My 3yr old stud

Question
I have a three year old stud horse.  We bought him from a horse sale.  When auctioned he was said to be 5 1/2 months old.  When we recieved the papers he was actually only 2 1/2 months.  He started acting like he could not walk around 6 or 7 months old.  We took him to a vet that specialized in horses.  It was said he didn t recieve enough nutrition and we had to put him on a special diet where we counted calories.  He pulled through that.  About a month 1/2 ago we put him in a stall hoping he would drop and be ready to breed.  He did good for about three weeks.  We went out there one night and he was fine next morning we returned for his morning feeding and checking.  His stomach was jerking and he would not hardly move.  We called the vet he called it collic.  Gave him some shots, medicine, and pumped mineral oil into his stomach.  He got over the stomach problem we thought after about two days he started not being able to walk.  We called the vet again and he said he had founded.  Since then we have been soaking his feet in epson salt, peroxide, and keeping his feet clean.  I went to do the rountine this morning and his frog is coming out like it has been cut there is only a small amount of meat holding it on.  We have spent ALOT of money on him I dont want to lose him but I dont know if we are doing right or if there is something else we may be able to do for him.

Answer
Hi Elizabeth;

Without being able to see him, it sounds like he's shedding his frog, which would be normal.  

However, the frog issue may be related to the soaking of his feet in peroxide.  I've never heard of that as part of a treatment for a foundered horse.  Even the epsom salts is not a founder treatment.  You'd use epsom salts to pull out foot abcesses and I guess if there was an exposed abcess you could use peroxide to kill germs, but I wouldn't recommend it.  Whether feet are dirty or not, doesn't matter to a foundered horse.  Are you sure the vet said founder and not abcess or white line disease?

Typical treatment for founder is a set of x-rays, special farrier work, drugs for pain, inflammation and to increase circulation to the feet, as well as determining what caused the founder and eliminating that...whether it was too much grain, or green grass, or as a result of the colic dumping a bunch of toxins etc...

It's unfortunate this colt and you have had such a rough road.  The course of treatment you're using on his feet is not a founder treatment.  You can do a search on the internet and find out about founder and courses of treatment, but I guarantee you won't find the one you're using.  So, I'd talk to your vet again and double check.  If you're dealing with an abcess or white line disease, those are lot less serious than founder.

Best wishes!

Sincerely,

Lana Reinhardt