Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Magic Hoof Gunk

I've been using a great new home made hoof solution to keep on top of Lutine's issues with thrushy frogs and it seems to be working a treat. First of all, I gave her hooves a couple of blasts with White Lightning Hoof Gel but then the weather turned wet again meaning I couldn't use the Gel anymore. So since then I've been spraying her soles and frogs with my home made solution once a day when I pick out her feet and her frogs are now looking better than I've ever seen them.

The recipe is 1 parts cider vinegar to 2 parts tap water and then a big glug each of Hypericum tincture and Calendula tincture. Enough to put quite a colour into the ACV solution. I have the solution in an old coat shine spray pump and give the hooves a good scrub and spray with this at least once a day. The other day I went to pick out her feet after missing a few days and she had some thrush creeping back in there. One pick out and spray and the next day it was totally gone.

The effect on her frogs has been great. Not only has the thrush gone away but the frogs are growing back at a rate of knots and the central sulci on all four feet are much broader and shallower. Also, finally her bars are starting to straighten out and quit overlaying the sole, which we've always battled with previously. I will post photos of the new frogs and bars when I get the chance.

BTW, we're on heavy clay ground here. I say this for info as I'm quite convinced that the bugs depend on the soil type and therefore different solutions seem to kill the bugs better in different geographical areas.

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3 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

I had a similar spray -- except I used tea tree essential oil and eucalyptus essential oil instead of those funny things you mention.

I have been following a policy of benign neglect for the past few months as I was tired of the scrubbing etc. It seems to have worked, but it can have been the dry weather too. Nothing gets his cracks opening faster than a prolonged spell of rain.

11:14 AM  
Blogger Lulu's friend said...

Ah, that;s interesting Stephanie as Tea Tree oil causes cell proliferation too, just like the Calendula tincture. So I bet it was quite similar.

I also agree that benign neglect can be a good thing too, especially once you get them past a certain point of recovery. I'm really hoping I don't have to scrub her feet with this stuff every day for the rest of her life.

1:43 PM  
Blogger Neets Human said...

I've used the cider vinegar and tea tree combination too.. seems to do the job.. another thing I like is very very salty water..
I use the salty water roughly on a weekly basis.. more as a preventative.. depends a bit on what the weather does.. as at the moment it's been (note past tense here) very dry in Easter Ross..

Sue

10:31 AM  

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