Home Remedies

By Tonya Ouellette

I was recently asked to put a list together that contains various products and home remedies that I have come across over my years of equine care. Please keep in mind, I am NOT a vet, and not every product works the same with every horse. These are some of the things that I have come across through various resources and have used them with my personal horses and seen good results.

Thrush- After cleaning out the hoof applying a combination of Neosporin and an anti-fungal cream used to treat athletes foot. I find this to be more expensive than the “traditional” thrush medications available for purchase; however it seems to be VERY effective. For me, I would much rather get it cleared up right away without causing further damage to the frog.

Rain Rot – When we lived in Florida this had to be one of the most annoying and widespread irritations I have ever had to deal with. You find this skin condition in warm humid climates. In our case hurricane season turned out to be the worst time of year for this with our horses. It starts out as large crust-like scabs or small matted patches of hair. At some points you would see dozens of tiny scabs embedded within the hair that could be scraped off. Under those scabs the skin is usually pink and sometimes contained puss. These areas were sensitive to the touch, and during the healing process large patches of hair come off with these scabs leaving bald spots. We tried EVERYTHING –one of the products that was recommended by several vets was the micotek shampoo. Expensive and a complete waste of time. Some of the horses responded to an initial bath with betadine shampoo if it was caught right away and then switched to a tea-tree oil shampoo to make sure their skin did not become irritated, the tea-tree oil promotes healing and will help with various skin conditions. I would follow up with mixing vetroline in a bucket and applying it with a sponge and leaving that to dry on the coat. This method worked for most of my horses; however I did come across a product called Nu-Stock. This worked on ALL of my horses. It comes in a small jar, and it is a greasy yellow paste. Smear it all over the affected areas and leave it to dry. I would leave this on for three days and reapply then follow up with a tea-tree oil bath and we would find that the rain rot was cleared up without having to go through the blistering and major hair loss. I was able to purchase this from my local feed store back in Florida. If you are unable to find it, this product is available online at http://www.nustock.com/
Arthritic and Joint – I have a 14 year old QH who has arthritis in his back hocks. It was recommended by my vet to put him on adaquine injections. Wow, now this was expensive to start. The loading doses are what get you. The monthly cost to maintain AFTER you get your loading dose can vary depending on how often your horse is getting injected. My vet from Florida mentioned that he uses a “generic” adaquine on his personal horses. I was reluctant, but decided to give that a try, and it was 1/3 of the cost. Acetyl-d-glucosamine is the name of the product, it comes in a 5 and 10% solution. The prescription must be called in by a vet and you can get 10 doses for a little more than the cost of 1 dose of the adaquine. http://www.monumentpharmacy.com is the place where I get it now that I have moved away from my previous vet. 

Comments

[risingrainbow]

I'm going to check out that generic adequan. We're using that stuff on Dandy and anything helping with the cost would be good.

[Georgette Topakas]

Thanks for the website for Monument Pharmacy. I'm just emailed them for some quotes on horse and dog meds. I'll see how their price compares to Horse Warehouse.com

[fodhla]

hi i have a donkey foal with a bad case of rain rot as he means alot to me as he was hand reared (mother had no milk)strangly i thought but any way . as i hope you understand hes a very expensive (jack) donkey i know most people wouldnt bother but i dont want him to die now so i need help ive tried everthing !!!!!!!!!! :D :(

[Georgette Topakas]

Try Zephyr's Garden Anti-Fungal Salve. It's all natural and was rated "Top Product of the Year" in a field trial by CA Riding Magazine. Read the article in Horse Bliss about Rain Rot to learn about the cleaning and care of this fungal infection. The salve, plus some cleansing with a Benzoyl Peroxide soap, should get it under control and cured. www.ZephyrsGarden.com Good luck!