DIY Thrush Balm Take 1

 A while ago I had joined Pete Ramey's (now altered) facebook group when I was trying to figure out what was going on with Gwyn's feet. He had his Pete's Goo recipe for thrush that I tried at the time (desitin and lotrimin) that really worked. He'd also come up with a few other recipes for different thrushbusters that I was interested in trying. 

Really, I want to try and make something similar to artimud that can be packed into the hoof and stick well. To that end, I bought some supplies and began to think of how I wanted to start formulating stuff. And in good scientist fashion, I documented for both repeatability and for adjusting things appropriately.

My initial thought was to create almost a bag balm product so I looked up DIY lip balm type recipes and proceeded from there.

Some jojoba oil and tea tree essential oil from Mountain Rose Herbs.

Beeswax pastilles also from MRH for the matrix

Zinc oxide for thrush and bacteria killing properties

Copper sulfate powder also for bacterial and fungicidal properties

Shea butter, also from MRH.  

I chose Mountain Rose Herbs because I trust them as a supplier for cosmetics. So if it's safe for a human face, it'll be safe for a hoof, imo.

Dedicated metal bowl and utensil so I'm not messing my food ones up.

And set up as a double boiler on the stove.

1 oz of beeswax pellets

1 oz of shea butter in the recommended 1:1 ratio of beeswax to shea butter

1 teaspoon/5ml/0.25 oz of copper sulfate (this was a guess)

1 teaspoon/5ml/.35oz of zinc oxide

I melted the beeswax and shea butter in the double boiler and added the copper sulfate and zinc oxide along with about 20 drops of tea tree oil and I think a tablespoon of jojoba oil.  The copper sulfate did not want to dissolve into this mixture but the zinc oxide homogenized fairly well. As a result, I don't feel like the copper is even distributed in what was poured and solidified.

I poured it into a small glass pyrex container with locking lid that I also bought specifically to hold this. 

When I tried it out at the barn, it was a cold day and I had to dig out the balm with a hoof pick and it didn't really mold into the hoof the way I wanted it to. I need it to be more malleable in colder temperatures, which means, I think that I need to change the ratio of shea butter to beeswax or add more jojoba oil. 

I also want to see if just finding some bentonite clay and making it with that will get me the consistency I'm looking for. But also, I'm trying to hold off judgement for the summer to see how ambient warmth changes how it's able to be applied.