Last summer and into the fall, Freedom had an abscess that lasted and lasted. He was slightly off for some time and then terribly lame. Eventually the vet drained it at his toe, and then it also traveled up through the hoof and out through his coronary band. The remains of that abscess are still […]
I’m a big fan of hoof boots. For several years I kept Freedom barefoot and used hoof boots for hunting or trail rides on rocky terrain. I’m not against shoes, not at all. It’s just that barefoot is easier in many respects. But I’ve yet to find the perfect pair of hoof boots. As a […]
Yesterday Freedom could barely walk. By this morning, he was standing on all four legs, eagerly looking for his breakfast. Gone was the woe-begone look. What a relief! I had some time this afternoon so I went back over to check how the abscess was draining (it still is) and he looks so perky that […]
This morning Freedom looked even worse than he had before. I could not get him to move more than a few steps and he did not want to put any weight on that foot. Time for the vet to visit. What was interesting was how concerned Willow was about Freedom. She stayed very close by […]
Freedom’s mysterious hind end lameness took an accelerated curve to the left when I arrived to find him literally standing on three legs. He will put weight on that hoof/leg when asked to walk, but it’s pretty obvious that it’s painful. It’s pretty horrific to find your horse standing like that. He wasn’t favoring it […]
You might remember that Freedom stepped on his foot a few months back. It happened in the blink of an eye and the wound took forever to heal. Back in January, I reported that we were having issues with proud flesh (Bad Luck Comes in Threes). The good news is that it’s finally better. Two […]
Just when we’d almost dug out from the last storm, we’ve been hit by another. This one came with less fanfare, very few ominous warnings in the media, and no driving ban but it dumped almost as much snow on us and left the roads nearly impassible. Thankfully, I didn’t need to walk to the […]