New inventive ways to treat thrush?

[StormyDay]

So one of my horses has always been very thrush prone. When I got him, he was from a BLM pen in Nevada and had horrid thrush. We have been battling it on and off ever since then. None of my other 5 horses on the property have issues. The pasture isn’t marshy or wet, anywhere with a lot of use has gravel, and the stalls (when they are used, I only stall a few months a year) are cleaned daily. Weirdly enough, his back hooves never have thrush, and his right front is considerably worse than the left.

So here’s what I’ve tried;
Different farrier. I trim him, but for a year I had a well respected farrier do it. No difference.

Today/tomorrow paste. Did it every day for 2 weeks and had zero results.

Oral Antibiotics and a special cream from the vet: Treated the left front, not the right.

Kopertox. Didn’t do anything except stain everything green. Used until the bottle was empty.

Thrush Buster. See above on not doing anything but staining things. used until the bottle was empty.

Absorbine hoofflex thrush remedy. No results. Used for 2 bottles.

Vetericyn hoof spray: did nothing. Used up the bottle and tried something else.

Desitin/ Petes Goo Concoction: It worked on the left front but did nothing for the right front. I actually still apply it every few days to the left front to keep that thrush away.

Scrubbing with dawn soap every day: kind of worked, but any progress made goes away when i miss a few days. Still won’t really get rid of it. I tried it for every day for a month.

White lightning/oxine soaks. Definitely helps but only if it do it 2-3 times a week. When I stop, it comes back. This is what I am currently doing, and it is still not completely treating it. Just kind of holding it at bay.

He’s on a diet of grass (he is muzzled to slow him down) in the summer, and timothy hay in the winter. He gets Purina enrich plus for his grain, along with supplemented zinc, copper, magnesium, and biotin.

Any ideas? New treatments? Something I’ve missed?

[lenapesadie]

Copper sulfate diluted in water or ACV?

[Heinz_57]

On the Pete’s goo, are you doing the current zinc oxide + copper sulfate concoction or the old version of zinc oxide + athletes foot cream? Whichever one you’ve tried, maybe try the other? What about artimud or some of the other clay-based packing? I can’t remember the names just now.

Is it ‘desert thrush’ or the standard wet, funky kind? Central sulcus or just the grooves?

[Scribbler]

Look into his nutrition and hoof trim.

[StormyDay]

@Heinz_57 and @lenapesadie

I’ve put copper sulfate into the zinc oxide cream and tried the athletes foot one too. Both work on the LF, but doesn’t touch the RF.

I haven’t tried it in ACV though, maybe I’ll try that next.

It’s ‘wet’ thrush. Central sulcus with a bit kind of eating at the middle frog, but no groove thrush. The LF was also central sulcus but I’ve pretty much killed that thrush.

@Scribbler I’m currently following the recommended diet from the hoof rehab group started by Dr. Ramey, minus that he gets a purina ration balancer. He gets a pound a day, so it’s more of the carrier than really a whole meal. I did for about 8 months feed him hay pellets instead along with cal trace, but saw no difference.

He doesn’t have the easiest feet. He slightly toes in and tends to grow heel a little too fast. But overall, I feel pretty good about his trim and he’s very sound with it.
I did have a different farrier trim him for a while, and it didn’t improve the thrush. I’ve had several farriers who weren’t me trim him over the years, a few I liked the job on, a few I pretty much immediately said ‘no thanks’.

[Xanthoria]

Adjust diet so zinc : copper : manganese: iron ratio is correct. 3:1:3:4 optimal, 5:1:5:10 max. Get your hay tested and do it right. IMEX until the diet is right you’ll be battling thrush.

[Flicker]

I’m a big fan of zinc oxide powder. It’s a very fine powder and a little messy, but I sprinkle it onto a clean hoof and work it into all the cracks and crevices with a hoof pick brush. Copper sulfate power has worked well for me too, but I find it a bit more caustic- it stings any cuts on my hards- and less convenient as i have to use a coffee grinder to make a fine enough power to really get into all the little crevices.

I had used the copper for years before moving my mares to a barn that kept a tub of powdered zinc oxide in the crossties and used it on everyone for treatment/prevention of hoof infections- I’m a convert now.

[Red_Barn]

It sounds like you’ve tried everything I might suggest, OP, except maybe testing hay. If the oxide stuff doesn’t work, you might have to give up on the idea of a permanent cure, and resign yourself to regular treatments to keep the thrush under basic control.

In that case, I’d choose the treatment that’s the least irritating to the horse and the least grueling for you, and build it into your regular routine. Sad to say, that’s the way it goes sometimes.

[lenapesadie]

Have you tried packing the center sulcus after treatment? Little bits off cotton crammed in there to keep your topical in place. I usually do that with the go dry / tomorrow / today stuff for a bit then proceed to the copper sulfate mix (packing or not depending on the severity).

I’ve also used fluid film for maintenance / minor bits of thrush. I think the lanolin in it is supportive.

Oregano oil is another option. That mess works quickly (pack it with cotton too) but be careful it doesn’t get on the skin, it can be pretty caustic. If you get it with a little dropper; application is a snap.

Tried an iodine? I’d pack that.

So for topical treatment, if you haven’t already, I’d try packing those treatments. I noticed a big difference.

I agree that nutrition and trim are imperative; it seems you’ve done due diligence there. I’m in a situation where hay testing wouldn’t be useful (new, different batches of hay all the time) so I can’t comment on that route to balance nutrition for hoof health. I live in a high iron area, so I do supplement copper and zinc in fairly high quantities. Have you tried different forms of those minerals? Like if you’re using poly zinc and copper maybe try copper sulfate and zinc methionine?

[Dbliron]

We bought a horse in Europe with a long-standing thrush problem. We worked on it for a couple of years, making no progress at all (or perhaps there was progress, at least it didn’t worsen). I came across White Lightning and started using it daily. It took 6 months of daily application, but we cured the thrush problem completely, and it never came back. I did not “soak” him in it, I poured it into the area using a small squeeze bottle after careful cleaning with a hoof pick and brush.

[NaturallyHappy]

How about CleanTrax? I’ve seen that stuff work wonders.

[carman_liz]

Copied from a prior post of mine, I am too lazy to type again haha.

My mare had wicked thrush and lost the front of her frog and her sulcus area was cracked along the bulbs.

I washed it really good with dawn and a scrub brush, cut off any ragged bits and doused her in thrush buster. I scrubbed her again after 2 days and then made a mix of diaper rash ointment, monistat, athletes foot cream, it has to be a certain kind I can look it up if you want, and then neosporin. Pete Ramey idea on steroids lol.

I used an old wormer tube and a turkey injector syringe with the needle removed and got it in every nook and cranny she had left. I also shoved cotton pads in her sulcus areas stuffed with the concocotion, the idea is as the sulcus grow out, the pads push out, if the sulcus is an affected area.

Then I still scrubbed her out with dawn and redid the entire mix and pads every other day. She had a new frog in about a month, I was amazed how much better it looked and how full the new one was! Another big thing is compression of that area to stimulate blood flow and growth. Even if you can only get there Monday, Wednesday and Friday, riding if you can, lunging, or a vigorous handwalking make a huge difference!

** The other thing I made sure of was that I treated her when she came in for the night, so I knew she would be in a clean well bedded stall after getting scrubbed clean and her creams slathered in so they would have time to set in and work without mud and dirt mixing in right away. She kept a clean stall so that helped too

[StormyDay]

@Flicker I’ll try the zinc oxide powder, that seems like an easy enough idea. I’m not sure how much different it will be from the cream, but anything is worth a try.

@Xanthoria @Red_Barn I can’t really test my hay because I have a tiny hay loft and 6 horses to feed. I have to get deliveries every month when I’m feeding hay and it’s just not do-able to test every time. I could set aside ‘special’ tester hay for him, but I’m just not sure how useful that will be since 9 months out of the year he gets no hay at all, grass only.

@lenapesadie oh yes, it’s actually what I currently do just to try to keep it from getting worse. I’ve packed with all the things; today/tomorrow, iodine, betadine, zinc oxide, Pete’s goo, I’m probably forgetting some stuff. I get the copper/zinc from cal trace, I’ll look and see what form that it and shop around to try a different type. I haven’t tried oregano oil, I’ll look into that.

@Dbliron did you dilute it or combine it with anything?

@NaturallyHappy I haven’t tried it, I’ve been using white lightning but I can certainly order it. I just thought the two products were either the same ingredient or really similar

@carman_liz I pretty much did this exact thing, minus the monostat. Maybe I’ll try it again with the monostat in it….

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the help.

[NaturallyHappy]

We had great luck w CleanTrax. Maybe it works so well because of the time soaking the foot and then leaving the foot in the bag for the fumes to work🤷🏼‍♀️.

[Ghazzu]

Are you sure it is thrush and not canker?

[Xanthoria]

@StormyDay

can’t really test my hay because I have a tiny hay loft and 6 horses to feed. I have to get deliveries every month when I’m feeding hay and it’s just not do-able to test every time. I could set aside ‘special’ tester hay for him, but I’m just not sure how useful that will be since 9 months out of the year he gets no hay at all, grass only.

Then I’d just assume he’s low in Zn and Cu and increase that for a month to see what happens

[Dbliron]

I mixed White Lightning with white vinegar, according to the instructions. You have to wait until the colour changes, and then apply it. I do agree with some of the other posters with regard to copper and zinc supplementation.

[StormyDay]

@Ghazzu I’m pretty sure it’s not canker. I’ve dealt with canker before and it doesn’t look or act like it, and the vet did inspect it and thought it was just really deep thrush. She gave him oral antibiotics and a antibiotic cream. It really didn’t do anything, but maybe I should talk to her again about a different combo.

@Xanthoria I will do that

@Dbliron I thought it was the gasses that killed the bacteria though, not the actual product?

[lorilu]

We have a new treatment here in FL called Groom’s Hand. It’s a purple spray, and the pressurized bottle has a built in hoofpick so you can get it into the sulcus. lots of folks like it. I have also used a spray of chlorox in water. But that would be a daily thing I am sure.

[JB]

@Xanthoria

Adjust diet so zinc : copper : manganese: iron ratio is correct. 3:1:3:4 optimal,

There is nothing that says this is “optimal”. It’s not even the ration that the minimally required amounts of each would make, which is 4:1:4:4 Fe:Cu:Zn:Mn. The average 500kg horse needs 400mg, 100mg, 400mg, 400mg respectively

The ONLY ratio that really is optimal, is cu:zn being about 1:4. Everything else is “what makes this horse work best”.

Some horses need closer to 10:1:4:4, and if a horse isn’t going well (enough) at higher, then sure, try to get closer to that.

But as long as there’s outright enough cu/zn/mn, the ration doesn’t much matter, even Dr Kellon says so, when she says that high iron isn’t usually the issue as long as there’s enough of the others.