Sassy's feet were H-O-T!!!
Friday when BEC was here she had just a touch of warmth in the coronet band of the LF. Today both feet were hot, LF more so, digital pulse in both were pretty darn strong.
I admit to kind of freaking out a little.
I emailed trimmer, hosed her down cleaned her up, dried her off, did a base line test to see if she was willing to stand on one foot. We got 45 seconds on the left, 38 on the right. Weird, right?
Of course Sassy gets agitated with the whole stand on three legs thing anyway, so since they were only a few seconds different, I didn't read too much into it.
Trimmer texted back asked how she was moving.
About the same.
She said hose her but not to worry too much.
I'd already done that so I decided to take some pictures.
Now I'll show the left.
Not really much to see. C will be here in 2 weeks to trim her down and get those angles a little better. One thing I wonder about is the deep crack on the frog on the last pic. I am going to have to go back and see if I can find where and what I read about those.
My pictures aren't great. It's hard to do this stuff by myself! Lol
I find myself wanting to bring her toes back some...but not sure if that is the right thing to do so I;m leaving her along.
I took her out to the arena while she was barefoot and we walked. We did about 25 laps (we both need the exercise) and then I checked her again. The heat was almost completely gone except for the LF coronet band again. Even that was very mild.
I'm thinking this horse needs a lot more exercise than she has been getting.
So that is where we are at right now.
The little wench ripped one of my velcro straps off the left boot. So I'm going to have to get those bell boots after all.
She wasn't thrilled to have the boots back on. How can I tell?
Simple- she refused to lift her feet when it was time to put them back on. I did make sure she was nice and dry before I put them on.
Tomorrow I will repeat the walk in the soft dirt. I might go ahead and pony her off of Killian just so we can go a little further. He could use it as well.
Then it will be time for her to do 12 on and 12 off so I have to have my soft terrain living area worked out. That means my riding will be put on hold yet another day. :(
UPDATE:
It is 5:30 pm and my son just called and said her feet are burning up again. I told him to pull the boots off for now. She has soft places to stand for now and I'll have to deal with this in the morning. Clearly these trail boots just hold in the heat too much and something inside is generating a lot of it.
Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall.
If anyone has any suggestions or knows more about boots than I do....please help me out here!
Thanks.
I find myself wanting to bring her toes back some...but not sure if that is the right thing to do so I;m leaving her along.
I took her out to the arena while she was barefoot and we walked. We did about 25 laps (we both need the exercise) and then I checked her again. The heat was almost completely gone except for the LF coronet band again. Even that was very mild.
I'm thinking this horse needs a lot more exercise than she has been getting.
So that is where we are at right now.
The little wench ripped one of my velcro straps off the left boot. So I'm going to have to get those bell boots after all.
She wasn't thrilled to have the boots back on. How can I tell?
Simple- she refused to lift her feet when it was time to put them back on. I did make sure she was nice and dry before I put them on.
Tomorrow I will repeat the walk in the soft dirt. I might go ahead and pony her off of Killian just so we can go a little further. He could use it as well.
Then it will be time for her to do 12 on and 12 off so I have to have my soft terrain living area worked out. That means my riding will be put on hold yet another day. :(
UPDATE:
It is 5:30 pm and my son just called and said her feet are burning up again. I told him to pull the boots off for now. She has soft places to stand for now and I'll have to deal with this in the morning. Clearly these trail boots just hold in the heat too much and something inside is generating a lot of it.
Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall.
If anyone has any suggestions or knows more about boots than I do....please help me out here!
Thanks.
Big Dee's has the bell boots for around $7, I will be ordering mine tomorrow. They have the kind with Velcro or without that you slip on over the hoof. Since NOBODY has the size I need for pony man, I have to buy horse sizes and alter them. A bit of a pain in the butt, but they fit, they work and they don't break the bank.
ReplyDeleteCould part of the heat issue be the boots not 'breathing'? I'm not sure what they are made of, so I don't know, but it is a thought.
I thought the same thing with the heat as you...hence the cold water and the walking.
DeleteI can see that there is a lot of work to do on these feet, but since I'm not an expert, I won't comment. Have you checked out the FB page I mentioned? It would be interesting to see the feedback you would get if you posted these photos on there with some history on this horse. If your horse doesn't like the boots, you could try diapers and duct tape, usually a size 6 works good,
ReplyDeleteShirley if I was only looking for expert opinions I would not bother posting pics here. I'm finding that the "Professionals" don't always have it right.
DeletePlease tell me what you see.
Does she really need the boots- do they make a noticeable difference in her comfort? If not then leave the boots off, if she really needs them look into the Equine Slipper or Easyboot Rx that would help keep her feet a little cooler. Another explanation for the heat is increased circulation in her hooves after pulling the shoes, blood flow = warmth especially if there's damage inside the capsule.
ReplyDeleteIf I were trimming her I'd concentrate more on the back of the hoof: heels and quarters are both too long and jacking up the coronet band. The bars are also much too long and have grown way out over the sole and around the frog. That's where I'd concentrate my effort until her heels are more comfortable- then I'd look at the toe. Yes, she does have a thrush crack but long bars are probably the culprit behind that too. If you're worried get some No Thrush and dust her frogs twice a day, but it will be a recurring problem until those bars are under control.
Cindy D, I think Smazourek nailed it.
DeleteIf she has really soft ground to stand on you could leave the boots off. Cold hosing and some bute might help cool her feet. Don't force her to exercise if she is really sore. Give her some time to adjust.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot going on in these feet. I can see the temptation to bring the toe back, but the previous farrier rasped off so much hoof wall that there is nothing to bring back right now. He has already severely over thinned the wall. Don't touch them. When the heels begin to move back, the toe will as well.
Even if there are no signs of thrush, I would treat that crack in the back of the foot. It is so deep that it will be painful to her even if there is no infection (which there probably is). I would suggest using a 50/50 mix of "triple antibiotic ointment plus pain" and athlete's foot cream. Mix them together in a syringe (an oral syringe with a long, curved tip is best, but use what you have) and get it all the way into the the bottom of that crack. You could try soaking, but I have not had good results with that route. The soak does not seem to be able to get all the way in there. I bet that crack is an inch deep and very painful.
Regarding that crack, I have battled with these for ages now. It absolutely could be causing a significant amount of her heel pain. I would not be surprised if she flinches with thumb pressure in there, imagine what it must feel like for her to walk on. I am finally getting them to grow out here only after adjusting the nutrition. No amount of trimming or treating helped until I did that. It was just constant crisis management. Since I fixed the mineral problems, they are all growing out on their own. I would strongly suggest you check out a product called California Trace Plus. It is made to help balance the extremely high iron, low copper/zinc in all Southwest hay/feed. You also want to take a look at any of your feed and supplements. Make sure they are not adding even more iron.
The things that I see wrong with these feet are the severe sulcus crack, underrun heels, thin walls that have been rasped all the way through at the toe and contracted heels. I know all this sounds really bad, but the good news is that there is tons of room for improvement. It may sound odd, but I am actually glad to see obvious problems. If her feet looked great and she was still lame, that would not be good. As it is, I think there is a lot of hope here. Your new farrier seems to have a good plan and Sassy has decent frogs, which is a big thing.
My only other suggestion would be to make sure you keep up with the pictures. every time she gets her feet trimmed, take before and afters. Try to take note of how you take them so you can repeat it every time. I have found all the pictures I take of feet to be a tremendously valuable tool and often the only real way to judge progress.
And wear some real shoes yourself. Those bare toes I can see make my belly hurt.:)
When it comes to the technical stuff, I listen to Smazourek.
ReplyDeleteAs far the deep crack, Funder turned me onto spraying the frog with Apple Cider Vinegar...And man does that work good.
Are the boots intended to be left on all the time? I guess I didn't realize that. I just thought the boots and pads were for when you took her out and she wasn't on soft ground. I honestly don't know too much about how all of that stuff works.
Dang computer! Thank you everyone...good stuff suggested by all. I had a longer response but my computer deleted it and I don't have time to rewrite it.
ReplyDeleteno idea girl, but it looks like some good advice above, I too would wonder about leaving the boots on for so long, my feet get hot in rubber boots so...
ReplyDelete