Thrush (11 year infestation) Cured with Frog Support Pads, Copper Sulfate, and Two-Part Silicone Putty (Spyderman)
The owner of the pretty grey Arab told me that she purchased him when he was one and that he had deep sulcus thrush for the past 11 years and was always mildly lame. She kept him in clean quarters, was meticulous about picking out his feet and had been treating them with fungicides daily to kill the thrush his whole life. I convinced my new client to let me apply frog support pads, copper sulfate and two-part silicone putty to once and for all rid this magnificent animal of this chronic infestation that he had all those years. The first photos show how bad his feet were before I started working on him and just after his first set of pads and shoes. The second set of photos show how clean his feet were after a couple of shoeings. And, my client didn't ever even have to pick out his feet during the time he had the pads on let alone apply fungicides daily. The copper sulfate worked 24/7 in keeping thrush from eating his feet out--long enough that the deep pockets of thrush that had eaten up past the hairline grew down to become healthy horny frog after a few months--about 6 in his case because his feet grew quickly. He is now completely free of thrush for the first time in his whole life.
The photos below were taken the same day and show what his feet looked like after his first shoeing with copper sulfate packed into his feet under frog-support pads. Notice how high the two-part silicone putty is jammed up the back of the foot past the hairline.
The photos below were taken about 6 months out after the thrush was killed and pads and copper sulfate were no longer needed. Sorry there are so many photos, but you can really get the grasp just how effective this process is at eradicating thrush when you see the before and after pictures. He is completely cured of the thrush, and it is easy to maintain when the frog sulcus is kept open with a farrier's knife.
The first photo below shows the back of the left front foot after 6 months (compared to the photo above 2nd from top) and how much the thrush receded down out from above the hairline. There is no active infestation of thrush. Imagine, 11 years of enduring the pain of thrush and the owner going through the hassle of applying fungicides all those years with no good results.
