Thrush
For those new to horse ownership, knowing what you are dealing with when it comes to thrush can be helpful. Thrush, also known as hoof rot, can be an anaerobic bacterial infection or a fungus, both of which affect the frog of the horse’s hoof.
“It can result in bleeding, or it can eat away the frog,” Dorris says.
CausesHorse owners of a certain age were trained to think of thrush as a condition that only resulted from filthy living conditions. If your horse developed thrush, it was a source of embarrassment because almost everyone immediately thought you weren’t keeping your horse’s environment clean enough. Today, we know there can be more than an unclean environment at play.
While it is true that dirty conditions can result in a case of thrush, there are other reasons a horse can develop the condition, making it much more common than some may think.
“Almost every horse will have a little bit [of thrush] at some point in its life,” Dorris says.
“A lot of it is the environment,” Dorris says. “Wet, muddy conditions, messy stalls, standing in manure, things such as this.”
But, Dorris shares, the conformation of the hoof, particularly those horses with sheared heals or flares on the hoof, and those with overgrown frogs are all pre-disposed to trapping organic material in an area that has reduced oxygen levels, creating an ideal environment for thrush. While, despite the best efforts of their owners, most horses will develop at least a mild case of thrush at some point in their lives, there are steps that owners can take to reduce the likelihood and frequency of the condition.
Prevention“It’s a team effort,” Dorris explains.
Ideally, he says, owners and farriers should work on prevention together.
“Owners should pick their horse’s feet, clean their stalls and strive for a dry environment,” he says, adding that it is paramount that owners follow their farrier’s prevention and treatment recommendations.
But Dorris acknowledges that rain, snow melt, etc., can make keeping a dry environment out of the owner’s control. In those cases, he says, you must do your best. Doing your best means sticking to a regular schedule with your farrier, who will keep abreast of your horse’s trimming needs and, if necessary, make treatment recommendations that the owner must then be relied upon to follow.
Keeping a horse’s frogs properly trimmed is a good deterrent against thrush. Photo courtesy of D. Paul Dorris, Jr., CJF
Identification and treatment
When thrush develops, early recognition and treatment can help improve the situation for everyone involved. Typically, Dorris says, when a horse develops thrush, the owner will first notice its distinct smell. They may also note a shiny, black substance in the commissures of the frog. If the thrush has advanced beyond the initial stages, bleeding caused by the thrush eating away at the frog may also be present.
Once identified, Dorris uses a homemade 10% chlorhexidine, 90% water solution for treatment, adding a small amount of dimethyl sulfoxide to aid in absorption. But, he says, several over-the-counter options also work well if you don’t want to make your own,. That said, there are certain caveats that owners need to be aware of.
“You don’t want to use anything caustic if the thrush is located in the central sulcus,” he cautions. “When you get to that point, it’s an open wound in the foot.”
For cases like these, Dorris uses the over-the-counter mastitis treatment for cows, Tomorrow. While he acknowledges that this recommendation may seem unconventional to some, when used daily for treating thrush in the central sulcus, he has seen its effectiveness firsthand.
He also likes Tomorrow for its packaging: a syringe with a thin, tube-like applicator. “The applicator makes it easy to use and [because you are inserting the applicator into the opening] gauge how deep the infection is,” he says.
Dorris says treatment can be discontinued when the applicator can no longer be inserted well into the opening. If you’re unsure, your farrier can demonstrate its correct use. On a sidenote, Dorris advises using a different tube for each horse to keep potentially contagious thrush from spreading when you are treating multiple cases within a herd.
The over-the-counter mastitis treatment for cows, Tomorrow, can be an excellent treatment for thrush that is located in the central sulcus. Photo courtesy of D. Paul Dorris, Jr., CJF
Finally, when shopping for Tomorrow, Dorris instructs that owners should be attentive when reading product labels as other similar products can contain procaine penicillin. Penicillin is a prohibited medication for horses actively competing and will show up on a blood test.
Advanced casesBeyond these types of cases, there are situations where thrush can require a more advanced level of care. Here, Dorris emphasizes that your farrier and your veterinarian should have a good working relationship, as thrush that is progressing or doesn’t respond to treatment in 30 days may require veterinary intervention that can include further diagnostic testing and prescription medication. Fortunately, if you are following your farrier’s recommendations doing your part with prevention and, if necessary, treatment, these instances are the exception rather than the rule.
While a case of thrush can make some horse owners feel as if they have won the prize for poor horsemanship, owners can instead know they are doing right by their horses if they are taking steps to prevent, identify and treat it.
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