I tend to procrastinate. A bit.
It sometimes carries over to my hoof trimming duties. In a perfect world, I trim Mimi every 2-3 weeks. That way, I don't have to ever take off too much at one time.
But sometimes, it gets pushed out to four weeks.
And then I have to deal with this:
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| Ack...toes. And Pony Heels. Front hoof. |
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| On the surface, they're not too bad. Underneath? Ew. Winter Feet. |
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| Hind hooves. More heels. Not seen is the side flare. |
Ever seen the movie, "The Neverending Story"? Great movie if you like fairy tales. Which I do. But I digress. The point of that is that keeping up on Mimi's heels is my own personal Neverending Story. Just when I get it under control, it starts all over again...
And she still has a weird growth line on the right side, just in front of her heel area, where she blew out that abscess. Y'know, a year and half ago.
Deep frog clefts, made all the worse because it's really difficult to get in there and trim down her bars, even with my handy little bonsai trimmers. Part of me has become compulsive about wanting to get all that crap outta there, since I don't want a repeat of the abscess incident, which I suspect was caused by something getting up under those bars.
White line. We have separation. Part of that is coming from the fact that she lives in a stall for part of the day and enjoys walking through her pee spots.
Bit I think a lot of what I'm seeing is the post-vaccine detritus that comes out in their hooves. Shots given in late October...about three months later...yup, that's probably the worst of the post-vaccine natural reaction finally growing out. But that's worthy of an entirely separate blog post and why I reluctantly given only the very necessary vaccines these days.
But after I got off my procrastinating duff, we got this:
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| Fronts. Toes seriously dubbed back. Heels lowered. A bit too low, since she was a little ouchy. Impatience + procrastination don't make good trimming buddies. |
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| Right front. White line tighter. Little less stuff crammed in there. Ignore the weird chunks out of her frog. My bonsai nippers are like mini half-rounds and nip out little half-moon chunks. |
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| Hinds. Not as dramatic, unless you look from the front, where it is Flare-B-Gone. |
"The Princess and the Pea", anyone???
Yeah....that's why I broke down and actually started to pay a trimmer to come out every 5 weeks. I enjoy it, I can do it, but it just doesn't happen.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about the vaccine stuff and hope that you post about it. I stopped giving strangles years ago, but still give flu and west nile, and rabies. I've been a bit lax in the last year because we don't go anywhere, but I'm due and I'm debating what exactly to give her. I'm thinking westnile and rabies (because those are fatal and prominent in my area) and waiting on the flu.
I will do a separate post about it, just need to gather my thoughts and a bit more info on it. I'm down to pretty much giving flu and westnile. Was also doing rabies when we were traveling and competing, but since we're in a very residential, not-that-rural area, and rabies danger is very low, and I'm really not going anywhere, I choose not to give that one at this point, especially because Mimi has had reactions to it in the past.
DeleteAshley - my vet recommends giving a dose of banamine when I vaccinate. I also like to start giving probiotics a day or two ahead of time. Vet says that vaccines may cause a 'fever', which is likely what happens to cause the stress rings in their feet. Last year both of my horses had a 'fever' reaction to their rabies vaccinations that the vet gave. That's why it came up - and why from now on, we will give a dose or at least a 5 cc dose of banamine when vaccinating (plus the pro-bi). I only did the rabies because we were going on the XP and would be riding horses through counties that had already had positive rabies in horses. I spread vaccines out, and never do them with anything else, like worming, teeth, etc. also - would suggest doing some opening grooves/cuts in the heel area to try and widen up the heel area. I can send you photos of Bo's hooves showing the difference it made doing that with him.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestions, Karen. COuld you please send the photos? Sounds like something that would definitely be worth trying.
DeleteI also need to trim my horse's feet! We dont have a barn so everything is done outside. I usually try to wait for a warm winter day! Lol.
ReplyDeleteGreat job trimming! The shape look real nice. I think you could definitely shave down the sole of the foot a bit more. I was always told to cut back to the 'shiny sole' which is a more waxy, shiny material that is under all the other flaky and cracked stuff.(here is an article that can explain that better: http://successful-natural-horsecare.com/the-sole-of-the-hoof/) That will help open up the corners of the heels so that dirt doesnt get stuck up in there. Shaving the sole down will also reduce the chances of your horse getting thrush which can lead to an abscess.
Would love to read a future post on vaccinations!
I'm the opposite...worst trimming time for me is the middle of the summer, covered area or not!
DeleteI'm always hesitant to mess with the sole too much...I was trained to mostly leave it alone and let it flake/exfoliate on its own. Unfortunately, I don't have the kind of super-abrasive natural footer that'll scrub the soles out, so I have to find that line between scraping out the junk stuff in there without going too deep.
Yes, the hot sun can be just as bad a a cold winter day! Lol
DeleteFor years mom and I did the same- we left the sole alone. And it does seem to eventually flake away on its own. Now I use a knife to scrape away the flaky part of the sole. (http://www.hallknifeandforge.com/) When I scrape, I start close to the frog and push out towards the edge of the hoof.
Love those knives! I've got one of their fabulous loop knives, but need to sharpen it...getting too dull to be very effective.
DeleteHi, I found the vaccination comments interesting. I'm in Australia, so no rabies, west nile or flu. Just wondering, cos no-one mentioned, do any of you do tetanus? I was told to do tetanus every year even if I didn't do strangles.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention it, but yes, tetanus is one of the few I still give. Given the amount of metal and potential encounters with sharp, pointy objects horses seem to get into, it's one I think is worth the vaccine side-effects for the sake of prevention.
DeleteOk, cool! :)
DeleteIt does make me feel very glad to be here when I read about rabies, west nile and coggins. And I'm hoping flu stays away for a long time! (the outbreak was bad)
Thanks!