Thrush preventative product under hoof pads?

[sportyspicepony]

I hope this isn’t a really dumb question, I just haven’t found anything online about it!

Long story short, I’ve only had my horse for a short time and she has rubber pads up front that I probably wouldn’t have chosen. There is a tiny hole/opening underneath both pads where stuff can absolutely get into her foot under the pad. I don’t know if the farrier put any medicated packing or spray underneath, and I’ve been literally sticking my nose down there every day and smelling it, but I’m still scared she’s gonna get thrush!

Would it be a good or bad idea to just dust a little bit of No Thrush powder in this opening? (or any other product, but No Thrush is what I currently have on hand).

[No1]

IME, people most often use Thrush Buster (the purple liquid) for that. A small amount of powder probably wouldn’t hurt, but you don’t want to stick a ton of stuff between the pad and her sole that can’t go anywhere and will only collect and apply pressure over time. There are packings farriers can put in there that contain copper sulfate.

Did you have a pre-purchase done on her before you got her? There may be a reason she is in those pads, I would talk to my vet and farrier before making any changes with the pads.

[sportyspicepony]

@No1 Yes, it’s a long story but basically the prepurchase vet suggested we might try some corrective shoeing, I sent x rays of her front feet and the vet’s write up to the farrier and he went ahead and put rubber pads on. I just would’ve chosen pour-ins for this exact reason! And he even mentioned AFTER putting them on that he would be afraid of thrush in them, but I digress

The only reason I’m leaning towards the powder over a liquid is that I feel like I don’t want to contribute any more to any potential wet conditions in there? She’s due again on 12/23 so I just have to get through until then.

[No1]

If she’s getting done in about 2 weeks, I wouldn’t think that a little powder every other day would compact too bad. I also wouldn’t worry about Thrush Buster making conditions wet in there. The ingredients are made to combat fungus and bacteria and some of them are quite drying (the formalin in particular).

[luvmyhackney]

The farrier should have slightly packed the foot and crevices with some magic cushion or Hawthornes. You can squirt Thrustbusters down there without any issues. I’ve groomed many horses with pads and unless they are kept in a pool or nasty stall, most don’t have issues with pads and thrush.

[walkinthewalk]

My horse has to wear some sort of “covering” over his sole. He deails with WLD.

1. Sometimes the farrier uses VetTec pour in.

Sometimes she uses ShuFil, which is a “silly putty” type product.

Either way, she always uses Allen’s Blue Powder, which is copper sulfate. https://www.stockhoffsonline.com/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?WD=blue%20crystals&PN=Allens-Blue-Sulphate-Powder.html#SID=84

2. My horse also always wear a wedge that DID have frog support, until we changed from the Natural Balance PLR steel shoes, to the new pliable Versa shoes by EasyCare.

The Versas have a frog support, so all the farrier had on the truck was a solid pad. I don’t like it for all the reasons you worry about:)

When she comes back in a few weeks, she is going to cut the center of the pad out.

3. Even though the pad is solid and there is ShuFil underneath, I still take Thrushbuster and squeeze some down into the central sulci a couple of times weekly.

Looking at your foto, you may want to take a brush to the central sulci and squirt some thrushbuster down in there:)

4. Back to the flexible Versa shoes —- my horse foundered pretty bad in 2012 and lives with residual issues. Recent x-rays showed two spots of arthritis on the RF. At the top of the P3 & at the coronary band.

The horse has to have shoes with wedges so the farrier felt these flexible Versas might help with the arthritis — and they do!!!

^^^^That was more info than you wanted but you are right to worry about that full pad and you are correct to use the Thrushbuster.

I would consider adding the Allens Blue powder or other brand to the mix:).

I hope this is helpful:)

[BoyleHeightsKid]

DataLife Hoof Clay or Artimud would work very well. I would also use a popsicle stick or something to get it down in the central sulcus of the frog to help treat and prevent any thrush present.

[kashmere]

Ditto Artimud, and for that very tight Central Sulcus, Red Horse (makers of Artimud) make something called “hoof stuff” which is essentially the same product with bits of fibre in it so you can really shove it into deep tight cracks. I have also had success soaking a bit of a cotton ball in white lightning gel and nudging it into the sulcus.

Next time the shoe is pulled, could you do a White Lightning or CleanTrax soak before it is reset? It can be a pain since they recommend at least 20 mins to soak, but if you can do two feet at once and if the farrier has other horses to do in between…? CleanTrax really does a great “one and done” job of knocking out gross infection, and then you can pack with clay as a preventative and hopefully to help stimulate some regrowth in the sulcus.

[cnd8]

My farrier always puts a little Magic Cushion under the pad and whenever he does the resets, there is never any thrush, even with rainy weather. My horse is out 24/7.

[mmeqcenter]

My mare has had front pads for a little over a year. I squirt Koppertox (or an off-brand version) in there about once a week or so, or after any rain. No issues. She is out 24/7.

[sportyspicepony]

Thanks all, super helpful!! I’m not sure that we’ll even do the pads on next cycle as he seemed to think they were somewhat unnecessary, but we shall see. I might start a separate thread to get all the amazing COTH hoof experts advice to rate my horse’s hooves, LOL.