My Soapbox for Equestrian Writings
My OTTB, Freedom, had a massive abscess blow out his heel a few weeks ago. While he’s sound on it, the exit hole has left a crack in his heel that extends up to his coronary band! To stabilize the hoof capsule, my farrier put on a bar shoe, but she also recommended packing the […]
Read MoreFreedom, my TB, recently suffered from a bad abscess. A rock worked it’s way under his hoof pad and the abscess came out the heel bulb. It was swollen and painful. I can remember soaking a horse’s foot before Davis Soaking Boots were widely available. Often times the process was more painful than the injury, […]
Read MoreAt the end of June, my Trakehner, Kroni, lost both front shoes and quite a bit of hoof wall. It launched us on a hoof growing experiment and a prolonged stretch of having him barefoot. He lives out 24/7 and it really wasn’t feasible to try to put shoes on him if he was going […]
Read MoreAfter several weeks of gimping through his barefoot state, my Trakehner gelding Kroni, was looking much more comfortable. Then he wasn’t. He went from trotting around his pasture to barely walking. My first thought was a stone bruise, but on further examination, I noticed that he had some slight swelling in his right front ankle. […]
Read MoreResearch in gene therapy to help heal joint injuries in horses may provide breakthroughs that can be applied to humans. According to Dr. Laurie Goodrich, a veterinarian that specializes in equine lameness and surgery at Colorado State University, horses have a very similar joint anatomy, biochemical and molecular makeup as humans, and joint injuries in […]
Read MoreFor the first two weeks that Kroni was barefoot, I was pretty optimistic. His front feet were holding up and while looked ouchy when walking over the gravel driveway, he seemed okay when on grass. I was treating his soles with Durasole and even took him for a hack while wearing hoof boots. Then he […]
Read MoreLast week, during the torrential thunderstorm that swept through the area, one of my horses managed to pull both front shoes. After a spring that was characterized by alternating wet (think standing in mud) and dry, his feet weren’t in great shape. For the last two shoeing cycles, my farrier had patched his feet together […]
Read MoreThe first time my horse had an abscess I thought he’d broken a leg. He was standing in his field holding up his leg, refusing to put any weight on it. I panicked. I called my (then) vet who came out and ran a battery of tests, including x-rays. Then my farrier showed up, snorted, […]
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