@lorilu thats interesting, though its basically thrushbuster in an aerosol can. It would make application a lot easier though.
@JB and @Xanthoria so on top of the amount provided by the purina enrich, I am feeding him 127mg copper, 220 mg zinc, 7800mg magnesium, and 20mg biotin. We aren’t in a high iron area, but are in a high selenium area.
In the past, I have done everything you’ve already tried. All that did was throw away money.
THIS works: Go to Home Depot. Cleaning product aisle. Bottom shelf.
Grab a gallon of Simple Green PRO 3 (must be PRO 3). It is anti-microbial, fungicidal, virucidal.
Day One: Mix 1 part SGP3 to 20 parts water. Pick the hoof and brush it out 100%. Soak for 15 minutes, more if they’ll tolerate it.
Dry thoroughly, using a hair dryer if you must. Spray COMPLETELY with Athlete’s Foot Spray, getting into every nook and cranny. I like the spray powder, since I can see where it goes.
Repeat pick/brush and apply Athlete’s Foot Spray application daily.
Repeat Soak on Day 7.
All the above previously noted applications do 1 thing: Kill good tissue which keeps the bacteria happy, which keeps the yeast happy. They continue to feed each other and the Hoof Buffet stays open.
The SG3 is non-caustic and gentle to human hands but it takes care of the Yeast and Bacteria at the same time. I clean my house with it 
I’d also look to the diet to minimize -even eliminated- extra sugars/starches. That’s what yeast eats.
Pardon the hijack, but I’m confused by this comment. My understanding was that what matters isn’t so much the amount of Fe/Cu/Zn/Mn the horse ingests as how much he absorbs from what he ingests, and that for that reason the ratio between them is what matters because a disproportionately high level of one of these minerals (typically iron) interferes with absorption of the others. So high iron per se isn’t typically an issue so long as the horse gets enough Cu, Zn, and Mn relative to the amount of Fe in his diet, which means a horse who gets more than the RDA minimum of Fe is probably also going to need more than the RDA minimum amounts of Cu/Zn/Mn. See, for example, this comment from Dr Kellon.
Having customized a vitamin/mineral supplement to bring my horse’s ratio as close as reasonably possible to 4:1:4:4 Fe:Cu:Zn:Mn, I’m wondering if I’ve missed something!
The only required ratio is around that 1:3-4 cu:zn because of their direct absorption relationship.
Dr K says, in your link:
The ratios you mentioned correspond to the NRC recommended intakes.
This is what I said earlier - the 4:1:4:4 ratios only correspond to the required intake, so we’re good there. But there is nothing in the NRC, or the Equine Applied and Clinical Nutrition book that even suggests that’s a generally required ratio all around
If these ratios are maintained, problems with competition and interference with absorption are eliminated and the minerals work together in unison.
This is a bit older article, 2018 (ancient right?but it can be in the realm of science!) Yes, if you’re fe:cu:zn:mn is 30:1:1:2 then do something about it to get it closer to 10:1:3-5:3-5 even if there’s enough of each mineral on its own. But if you’re at 10:1:2.5:5, and there’s enough of each on their own, then unless you have an EMS horse who may need a tighter ratio, there’s no need to drive yourself nuts trying to get it tighter. Legacy Equine Nutrition with Dr Rachel Mottet hosted a webinar about 6 months ago, which included Dr Brian Nielsen who has pioneered a lot of iron research in the last decades, and he talked about how those tight ratios are simply not a requirement for the normal healthy horse.
If you have 10:1 fe:cu, but have only your min required 100mg cu, would I add more? Probably! But if you’re at 10:1 and your Cu is 300, then no, I wouldn’t bother adding more
White lightening has a gel now ($$$). Using that once or twice a day with cotton stuffed in the areas seemed to work wonders.
You don’t want to use thrush buster as it kills the alive tissue also.
Apple cider vinegar is a good one to use for regular use.
Sorry, was just going off one of your older posts. I will correct to 4 :1 : 4 : 4
@ChocoMare interesting, I’ve never heard of the product. I will have to see if my local store carries it or if I need to order.
@Jealoushe I have tried the white lightning gel too. I realized after seeing my wall of almost dead products at the barn (why do I keep a bottle with just a tiny bit of product left at the bottom? I don’t know) I’ve tried several more products than I remembered
I’ve found the Equiderma Thrush & Whiteline treatment to be a magical product. It’s the best of all the products I’ve used over the years. For initial treatment I did every other day for a week and then keep an eye after that.
My horse had really bad thrush that required several vet visits. The vet trimmed the frogs way back so I could get the ointment down where it needed to be (I used Today’s cow mastitis cream) and then packed it with gauze to get it in there and cleaner. It took a while but eventually the thrush was killed and the deep crevasse/hole filled in. But I packed that thing every day-- religiously. I think that was the main difference between everything else I tried. Shove it way in there with a hoof pick.
But that isn’t a requirement or even optimal. It may be what’s needed for a given EMS horse who needs a really tight ratio, but if you’re at 10:1:3:3 or 10;1:5:5 and have enough of everything, and it’s a normal healthy horse, that’s perfectly fine Even 10:1:4:2.5 is good enough in most cases, also as long as enough of everything.
Over the last few years, and especially the last year or so it seems, there has been this enormous focus on iron overload, that any excess iron is BAD, stay away from Himalayan salt blocks because the 40mg iron in a reasonable serving is BAD, stay away from any and all feeds with added iron no matter how much because added iron is BAD (but then go load up on hay pellets that have 400ppm iron, that’s fine ) and it’s just gotten out of control
But if your horse is healthy, your ratio is 18:1:5:2.5, and you just can’t get your horse to eat 600mg Cu and 1200mg Zn to “balance” things down to 4:1:4, but you can get him to eat enough to get to 12:1:5, then call it a day 
Thanks for the clarification!
I have used the Veterinary Preference Thrush Pads for a few years now and swear by them. They’re little cotton plugs saturated in copper sulfate solution. They are easy to pack in hoof cracks and stay put, keeping the medicine where it’s needed. I use them daily until generally the hoof crack is healed or the thrush is gone. Smartpak sells them, small jar with reddish label, highly recommend!
Oh those are interesting, i think I’ll order some. Thanks!
I have never used one, but I’m a bit intrigued by the new probiotic sprays. There are a few of them available now, but this one is an example:
Copper sulphate is my go to, but not if the infection is deep in the frog. I don’t like using it on sensitive tissue.
Years ago I had a project TB who was footsore with horrible thrush that was making him more lame. I tried everything to get the thrush under control.
At the time and with my knowledge then, I thought most of the lameness stemmed from needing specialized shoeing and the thrush was just an annoying, secondary issue. Turns out I had it backwards.
In desperation to get him sound, I took him to the chief farrier at UPenn at the time- Rob Sigafoos, co-founder of Sound Horse Technologies, inventor of the Siagfoos shoe, etc. I was prepared to do whatever it took to get him sound.
Rob gave me two of the best pieces of advice I have ever received: 1. Pull his shoes. 2. Treat all thrush like a skin wound.
For the thrush, he got me some Panalog to get the inflammation under control and told me just to clean it regularly with something that won’t irritate the tissue. Don’t put anything on it you wouldn’t want to use on a wound on your own skin. (Like most of those OTC thrush treatments- he said stay away from those for my horse because they can damage the tissue and prevent healing)
Dry is great, too, if you can manage it, but horses also need to move, so staying in a stall or small drylot isn’t necessarily helpful.
For the past 15+ years, I have had almost no problems with thrush. When I have had a great trimmer, I literally have had no problems with thrush. When I have had “meh” farriers, I’ve had no problems I couldn’t get under control easily cleaning the area with 4x4s and a mild chlorohexidine, betadine, soap, etc. My horses live out in unavoidable slop all winter, so it’s not like it’s great husbandry on my end preventing issues.
I wonder if colder weather makes “slop” less of a thrush problem? I’m in FL and all else equal, more mud = more thrush. It rarely freezes here and I wonder if that allows for more yucky stuff to live in the mud?
For my horse getting him in a situation where his stall and turnouts are relatively dry has drastically decreased the thrush. I haven’t had to do much to keep his feet in good shape. I also have rocks down in some areas the horses walk over here (a rarity in FL) and saw a drastic increase in sole concavity without any other changes!
Possibly, but the mud rarely freezes here, either. And it’s still muddy in the fall and spring when temps are similar to a FL winter.
Dry is always better. But a lot of people are quick to deem a thrush situation hopeless because there is mud. I’ve heard farriers say, “if your horse is turned out in mud, they will have thrush,” and that is just not true in my experience. If a horse has iffy nutrition, trimming that leaves them with hoof pathologies, AND mud, well yeah, you are probably doomed. But keeping them out of mud isn’t the only way to prevent thrush, and restricting movement just to avoid mud often isn’t helpful.
One of my farriers was certain that mud made zero difference! So definitely a range of opinions!
I have a personal vendetta against mud so I’m likely biased lol.
I would choose muddy turnout over stalled all the time though.
We spend a lot of most Winters with red clay mud. I don’t know if other soil type mud makes things different.
Thrush isn’t a problem here, ever.
My thought is that the feet where mud is “causing” thrush, are feet that are already a bit compromised to start, and the mud is just a catalyst, not a cause.
There are WAY more farriers and trimmers not allowing healthy feet, than there is mud causing thrush with healthy feet.
I’m not saying that being constantly wet can’t invite problems. Wet tissue is just more susceptible to nicks and cuts which allows bacteria in.
But if more horses had a more robust diet and/or more correct trimming, I bet most of the “mud causes thrush” scenarios would go away.
I’m inclined to believe it depends somewhat on the soil.
I used to live on a farm where it seemed that the horses in one specific turnout area got thrush more frequently than in the others.
And no, it wasn’t that that one was muddy and the rest were not.
I knew a couple of the worst affected after they left that facility, and the thrush problems resolved.
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