My Left Foot

                                                               

Blue and Nikita...I know he's a little chunky but we're working on slimming down

Summer is officially over, although you certainly can’t tell by the weather we’ve been having.  It feels like August with high 80’s and some 90 degree days with the added bonus of high humidity. I’m waiting for autumn to kick in with some cooler temps.  In the meantime I’ll update on what’s been happening around the farm this summer.

Blue hasn’t been doing as well as I would like.  It all started when the farrier couldn’t make it for an extended period of time to shoe him. His toes got longer than they normally would. He was lame and favoring his left front because he had developed a painful abscess so we pulled his front shoes.  When the farrier did come we suggested he leave the shoes off all around and just trim him.  We put him in boots to help cushion his foot.  Eventually, the abscess blew out but was quickly followed by another abscess in the same spot.  The hoof cracked and broke off in pieces from the abscesses so there was no way his hoof could hold a shoe anyway. 

This is Blue's hoof initially

"How about a treat, my foot hurts ya know"

Some improvement

For a while he was on limited turnout wearing boots.  He got to wander around up by the barn, with access to his stall with hay and a fan plus a small paddock to graze and the lawn around the barn to explore but he was missing his friends. 

" Hey guys I'm over here"

When his foot seemed to not be bothering him too much we let him reunite with his buddies wearing his boots, which he promptly lost.  Luckily, we had another set so he wore those for a while until he lost them too.  I did search for them but couldn’t find them. Every time I spotted something black lying in the grass I’d drive over to it only to have my hopes dashed discovering it was a pile of manure.  So somewhere on forty acres are two sets of boots waiting to be found!  Blue loved his boots, some mornings he would refuse to leave his stall until his boots were put on. You’d think he would have taken better care of them. 

Blue showing off his new "kicks"

I had to buy another pair and this pair stayed on for the duration.  He’s not wearing boots and he’s not lame anymore, his hoof and sole are hardening and growing although he’s still walking slowly.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before but Blue is sort of a big woosie when it comes to injuries.

This is where we are as of now, so much better but a ways to go yet

Needless to say I haven’t been able to ride all summer and that’s okay because I don’t get along with heat and humidity very well.  Blue should be able to be ridden for a limited time at the walk when he’s ready. So fingers crossed we will be able to enjoy some cool autumn weather in the saddle soon.

Quote for Today
Give a horse what he needs and he will give you his heart in return.

Nothing’s Ever Easy

"Can someone please rescue me, I'm tired of babysitting this big lug..."(sigh)

It’s been nothing short of hectic around here for the past week.  My daughter who is the main medical caretaker of our herd has been on vacation and will be back next week.  So, of course, the first day after she leaves, her horse Nate, comes in from turnout and can barely walk.  He wasn’t just lame he was crippled and could barely hobble to the barn. Great.  If anything happens to this horse I’m responsible. 

I did what I could for him but he wasn’t any better in the morning so a call to the vet was in order. The vet diagnosed an abscess in his left front.  She pulled his shoe and we set up a regimen of soaking his hoof in Betadine, Epsom Salt and some warm water, followed by Animalintex in a Davis boot. Nate is impossible to work with: each time I put his hoof in the bucket to soak he’d pull it out and stomp the bucket so it spilled all over the aisle. Okay, so being the genius I am I figured out quickly this wasn’t going to work.  For my next trick I made up the medicinal concoction plus cotton and put it in a heavy plastic bag and secured it to his leg with elastic tape. That worked well until I put him in his stall and he realized the herd had left for greener pastures. He started banging the walls and rearing and broke it open. Yes, he is quite the charmer.  I might add that getting that pie plate of a hoof in the bag was an intricate piece of work also. The same goes for getting him into his Davis boot. He has a tendency to keep stomping his foot down each time I tried to pick it up to put it in the boot.  Eventually, we both got with the routine or I got lucky and he started to cooperate a bit more.

In fairness to Nate, I’ve never really worked with this horse except to bring him in or out of turnout and feed him, he’s my daughter’s baby.  Nate is a 17-3 hand Dutch Warmblood who has been plagued with breathing issues and other medical mishaps his whole life. It’s fair to say he’s been somewhat spoiled.  Although I shouldn’t say this, I’ll say it anyway; Nate isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer so to speak.  To give you an idea of his mental awareness: everything we do regarding construction or improvements around the farm starts with the question “how could Nate hurt himself with this?”

I turned him out with Dusty the next day thinking all would be fine. It wasn’t. Nate is also a colossal weenie so when the rest of the herd left for the back pastures he had a major meltdown and thought that rearing, bucking and galloping around the small paddock was a brilliant idea.  Dusty followed along in his tirade up and down the hill at a full gallop. I wasn’t thrilled to see her racing around after her recent injury either.  Oh, and that was the end of the boot for that day.

We’ve been treating this abscess since last Friday and today is Thursday.  It’s been a fun week to say the least. The abscess finally drained or I thought it did and the farrier reattached his shoe yesterday.  He and Dusty got to join the herd much to their delight and the herd refused to come in last night.  Which I’m sure was Dusty’s idea. Today as I rode past I saw him pointing his toe and not putting weight on the hoof so when I got back from the store I hiked out to the pasture.  I checked him out and took him for a walk. He was absolutely fine and trotted off beautifully. I swear they are going to kill me with stress.

The only good thing that happened this week is that I managed to ride Blue and worked on some things with him.  I can’t wait until my daughter gets back next week. Hopefully, no one else will require a vet call.

Until next time

Quote for Today

If a horse stands on you it’s because you’re in the way.