Painful thrush in pony's front feet

[Chestnut_Mare1]

New little pony has very upright feet with contracted heels with the “bum” crack up the back typical of thrush. She has probably had the central sulcus thrush most of her life. Not sure if the thrush caused the contracted heels or if its the other way around.

She is barefoot, rock solid little feet, never a lame step. She is clearly in a lot of pain when we pick the feet and it takes over an hour to trim, thank goodness for the best farrier ever. Her feet are done every 4 weeks. We can’t soak her in anything or spray anything, she is terrified and will lay down in the cross ties to get out of it - just too dangerous.

I know there are so many remedies out there and we have tried a lot including:

Tea Tree Oil - bad idea! It stung so bad we could not pick her feet up for days
Hoof clay that contains essential oils - didn’t make a difference
Thrush Buster - doesn’t work and stings
No Thrush Powder - doesn’t work
Pete’s goo - can’t get it into the crack even with fine tip dental syringe and too painful to force it in

Pony is super tidy and does not stand in her own excrement, lives in a paddock with dry sand footing with dry shelter. The weather has been hot and dry as well so we know its not related to hygiene or mud. She is ridden or lunged almost daily. She eats Timothy and gets a basic mineral/vit supplement. Easy keeper.

Coth, what am I missing?

[retiredhorse]

Have you tried bleach/water or hydrogen peroxide or the stuff for yeast infections? (OR, not mixing them!)

Also had some success with soaking cotton swabs, with your choice of remedy, and sort of flossing the frog with it.

[MyKindaFlower]

Oh dear, OP! Jingles for you and poor Pony.

Have you looked at Hawthorne products? They make several products for treating thrush. Some contain regulated ingredients that you may have to register to purchase.

Here’s the link to their thrush products. Looks like maybe the Hoof Pack might be the way to start?

https://hawthorne-products.com/product-tag/thrush/

[Chestnut_Mare1]

@retiredhorse

Have you tried bleach/water or hydrogen peroxide or the stuff for yeast infections? (OR, not mixing them!)

Also had some success with soaking cotton swabs, with your choice of remedy, and sort of flossing the frog with it.

I have not tried bleach/water or hydrogen peroxide. May have to give that a go. Do either of those things sting? I tried the yeast ointment but can’t get it into the tiny crack. I can’t stick anything in the crack either.

We need something that can be poured into the crack but not sprayed or soaked

[Maythehorsebewithme]

Try the cow stuff intended for mastitis, Today for dry cows and Tomorrow for lactating cow (either one.) My Irish sport horse arrived in America with incredible thrush, and I struggled for a long time. That fixed it.
Comes in a small syringe so that it is easy to get it into the frog cracks.
Good that it does not seem to burn or sting.

[Chestnut_Mare1]

I’m in Canada so we don’t have all the products available in stores. I just wish pony could let me do a few good treatments without freaking out

[retiredhorse]

I don’t think peroxide stings? I’ve used it on myself for cuts/finger abscesses. I think you can pour it on – might be easier/safer than bleach.

I’ve also soaked a cotton swab or ball and stuck that as deep as possible in the frog to really get in there. Use hoof pick if necessary. And left that inside the frog and poured more peroxide (or generic gentian violet) in it – I think the swab helps get it in the frog. IDK if this not a great thing to do, but I’ve also left it in overnight for really bad cases and didn’t have an issue changing it out the next day, if it didn’t fall out on its own.

[PNWjumper]

I’ll second the Tomorrow. Best stuff you can find for thrush, and the only thing that my sensitive mare didn’t mind having squirted into her central sulcus (also, comes in a syringe format, which makes application easy).

[Chestnut_Mare1]

The crack is so tight and deep that I can’t get a hoof pick in there plus she would kill me for trying…

Ooh that could be read the wrong way of the context was unknown!

[tinah]

I like durasole. It’s a liquid, so penetrates well. Just squeeze in daily. If you can’t get that, I’d do gentian violet with an eyedropper.

[MidlifeCrisis]

Can you get Thrush Stop in Canada? It’s a liquid that you squirt in. The active ingredient is chlorhexidine which is the same stuff as in HibiClens surgical scrub. Often, I just use Dawn dish soap followed by Hibiclens and a small wire brush to scrub the feet. Otherwise, I would go to soaking her feet in Oxine AH a few times a week. I like it better that CleanTrax or White Lightening simply because I don’t have to use boots. I just soak for 15 minutes in a feed tub. You can read this article for more hints
http://healthyhoof.com/articles/Thrush/ThrushSolutions.php

[StormyDay]

Can you put one of those soaking boots on? If you put it on dry she might not care, then pour in the white lightning.

Thrush is weird. One of my horses struggled with it big time in NC. I could only control it, not eradicate it. When I moved to SC it was gone basically overnight. Diet didn’t change. Nothing changed but location. I feel your pain OP.

[Training_Cupid]

@Maythehorsebewithme

Try the cow stuff intended for mastitis, Today for dry cows and Tomorrow for lactating cow (either one.) My Irish sport horse arrived in America with incredible thrush, and I struggled for a long time. That fixed it.
Comes in a small syringe so that it is easy to get it into the frog cracks.
Good that it does not seem to burn or sting.

Thirding this. It quickly cleared a painful thrush for my horse.

[mmeqcenter]

I’ve never tried it, but Tomorrow is a popular thrush fixer.

I prefer Coppertox.

[DarkBayUnicorn]

In Canada, try Special Formula (mastitis treatment) from your vet.

I’ve also had great success with sugardine. 1/3 sugar to 2/3 iodine mix.

[HunterRider84]

The best thing I have found for sulcus infections is the Tomorrow for cow mastitis. It will clear up pretty quickly.

[grannyhugz]

I’m another vote for Tomorrow… it works really well!

[walkinthewalk]

@Chestnut_Mare

I have not tried bleach/water or hydrogen peroxide. May have to give that a go. Do either of those things sting? I tried the yeast ointment but can’t get it into the tiny crack. I can’t stick anything in the crack either.

We need something that can be poured into the crack but not sprayed or soaked

please do not use any of these products. They are invasive to healthy tissue and painful if they touch on “raw meat”, so-to-speak.

ditto ToMorrow works well and is not at all painful.

[Chestnut_Mare1]

@walkinthewalk

please do not use any of these products. They are invasive to healthy tissue and painful if they touch on “raw meat”, so-to-speak.

ditto ToMorrow works well and is not at all painful.

Okay I will avoid those then I’ll call the vet and find out about the mastitis stuff. Could an equine vet prescribe it?

[hoopoe]

OP the ToDay cow mastitis product may be available under the name Cefa-Lak. Cephapirin Sodium

ToMorrow is cephapirin benzathine

sounds like many here have had good luck. You will probably find them at a quality ranch supply store

Mastitis syringes are nozzled to put up a cows teat, so not much larger than a pencil lead, you should be able to get into the tightest sulcus