Horse Remedies and 1st Aid

Hoof Home Remedy: Sugardine

Sugardine is economical and easy to make and according to Adrianne Lake of horses-and-ponies.com, where we found this info on making sugardine (or sugardyne), has many uses in the stable. Sugardine is easy to make, economical and effective and can be made ahead and stored in a jar for a very long time, if not years! It is a proven remedy to treat horses with thrush, abscesses, laminitis, proud flesh and wounds; draws out infection, improves drainage and toughens hooves while promoting healthy tissue growth.

Commercial ready-made sugardine mixtures are also available but you can easily make your own batch of sugardine from granulated household sugar and 10% povidone iodine, or betadine. Many farriers and veterinarians have used sugardine in their practices with great success. Unlike some other common remedies, sugardine doesn't dry or damage existing healthy tissue. Adrianne shares the exact recipe for sugardine on her website.

Horse Eye: Swelling & Foreign Body

When you find your horse standing in the paddock, or in its stall not looking very happy and there is some swelling around one eye, the eye lid drooping, and some tears, or viscous drainage from the corner of an eye, don't brush it off as "one of those things that come and go by themselves." Rather, consider yourself lucky that you have caught this condition early because what looks ever so succinct to the novice, could become a serious condition over night. The first thing you want to do is to inspect the eye, around the outside and the inner eye lids and membranes. A healthy eye looks clear and lustrous, the membranes of the lid are smooth and pink. For comparison, check the other (unaffected side). Gently lift the upper eye lid and then pull down the lower; if you have a small flash light, use it.

Check for:

• foreign body (piece of hay, shaving, dust, grass seed, eyelid hair)
• injury (blood, eye ulcer)
• redness (the inner membranes around the eye, under eye lid)
• pain (if the horse flinches when you touch it)
• heat (gently place your hand over the affected eye)
• discharge (tears, yellow puss, whitish thick, or clear thin drainage)

Then call your veterinarian. Your vet might not have to come out but can give you instructions on how to treat this eye condition.

Horse Eye Infection

Horse Eye Infection

Horse Eye Infection

Horse Eye Infection

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Swelling around left eye, drooping eye lid, some mucous drainage.

Eye Infection First Aid and Remedies

When we found our 29 year old mare with a suspicious looking eye, we called the vet and were instructed to start off with a regular dose of Banamine, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and analgesic that is also effective in injuries of the eye. Then, use saline solution eye wash (such as Clear Eye) to rinse the eye, apply a cold compress for 5-6 minutes and then put a small bead of Neo-Poli-Bac (B.N.P.) triple antibiotic opthalmic ointment (antibiotic ointment containing bacitracin, neomycin and polymyxin with NO hydrocortisone), often also used for dogs, into the affected eye's lower lid twice a day.

This B.N.P. combination antibiotic ophthalmic preparation is used to treat bacterial conjunctivitis, corneal ulcers and wounds, some forms of keratitis, blepharitis and eyelid wounds and dacryocystitis. This regimen should begin within the first 48 hours of the initial injury, or swelling. Don't administer Banamine more than twice without consulting with your equine veterinarian. A small tube of B.N.P. can cost as much as $40 to $60 dollars, but we found the Butler B.N.P. eye ointment for just $12.99 at VetApprovedRx.com (marked down from $14.99 to $12.99).

Should there be even a small, nearly invisible scratch on the eye's lens an opportunistic infection can occur that leads to an ulcer. You will notice a small lesion on the eye lens that I would describe as an opaque, milky white spot, sometimes looks like a whitish smear, or film, which is a sign that bacteria, or a fungus, are growing.

NOTE: In horses, tumors of the eye, skin and genital system are most common types of cancer seen. Cancer Eye is the common phrase used when a horse has a tumor or cancer in the eye, eyelid or conjunctiva. Unfortunately, these types of cancer are usually squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) which are malignant. Occasionally, this type of cancer can be a sarcoid which is not malignant.

Monistat® for Your Horse Eye

Fungal pathogens or budding yeasts that infect the horse's eye are usually opportunistic, meaning that initially there might have been a small scratch, or superficial lesion or injury on the horse's eye and a fungus, often part of the normal microflora of a horse's eye, now has the opportunity to settle in and cause an infection. Frequent topical application of antibiotic and antifungal ointment directly into the affected eye is typically prescribed.

Eye infections MUST be properly treated with prescribed medications no matter how small they might seem. Simple corneal ulcers are the easiest to treat and if they are caught early, they respond very well to treatment with no long term effects to your horse’s vision. The classes of antifungal agents most commonly used in the treatment of equine keratomycoses are the azoles (miconazole, itraconazole, and fluconazole) and the polyene agent natamycin. Our vet recommended adding a small bead of Monistat 7 vaginal cream to the eye treatment regimen twice a day, since the infection persisted and did NOT go away with B.N.P. eye ointment alone. Adding the antifungal vaginal cream cleared it right up.

Barb Crabbe discusseseye injuries : How to recognize them, how to prevent them, and how to treat them if your horse is injured out on the trail.