Tender foot
I've come to the conclusion that Rose has simply become tender on her front feet. After a couple weeks in her new, rather muddy, paddock environment her rock hard feet have become soft. I'm rather sad about this, as I was SO proud that she'd developed rock crushing soles. Oh well. At lest I have her Cavelo boots, and I'll just start putting those on her to walk her over the gravel drive to the barn from her paddock (It's a bit of a hike). With a little luck, once things dry up, she'll be back to her nice tough feet. The easy thing would be to put front shoes on her. It's something that I will certainly do if I can't make her comfortable otherwise. For now though, she's sound in the arena so I don't think it warrants shoes, just for walking up the driveway. As for her hock wound, it's looking good and the swelling has completely gone away. She keeps herself pretty clean, so with daily TLC she's healing well. In fact, I even longed and rode her tonight. She was stiff at first, but worked out of it.Our only other issue at the moment is that Rose is now getting beat up by her pasture mate, Cody. It's not malicious. Cody is very sweet, but she's also much older than Rose, and likes her space. Rose is just completely clueless and wants to be near her all the time. Apparently Rose's desire to be with Cody is not deterred by pinned ears, biting, or kicking. She just stands there and takes it. She doesn't retaliate, which is nice. I would feel bad if she was aggressive, but at the same time I wish she'd figure out that she needs to move and get out of the other mare's space. Can you say, double barrel kick? Still, Rose won't move. She just stands there.
Oh, Rose, you really don't have to be the "dumb blood"!
Tonight, Rose is all alone in the paddock and Cody is temporarily in another paddock. Tomorrow we are trying a new arrangement, and hopefully we will have a situation that works for everyone and will reduce the potential contributions I may be making to my vet's kid's college fund...
Happy trails and swooshing tails!
Wonder what it's like to have the non-dominant mare. Must be weird...
ReplyDeleteGlad Rose is doing well.
My horses' feet are getting soft from the mud too, just one of those things you have to deal with when they're bare. They'll toughen up quick once it dries out. If it ever dries out...
ReplyDeleteAw, poor girl and her softened feet :(
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long read going from the very beginning of your blog to here, but I've enjoyed every second of it. I've commented on a few posts, but since you don't have comment moderation on you probably haven't seen them.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I mentioned is using salt water on their feet to treat/prevent thrush and for hardening up the soles/frogs. I just put salt in a spray bottle, add water, shake well and spray on the bottoms of Chrome's hooves every time I clean them out. It works fantastic, even when it's muddy out. Also I don't know if you've heard of the website hoofrehab.com it's really fantastic information about keeping your horse barefoot. I'm not affiliated with it, I've just learned a lot and love it. There are articles on just about anything you would want to know about hooves. I think putting shoes on her would be a step in the wrong direction so I'm glad you aren't going there yet. Keep those hoof walls strong! Good luck and I look forward to catching up and following your blog. I've really enjoyed it. :)