Heel thrush - Deep Sulcus

Some people have seen great results with just plain 'ole 40% zinc oxide. Cheap and sticks around a few days. The generic is not as thick as brand name Desitin and is easier to get down where it needs to go. Using a syringe with a tip on it like what Pete Ramey uses is the best way to get it down in the deep central sulcus.

You can also do Oxine ah soaks twice a week. https://www.healthyhoof.com/articles/Thrush/ThrushRevisited.html

If you’ve been battling this a while, my advice is to have a conversation with your farrier. If farrier just shrugs and seems willing to accept this, especially if it’s been going on a while, then I’d say it’s time for a new farrier.

Is horse getting regular exercise? Top quality nutrition? Is it recovering from laminitis or is it cushinoid?

I’ve found all these ‘deep chronic thrush’ cases where the owner seems to be doing everything within their power to eliminate it… are often caused by one of the above and until you address lack of movement, or poor nutrition/ absorption, the laminitis or cushings… it’s due to an unskilled farrier.

Does your horse also have underslung heels?

In the 17 yrs I’ve owned my own horse, he’s had thrush maybe once. In the winter, extended stall rest, crap hay supply, and late in his shoe cycle. Quickly resolved. If anyone has chronic thrush, it takes more than a topical to treat.

Sculus thrush is a whole different ball of wax than what you’re talking about. It does need treatment with tomorrow or white lightning or something additional. It’s not just a “make sure the feet are picked” kind of deal. Congrats on never having to deal with it–it can really be pretty frustrating. Until the infection is resolved, the farrier can really only maintain, and it can be tricky to get the meds you need deep enough in the sculus to address it, which is why tomorrow, with it’s long, narrow, applicator, or oxine, which is a gas, get recommended a lot.

OP, I’ve also had great luck with tomorrow. I try to apply twice a day, but my horse’s cleft wasn’t deep enough to pack. In some ways, it’s almost easier to treat when you can get some packing in there, to hold the medication in and really soak those tissues. I saw pretty good improvement in one trimming cycle, although that horse will always have a small, narrow, foot, so it’s kind of an ongoing thing to keep those heels open. I’ve had great farriers–they hand over a syringe of tomorrow. :wink: Not sure how your weather is, but that stuff WILL freeze…which sucks when you’re in the barn trying to use it…so stash somewhere warmish.

I’m familiar with the condition. My original advice stands.

Please don’t use diluted bleach, as someone suggested. It can burn and damage tissues.

I’ll add a vote for Tomorrow or White Lightning.

There is also Clean Trax you can get from your farrier or vet that you mix with vinegar/water and cover up the hoof with a 500 mL saline solution bag and secure it around leg horse’s lower leg to create a tent. Works great because the gas created kills off the fungus. Very similar to what specifiedcupcake described with WL. Not sure if it’s the same active ingredient.

Thrush is actually caused by an anaerobic bacteria in horses, not a fungus. That’s why tomorrow–an antibiotic–works so well. There can be secondary fungal infections, but the bacterial infection is the root of it.

The thrush fungal infection in people is unrelated.

I’m sorry for the mistake. Guess it’s a common one because of the human condition with the same name.

Yes, this horse has been out of regular work for quite a while (4 years! Eek) that is why I didn’t catch the heel crevice until it got painful for him unfortunately (his feet weren’t getting checked frequently since he wasn’t being ridden - lesson learned).

Hay is top quality and heel balance looks fine. I started him on a new vitamin supplement/ration balancer that is made specifically for our area recently and have been using tomorrow once a day for almost 2 weeks now. It is in two feet, one is starting to look a bit better but the other not as much yet. Think I need to try packing it or wrapping it as has been suggested but have been worried I won’t be able to get it out later.

Thanks for your thoughts

Packing the crevice with medication-soaked cotton is fine, but I’d be reluctant to wrap it. Again, you want air to get to it. This is why you’ll oftentimes find this condition in horses with contracted heels, or deeply underslung heels. If the farrier is shoeing too tight, I’ve found that they’re pre-disposed to this condition. Similarly for horses with no sole, too much bar left, flat footed, squashed frogs… the air just cant’ get in there especially if they’re not moving around which creates a certain amount of movement in the hoof itself.

Of course I don’t mean the hoof capsule is fluttering around… but just like the roots of your teeth, which are fixed, there’s a certain amount of ‘give’ that keeps a horse healthy.

I’ve found the soaks – like Clean Trax – are great for making the hoof appear harder on the outside but if the deep thrush isn’t addressed by medicated cotton packs, it’s like proud flesh. Heals on the outside, but inside you still have a problem.

I like the mastitis treatments for getting in there. You have to drag bits of cotton through the creased many times first to debride the dead tissue and gook before stuffing in the mastitis treatment (Today or Tomorrow, or if your’e old it was Hetacin-K). Keep dragging cotton balls through as deep as you can. When they come up clean, THEN you can insert the medication and either block it with a clean cotton ball, or soak the cotton ball then jam it up in there.

I’ve found these types of thrush to be exceptionally painful as well. Keep your head and face out of the way while doing this, because one swipe a little too deep, and hoss is going to let you know.

Best of luck.

Powdered No Thrush. But the key to any thrush treatments it diligence. Daily treatments. Daily cleaning out the foot. Dry place to stand for a bit each day. It’s the routine that will eventually eradicate it. I feed a soaked mash morning and night, so while he was mowing down, I cleaned, dried and treated all four feet with either No Thrush, Koppercare or tea tree oil. It only takes 5 minutes, and it’s the key.

I should add - he came to me with thrush so bad I could bury my hoof knife in his sulcus practically to the handle. It was bad. Actually the worst I’d ever encountered and I used to be a farrier. I would get it under control and slack off, and it would come back full force, poor guy. Now that it’s gone I maintain the picking feet habit and keep the No Thrush on hand just in case. I agree that a healthy hoof is key in getting rid of it, but too often one depends on the other.

I now appreciate the heck out of those healthy frogs whenever I pick his feet up :smiley: