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Best thrush remedy?

13K views 48 replies 25 participants last post by  Ale 
#1 ·
Seems most of the product I buy in the tack shop is a total sham, as well as most home remedies. Care to weigh in?

My best:
Kopper Care
Watered down bleach for bad cases
 
#2 ·
Thrush can be caused from a range of different organisms, of which different products may or may not work on. Heavy duty chemicals are more likely to be 'broad spectrum' but they can do further damage to frog tissue & exacerbate underlying issues that allowed the infection in. I have found t-tree oil to be a good broad spectrum antiseptic that doesn't damage live tissue.

But diet, environment & hoof form & function play a huge part in how susceptible a horse may be to infections such as this.
 
#3 ·
I've used lots of things with success in the past, antifungal cream, tea tree oil, aromafrog, white lightning, but recently I have taken to packing the grooves with ordinary table salt daily as a general routine and it has worked wonders :)

Different things work at different times depending if the problem is mainly fungal or bacterial, so it might be they are not a sham in the shops.
 
#4 ·
^Yep I reckon salt is a good one & also good preventative & good for helping dry out waterlogged feet/frogs too. But I use 'pool salt' or 'horse salt' because it's way cheaper than table salt! ;-)
 
#7 ·
I've had varying degrees of success with Thrush Buster and Pete's Goo (50/50 mix of regular human antibiotic cream and antifungal cream applied deep into the grooves with a dental syringe). I went through a whole bottle of No Thrush seeing no difference at all, though other people swear by it.

Now that the rainy season is back I'm giving Life Data Hoof Disinfectant a go. It's a tea tree oil and tamed iodine solution.
 
#8 ·
Pine tar. Pure and simple.

Pick out the hoof, brush it with a stiff brush, and apply the pine tar nice and thick over the entire underside of the hoof. Then carefully set down the hoof in a pile of fresh sawdust, allow the horse to put their full weight down, and "pack" it in.

People laugh at me, but pine tar was made for hoof abcesses and thrush. It also cleanses cuts very well, but I highly recommend it for hoof care. The pine tar will suck out the crap, without drying the hoof out, and the sawdust pad will fall off after a day. Usually you only have to do it for a couple of days straight, and the thrush is gone. Provided the environment is clean, mind you...
 
#9 ·
I didn't know about the pine tar! My guy has had thrush a while now and I can't get rid of it :evil: I've also never heard about the salt. I'll have to keep all these suggestions in mind. I've used an antifungal thrush remedy that I've had a while and vinegar and neither has helped me so far. My guy has always had really good health and never really has issues so this is really bothering me!
 
#10 ·
I've had some severe cases and have tried generic thrush buster, the white powder, copper tox, and SBS thrush stop, all with little success. I'm now using Dr. Naylor's wound kote aerosol which seems to be working. I think part of the success is the ease of application and getting a thorough and penetrating coverage. I've been at it a while and seen no adverse effects.
 
#13 ·
In my very small limited experience, I've found that the best way to get rid of thrush is to build the back of the hoof so the horse is landing heel first......and then get that horse moving around a lot. Thrush just seems to go away once the horse has consistent heel first landings and is moving many miles per week. I should also say that this is my experience with a barefoot hoof....I have no experience with this on a shod hoof.

Though, my experience is in an area with lots of hard ground. I have no experience in the swamps or very wet ground.
 
#14 ·
^Ah, but you need to get rid of thrush & build up the back of the foot before they'll happily land on their heels... or give the horse laminitis:twisted:
 
#18 ·
I like Spectrasan, also known as HoofRX. It's a chemical-free disinfectant that does not harm healthy tissues.

As a preventative, I like ACV. Also all natural and doesn't kill healthy bacteria like bleach will.

I also find that the best thing you can do for your horses feet is pick them every day. It gives them a chance to "breathe" for a bit and you can see any signs of thrush or overgrowth pretty much the moment it happens. That and it helps train the horse to pick up his feet for the farrier. :wink:
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#21 ·
Oxine

Soak w oxine ah. You can buy it on Amazon.
HOOFsmart · Treat and Prevent Hoof Infections with Oxine AH

I never trimmed anything and used the plactic-y pet food bags for soaking. It really works wonders.


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Yes, Oxine is the same as the "White Lightning" marketed for thrush. But cheaper per ounce. When mixed with vinegar, it forms Chlorine dioxide gas which is VERY safe and will penetrate the crevices. Soak for 1/2 hour each foot in soaking boot ( I used gallon zip loc bags, duct tape and vetwrap).
 
#23 ·
By far the best product for me is Oxine. Mix it with 1/4 white vinegar, wait for the chemical reaction to take place, soak for 20 minutes, and all the bad buggies are very much dead. I LOVE that stuff.
 
#25 ·
I had a moderate case on my mare (just one hoof) and I used a combo of this recommended by people: started with a couple days of sugardine treatments, consistently flushed with iodine the first week then moved on to alternating between Apple cider vinegar spray and athletes foot powder. I guess I took the 'throw the kitchen sink at it approach'! But it did work! Just noticed yesterday that the sulcus crack was almost totally filled in (took 3 weeks). I was very happy :)

I live in a really wet environment so I'm going to spray with the cider vinegar a couple times a week and use the powder if I suspect anything is creeping up- def need prevention around here.
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#26 ·
^we have very wet ground as well at the moment. The mud seems to be two feet thick :(

Anyone know if treatment for shod horses is any different? The only horse with shoes that I ride has a VERY persistent case of thrush.
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#28 ·
Shod horses are a lot more susceptible to thrush and frog issues. When shod, the frog does not make contact with the ground. Therefore the frog does not receive as much blood flow as it would if it were able to impact the ground with each step. This leads to weaker, softer frogs that are more easily infected. Treatment would be the same, though.

I also find that shod horses more commonly have contacted heels with deep sulcus thrush. For this, I would definitely use Ramey's 50/50 triple antibiotic cream and athlete's foot cream with a catheter tip syringe to get deep down into the sulcus.
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#29 ·
My horses have had thrush now for over a month and their barefoot haven't been shod this summer or fall. Never had an issue with thrush last year when they were shod from april into december.

In all the years they been shod never any thrush now their barefoot its never ending so not sure I buy the shod hoofs are more prone deal.
 
#30 ·
I wouldnt be inclined to say they never had thrush unless I had picked their feet out daily. That and environment could have been different those years. Two-three years ago we had the worst drought in decades. I never had to worry about thrush. This winter and summer have been unbelievably wet and I've been staying on top of their feet with daily picking and prevention through either ACV, Durasole, or Spectrasan. Their feet have gotten a little thrushy this year because of the crazy rain and mud, especially my pony who is naturally higher heeled and has slightly contracted heels. He is more susceptible to thrush than my yearling.

I didn't say ALL shod horses will get thrush, I just think ime they are more susceptible especially with a crappy shoeing job that leaves their heels contracted. A mare in trimming right now has only been out of shoes for a couple months. When she was first moved to our barn by her new owner, she had the worst deep sulcus thrush is ever seen with severely contracted heels from the shoes. And yet she had so much retained sole that her sole was bulbous. The sole was higher than the hoof wall, which must have been extremely painful. I told her owner, who is great at following directions, to pick her feet every day, spray them with ACV, and apply Rameys goo at least once a week into her sulcus. Within a week all the excess sole had shed off itself(there was seriously about an inch and a half of excess sole) and her sulcus was starting to open up. Now her thrush is almost completely gone and it definitely will be once I slowly take down her high heels, open up her sulcus completely, and get her frog making contact with the ground. The difference already is night and day, just thanks to her owner picking and treating them every day.

ETA: Ignore all the typos. I'm on my iPod haha
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