Sugardine (a simple mixture of sugar and betadine) has two primary uses in professional hoof care:
- drying out and hardening soft hooves
- drawing out or preventing infection after abscesses or severe thrush.
This time-tested treatment offers an effective, economical solution backed by decades of veterinary and farrier success stories.
Substances such as honey, molasses and syrup have been used since ancient times on burns and wounds with high success rates.
Surgery’s earliest known document describing wound care, The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, dates to about 1700 B.C. and describes treating battlefield wounds in Egypt. The most dependable medicine of that time was honey and grease, packed into wounds with muslin.
In the 1980s, scientific studies on various sugars used in wound treatment backed up the folklore and ancient medical theories with rigorous scientific data.
Sugar does four main things to help wounds get better:
- Feeds the good stuff – sugar pulls healing liquid (lymph) into cuts and feeds the new skin trying to grow
- Stops bad germs – germs can’t grow in sugar, so they die off
- Brings in helpers – sugar calls in your horse’s white blood cells (the body’s cleanup crew) and gives them energy to do their job
- Makes a bandage – sugar forms a natural protective cover (layer of protein) over the wound
- Gets rid of smells – sugar also deodorises necrotic wounds, meaning it stops dead tissue from smelling bad
Think of sugar like a really good manager – it feeds the workers (healing cells), kicks out the troublemakers (bacteria), and keeps everything clean and protected while the body fixes itself.
How to make a sugardine mix for hooves.
Sugardine is a simple paste made from granulated white sugar and povidone iodine (Betadine). This mix is non-toxic, effective and simple to make.
It’s important that you use Betadine solution and not Betadine scrub (Betadine scrub is the one that gets very bubbly when you shake it).
Generally, you use a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of sugar-to-Betadine, tweaking the consistency depending on where you need to use it (if there are deep cracks, you want to make it a bit more liquid so it fills the gap). A consistency of wet snow is what you want, so that it can be spread and won’t just run off.
Basic recipe for sugardine:
- 2 or 3 parts granulated white sugar
- 1 part 10% povidone iodine solution (not scrub, not soap — the topical solution)
How to mix up sugardine:
Use a container and something to mix with that you don’t need to use for anything else.
- Put sugar in your container first
- If the sugar is hard as a rock, break it up
- Add the povidone iodine gradually and mix — you want a thick slurry
- Mix until it reaches the consistency of thick honey or peanut butter
- Store in a covered container
The mixture will need stirring now and then but it will never go bad. Sugardine gets very stiff in the cold and sometimes the sugar settles a little.
How to apply sugardine to your horse’s hoof.
Start with a clean hoof, as dry as possible. Use enough sugardine paste to get it into all the grooves and crevices. Put a cover on the sugardyne, to keep it in place, use the same method you would as when wrapping your horse’s hoof with a poultice.
Change the wrap daily! And remember to not overuse the sugardine as it can over-dry healthy tissue. If you don’t see an improvement in 7-14 days, have your vet or farrier look at the hoof.
What can you treat with sugardine?
Sugardine is commonly used on horses to treat thrush, abscesses, laminitis, proud flesh and wounds. It draws out infection, improves drainage and toughens hooves while promoting healthy tissue growth.
If your horse has been standing in mud all spring and their hooves are way too soft, sugardine can harden them up quickly. If your horse has a thin sole, sugardine can be used to harden up the sole so that your horse will be more comfortable walking. Or if your horse, say, stepped on a nail and there’s a hole that hasn’t caused any other soft tissue damage, you can use sugardine to pack the hole and prevent infection.
Apply the sugardine like a poultice wrap:
- Take a chunk of sugardine in your hand and pat it into place (you can use gloves for this part or do it without, in either case wash your hands after treating an infected hoof!)
- Cover with a baby diaper or a pad and vet wrap
- Secure with duct tape
- Change daily (this is crucial — sugar is hydrophilic, meaning it pulls moisture out, and can dry out the healthy tissue too much)
Sugardine gets into all the crevices and eliminates deep-seated thrush that other treatments can’t reach. You can expect to use a sugardine treatment for about 14 days for fixing thrush.
When using sugardine for hoof abscesses, first soak out the abscess and get the infection to drain. Then you can use sugardine to harden the soft hoof and further disinfect it.
Important: Don’t use sugardine too soon on a hoof abscess — if there’s still infection trapped in the hoof, hardening the tissue around it will cause the abscess to flare up again.
Another proven formula for treating thrush is Pete’s Goo.
Pete Ramey, a well-known hoof care expert, developed what’s affectionately called “Pete’s Goo”, another effective DIY treatment that’s particularly good for deep thrush infections.
Pete’s Goo is a 50/50 mix of any generic triple antibiotic ointment and cream for athlete’s foot (for humans), just make sure the athlete’s foot cream you use has 1% Clotrimazole in it. This is important!
Mix the two together in a container and with an implement that you don’t need for anything else. Add a dollop of the paste to a large 60cc syringe, and use the syringe to pipe the mixture straight into the narrow grooves or cracks in the hoof. You can spread it around a bit with your finger.
When to call the vet.
While these DIY remedies are remarkably effective, know when professional help is needed:
- If lameness persists or worsens
- If you see signs of systemic infection
- If the horse shows signs of pain beyond what’s expected
- If you’re dealing with a complicated case involving laminitis or other structural issues
General principles for healing:
- Stimulation matters: the frog needs pressure and release to stay healthy
- Nutrition counts: many persistent thrush cases are related to nutritional imbalances
- Environment matters: keep living areas as dry and clean as possible
- Patience required: deep infections take time to fully resolve
A small container of sugardine can treat four to five hooves and lasts indefinitely. Don’t let the simplicity fool you. Sugardine seems too simple to be effective, but sometimes the best solutions are the simplest ones. These tried and tested remedies work because they address the fundamental needs of healing tissue: they control harmful bacteria, support healthy growth, and do no harm to living tissue.
Whether you’re dealing with chronic thrush, soft hooves from muddy conditions, or the aftermath of an abscess, having these DIY treatments in your arsenal can save you time, money, and worry. Your farrier and vet will likely be impressed with the results – and your horse will thank you for the relief.
