If you've been in the equine industry for awhile you probably have heard the saying "No Hoof No Horse". As more research is being conducted on the biomechanics of the hoof, and the affects of the balance of the hoof on the horse's body it is being found that this saying has more truth than we probably thought.
When I first started working with horses I remember it was typical to pick the horses hooves out and that smell most of us know as thursh wifted through the air. You typically treated it quickly with a thrush treatment and went about your day. It wasn't concerning it was just considered normal.
So why are we just now realizing that thrush isn't something that we should just shrug off as something that's normal. I think a lot of it is more and more poeple are trying to transition horses out of shoes into barefoot and it just isn't working. Horses were tender even when having adequete sole depth, but something was stopping them from being fully sound. People would take that as the horse can't be sound with out shoes. In reality it actually was thrush that had inbedded itself into the frog's center sulcus that had actaully worked it's way completely into the sensitive part of the frog. Not only has the thrush caused pain in the frog but has caused a compromised gait that has now cause the frog to atrophy.
So what happens now if the thrush has reached that sensitive frog? We take strides to get it taken care of and make sure measurements have been put in place to keep it from happening again. There are many different products out there that say it's effective in treating thrush, but not all products actually follow through. Some products I have found to be successful at treating thrush can be found in the recommendations page of my website. What I have found the most effective of getting thrush under control and the horse sound is balancing the minerals in their diet especially copper and zinc.
Why is zinc so important in getting thrush under control? Zinc plays a vital role in the builidng of bone and especially hoof growth in horses. Zinc also plays a vital role as being a pre-cursor to the building of antioxident enzymes(Darani, 2021).These antioxident enzymes are what help fight infections, illness, and also help transfer free-radicals in the body to a compound that won't continue to do damage to the body. Not only is zinc a precurser to the antioxident enzymes but immune cells also take in more zinc when fighting illnesses and infections. We all know that keratin plays a huge part in the health of the hoof, but did you know that zinc actually is the pre-cursor to keratin being developed? If you didn't know keratin is actually what strengthens the hoof and can help minimize hoof separation(Darani, 2021). So if the horse's body is deficient in zinc that means keratin isn't being produced to it's full potential which means the foot can be weakened.
If zinc is so important what's coppers purpose. I like to describe copper as a mediator. Here in the midwest (Ohio) our soil and water which is what is used to grow hay, water our horses, and offer pasture to our horses contains higher levels of iron. Iron as I like to describe it can be a big bully and take all the spots that zinc should be taking. This normally cuases a zinc defiancy to occur in the body. So by adding copper and zinc, copper comes in and acts like a referee that tells iron to let zinc work. Copper does this by allowing the body to to metabolism iron allowing it to leave the horses system (Darani, 2021). So if copper isn't balanced in the diet with zinc the effectiveness of zinc being used in the body isn't there.
(Belgian foot on first trim visit, same horse and foot after 7 months later after balancing the minerals in her diet)
Darani, D. P. (2021, May 31). 10 research-backed benefits of zinc for horses: Mad barn. Mad Barn USA | Mad Barn - Crazy Good Nutrition. Supplements, minerals, vitamins and nutrition for horses. Visit Mad Barn to buy equine dietary products. Retrieved June 7, 2022, from https://madbarn.com/zinc-benefits-for-horses/
Darani, D. P. (2021, May 31). 10 science-backed benefits of copper for horses: Mad barn. Mad Barn USA | Mad Barn - Crazy Good Nutrition. Supplements, minerals, vitamins and nutrition for horses. Visit Mad Barn to buy equine dietary products. Retrieved June 7, 2022, from https://madbarn.com/copper-benefits-for-horses/
de Moffarts, B., Kirschvink, N., Art, T., Pincemail, J., & Lekeux, P. (2005). Effect of oral antioxidant supplementation on blood antioxidant status in trained thoroughbred horses. The Veterinary Journal, 169(1), 65–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2003.12.012
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