.

Keep trimming him correctly and get his diet as balanced as is possible so that he has all the building blocks to grow and repair his hooves. Then just wait for the hind feet to heal and become stronger. The good thing is that the hind feet normally respond much more quickly than the fronts as they are usually healthier so you should start to see positive changes quickly.

--
Lavinia

Moderator/ECIR Support
Maria Duran
 

I understand. Thank you so much Lavinia 😊

María Durán
Madrid, Spain 
John Stewart
 

Maria,
The frog corium in the back half of the foot is a 'W'-shape with the middle of the W being the cleft (rather than the 'U'-shape in the front half of the frog).
If the back half of the foot is spread the 'W' becomes flatter, even to the extent of apparently having no cleft.

John Stewart 
2007?


From: Hoof@ECIR.groups.io <Hoof@ECIR.groups.io> on behalf of Maria Duran <mariaduran@...>
Sent: 29 April 2019 09:26
To: Hoof@ECIR.groups.io
Subject: Re: [ECIR+Hoof] Frogs
 
Thank you so much Lavinia for this great explanation. 
The questions were from two different horses but I perfectly understand.
About the unshoed horse is one from my riding school. I take care of him but have very little control over what can be done. He is 29 yo and has been unshoed now (only hinds) after all his life on shoes. He has very little depth in collateral grooves and has developed quite wide frogs but are very tender. He is clearly sore. What I wanted to know about his frogs is the lack of central sulcus. Do you know the reasons for a frog being flat without central sulcus? It is very weird to watch. Also is there something to be done about it? I am trimming his hinds as good as I can as they don't pay the farrier for the hinds.

Again thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge.

María Durán
Madrid, Spain.

Maria Duran
 

Hi John,

Thank you so much for your explanation. That's exactly what happened. His frog was underdeveloped and once he was unshoed, he very quickly developed a wide but very soft and weak frog. From your explanation, I am guessing that what caused to be flat without the central cleft, is how fast he developed that wide frog. 

Thanks again for your help. 😊

María Durán.
Madrid, Spain.
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