Hoof Boots and Thrush

Hoof boots worn for longer than a few hours create the PERFECT environment for thrush to proliferate in the grooves, frog and white line of hooves. They can get warm, damp and are lacking in oxygen and fresh air in general.

But some horses really need the support of hoof boots longer term when they are transitioning….so how do we combat that?

When we know a horse will be wearing boots for their transition we employ a preventative approach because the last thing we want to add to the equation is thrush. Of course, many horses enter transition with a thrush problem already and this really simple but intensive protocol works really well for us.

The following pictures show a hoof only a couple of weeks into transitioning to track living (so, yes we totally understand these are not beautiful hooves!) We noted fast wear initially so we moved to boots straight away.

This horse has already been wearing these wraps in boots and you can see there is no overt evidence of thrush.

1. Clean the hoof off, use a wire brush to get all loose bits away from the sole, bars and white line.

2 & 3. Then I use my patented ‘back of spoon’ technique 😅 to push the hoof clay into all the grooves and cover the sole (not because I don’t like it but it keeps my hands clean for the rest of the process too).

4. Cover the hoof with a layer of cotton wool dressing, allowing a flap to come up and cover the heels. Provides extra cushioning and stop heels rubbing. It also keeps the clay in place on the sole of the hoof.

5. A small amount of vet wrap NOT going above the coronary band to keep the cotton wool dressing in place. (It doesn’t need to be perfect, it’s being covered and less is more here).

6. Boot is put back over the top and will be fine like this for 2-3 days (unless they get the boot wet).

Worth noting that it’s always a good idea to have two pairs of boots so you can use one pair while the other is cleaned and dries.
If it’s winter or the ground is wet then we check and change every day, if it’s dry out then they are good for a few days (obviously check for rubbing daily).

If you use boots longer term without doing this you will always be fighting a battle against thrush. This makes it so much simpler to take it out of the equation and takes a few minutes per hoof.