Okay... here's my novice opinion again. Yes, Clorox works on thrush. However, it's pretty harsh on the skin. I'd like to give you some info I have in front of me, from the March 2005 AQHA Journal in an article called Frog Wars, page 56.
As soon as you see a problem, begin treatment immediately. If the thrush is severe, deep or bleeding, CALL YOUR VET! For mild cases first clean the area and scrape out rotten tissue from the side and center grooves of the frog. Scrub the area with a bristle brush or pot scrubber. For the initial application it suggested making betadine into a weak tea. It has antiseptic qualities but is not as potentially irritating. Lysol can be safely used after the intial disinfecting. Apply Lysol solution two tabelspoons to one gallon of water. Hold the foot with the sole facing upward and level. Pour one quarter cup of the solution on the frog and sole area, and let it soak in. Use a commercial product, such as Koppertox or Thrush Buster according to the manufacturer's directions. (We do this after the Lysol solution). You can put it in the grooves. and even put it on a cotton ball and stuff it in. It dries up the thrush quickly. Keep hooves well trimmed. House your horse in a clean dry enviroment. You might have to strip a stall of shavings.
CAUTIONS
Don't use Pinesol or bleach solutions. They can be irratating and are inactivated when they come in contact with organic matter. Don't keep the horse in the SAME stall, that might have been the cause. Don't ignore the problem, it won't go away. Don't confuse thrush with hoof canker. While thrush affects the grooves of the frog, canker attacks the spongy area. Canker causes the frog to enlarge and become kind of cauliflowery in appearance. If the frog gets bigger.. call the vet. This was infomation from D.M. V. Nancy ROth of New Haven, Mo.
So that's from AQHA Journal... March 2005.
Here's what's from hubby... the farrier, and a few other people that I've had a thrush discussion with...
Put this Lysol solution in a spray bottle and when picking the hooves, routinely spray the hooves with this solution. It has really helped us by spraying every time we pick the hooves, because we haven't seen any sign whatsoever of thrush since this spring when we adopted the Lysol solution treatment. This is a big thing, as we do not have our horses in a barn in the summer and fall so their area has been damp and I'm sure an easy place for bacteria to breed.
OKAY.. nuff said on hooves..
Nutrition. University of Fl. has a magazine called EC (Equus Caballus) that runs an article from the American Horse Council and they are asking for questions about equine nutrition. it says, email your questions to editor @ecmagazine.net and will put you in touch with an expert who can help.
Personally, I've tried several different kinds of feed... I used to change every three mos, because I didn't like what I was seeing. I have to say, we're not Sweet Feed fans. Hubby's a cook and he says that the molasses is a waste product, and no... we don't feed that anymore. He goes into an entire lecture on sweet feed... I'll spear you. Then we tried.. Gro Strong a pelleted feed... it was fine with the mini's, but I noticed our QH was loosing her muscle mass. Now granted with the leg I broke, the back I injured, she wasn't getting much exercise, but I still thought she just didn't look as good as she did on Buckeye's Grow N Win. So, we're back to Buckeye's Grow N Win (they have a phone no. for information). We get one bag of Grow N WIn to two bags of OATS and put a five to one ratio of Ultimate Finish with the Grow N Win. The Ultimate Finish comes in 25 lb pails, so that helps alot, because it takes me forever to use up that stuff, as we use about five pounds to twenty five of Grow N Win. Then we add 50 lbs of Oats. So that's about 80 lbs of feed.
I believe in the Oats vs Sweet Feed as horses do have allergies to corn which is so common in feed. I develope allergies to everything, so .. I'm cautious about feed. However, I believe that Grow N Win has less corn in it. Also, when my granny was driving a horse, (because they didn't have a car.. she fed oats, and I feel if it did good by her with a hard working horse), it should be good enough for our herd. The Oats are inexpensive. The Grow N Win is pricey at $22 ish for a 50 lb bag, but when you add the oats, it really brings the price down.
I also like the Progressive feeds... they were developed by the same guy that came up with the formula for Grow N Win.
So that's my novice, very inexperienced, two cents... take it for what it's worth...
God Bless,
Lynn W
