Treating sulcas thrush!

[robthecob]

Hi all I am looking for some advice on treating sulcas thrush.

My mare has been barefoot for 8 weeks now and is doing great, i already fed a low sugar diet but with a few tweaks with vitamins and micronised linseed she is now moving more comfortably on stony ground. Unfortunately this weather and being confined the the school hasn't helped with conditioning so growth has been a little slow but I'm hoping some spring sun and more hacking will help with the growth.

Back to my original question, I had my farrier who trims my mares feet out on Monday and he said they look great, no sign of thrush, a healthy horn and a healthy frog. But I have been gathering knowledge on the Internet and my mare has deep crevices at the back of her frog and all the bare foot advice is that this is bad!!! After someone on another post mentioned the battle they were having with sulcas thrush and the fact that it cause toe first landing which although is improving vastly my mare still does I'm wondering that even though my farrier thought it unnecessary would it actually do any harm to treat for it incase. Who knows maybe it might increase the growth rate too.

Also one last question, I was reading about cleaning frogs. I never hose feet or legs just because I feel it unnecessary and since I stopped hosing her legs a couple of years ago she has never suffered with mud fever. Should I be cleaning the frog?

cheers for listening

 

[Pale Rider]

Hi

Thrush in the sulcas is a pain, I know, we had some success using canistan and sudocrem mixed and squirted into the sulcas with a syringe.

Very often the thrush is there but with no smell or discharge, but it can cause a toe first landing, which could be the only indication it is there.

 

[littlescallywag]

No harm in treating,even if it turns out not to be sulcus thrush. Better to be safe than sorry

 

[china]

oh dont even get me started! both of mine have it. my tb has it in one foot which still hasnt gone and is being and absolute pain to get rid of. and my 5 year old has it in two feet, he had it before i took ownership of him though. With both i syringe out with salt water and then dry it with a cotton bud. I bought some netex hoof puncture spray which has a nozzle to get right down and you spray it from the bottom up. i put sudocreme in some days. its a real pain in the bum but hopefully come summer with the dryer weather it will clear up abit.
make sure you clean it thoroughly. the problem with it in this area is it starts to heal at the top trapping the bateria in causing infection.

 

[Oberon]

Sudocrem rags stuffed into the slits.

Red Horse's Hoof Stuff/ArtiMud depending on the depth of the slit.

Soaking with 50% cider vinegar.

But I found getting the diet right made all the difference to my old boy.

 

[Brightbay]

Wholeheartedly agree with Oberon... mine has a tendency to develop this - no black gnk, no smell, but your hoof pick disappears right down into the crack.

I think at this stage, I have roadtested every wonder potion on the planet... NtDry Thrush Powder, all the Red Horse range (oddly, Honey Heal seems to be the best for us though it's not labelled "thrush product" ), Pete's goo, sudocreme cotton wool balls, apple cider vinegar, Milton... You name it!

Have been plugging away at this since October, when the nasty crevices appeared first as holes in the back of the frog, followed shortly after by a nasty abscess.

And the first signs of improvement were two to three weeks after starting feeding ProHoof supplement! It was at this point I remembered why I'd been feeding Hoofmender for three thrush and abscess free years, and realised the problem had started when I thought "Oh, those hooves look great, we don't need the fancy hoof supplement, a regular one will do"

Lesson learned. The hooves and frogs that are pretty on the outside are a reflection of what's going on inside (btw the Red Horse products are still great, but you need a two pronged approach, fix the inside then what you apply to the outside can work its magic).