Description Thrush B Gone is an aqueous solution that is an one-application effective thrush killer. Easy to use, Thrush B Gone does not stain, nor does it have a bad odor. Thrush B Gone is a tried and true product having been created and utilized by founder, Joan McBride, for over 40 yrs in the training and show circuits. Thrush B Gone treats thrush upon contact, aids in treating white line disease and also provides relief for horses that exhibit tender feet. Once thrush is cleared, Thrush B Gone can work as a thrush preventative in regular hoof care. Thrush B Gone is a One-Application Wonder, Battling Thrush, White Line Disease and Tenderfootedness. www.thrushbgone.com

1. Hoofcare in the wet
environment.
This has been a year of historic rainfall in central Georgia. Whether your horse’s feet are
just trimmed or shod, if they are overly wet and soft, they are more susceptible to
chipping, cracking, and peeling. The following are things you can do to help maintain
the integrity of your horse’s hoof walls until it dries out.
problem with this, in the southeast, is that
we have dew which keeps the grass and
ground soaked with water from the time
the sun starts to set until somewhere
There are a few things you can do to help around mid morning, depending on
cloud cover, the following day. Night
keep your horse’s feet stay drier. First,
and foremost, you can keep your pastures turn out may help with heat exposure,
but it does not benefit their feet. Keeping
and paddocks mowed down to about 3
inches. The taller your grass is, the more the horse in the stall at night, keeps the
moisture it is going to hold. Not only do feet dry. Turning the horse out midthe blades of grass hold the moisture, but morning after the dew has evaporated
also helps keep the feet dry.
when the sunlight cannot reach the
ground below, the ground stays soft and
wet also. Keeping your turn out areas
The third thing that can be done is to
mowed promotes faster evaporation of
limit the number of baths given to the
the residual water because the sunlight
horse. If you must bathe your horse,
can reach the ground as can the breezes.
please take the time to dry the feet off
afterward. Also, do not put ‘conditioners’
on their feet. If you must put anything
Second, you can modify your turn out
topical on their feet, use a sealer, not a
schedule. Many barns switch to night
turn out during the summer months. The conditioner.
by John Scruggs, CJF
Environmental Controls
Fourth, is fly control. A good, lasting fly
spray seems to be very difficult to find.
Tri-Tec seems to work fairly well this
year. Another, better option, is using fly
predators. https://www.spaldinglabs.com The lower you can keep your
fly population, the less your horse will be
stomping and damaging its feet in effort
to keep flies off.
Lastly, pick your horse’s feet out daily,
and monitor them for thrush. Being an
anaerobic pathogen, thrush thrives
during wet conditions because wet soil
compacts and prevents oxygen exposure
more so than dry soil. After they are
picked out and clean, apply
antimicrobials such as Thrush B Gone
(http://www.thrushbgone.com) as
needed.

2. Farrier Related
Assistance
If the horse is shoeless, keeping the edges
of their feet well rounded will help stave
off the chipping, cracking, and peeling.
If the horse is shod, there are several
options available to decrease the torque
and shear forces on the shoe. First and
foremost in this category is a shoe that is
well shaped and fitted to the white line of
the foot. In addition, reducing torque and
shear on the shoe reduces the same on the
foot. Some options that your farrier may
utilize include shoes that are clipped,
low-profile, plain stamped, glue on, those
that have full, pour-in pads, and/or some
combination thereof.
provider can do an acrylic or urethane
reconstruction, it is usually not necessary
or feasible.
Shoeless or shod, it is important to stay
on a regular schedule, with a time
interval best suited to meet your
individual horse’s hoof growth needs.
If you have damage to the hoof wall, and
the feet are already reasonably short,
trimming more off the bottom of the foot
is not likely to be helpful to the horse.
Dressing more of the foot off at the ends,
and/or excess rounding of the edges of
the feet just to try to blend in the missing
areas is only further weakening the wall
and making the situation worse.
Caveat
Some horses seem more prone to
softening and damage in wet
environments than others.
If your horse’s feet are relatively short
and/or recently trimmed, yet you are still
getting chips, cracks, and peels you will
likely have to get used to the cosmetic
blemishes. Although your hoof care
During times when excess water is on the
ground, and ultimately in the foot, hoof
mass is important. Removing excess hoof
to make the foot have a temporarily
improved cosmetic appearance will only
perpetuate the problem.