Thrush in horses: treat both externally and internally!

Thrush is a common and difficult condition. Once your horse has thrush, it can be difficult to get rid of it. A combination approach can often be successful. By not only removing as many causes of thrush as possible, but also helping your horse to fight thrush from both inside and outside.

The frog is the soft 'triangle' under your horse's hoof. On either side of the frog and in the back middle, there are the so-called 'frog grooves'. Thrush often starts in the back, middle frog groove. Especially in horses with narrower hooves, dirt and bacteria can accumulate here, which are difficult to remove and can lead to infections.

Recognizing thrush

Thrush is an infection of the frog tissue and therefore often starts in the middle back groove. The frog becomes soft and mushy there and starts to smell. The hind hooves are often affected earlier than the front hooves. A horse that walks on the frog, has narrow hooves, or has an affected coronet band is often more sensitive to thrush. When a horse taps the bulbs of the front hooves with the hind hooves, thrush can also develop in the bruising that results from this.

Treating thrush externally

To prevent or treat thrush, you must first ensure that the stable is clean and your horse does not stand in urine. Outside in the paddock or the pasture, dry standing areas should also be available, especially near the hay bins. The horse should not stand in the mud all day.

Additionally, it is important that your horse regularly visits the farrier. They will clean the frog and can immediately address the onset of thrush.

If your horse already has thrush, it is wise to clean the hooves with, for example, betadine shampoo or a solution of green biotex and then dry them. Then spray the frogs with an antibacterial spray. Traditionally, bluestone spray is often used for this, also known as hoof spray or CTC spray. But also a drying spray based on zinc, a zinc cream, or Egyptian ointment that can be sprayed or smeared into the frog grooves and affected tissue is suitable. Tar was often used in the past, but nowadays it is not recommended and is also inconvenient and messy to apply.

Treating thrush internally

Furthermore, you can prevent thrush by ensuring that your horse has good resistance and receives enough vitamins and minerals to optimize hoof growth. Well-growing hooves will be less prone to thrush, and a horse that is resistant to bacteria and infections will be less likely to suffer from it.

Support your horse's immune system with good nutrition containing enough minerals and vitamins. The basis is always enough good quality roughage. In addition, you can supplement the diet with a supplement of clove , which helps to increase resistance and has anti-inflammatory effects. A supplement of silicon contributes to good hoof growth, healthy cartilage, and flexible joints. Silicon often works more effectively than, for example, biotin or glucosamine.

To ensure that waste materials and minor inflammations in the hoof are removed as quickly as possible, it is also important that your horse gets plenty of free movement. During movement, the hoof mechanism ensures that blood and lymph fluid from the hooves and tendons are drained upward. This prevents waste materials from accumulating in the hooves.

Tips to prevent thrush

If you want to keep thrush out of the door as much as possible, the following things are important:

• Keep the stable clean so your horse does not stand in urine
• Provide dry standing areas in the paddock and pasture
• Give liquid silicon as a supplement for strong hooves and healthy hoof cartilage. It is the building material for hooves
• Have your horse trimmed on time, especially with narrow hooves
• Give cannabinoids to increase resistance and reduce inflammation so your horse can handle any infections on its own
• Ensure plenty of (free) movement to keep the hooves well blooded and waste materials drained.

Tips to treat thrush:

In addition to the above tips, which also apply if your horse already has thrush, the following things are important for a quick treatment:

• Have the hooves properly trimmed by your farrier, even an extra time between regular trimmings
• Clean the hooves daily with a disinfecting solution like betadine
• Dry the hooves well and treat with a spray based on effective microorganisms. These maintain the good bacteria and drive out the bad.
• Ensure your horse is always dry in the stable, paddock, and pasture
• Give the mineral silicon as a building material for hooves
• Give a good natural anti-inflammatory like cannabinoids out of clove

Hoof Cancer or Thrush?

If your horse has strange tissue or growths on the hoof but looks different from thrush, or if you doubt that it is thrush, also check the information about hoof cancer. This sometimes resembles thrush, but it is a much more serious condition that requires a different approach.