Thrush Treatments

Horse Filled Days has brought a good question to my attention and I thought I would share my recipe for thrush treatment with you guys.

First, I don't believe in bleach treatments as it can damage healthy tissue in the frog and actually prolong healing times. The first thing I do when I want to treat thrush in my horses' hooves is wait... wait until the ground they walk on is dry and that you have cleaned the pasture from any manure. I usually keep a manure pile somewhere in the field, horses never play in their own manure for fun!

Then, you can treat your horses. I start by mixing my medicine. All you need, you can buy in any drug store. What I use is: Athletes Foot powder or cream (I like Dr. Scholls) AND Antibiotic cream (I use Polysporin Plus, the orange and red tube, there is a pain killer in there, but any antibacterial ointment will do) and you can dilute with an athletes foot liquid, but I like to keep my paste pretty thick. Mix a lot of product so you don't run out half way through treatment.

Then, get your horse in a clean barn or clean flooring. I like to clean their feet really well, so I use my hoof pick and I finish off with a wire brush or hard brush. Don't press too hard on the frog if you use the wire brush, thrush can make horses' feet a little ouchy and sensitive. After cleaning the feet, try not to let the foot down until you are completely done. I use a hoof knife to remove any loose, hanging or dead pieces of frog. I prefer not to allow any creases or flaps. Cut all the flaps you can. Then, take a good amount of the foot medecine and apply to you horses' frogs. You might want to wear surgeon gloves. Don't skip on the goo and really rub it in. Make sure you get the collateral sulcus on each sides and the central sulcus of the frog. I usually fill the gaps with goo and massage it in. Don't forget the back part of the hoof.

I usually don't wipe anything off, leave it in and repeat treatment as much as needed. I used it on Pearl last year and it worked wonderfully, I didn't need to reapply twice! For bad thrush infections like Peg, I would probably do it for a week or so, until I would notice an improvement.

Thrush is not dangerous, although it can make your horse's feet sensitive. In Peg's case, there is no way that she is uncomfortable, even if her frogs look awful! The treatment is quite inexpensive and very efficient. Before you go out and buy expensive treatments, try this one. I hear that Sugardine is quite effective too and only costs about $0.32 per ounce. Here's the recipe: You mix a providone-iodine product with white table sugar... You can find Providone-iodine in Betadine solutions, scrubs or ointments. Mix with white table sugar (I think you know where to find that!) until you obtain a thin paste, apply on frog after having trimmed loose, dead flaps and voilà! If you are interested in this remedy, try looking for generic providone-iodine, it is much cheaper and essentially the same as Betadine.

My recipes will not stain closes or skin or hair and are completely safe if it ever goes on your skin. Do not use bleach, at least try all of these inexpensive methods before you do.

If you have an interesting (and tested) thrush recipe, you can share it with us in the comments!

Feet, Feet, Feet... I had nightmares! lol

FINALY, I got around to trimming feet! I did Peg and Dandy during the weekend. My back held up, thank goodness and I took it upon myself to at least go for a little ride!

Here are Peg's feet... I am really proud of the results! If you have been following my hoof posts, you know that Peg (and Pearl) has horrible feet. They grow super slow, the frog has no ground contact whatsoever, they are overall long and thrushy and very unbalanced due to bow legs in the front. I will resolve the thrush issue comes Spring, when the manure will be cleared from... well... everywhere... We have also opened up the large 40 acre field so it will help with their hoof health!

So here is the trim I did on my Peggy weggy!

This is her front right foot after the trim... I do not have before pics because I had forgot my camera in the house... so the two front feet are only after... too bad, because we could've really seen the change... still, this looks real good for Peg. The heels need to come down a lot more... like 1 inch, but this was as much as I could go without making her sore... I will check her feet again in a week and correct what I can.

This is Peg's front left foot after the trim... this is the more unbalanced and crappier foot, note trushy frongs on all feet. I have lowered the heels quite a bit on this foot. Note how the sole seems to buldge out on the left hand side... this will eventually resolve itself with good trims... also note the ditch of dirt between the sole and wall at the same spot... this needs to go... there is dirt all around the foot in the White Line, this also needs to go, but I can only remove so much at a time... the whole hight of the hoof is probably like this. By removing wall pressure to the ground, we allow the wall to connect back to the inner tissues of the hoof and grow strong and healthy. Eventually, there will be no more dirt line! This foot is very flat so I need to be careful how much hoof I take off. After this trim, Peg was a bit carefull of how she walked, but she was running in the pasture like a crazy mare the next day!

We now have before and after shots for her back feet. This is the rear right foot. Ok, this doesn't look long at all you'll say, but for Peg, it is. Her walls are weak (note the crack) and tend to split in the white line when left too long. The frog is not bad, but it is obviously shedding it's old layers.

Same foot, rear right foot, after the trim. This hoof looks good!!! well... for Peg it does. The heels have been lowered to the point where the frog will contact the ground and allow for better blood circulation in the lower leg and hoof. The wall is no longer weight baring... this is in attempt to get her white line connected again... see dirt line... Peg is pretty stiff in her back legs which makes it hard to work with, she cannot stand for long periods on her other foot, so I give her constant breaks. When she rides often, this stiffness goes away. She is a bit arthritic in the lower back legs. I'm pretty proud of that foot!

This is the left rear hoof. This hoof is not really bad looking at first glance, besides being a little long. What I first notice is how long the right heel is compared to the left, sure the frog is thrushy, but they have always had bad frogs... I will remedy the problem when Spring comes.

and After! After drastically lowering the right heel, I proceeded to relieve wall pressure on the ground to help the white line connect again. Some people call this White Line disease, but it is not a disease and is caused by too long of a wall prying the walls away from the hoof, just like pulling your finger nail off. She has a lot of dead sole, which will help coushion her sole. I never remove sole, unless I see that it is really bad and I hardly touch the frogs, unless I see pieces that can be cut off. This foot will be rechecked next week and touched up if need be.

If you guys remember correctly, this is what Peg's feet looked like when I got her. This is the front left foot... or, Peg's worst foot... go ahead and compare it with the same hoof above! I have been rehabbing their feet for 8 months now, no real significant change, but the heels are much lower and I think the heel bulbs have spread wider a little bit! :D Frog wasn't thrushy so much in this picture, but it was petrified, no fungus could get in... or out... I have a really good recipe when it comes to thrush and it doesn't include chlorine bleach!

Friday, Finally!

Well, I've made it to Friday... thank goodness! I had a really rough week at work, we are super busy and I get to work overtime... all work, no play! For a chance, I will finish early today! I can't wait!

I am totally exhausted and I know I won't be able to rest very much during the weekend. I have hooves to trim... lots of them! I want to check Peg's front hooves again and make sure she is comfy, then I have to do her back feet, Dandy's front and back and Pearl's front and back... Hoy! I'll take it one step at a time and if I feel my back starting to give, I'll have to stop or I won't be able to move for a week! So I'll start with Peg, have her warm up before I do her back legs... they are a bit stiff, then probably Dandy, she needs to have her hooves touched up and then Pearl, because she is so nice about giving her feet and never causes me any trouble... well... maybe I'm speaking too fast! lol So I am not garantee-ing to do all three of them, but I will sure try!

This time, I'll take pictures! Promise! I'll set up in the barn, where I can pretty much keep all three horses cross-ties and work one by one... although I'll probably send my SO walking with Peg and Pearl to warm their legs up... Pearl doesn't need it, but she'll just cause trouble in the barn if she doesn't see her friend.

Pictures to come next week!

Take care and have a great weekend everyone!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

*sigh*

It's not that I don't want to write, I just can't seem to find enough time in a day to do so! My work is absolutely crazy lately and by the time I get home (usually late), I can't bare to look at a computer and I'm more oriented towards my bed than anything else!

I have FINALLY come to uploading my pictures to my computer and here are some of them... unfortunately, I don't have any hoof pictures, I have done Peg's two front feet on Saturday morning and it took me so long to do them, putting them down, not being satisfied, picking them back up, rasping and rasping and rasping. Her hooves were long, well, for me, that's long! The reason I didn't take pictures is because I made my way all the way to the barn, caught miss Peg, cross-tied her in the barn... then I kicked myself in the butt for forgetting my darn camera in the house! I was too lazy and the wind was too cold to make my way back... plus I would've had to get someone to keep an eye on Miss Peg and I wasn't going to let her back in the field! She's hard enough to catch as it is! So, since I have to check back on her hooves this weekend, I will take some pics then. Her poor hooves are in bad shape, the heels are way too long and her frog does not get ground contact at all... so it basically is petrified... so I have to work on lowering her heels so that the frog can live again. You also know how unbalanced her feet are since she is bow legged... well I tried to fix that too... with ok results.

Dandy is due for a check on her feet this weekend too and I will do Pearl (she's the easiest) too if I have any strenght left at all. Hoof trimming is usually exhausting and I am very particular on how I want them, so I usually take the time it takes to get them perfect.. or nearly! But my back hates me afterwards!

The latest news is that I have moved Dandy back to my SO's farm. Peg and Pearl have been nasty with her at first, but they seem to be getting along better, at least they tolerate her. Nabisco (the cow) is doing fine with the horses and they eat all together without fight or chasing. Dandy did okay for the move, she got in the trailer after only one failed attempt (HOORAY for taking it easy the first time!), it was her second time in the trailer and she was pretty nervous. She was soaked when we got there and she had to stay in the barn for an hour with me and my SO drying her with towels and brushing her. Poor girl also knocked her head on the trailer (on the first attempt to climb in), which left a little bruise and a small spot with no hair on her forehead! My heart was broken! She seemed fine.

I was a bit rushed to move her, because she was pastured with a colt that was not yet guelded and was soon to be a yearling. I do not want Dandy bred at all, so I moved her and my mind is peaceful now. The poor colt was whinnying and screaming when we drove off, but he settled nicely and is now back to being normal... and alone. It will give him a chance to make humans his partners (not that he needs it!) and bond with them.

So here is Dandy and Wakan a week before I moved her... They were enjoying the hot sun and their coats were burning hot! It was somewhat cold with the blowing wind but I don't think they were bothered by it at all!

This is Wakan. He is 9 months old and a true Jet black. His coat does not seem to fade in the sun so much, but it's so long... he's a yak! He's a bit more bum-high and is about 12hh right now at the withers. He is a pure breed Canadien colt and is registered and DNA tested. I think he will make a pretty cute guelding! He is very people friendly and does not bite or kick. He is halter and lead trained, picks up all four feet, gets in a trailer and can wear a blanket no problem! He can also stand tied for quite a while before getting bored. It's hard to see his conformation since he is so black!

This is pretty much what we see all the time, he keeps following everyone around! (sorry for the crappy shadow of me taking the picture but I had to move in order to get this shot, he had is nose pressed to the lense!)

This is Dandy... probably looking at my dad, we had just put in a new bale of hay and she was curious about the twine removal process...

And here, I broke her concentration on the food when I called her... see her ears still focused on the bale... lol! You can also see how her coat has faded... compared to her face... she is still a true black, but her coat tends to fade in the sun and cold wind... just like our hair would I guess! When she sheds this coat out, the new one will be as black as night!

Enjoy and have a great evening... or morning, depending where and when you read this!

Oh! Thank goodness it's Friday!

Sorry for not posting more. My life has been hectic!

First, I think the job interview went well, but I didn't get news from it yet.

Then after the interview, I went horseback riding with my sister and a friend (with her horses). She's my friend that has 8 horses (9th on the way). She just got back from Afghanistan and so I haven't seen her in 6 months!! We took the younger horses (two four y-o and a 6 y-o). Apparently that the trainer had worked with them, but we had some trouble with them, especially mine... Why oh why do I always have to have to most problems!?!??! My horse bucked and kept pushing on the bit and shaking her head, she was spooked, so my conclusion his... he hasn't worked very hard with her. My friend's horse triped and went down, she was fine and was able to roll away on time. The horse panicked but stopped to wait for her to get back on. What a good girl!

My horse was afraid of everything and she is more of the explosive type, so when my friend's horse fell (triped in a snow bank), I was sure that I was the next to hit the snow. I was able to control her and she only panicked in a circle, crow-hopping a little. For the 6 y-o, she got the most work done and she is going like a dream... apparently, my sister wont let us ride her! Which is a bit insulting since I was the first one to back that horse. But she's the mare to my sister's colt (The Colt! lol) so she is a bit attached to her.

Then Thursday was the worst day ever at work, I ran all day and ended up coming home a little late... then we went to the tack store, because I want to try a new bit on Dandy and they were on sale for a third of the usual price! So I jumped to the occasion and grabed one. It is still a shanked bit, but I realized, that after riding other horses, that Dandy responded wonderfully to a shanked bit and was actually VERY soft in them. I barely use any pressure at all, so it is not inhumane, it is not a gag bit, just a simple snaffle with shanks. I also noticed that she was very soft on her sides and the slightest squeeze can get Dandy going... I am obviously used to this way of riding and it wasn't working on the other horses. Of course, Dandy doesn't yet side passes or leg yields, but I plan on teaching her those as the next step. Also, I want to work toroughly on her transitions, now that she is 4, she can handle them.

She is not herd bound and I can stop her anywhere on the trail and she will stop, even if her buddies are running ahead. I like that about her because if there is something I need to fix or pick up or whatever, I can just stop her and know that she will wait patiently and that she wont take off running when I get back on. I've tested her many times when I had other riders take off in a full out gallop and she would remain in a relaxed walk... I could get her up in a trot without her taking off into a gallop, and I could still get her to canter, but when asked to gallop, she doesn't hold back! I've only ran a full out gallop twice on her, in a straight line over about 500 feet of grass and dirt. She listens pretty good, but she will not go her fastest when alone, so she is no good for barrels! I don't ever plan to compete on her, just have fun and keep her interested!

I can't wait to try out her new bit! The link is a stainless steel ball that allows a lot of movement without pinching, I think she will like it. Her Copper mouth bit made her drool so much that is was unsightly... and messy... since her big nose is 90% of the time in my face!

Just to share the info, here is a picture of Pearl in January... I know it was getting a little dark when I took the pic, but just to show you how much progress she made. Don't mind that she is dirty, those stains wont come out without a bath and that is definetly not before Spring. She is nice and round and fat... too fat... they need to get working harder to shape up!

ABOVE: To compare, this was Pearl 3 weeks after we got her, she had put on about 75-100 lbs and keep in mind that she was IN FOAL when this pic was taken! I am meaning to take more pics like the first ones that were taken to show how beautiful she is now!
BELOW: This pic was taken in August of 2009, 3 months after Pearl got home and 2 months after the foal was born (and passed). She does look happier... and cleaner and GORGEOUS! Unfortunatly, that scar on her nose bridge will always be there... a constant reminder of her racing days. That's Peg in the back, Peg has put on some weight also, I will try to get better pictures of her too! They lack a good amount of muscle mass and should be worked more. The problem is that they are very hard to collect, they have been racing strung out for years so their butts don't get much work, we need more collected canter work!
So more new pics coming... I promise, if it's not freezing tommorow and Sunday, I will try to at least trim one horse, but we have ice-fishing plans on Saturday and Valentine's day on Sunday, but I will do what I can in between all of that! I can't stop looking at the last picture of Pearl, I think I will put it on my Desktop at work... it will remind me of warmer and happier days!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

Sorry

I will not be able to post today, I have a job interview this afternoon and work is insane! I am still trying to review what I should know for the interview... I'm relatively sane and calm.

I will be going on a trail ride tonight with a friend, should be nice after a stressful interview!!!

Wish me luck!!!!!

Deadly cold!

Gah! I have to pitty my poor readers... always having to read read read and nothing to look at! Sorry for the bad picture!!! I was breathing and Dandy probably had something to do with the results as well. It was SUPER cold that day. If it wasn't foggy, this picture would be pretty nice!

I have taken about 30 new pictures of Dandy and the colt yesterday, but it was dangerously cold and my camera decided that it was too cold to go on, so she died on me! LOL

I didn't do the horse's feet because the thought of the cold wind burning my face, restless horses and cold metal tools in my hands didn't appeal to me at all! it was -20C all day Sunday and we went snowmobiling Saturday, my sister, my brother, a friend and my SO, we had a blast, but my arms are KILLING me!!! That is another reason why I wasn't really feeling like trimming the hooves. I hadn't been on a snowmobile in about 4 years and we travelled for about 2.5 to 3 hours, so it was quite a shock for my limbs! We never do anything, my SO and I usually work work work all week and all weekend taking care of the farm, the horses and attending their needs. This was a first for us in a long time, especially doing something together!

We have talked about doing a horse packtrip much in the same lines as our snowmobile outing. We have a camp about an hour and a half in the bush. It is pretty secluded from normal life and most city folks would never think that people go so far in the bush just for fun, but I love it and I was practically raised there. So here is our plan: We want to leave from my place and get to the camp in one day. Sure, the horses need to be put in better shape and I need to shoe Peg and Pearl, but I already planned on doing that. We will have about 5 months to get the horses in good shape, our trip would be at the end of summer or beginning of fall, whenenver the flies are dying down. I would completely document the journey. The trail we plan on taking is an old road that we used to take to go up to camp, it has mostly grown back and is now only wide enough for quads to take and there isn't much traffic there at all. It does hug a river and there is much canoers there in the summer and fall, so we wouldn't be completely isolated.

I am not sure how many kilometers there is to get there, but I am pretty sure it could be done in a day on horseback. Plus we would get someone to take our stuff up by truck, so our horses would be spared the most of the load, only carying our food for the day, water, a first aid kit for man and beast and, of course, my camera! It is a pretty scenic route and I would love to go about it on horseback, it is gorgeous! I would obviously take a million pictures to share with you!

This is not an official decision and all will depend on the horse's health and ability at the time we plan to leave. I suspect that it would take us about 8 hrs to get there (quick calculation), including breaks for us and the horses. So it would be totally feasable in one day!

Tell me if you think I'm nuts or if you think this would be the ride of a lifetime, I sure plan on making it a reality. Don't be shy to tell me about your concerns and I can answer your questions. The trail does not contain any mountains, no harsh ground, the footing is mostly black earth and grass and there are creeks and streams on the way for the horses to drink from. I look forward to prepare for this, it is exciting!

Friday hooray!!

Well, another weekend is uppon us. This time, I will do my best to take new pictures of the horses and I have some trimming to do on all horses... I might start tonight, if I don't get home from work too late! I need to trim the Standards so I will get to that, I might take pictures, if I feel like it, I usually rish to finish because they get impatient when tied too long I will quickly nip their feet but I don't know if I will rasp anything, I might keep that for the next day. They do not work right now and are on soft-ish ground most of the time. Their hooves are really long, I haven't trimmed in about 3-4 months. Their hooves grow so SLOW, they are not even to the point of looking awful, they mostly wear on their own. But, Pearl's heels are getting too long for my comfort and Peg's uneven wearing hooves are seriously getting on my nerves! I will try to correct as best I can without causing her too much discomfort.

I also have to re-balance Dandy's hooves, since the last trim, her hooves seem to have improved significantly, I am happy about that! I will check back this weekend and remove all material that is hindering her progress. I might just go for a ride too! I miss riding her, I can't wait for Spring to come, then we can galop accross the fields, wind in our hair! Ok, I might be dreaming here!

I will also try and take pictures of the colt, he will be 9 months old in a few days, he is a sweet heart but does look a bit gangly at this age. I can't wait to see him all grown up! He will be one in May (mid) so there is still a ways to go before he is big and under saddle.

Have a great weekend everyone!

When everything becomes clear

Like Sprinkler Bandit said... I do understand Dandy better, since I have confirmed her blindness. I'm still sad about the news, but I know she can jump, run, race, pack and ride the way she always did. When I bought her 2 years ago... Dandy was two years old, lead like a monster, wasn't broke to ride, had a really hard time getting her feet off the ground for cleaning and trimming without firing a few kicks. She would charge, rear and would basically run you over. I believe she was blind when I bought her, because, thinking back, she was always putting her head sideways when leading and would often step on my heels (I lead from the left), she would constantly turn her head and bump into things (me, a tree, a fence, a door...) which led me to think that she might have a problem with her eyes, or she was just a clumsy two year old.

Since training was really starting to go great, I forgot about the eye, but she would spook at things on her left that wouldn't even phase her on her right!!! So I shrugged it off as being young. After that, she abcessed and her eyes got really cloudy, so I had another excuse for her clumsiness, then, she got that darn Upper respiratory infection and just recently did her eyes clear up enough to actually have a look into them. What I saw then confirmed everything I ever suspected. She can't see from her left side.

I often did the hand waving frantically close to her eye, but she never reacted to any of that unless I slightly touch her... nothing phases her and she has great trust in me, so she knows I wasn't going to actually hit one of her eyes, I can throw anything her way, from the left or right and she doesn't even move, even if it is a big blanket, she never spooks and probably never will.

I have really taken a different approach with Dandy lately, I try and stay as calm as possible around her and she works great with that. I am also trying to sensitize my family that Dandy is blind on the left, I don't want them to spook her or surprise her, or discipline her if she accidentally bumps them with her head. Dandy is a pretty steady horse, but sometimes, she can get playful and crazy in the pasture and I don't want anyone to get kicked... one person having been kicked by Dandy last year (about this time) is enough!!! She did make great progress in that field over the year so I am less worried that she would do something crazy. She is still unpredictable, like many horses.

So much things are bumping in my head that would explain some then-unexplained panic... like a few weeks ago... when she spooked at my uncle's truck when I was trimming her feet, I scolded her pretty bad since she had plowed into my sister and I and knocked a whole bunch of stuff down, but I understand that it must've surprised her when the truck took off.

I rode a horse that was blind in one eye for about 3-4 years now, she is a great mare, a tiny bit nervous, but she is now 12 years old, she runs, jumps and will go anywhere at any speed. Her blindness was caused by an accident at the age of 1 or 2 years old, she had hit her eye on the edge of the water trough. One of the horses that is stabled with that mare is now completely blind (Moon Blindness) and she is getting along pretty good in the pasture. She went from seeing to blind in the span of 6 months, so she was pretty much hobbling around to find her food. She was stalled for about 3 weeks until she learned to manoeuvre around without sight. She's doing good today... Unfortunately, she is bred for a 2010 foal that is due in May, she will never see him.

On a personnal note, I seem to be gaining more energy, I still think about my grandfather every second of every day. He was like a father to me and thaught me a whole lot of things in life, like fishing, gardening and he had great farming tips! He loved horses and never got over how proud he was of me, my sister and my brother. We were planning to have a sleigh ride especially for him this month, since he loved horses and the outdoors so much, but was too sick to enjoy it on his own... unfortunately, he didn't make it until then.

What I have discovered

First, thank you for your compassion towards my grief. My grandfather was a great man and was like a father to me. I will miss him dearly.

Here are a few things that have been boiling in my head for the past week.

I FINALY got to go for a ride with Dandy. I haven't ridden much (at all) since she was on medication to cure that infamous cough. I did hop on her bareback once, but that doesn't count. So I drug my saddle out in the cold, my bridle and brushes... Took Dandy from the pasture... don't worry she's happy about THAT! Brushed her quickly (in winter, I don't like to brush too much because I don't want to remove the protective oil from her coat, since my horses go unblanketed), saddled her up and walked towards the trail I was going to take. The road between the pasture and the trail was a bit icy, so I didn't take any chances to get on her back. We walked as slow as ever and I kept reminding Dandy to take it "easy", since she is so fast paced that you pratically have to run beside her when she walks, this was a change for her.

Felt like 10 minutes later, I finally got on her back and we proceeded down the trail... this far, everything is wonderful, she didn't cough, not even a tiny bit. We walk most of the way, except for the occasionnal trot. She did cough TINY little coughs (2 coughs) about mid ride, but after, she was good as new and even trotted on her own (I know... she doesn't listen ALL the time!). She seemed to be feeling much better and it shows in her personnality in the pasture. She is explosive, she trots all the time, galops, full-out runs, kicks, jumps and broncs... I haven't seen that in a while!!!! She is in good (too good) weight and her nose is nice and dry and her eyes have cleared up. So this is great news!!!

In not so great news, I finally confirmed something about Dandy... She is blind in her left eye. I stronly believe that she was blind from birth. It is very hard to tell that she doesn't see, but after a year of suspecting it, I finally found my answer. Thing is, she is very good at hiding it, but it is all so clear now! She was pretty clumsy on that side, when we first installed the feeder, she kept hitting that side of her head while turning it to look at (or hear) something. She never lead very well from that side, but learned to do a good job of it still! She rides like a dream, but does tend to turn her head right and she is much better at turning right, although she fully trusts me and flexes and turns very well left too. She does choose to turn right most of the time in the pasture, even if it presents a greater effort, she does keep the colt on her left side and tends to overreact if there is anything there, a horse that jumps or barking dogs, she is fine with the spooking and barking on the right side, if she sees that there is nothing there. I now know why she was so awful at lunging left and didn't know where I was and what to do. I now know why she overreacts to dogs barking on her left side but couldn't care less if dogs came running between her legs on the right side. Those are all things that I have noticed over the time I have spent training and caring for her... I thought she was just hard on one side... then I suspected blindness, her eyes were so cloudy when she abcessed in summer and then with her cough that I couldn't look into them and actually see something. Now, I see that her pupil is white. I don't think she even sees shapes or shadows from that side.

It kind of made me sad to find that out, but I had been suspecting it for a while... I even suspected that she was completely blind once, but she proved me wrong and I never doubted that again... until lately, when I started to put all the pieces together. Now it all makes sense. My poor girl! She seems to be living fine with it and seems to always have been. I will ask the vet this Spring (time for shots!) if it is something that will progress to both eyes, if it can be passed to foals, etc. As you know, I plan on breeding Dandy for another horse that I would keep. I'm just not decided if I should do it, when and if the stars align! I am not yet decided and it will depend on a lot of things (money, space, feed, etc.) if these things aren't PERFECT, than there will be no baby... I am also nervous, I don't want to harm or hurt my mare, I don't want a difficult birth or any complications, I am a nervous wreck thinking about these things. I will have the vet check her and tell me if she is in breeding condition.

So, I didn't get around to trimming Dandy's hooves, I wanted to touch up some things, she lost a bit of dead sole and her hooves look better balanced now! I also have to trim the Standards... I am looking into putting shoes on them... probably Poly shoes... has anyone ever tried them??? Any advice?? I'm talking about EponaShoes or Ground Control shoes.

My Apologies

I would like to apologize to my readers. I lost my grand father last week, which is why I didn't post any news for over a week.

I have to get myself together and I am in no mood to write anything right now. I have barely been around the horses, let alone trim their feet. I will give myself until tommorow to rake up my next post... in the meantime... I will catch up on your blogs that I have not had the time to read.

For those of you who would like to know, my grandpa went peacefully in his sleep. He was a very sick man and I always said that I was prepared for his death.... it doesn't work that way... I was prepared for him to suffer and struggle in the hospital before his death. He died at home, my aunt was looking after him and they lived on a lake shore, he was very spoiled. We will miss him dearly but I am relieved that he died the way he did. Now that everything is over, we all feel a big void in our lives. He was prepared to go and told me, shortly before his death, that he was tired of living that way and that he wanted to go. That made the news a bit less harsh for me because I knew that he got what he asked for. It is still very hard, my grandpa was very lucid and always told us stories of earlier times, he could also predict the weather for the year pretty acurately... so according to him, February will be snowy. We will certainly miss him a whole lot.

Please bare with me while I got through this tough time. Thanks for your loyalty!

In case you got confused... my grandpa died on January 23rd... My Great Uncle died 2 weeks prior... it is two deaths in a short time for my family. The great Uncle was on my dad's side and my grandpa was my Mom's father, so both sides were affected. We've had several deaths in our small town, I think it is the 10th or 12th death in a month's time, maybe 5 weeks...