After speaking with the farrier of a horse I recently purchased, he suggested both Keratex and Thrush Buster twice a week for hoof care. I guess she has a history of being prone to thrush, so he said that is necessary. And said the Keratex is good to seal in the hoof since coming in and out of the field with different temperatures and moisture isn’t good for hooves. He said an oil/moisturizer isn’t necessary in the climate of where we live. Otherwise, she had good but typical TB hooves. My only resistance is that the Keratex smells like pure chemicals - and the Thrush Buster too. Any advice or experience?
Well have you looked up the ingredients?
Keratex is a formaldehyde product that keeps the sole from sloughing off. Thrush buster is a formaldehyde product with iodine added.
I find the formaldehyde concept interesting and considered using it but realize that it would function to retain sole, but do nothing to speed it’s growth. Keratex doesn’t seal the foot exactly.
I spray on iodine regularly during the winter to keep the foot a bit dryer.
I have never had a case of real thrush in a horse under my care, and the cases I’ve observed seem connected to contracted heels, deep frog crevices, and general poor hoof trimming.
Anyhow the important thing is to educate yourself on what the actual ingredients of things do.
It seems redundant to me to use both these products. Either just use kerstex plus ordinary iodine or just use thrush buster. You don’t need two formaldehyde products.
More importantly though healthy feet start with nutrition and are maintained by good trims, and these are more important than product.
An oil is generally not useful anywhere.
Perhaps if you share photos with COTH people can advise you on trim and hoof angle.
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Keratex (at least the gel form) is used on the hoof wall/nail holes. Thrush Buster is used on the bottom of the foot where there is thrush - usually the clefts of the frog.
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Yes exactly, although they may have an active ingredient that is the same they are labeled for use on different parts of the hoof. Keratex specifically states to not use on the coronet band or frog. Thrush Buster is meant to be used on or close to the frog. Seems like sound advice from your farrier.
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I’m curious how the same ingredient has such different use instructions. Can someone elaborate why? I’m genuinely curious.
I guess it makes sense formeldahyde would knock out a fungus infection like thrush. All the other treatments for thrush I’ve seen have been topical antifungals including copper salts and antiseptics.
Formaldehyde works by altering the bonds in protein so they don’t degrade. It’s what you use to preserve scientific specimens.
Keratex ingredients are as follows:
Aluminium chloride hexahydrate CAS No. 7784-13-6, Glycerine (glycerol) CAS No. 56-81-5, Formaldehyde CAS No. 50-00-0, Ethyl alcohol CAS No. 64-17-5, Methyl alcohol CAS No. 67-56-1, Methyl salicylate CAS No. 119-36-8, Water
Thrush Buster ingredients are:
Active Ingredients: P.V.P. Iodine Complex- 2.0%, Gentian Violet, Denatured Alcohol.
Inactive Ingredients: Water, formalin.
So while Thrush Buster DOES have some formaldehyde in it via the formalin, it is so much less than what is contained in Keratex (formalin is only 4% formaldehyde). You can see they are quite different products.
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I was told years ago by my late farrier to use Thrush buster if there is active thrush or it seems to be headed that way. He said oil was fine but was really more for me than the horses hoof. He suggested that I apply Tuffstuff about 3/4 of the way up the hoof wall starting at the bottom. He said it would seal in moisture that the hoof needed, but would help keep out excessive moisture. Always seemed to work and I use that practice with all my current horses if they seem to be having hoof issues.
If i truly have a full on case of thrush which is rare or I am suspicious, I use Tomorrow. Its sold in the cattle section at most feed or farm stores. It does wonders on clearing up stinky feet and doesn’t dry them out to much. Its intended for clearing up mastitis in udders, but for some reason is death to thrush. I also love that it come withs a flexible almost needle like tip, that you can really wiggle up into crevices and such on the sole and make sure your getting everything. its very runny so remember little goes a long way. And it as chemically smelling as most other treatments.
Just curious, how often do you use the Tomorrow? Once a week?
I use Tomorrow (or Today, can’t remember) daily or every time I’m at the barn for 4-6 treatments until the thrush clears up. If we’re in a muddy season, I might do a preventative dose the day it rains, which seems to help. It really clears up after a few treatments.
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Oh oh oh of course. The formalin is just there as a preservative not as an active ingredient. That makes sense.
I don’t know the price point of thrush buster but both the Gentian Violet and the iodine are good low key antifungals.
I use the Gentian Violet spray “Blu Kote” for minor wounds and straight up iodine in a squirt bottle for hooves.
Gentian Violet is also in vogue for treating thrush in nursing babies and is currently being investigated as a possible treatment for multiply resistant staph, so an interesting old school remedy that’s still of use.
If thrush buster is crazy expensive source Gentian Violet and iodine separately if not crazy expensive then just use the TB.
Both these active ingredients are just fine for hooves and not heavy duty “chemicals.”
I use Allens Blue Powder works great for thrush. Doesn’t even stain my hands. Its copper sulfate based.
Theresak has a good plan. That’s about what I would. If you were just doing it as preventive I would do it maybe once a week. Though since it does have antibiotics in it would be somewhat hesitant to use it as a preventative. I would probably go with Coppertox or Thrush Buster for that. My farrier always said if use the Thrushbuster as preventive just reapply when the sole starts to lose it purple color. which depending on turnout condition was usually once a week for me.
I use both Keretex and Thrush Buster on my foundered horse.
here is the link to the ingredients in Thrush Buster since my IPad won’t copy/paste the page:(
http://www.ridingwarehouse.com/Thrush_Buster_for_Horses/descpage-TBUST.html
one of the active ingredients is Gentian Violet.
Formalin is an inactive ingredient and is a water/formaldehyde solution.
i use the Keretex to keep his hooves from crumbling apart when the founder rot starts growing down.
as has already been commented — research any product you aren’t familiar with and study the indegredients as they are listed on the website:)
What is founder rot?
That’s what the farrier calls all that dead and shredding toe that is growing down, post founder. It’s almost all grown out at this point:).
Use something with either iodine or gentian violet in it.
Keratex did nothing for thrush in my horses.
Keratex has a whole catalog of products. because I live in a very wet part of Florida, I would use Keratex hoof hardener on the sole as a preventative measure. Worked well for me.
I’ve been using Thrush Buster for as long as I’ve had my horse - 16 years. I don’t use I often because my horse doesn’t have much of a problem with thrush. If I clean a hoof and something is a little stinky I put some on and one dose is usually enough. I wouldn’t call it cheap, but I don’t use that much of it. He has degree pads on the front, and the farrier uses medicated hoof packing and adds powdered copper sulfate. He rarely has thrush, but she’ll use a Thrush Buster too if there are any signs.
Although there are a lot of hoof products and other horse care potions, there are only a handful of active ingredients that turn up over and over.
For instance with calming supplements virtually all of them have magnesium. Mane n tail grooming lotions always have a form of silicone.
For thrush there is copper salts, iodine, Gentian Violet, and probably a few others.
For hardeners there are Keratex and Durasole with formaldehyde, there is Venice turpentine, maybe a few others.
It is necessary to look at and understand the ingredients because otherwise if one product doesn’t work on the horse, you need to look for a product with different ingredients. Otherwise you could end up with a tack room full of basically bthe same formula under different names.
Also some products tout being herbal or natural but the active ingredient is just the same as every other formulation. This is also very true of human hair care btw! You pay more for something that just smells different.
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I had a long term thrush problem that did not respond to thrush buster or coppertox and was able to clear it up by soaking the hooves in Oxine. I believe it’s the same chemical as White Lightning or CleanTrax, but it sells in a gallon size so it’s much cheaper per treatment.
I used Keratex on the same horse to combat her thin soles. She had heel pain, quarter flares, under run heels, thin flat soles, the thrush, and her front feet were landing toe first. Her feet were a damn MESS. The Keratex probably helped some, but fixing the trim and getting rid of the thrush did way more to get her comfortable, landing more evenly, and eventually forming a more concave and thicker sole. I also got her out of the mud, so if you’re dealing with that then the Keratex might give you more benefit than I saw.
If you’re actually dealing with thrush, quit messing around and get some Oxine, White Lightning, or CleanTrax and start soaking. If you’re aiming to prevent thrush, keep your horses feet clean and make sure they’re getting a balanced trim and low sugar diet. It’s easy to do more harm than good using the topical thrush remedies because many of the ingredients that help get rid of the thrush are also hard on the surrounding healthy tissue. Be careful how often you use them because getting an already deep sulcus all dried out and cracked can provide an even deeper nest for those nasty thrush microbes.
Ditto for Keratex. Wear gloves, try not to breath it in, and be careful not to get it on the soft structures of the hoof. And the word on the street where I live is that Durasole works just as well for thin soled hooves and is cheaper. I can’t speak to it’s strengthening walls.
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