Many horses will experience this bacterial infection at one time or another, and store-bought thrush remedies can be quite pricey. Here's a remedy that I personally use on my show horses made from stuff around the house and barn. (WARNING: If thrush gets severe, it can be potentially damaging to the health of the horse, causing hoof problems and lameness. This remedy was created to aid in the clearing of minor problems only. If the thrush does not clear up in a few days, or grows worse, consult your veterinarian or farrier immediately.)
1) CAREFULLY clean your horse's hoof (or hooves) out with a hoofpick
2)It a large bowl, mix 2 parts betadine to 1 part white granulated sugar. The mixture should be watery.
3) Dip sterile roll cotton into the mix, let excess drip off.
4) Fold into shape of horse's hoof, secure with duct tape.
5) Change daily.
I'll second the bleach Wally - Christa suffers from it very occasionally and it was my farrier that told me to stop wasting my money and do 1/2 bleach to wash it out - great stuff, but make sure you wear gloves!
I wash my hands in neat bleach once a week to get the saddle stain out of them, they are usually so black by Friday that it's the only thing that'll get it out!
Occasionally I have to look vaguely clean and domesticated!
To any one out there,,,,
A question here. Are we washing our hands in bleach to get rid of the dirt from cleaning stables,cleaning horses (that seem to be part HIPPO-*loving mud* )
My horse is so dirty on her legs, neck where her deken(blanket ) doesn't cover her. And then if she rolls in the mud....anual winter thing!!
I get filthy.This is my messiest horse yet!
I agree with the first post about ways to clear thrush. The idea about using ordinary household bleech however is a very bad idea. Bleech contains ammonia which is one of the chemicals present in urine and one of the things that can cause the infection in the first place. By using this on your horse, diluted or not, it can make the infection worse not better. however if it was peroxide this can be used as a disinfectant and so may help the problem, this is what is used to bleech hair. I WOULD NOT reccommend using household bleech on your horses feet!
Just for the record most houshold bleaches are not ammonia based but chlorine based - have a whif and you will see it smells nothing like stale urine. And dilute bleach has been recommended not neat bleach. In any case its going on the hoof not directly on the skin.
And also thrush is not a bacterial infection but a fungus so antibiotics wont work.
Another thing that works is "Canatsen" cream the humans use for thrush "down there" if you know what I mean. This can be bought from the chemist and, although dearer than bleach, it is cheaper than many horsey remedies. I'm sure "equine" means add 50% to the price!!
I have spoken to my vet about using bleach for thrush and my farrier. They both strongly advise using this. Even though it goes directly on to the foot. After speaking to them I certainly wouldnt use bleach on my horse, or myself for that matter. As it is so strong and not reccommended I just wouldnt be willing to take the risk of hurting my horse.
Strange that! All the farriers I know are recommending bleach on feet with anaerobic infections! A well known large, prizewinning, Scottish farriery practice recommended it to me!
I too use it on a horse at the mo with such an infection, it works a treat.
Either is fine really. It isn't absorbed through the hoof into the blood stream, and if anything was iodine would be very very dangerous - but it doesn't so it's not.
Most people have bleach so it's easier to recommend bleach to someone who can't or won't go to the chemist to buy some iodine, or if the vet hasn't got any to give to you.
Personally I prefer to use iodine because I don't like the smell of bleach. But then I hate having orange hands for weeks too, so I suppose you can't win!!
Canestan cream is fine, and works well, or you can use Daktarin too, which is for athletes foot (all the same type of infection though different bugs). I think its more expensive though to use the creams than it is to use iodine or bleach, and also I think you probably need to use several tubes of crem as well for each foot, sinc you'd need to apply it twice a day for at least a week!
I find sheep foot rot spray works a treat! Scrub with good disinfectant and spray with purple spray. However the purple stains everything! so be warned.
I tried using pharmaldehyde (excuse the spelling), the stuff used for sheep foot rot. My vet told me to water it down with one part solution to 5 part water. When i put this on my horse after one day I obviously got a little on his skin by mistake and his heels blistered and became infected. I was wondering if this was because i wasnt told to water down the solution enough. How did u make up the solution?
my horse has never had thrush before! How can you prevent it from happening and are there any symptoms! I presume that thrush means the horrible black smelly stuff by their frog or am I thinking of something else??
B careful if you are using formaldehyde. It's vapour is very irritant and if you or your horse breathe it in it can cause respiratory problems. We use it in the lab and always use extractor fans or respirators to deal with it!! It's whiffy and chokey!!
Thrush is a bacterial infection (not sure if that's the correct term, but it's the general idea) contracted from just coming in contact with the bacteria. The best way I can think of to keep a horse from contracting thrush is to keep it's feet clean (though this doesn't work 110% of the time.) The symptoms are a noticeable "nasty" smell coming from the foot, and occassionally bleeding of the frog and reluctance of the horse to do things like take a lead using that foot. Yes, the frog does ooze horrible smelling stuff when the horse has thrush, but I don't think it's always black.
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