My horse has bad thrush! Help.?

Question

My horse has pretty bad thrush. He has it so the top of his frog is soft and the grooves and very deep because the thrush has eaten away at his hooves. Also he gets bad cracks around the edge of his hoof and it gets dry and crys even worse. Do you have any inexpensive home remedies to treat the thrush and/or cracks. Help!

Answer 1

Just mix apple cider vinegar and water 50/50 and soak the affected hoof. See link below for directions.

Answer 2

A little Betadine and regular granulated sugar mixed together will bust that thrush for you.  Place it in the deep grooves on either side of the frog..  Get your farrier out to help you initiate treatment on your horse with a trim to clear out rotten hoof material.

Answer 3

Have the farrier out to trim the hooves and frogs.  

Hooves are like fingernails - if they chip or split you try to cut them short and smooth to make them stronger.  Then apply a good moisturizer, even a cheap hand lotion should work.  Keep them properly trimmed.  

The thrush in the frogs is caused by bacteria and fungus which gets in the clefts and the spongy parts and eats it.  The bad  parts need to be trimmed off by an expert (the farrier) and then you need to treat it.  If you just pour on the treatment without trimming, it can't get through the dead parts to where the infection is active.  I use Absorbine Hooflex Thrush Remedy now.  When I was a kid we used Clorox, but I don't recommend it.

To prevent recurrence of thrush, remove the conditions that cause it:  dirty stalls and mud, primarily, though other things can cause it as well.  Make sure the horse's feet are able to dry out periodically, and that he has good, clean, dry footing most of the time.  Older horses with Cushings or impaired immune systems are prone to this.

When you say the thrush has eaten away at his hooves, do you mean he has seedy toe or white line disease?  This is where a similar infection attacks the white line of the sole.  It gets soft and spongy and can ultimately cause separations between the wall and the lamina.  That can be bad.  Treatment is pretty much the same:  a good trim, good footing, thrush/whiteline treatment.

Good luck with him.

Answer 4

This sounds like mud fever. My vet told me there are around 20 different remedies. He gave me his own mix which cleared up our pony. There is Bioderm that can work (not on all cases). I have been given so.... many.... home remedies.

For a bad case like this I think your vet would give an antibiotic as well. I was told by my vet to keep it dry. Not to pick at it. Use the oily liquid which cleared it up in 7 days.

Answer 5

mix 1:1 ratio of bleach to water and put it in a spray ar squirt bottle. Use it everyday in the horses feet. put Tuff Stuff on the outside of his feet twice a week to prevent cracks. Keep him off of the mud until his thrush clears up and make sure his stall is clean and dry. It should clear up in about a week.

I really like tuff stuff. If you want to feed something to help his feet my farrier reccomends flaxseed over biotin. He just said you have to be careful not to feed to much. You might research flaxsed a little bit. It is cheaper than hoof and coat supplements.

Good luck with his feet if you have anymore questions just e-mail.

Answer 6

At your local tack shop, there should be a little bottle of stuff called Thrush Buster. It's amazing stuff. My horse has 4 white feet and used to spend lots of time standing in muddy wet ground, so he had thrush a lot of the time. This stuff will get rid of the thrush fast and it's totally cheap. You don't need to use much, so it lasts a while.

Answer 7

I like iodine.  7 or 10%.  Usually only takes one treatment if the hoof has been cleaned well.  Like with a brush and water.  Don't get on the coronet band...but spray the entire hoof sole.  Including the frog.  It will sting for a moment...but it DOES THE JOB!!  

After a  day or so, I will scrape and clean any dead stuff off the bottom of the hoof...and spray it again.  I have never had to do more than two treatments.  

Iodine will also harden the hoof.  I'm thinking the thrush is what is compromising your hoof wall.  Get rid of the thrush...and I bet his hoof wall improves greatly.

The iodine is not expensive, can be gotten from your vet for 10%, or I think they still sell 7% at the feed stores.  Or alot of the time...the feed store can order it for you.  It's a good thing to keep on hand.  It has an outstanding shelf life...without going 'bad' over time.

The cheap iodine from walmart is only 1 or 2%...don't waste your money on it.