Pharmvet Venice Turpentine with brush 473ml

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Venice turpentine is a thick, sticky resin that has been painted onto horses' soles for well over a century, and it is still on farrier trucks because it does what nothing modern does quite as cheaply: applied to the sole and frog, it toughens and hardens a thin, flat or tender sole over a few weeks of regular use. This bottle comes with a brush in the lid, which matters, because it is far too thick and tacky to pour. Use it on a hoof that has been picked out and brushed clean and is dry. Paint the sole and frog, not the hoof wall, and keep it off the coronet band and the hairline. It is genuinely sticky — expect the horse to pick up shavings and dirt, and expect to get it on your hands and not get it off easily. Working over a hard surface or a mat rather than deep bedding makes life easier. Two important cautions. First, do not seal it over a hoof with thrush, an abscess, a puncture or any active infection — sealing in an anaerobic infection makes it worse, sometimes badly worse. Deal with the infection first. Second, this is a hoof product. Venice turpentine sometimes gets used as a counterirritant on legs, and that is a use with real welfare and competition-rule problems attached to it; do not use it that way. Regular use through a dry season on a horse with thin soles, alongside good farrier work, is where it earns its keep. Keep the lid screwed on tight — it skins over and thickens badly with air, and it thickens further in the cold, so store it somewhere above freezing.