Suspected Thrush - what to use to wash muddy feet?

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Orangehorse

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I think my rescue pony has slight thrush. I can put Sudocream on in the morning when her feet are dry from being in the stable, but what is the best thing to use when I bring her in at night when she has muddy hooves?

I was thinking Milton on something with Tea Tree. What do others use?
 
My farrier recommends hoof oil applied to the inside of the hoof around the frog - everyday as a preventive measure. My gelding is prone to thrush and I've found that it works. I wash his hooves when he comes in at night and apply liberally inside and out before he gets ridden or turned out the following morning.

Not sure about sudocream.... You could be sealing in moisture.
 
Having been looking after a friends horse who suffers constantly with thrush I was determined to help find something that worked, his owner wasn't keen on peroxide (as I am not as it can kill off healthy tissue I am told), red horse products were tried to no avail and we had a little bit of success with athletes foot powder spray but it was short term. Then chatting to my farrier about my friends frustration he suggested to stop her spending a fortune on products and revert to "an old fashioned product", on his advice we washed his feet and picked them out nightly and sprayed them every night with purple spray (gold label) and it has totally cleared up all traces of his thrush, she is continuing to spray his feet every few days as a precaution and it has totally stopped it returning and now been three months clear!

Some purple spray I believe doesn't have the necessary products in it (I seem to recall its violet something or other), the Gold label was the one my farrier said to use and it was cheap (under £6 for a large bottle) and worked perfectly.

I would avoid anything that adds moisture or acts as a barrier to keep moisture in, so don't lather creams on. Milton and tea tree proved to be completely useless in this situation for us.

Hope you can find what works for you but this is proof you don't need to spend an absolute fortune all the time on solutions.

.
 
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That is useful thanks. I know it shouldn't be treated with anything too harsh that will kill off the healthy tissue. I used to use borax diluted, which worked well if slowly but I don't think you can get that any more, not easily anyway.
 
Hoof and Heal is my best friend for feet over the winter! It is slightly more expensive but the best hoof oil I've ever found! It has antibacterial/ healing 'stuff' in it, so not only can you apply it to the outside of the feet, but also the inside and clears up thrush and similar issues within a matter of days!
 
My youngsters had thrush from box rest & iodine cleared it up,plus had some honey stuff which was good but messy! And purple spray has helped a lot as well.
 
Hydrogen peroxide works really well. It's extremely cheap and effective. Wash liberally with a 3% solution. Cheapest to buy it as 100 vol and water down one part peroxide nine parts water. The beauty of it is that it is cheap enough to real the mud off with so does the job in one hit. Thin bleach also works well, which was a tip given to me decades ago by one of the early equine specialist vets, in the days when vets were all rounders doing small animal, horse and farm.
 
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Thrush is a fungal infection .sudocreme .hibiscrub etc wont help .you need an antifungal like cansten wash or a similar fungicide or a footmaster spray .cleaning the foot and keeping exposed to the air will help as will getting the farrier to trim off dead tissue around the frog etc.a clean dry bed if possible or time in a stable to dry out is good too .it can be a devil of a job to clear sometimes tho
 
Red horse field paste is specifically for thrush and will stay on whilst they are out. This would be a much better idea than iodine etc as its specifically built for thrush and staying on.
 
Archiepoo said:
Thrush is a fungal infection .sudocreme .hibiscrub etc wont help .you need an antifungal like cansten wash or a similar fungicide or a footmaster spray .cleaning the foot and keeping exposed to the air will help as will getting the farrier to trim off dead tissue around the frog etc.a clean dry bed if possible or time in a stable to dry out is good too .it can be a devil of a job to clear sometimes tho
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I think thrush is a cover all term for anything that makes the frog black and gunky. That can be fungal and bacterial. I've certainly cured thrush in central sulcus infections with sudocrem and someone else has posted about curing it with hibiscrub. I've never had a case that didn't disappear using hydrogen peroxide, and that's not an anti fungal as far as I know.
 
Hydrogen peroxide, iodine and Hibiscrub all kill fungus as well as bacteria. You dont need something that "stays on" either. Killing off the infecting organisms once or twice a day will generally clear it perfectly well. Not saying there's anything wrong with the Red Horse products but simple antibacterial/antifungals work at least as well, and are much cheaper.
 
I used product NT dry which has dry clay in it which acts on the microbes. You clean the mud out of the foot and dust it well into the frog etc. It coats the hoof well, I stabled the horse overnight after application (she lives in at night) and the product was still on hoof in the morning. Smell & gunk reduced in 4 days and kept going for another week. You then use once a week to keep at bay.
 
Nudibranch said:
Hydrogen peroxide, iodine and Hibiscrub all kill fungus as well as bacteria. You dont need something that "stays on" either. Killing off the infecting organisms once or twice a day will generally clear it perfectly well. Not saying there's anything wrong with the Red Horse products but simple antibacterial/antifungals work at least as well, and are much cheaper.
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this, Iodine is relatively cheap and works well and is very quick to apply.
 
Lots of suggestions thanks. I have hibbiscrub so I can use that next. I have Red Horse products too, but I need something to wash the mud off when they come in. It is getting better after a two or three days treating with the products Ihave in the cupboard.
 
Having tried loads of different things over the years, I now use basic "hoof care" purple spray from the local farm suppliers - can't remember the brand but has a picture of a sheep, cow and pony on it. A thorough dosing of that, leave in the dry for an hour or two to dry off, then leave it be for a couple of days before checking if a second spray is needed (never needed to do it more than twice).
 
Another vote for red horse products, their field paste is great. pick out / brush out hoof and wait till its dry, then slap the paste into all crevices, wait a little while before turning out into wet pasture so it has time to dry. Its a bit messy but it is super sticky and will stay in the hoof.
 
hi
does no one use stockholm tar to treat thrush anymore ?
is there a reason why not ?
i used it years ago and haven't had any problems with thrush until getting a new horse who is living out , i cleaned her feet daily and brushed it on (well stickily shoved it in and gluped it about a bit :o ) for about 3 days and it seems to have cleared it up
i drop a glupe of it into a half full hoof oil tin and shake it up and paint it on anytime her feet are dry enough and it seems to keep it at bay

just thought it was interesting no one mentioned it and thought i might be missing something :o although purple spray would certainly be easier to apply !
 
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