thrush driving me MAD!

Uraeus

Uraeus

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my horse, for some reason is really prone to thrush. He lives part in in winter to keep his feet clean and dry but he's just had another bout of it now! I suppose it's not impossible in summer but our field is dry and his hooves are picked every day twice. His feet arnt wet so I don't know what's causing it! I clean them with a stiff brush and vinegar solution then put either coal Stockholm tar on them or purple spray. Has anyone else had this problem and how did you cure it?
 
My horse is really prone to it too... Red horse products are the best! I use their sole cleanse spray and sole paint to keep it under control :)
 
It's quite a small company, based in Henley not far from me but you can get it on their website. Loads of people on here swear by it for their field paste - treats thrush in field kept horses. They're worth a look, nothing else worked on my mare and I tried EVERYTHING.
 
My mare has had a bit of it this summer too. It cleared up really quickly when I sprayed it with Hypocare every day.
 
I echo Snowman, my filly has deep clefts and its a struggle to keep it at bay, tried violet spray and Stockholm tar to which seemed to help but the Red Horse Field Paste blitzed it within 24 hours, I was a bit peeved to find most of it had fallen out 12 hours later but it's so effective I've found I only need to apply a dab to the clefts and crevices every 5-7 days!
 
GeorgeyGal said:
I echo Snowman, my filly has deep clefts and its a struggle to keep it at bay, tried violet spray and Stockholm tar to which seemed to help but the Red Horse Field Paste blitzed it within 24 hours, I was a bit peeved to find most of it had fallen out 12 hours later but it's so effective I've found I only need to apply a dab to the clefts and crevices every 5-7 days!
Click to expand...

Just to add, for anybody like me who has tried every topical treatment under the sun - pastes, powders, sprays, stuff you squeeze into the clefts with syringes... and still had thrush, regardless of how wet, dry, summery, snowy etc. the weather was...

Try getting your horse's grass analysed and then balancing minerals against what's deficient. After 6 years of thrush, my horse is now stomping around, thrush free and with lovely hooves. I've got so blasé about it I've even stopped with the daily spraying :)

We use the ForagePlus minerals - and I started using them because of recurrent abscesses, not the thrush - but the first thing I noticed was that the thrush disappeared. It wasn't that he hadn't already got supplements, it was just that they didn't in any way match what was missing from his grazing.
 
I had a constant battle with thrush on my tb and it didn't matter what I put on it never cleared up, now it seems to be caused by excess sugar in his diet and he had a bout before early signs of laminitis in May this year. Low sugar diet and pro hoof has helped immensely. He's six now and very sensitive to sugars, had the blood tests all done and they were all negative, he's just doesn't tolerate grass.
 
One of mine suffers with thrush as soon as the grazing is too rich. Using products (I've tried every thing) and keeping feet clean does certainly help but what breaks the cycle of the thrush recurring is less grass/sugar and more work.
 
The only thing that worked for mine was 3% hydrogen peroxide from the chemist. They sell it as a wound cleaner but you have to ask and not say its for an animal or they aren't allowed to sell you it. I bought a child's syringe for medicine (blunt ended, for calpol for small kids etc, ask of this too). Then clean out hoof and use little syringe to spray out all nooks and crannies of frog. It will fizz and its this fizz (oxygen) that kills the anaerobes and fungi. I used it daily for a week and every second day for another and now only if the frog starts to smell.

Interestingly I find the trush can be worse if the grass is higher in sugar.

Hope you find something that works.
 
Shy has suffered with thrush for the four years I've owned him - the ONLY thing that has really worked is the Red Horse Field paste. I am also really careful to wash his feet out regularly, and apply eucalyptus oil to the sulcis almost every day. Right through the year.
 
Ditto Cheeryplatypus. Many years ago our vet recommended using hydrogen peroxide - it definitely worked.
 
It might be useful for me to list all the things I tried (none of which worked - but they might work for someone else ;) ).

So:
Cider Vinegar
Purple Spray
Stockholm Tar
Pete'sGoo (Canestan + triple antibiotic cream syringed into sulci)
Engemycin spray
Hypocare
Red Horse Field Paste, and Sole Paint, and even HoofStuff packed into the sulci.
NT Dry Powder
Hydrogen Peroxide squirted into the sulci.
Zinc Sulphate soaks.
"flossing" central sulcus with sudocreme.
Naf Hoof and Sole
NEttex
White Lightning Gel
Borax soaks
Tea Tree Oil
Bactakil

I suspect there are others I've forgotten :) When you've tried all those and spent as much as I did, and the horse still has thrush, do consider getting your grass minerals analysed :)
 
Does it have something to do with mineral imbalances then? I was always lead to believe it was bacteria growing in warm, slimey conditions! Lol, never stop learning :-) he gets it through the winter too which I suppose is due to lack of nutrients in lack ofgrass (having hay as a replacement)
 
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