Our domestic horses have a lot more ‘fungus/thrush’ than MOST of us are AWARE!!  It can be quite ‘subtle’!  It is often not the generally black or white chalky, stinking ‘stuff’ most of us are familiar with!

The hoof of this youngster (picture on the left) belongs to a gal who took one of Lane’s Seminars.

At first glance the hoof on the left looks like quite a nice hoof with good hoof wall, large frog, concavity, etc. etc. However, compare it to the picture on the right which is a healthy hoof with no fungus/thrush.  Look at how deep the central sulcus of the frog is.  The sulcus is the dip, or depression, in the center of the frog.  See how the sulcus extends through the heels and ends up in a deep crack at the hairline.  It is not supposed to look like this.  The central sulcus should be flat, just a little bit lower than flesh around it.  The cause is a fungal infection of the frog.

She sent this photo to a panel of USA Practitioners and they informed her that “the heel crack between the heel bulbs on this hoof is causing heel pain which in turn is leading to the reported ‘toe first’ landings for your youngster."  This could of course lead to more and more problems if not rectified.

The Solution:  Pete Ramey’s ‘Magic formula’ of a mixture of triple antibiotic Polysporin cream and an Athlete’s Foot Cream – applied (we use a big syringe) at least three times a week until the crack/hole disappears!  These are not very expensive creams and the mixture WORKS quite quickly!  Some folks soak the hoof in a Lysol/Water Mixture as well but we have found simply applying the cream works just fine…..especially in our winter climate where ‘soaking’ is often not possible OR practical.

Hopefully the more people who SEE this will realize that perhaps they too have some ‘fungal’ issues and will then know how to treat them – BEFORE they get worse, cause ‘lameness’ issues etc.!!  Really quite a ‘simple’ solution to keeping your horses feet healthy and sound!!

Hoof with fungus/thrush

Hoof with NO fungus/thrush