Copper sulfate has been used for thrush. I’m sure most of us old timers have used Coppertox at some point,
As others have stated, my farrier uses the copper nails for the antimicrobial properties. I quite liked them on my guy. He has a hoof scar and during wet/nasty weather the hoof has a hard time staying together. When he was nailed with the copper nails it seemed like things stayed “cleaner” in the scar area. Now the hoof is healed up and hasn’t gotten that bad again yet this year. We’re in a drought so his feet are actually staying together for once
Kopertox is copper naphthenate- and yes it is quite effective, along with proper trimming , and maintenance.
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I saw the title to this thread yesterday but didn’t read it. I though hmmm… never heard of copper horseshoe nails. I went to the barn last night and I noticed the clipped tip to a copper nail in the aisle. Not sure what farrier or what horse.
Hey now watch who you are calling an old timer!
One farrier that comes to my barn used them. My farrier kind of rolls his eyes.
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One of the farriers at my barn uses the Cu-plated nails on some of the horses, but not all.
A previous farrier had people packing horse’s feet with copper sulfate (I think it was sulfate and not nitrate) for thrush. He had them buying it from a garden fountain supply place since it was cheaper that way.
Farrier who uses the copper nails noted that you could make do-it-yourself Thrush Buster (ingredients per SmartPak: FORMOLIN < 4%, POVIDONE IODINE, GENTIAN VIOLET, ISOPROPANOL, WATER) by combining Blue-Kote (Active Ingredient(s): Sodium propionate, gentian violet, acriflavine, in a special base of water, urea, glycerine, isopropyl alcohol 32% by volume) and iodine, assuming you had a source of iodine. Which, being an Evil Chem Prof and all, I do.
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It’s good to be an Evil Chem Prof! I buy my copper sulfate on Ebay from a company in FL. Either I use it with clays as a thrush dust, or if the horse is in pads, with the packing or impression material.
I get the whole idea of the nails, but what about the old holes? Is everyone bothering to pack those with an antifungal too?
This is my experience exactly.
My farrier just started using them, so my boys got their shoes nailed with them today for the first time. He said it will be a few cycles before he will be able to tell if he’s convinced/impressed, so we shall see…
My first time seeing this post. My farrier just used these on Dex. Said he hasn’t tried them before but with as many infections as Dex has had in his feet, wanted to try anything that even might be helpful which I thought was very nice of him. I guess time will tell.
Well, Kopertox thrush treatment is copper napthenate which is also an ingredient in antifungal wood preservatives.
When dissimilar metals come in contact and there’s an electrolyte (like water) then you can have chemical reactions. Do these take place with copper against iron? What is the process and what’s the result? Is the galvanic process the cause of a reduction in bacteria? Does it weaken the nail? Lots of questions.
G.
My farrier has been using them on one of my horses for a little over a year. Noticeable improvement in the quality of his hoof wall and the amount of damage around the nail holes. He’s a stereotypically-footed TB and has pretty crappy feet. The copper nails made a huge positive difference over regular nails.
All of my other horses (9 others) are warmbloods (or ponies) and have great feet naturally. The copper nails made zero difference for them. I think we used them for 2 shoeing cycles and when there was no change we went back to regular nails.
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