If you’ve ever battled thrush in a fussy horse’s hooves, you know the frustration of finding a product that stays put and really works. Here’s a horse thrush treatment protocol that quickly cured my impatient horse.
Why I Chose Artimud and Hoof-Stuff for My Fussy Horse
My mare Bella came to me out of a sort of “benign neglect” situation. She wasn’t starved or abused, but she hadn’t been well attended to, either. She had sulcus cracks between her heel bulbs that made me worry about deep thrush despite the absence of any apparent soreness or smelly, black goo. She also had some white line separation from unaddressed flares.
Bella is a sensitive mare with strong opinions about personal space. She doesn’t have a lot of patience for standing around with her hoof in a bucket. To complicate matters, I quickly learned that she was not a fan of caustic thrush treatments that contain iodine, formaldehyde, or copper sulfate.
I needed to find a gentle, effective solution capable of sticking to the affected tissues for an extended period.
This article from the Okanagan School of Natural Hoof Care recommended the protocol I ultimately chose, including Artimud and Hoof-Stuff. I’d never seen either product at a local farm store or major online equine supply retailers, but further googling unearthed great reviews for both. I decided to give them a try.
I ordered directly from Red Horse Products, which involved a hefty shipping fee because they’re based in the UK. You can get the products on Amazon, but sometimes their markup is more than the shipping. Some smaller U.S. retails appear to stock them, so you might want to shop around.
This Thrush Treatment Protocol Worked for My Fussy Horse
I began by spraying Bella’s hooves as clean as possible with the hose, then giving them a good soak with freshly-mixed White Lightning. White Lightning is a concentrated liquid that you mix with white vinegar, then use to soak the hoof.
Bella wasn’t up for the bucket situation. Even a soaking boot freaked her out. So, I fitted her with Easyboot Glove hoof boots (the kind meant to stay on for riding) that were half a size too large, then used a syringe to squirt the White Lightning solution into the gap at the heel of the boot. That seemed to do the trick. Bella could fuss and move, and her feet remained in the solution.
While Bella stewed in her White Lightning boots, I examined the Artimud and Hoof-Stuff.
Artimud is about what you’d expect: a heavy, greenish-gray putty that contains honey, eucalyptus oil, and minerals. The company claims that the French green clay itself is antibacterial.
Hoof-Stuff is not what I expected at all. In fact, it’s one of the strangest products I’ve ever used. It’s a peculiar, fibrous substance with a texture somewhere between soaked gauze and cotton. The fibers hold a white mixture of honey and minerals. It gets quite stiff in cold conditions but softens up when warm.
After a half-hour soak, I removed Bella’s hoof boots. With her feet as clean and flushed as I could manage, I proceeded to apply the Artimud. It packed nicely into the larger and shallower crevices of her hooves, like along her frogs and into her white line.
Next, I used the Hoof-Stuff for treating deep, narrow crevices like the ones between Bella’s heel bulbs. Pulling those weird fibers of Hoof-Stuff into the right size chunks took a little practice. However, as I used a hoof pick to gently pack it into tight spaces, I found it much more cooperative than a clay would have been because it didn’t try to squirt back out.
Before setting Bella’s hooves down, I fitted them with properly-sized Easyboot Gloves to help them stay clean and packed.
People, that stuff stayed put! I re-treated a few days in a row at first, ditching the hoof boots after day 2. I had to pull the Hoof Stuff fibers out of the crevices each time in order to replace it. That means it was staying exactly where it needed to be to treat that thrush!
I soon graduated Bella to re-treatments every few days, then once a week. Within the month, her feet were looking much better and I shifted to “as needed” mode.
I call that a win for thrush treatment that stays put on a fussy, impatient horse.
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Could you be specific about Gloves?
Are these an equine product or simply human gloves. Thank you.
Sure! They are Easyboot Gloves that I use for hoof protection. You could also use any other type of hoof boot, of course, except the ones that have an opening low on the heel.