This is the home of Cheyenne and Classy. Owned by Yvonne and Robert

Hooves become self cleaning and smooth

No hock sores. Less dust and much cleaner horses.

Less sand to eat

This is such a great set up. Round pen in the middle forces the horses to walk around it when they want to go somewhere.

There is nothing worse than thrush. It is often the very beginning of all your horse’s hooves problems.  If your horse is walking around on a wound he will not put his body’s weight on it. If he walks, loading more toe than heel (which is his normal landing area), bones inside the hooves will be loaded incorrectly. Leading to under developed heels, toe wall separation, bone loss, etc It all started with something you could fix with a little bit of work and better horse management. Thrush comes from dirty corrals (Horses do not stay healthy living in their own manure) It also comes from too much sugar in the diet. And lack of movement. Here are some ideas how to treat thrush without harming the new growth.

 

“Pete’s Goo” (50/50 mixed triple antibiotic ointment with athlete’s foot antifungal cream. 

The cream mixture is inserted into a syringe with a thin, flexible plastic tube applicator.  This allows you to insert the ointment exactly where it is needed – deep into the central sulcus (center of the frog) of the hoof.  Use it every single day until there is no longer a crevice to squirt it into.  IT WORKS, but you have to be consistent and committed. You can buy the ingredients yourself at the drug store.  The catheter tip syringes can be bought on line or through your vet or some feed and tack supply stores.

 

 Oxine (chlorine dioxide)

Oxine has been shown to be effective against a staggering number of bacteria, molds, and fungus, yet it is very safe!        It has been used as a disinfectant in everything from dental irrigation to kennel cleaning, water in aviary incubators to hoof soaks.  Just like with the other recommendations, it requires consistency and diligence in use.  I recommend 2-3 soaks a week for a couple of weeks.  With oxine you do not need to trap the vapors such as with White Lightning, which means you can use a regular soaking boot or bucket for the soaks (vs. a sealed boot) if you desire.  To do a soak you would mix 2 ounces of oxine and ½ teaspoon of citric acid together, after 3 minutes add ½ gallon of water.  Soak for 20 minutes.  The mixture needs to make contact with the affected areas of the hoof you wish to treat.  Horses soaked for long periods above the hairline showed some bleaching of the hair at the coronet.  You can also use unactivated oxine (no citric acid) quite effectively, although it is recommended to soak for a longer period of time in that case, more in the range of 45 minutes to an hour.   You can buy oxine and citric acid on Amazon.com