Friday, April 5, 2013

More Feet and Coming Soon...

On Sunday, April 7, two friends and I will travel to the booming metropolis of Benton City, WA to go on a guided trail ride.  Christy and I will take our horses, and Shannon will use a horse belonging to the guide.  I will follow up with pictures and more information once I recover....

Jazzy went lame.  Dead, can't stand, feet hurt, please-feed-me-next-to-the-water lame.  In The Search For A Farrier - Part III, I talked about Jazzy.  Here's the weird thing...she'd been sound for about six weeks. Her lameness came two days after being turned out on pasture with Tally, Chili, and Angel.  There wasn't any grass growing, and the irrigation hadn't come on yet, but still I thought she was trying to founder.  And I treated her as if she was.

In a past blog somewhere, I wrote about Angel foundering and how Silver Lining Herbs Laminae Support saved her.  I try to keep some on hand at all times, not only because Angel is sensitive to grass, but also because Chiquita and her questionable heritage, and Bullwinkle and his weird things going on.  It's better to have and not need, than to need and not have.

Jazzy had not heat in feet, and I couldn't see any rocks embedded in the sole. (The farrier found one AFTER he started nipping...)  Anyway, I fell back to the old standby - if Jazzy is barefoot and lame, but shoes on her.  I REALLY wish I had taken of video of her walking BEFORE we put the shoes on.  You would NOT believe it!    Christy was there and saw it.  I gave her some Banamine at 2:30 pm, loaded her at 3:30 pm (I had to go to the farrier, who was scheduled at Mindy's house.  And thank you Mindy, for letting me go first!)   The farrier had shoes on Jazzy by 5:00 pm, and by 6:00 pm, the mare was running around, totally sound.  Amazing???  No, not really.  Just another one of my DUH moments.

Jazzy, as you may or may not recall, had a pelvis injury.  As a result, she is pasture sound, but not sound for riding or breeding.  She also carries ALL her weight on her front end.  She used to be a lovely grulla with a balanced, typical QH frame, with a big old butt!  We now call her the buttless wonder!  Her hind end just sort of follows along behind her, mainly because it's attached.  So she will always need to be shod in front.  And that is fine.

Piper, who had the same issue with being trimmed too short, recovered nicely, is still barefoot, and is totally sound.  Perhaps her mommy will want to take her back...

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