The smell of rotting dairy when you’re cleaning your horse’s hooves is the smell no horse owner wants to ingest. It’s no secret that horses’ feet don’t smell like roses, but if you’ve had the displeasure of being smacked in the face with this scent, we recommend taking a closer look. The result could quite possibly be the non-contagious bacterial infection that infects your horse’s hoof known as thrush! This infection is caused by bacteria, fungi, and microbes getting into the frog resulting in a thick, black discharge that smells! Gross, we know. If left untreated, the bacteria will ferment in the frog, and make it deteriorate over time resulting in a painful experience for your horse, and can create soundness issues for them.
If you are thinking “there is no way my horse can have thrush because I take exceptional care of him”, you’re wrong. Regardless of whether you go over your horse with a fine-tooth comb or not, this is something that can be very hard to prevent. Dark, wet conditions are perfect for thrush-causing bacteria to grow. If your horse lives outside this is something very hard to manage. If you live up north you have rain and snow, if you reside in a tropical climate you have the moist humid air to worry about! If your horse has a stall, it may be a little easier to control keeping the bacteria from growing. Removing the manure and wet hay will help to keep the bacteria away. There are many different types of topical ointment you can apply to help prevent thrush from forming, but the daily upkeep can become time-consuming. What if we told you there is a way you can eliminate bacteria growth and prevent things like thrush, seedy toe, and white line disease with copper alloy?
Our Copper Alloy Horseshoes and Copper Alloy Frog Inserts kill 99% of bacteria and more! The inserts work by killing bacteria and fungus on contact and preventing the proliferation of microorganisms in the frogs of your horse’s hoof. The shoes work by creating a galvanic reaction when a standard steel nail is nailed through a copper shoe, copper salts are discharged out onto the sole of the hoof thus resulting in an inhospitable environment for bacteria and fungi to live in. Copper is naturally antibacterial and antifungal and can kill bacteria by direct contact. The antimicrobial effects of copper alloy don’t wear out and it remains effective even after repetitive wet and dry abrasion and re-contamination! Another great benefit of using our Copper Alloy Horseshoes is that they transmit less force and power up through your horse’s limb, decreasing shock to their bones, ligaments, joints, and tendons compared to steel horseshoes. You might be thinking this all sounds great, but dreading to know if they wear out faster than regular shoes. We’re happy to report that they actually last equally as long as regular steel shoes, and can be used for multiple sets!
Keeping your horse thrush-free can feel impossible, but with the help of copper alloy, it’s possible! There are many serious risks involved with your horse having bacteria in their hoof and many great benefits to using copper shoes and inserts. Out with the steel, in the with copper!
