Update on Dandy's health

Well, it has been a week of treatment for Dandy with Cough Free. I evaluated her on Saturday, just going for a bareback ride in a near trail, she did good, we trotted a tiny bit and NO COUGH!!! I was thrilled! She still got her supplement that day anyways. I was planning on stopping them starting today (Monday).

Oh, and yes, I can trot bareback without ending up on the ground!!!! I did get off at the end of the trail when we were coming back because I only tied the lead rope to her halter and the knot didn't hold... LOL, she can do a one rein stop, once she realizes that I don't want her to turn circles like that! So she did stop... I tried to tie the lead back to the halter from her back (my girl is very patient), but I couldn't quite do it, she was fidgity and wanted to go back to the colt, which was screaming just a few hundred feet from us. I still managed to get her to stop and stand to try again, but no deal... Then, I heard my dad coming with the snowmobile, fast enough (he didn't know that I had taken Dandy for a quick ride), so knowing that I only had one "rein" and that it was one of Dandy's first times this year around the noisy snowmobile, I slid down from her and held her lead... turns out, she did great, even if my dad was charging our way... he did slow down and stop to talk to Dandy once he saw us standing there. She was still fidgity and wanted to go back to the colt... so I made her be patient a little more.

After my dad took off with the snowmobile, I made Dandy trot back to the barn on lead. I'm not usually for trotting back to the barn in any way, but I like her to be able to trot on a lead line when I ask. It's a good skill to have if you need to move quick out of an area while on foot. I cannot get on my horse bareback from the ground, even if I could when I was younger, I'm now bigger and much less strong, so I can't quite swing my leg high enough. Dandy is 15.1 hh and I used to get on a 15.3 hh Quarter Horse gelding bareback about 10 years ago... oh well... I guess times change... I wish I had taped that for proof... I still don't know how I did it back then! All I know is I thought it was easy, but no one else could do it. I used to grab mane, stand with my back to the horse's neck, swing my leg over and then just sit up straight. I'm probably scared to hurt the horse and I don't quite swing hard enough, used to work smoothly and very well though.

Anyways, Sunday, I was anxious to go on a longer ride. So I saddled up Dandy and put her bridle on after warming the bit in my hand as much as possible (my hands were frozen so I don't know how that worked out). I climbed on and practiced her skills a bit. Remember, we didn't ride for a long time!! She seemed a little rusted, but pretty good for having had a month and a half off! So we headed off. I found myself rusty as well... the last horse I had ridden was Peg a few weeks ago, lets just say that Dandy and Peg are two very different horses. Dandy and I made it to the hill (there is a hill on our land that takes you down into a mini valley with mountains each sides and a few ponds and creeks down in the middle. I didn't risk taking the hill down, because we would have to climb it up again and I didn't know if Dandy was in shape to do it. So we took another trail that hugs the side of another mountain, we have a choice to go up that mountain or not, so I didn't. By then, Dandy and I had trotted a bit in the packed snow. She was blowing her nose a lot, but nothing major at this point. She seemed pretty normal.

Towards the end of the trail, there is a downhill drop that is about 25 feet high and quite steep. Dandy and I always go down at a walk, but the momentum always sends her in a trot at the bottom (I know, she is just using the energy to go faster...). As soon as we were down the hill, Dandy coughed... three big coughs. I was disapointed and felt that I had pushed her too far. We only did a few little trots of about 10-20 seconds each... Our ride totaled maybe 1.5 km, maybe less. We didn't canter at all and there was no signs of cough before that time. I was very disapointed. I brought her back to the barn and decided that she would keep taking her supplements (Cough Free) for another week. I will give her this week off and give her a little ride maybe Saturday the 26th. It is supposed to be a little warmer, maybe that'll help Dandy.

I can't say that the supplements didn't help. Before giving them, I would only be done saddling up that Dandy would cough, if she didn't cough then, she'd cough as soon as we would step out for our ride... naturally, I wouldn't push Dandy at all. When the cough first came around, I could ride for a good while and she seemed to only cough when she was warmed up. Then her eyes got really blurry and her nose was running and oozing thick white stuff, she would cough in the pasture, at rest, she had fever and was very lethargic. Now, she doesn't cough at all in the pasture, she runs and plays without coughing, her eyes are as clear as ever and her nose is not running anymore. She is much more alert and playful. That's why I wanted to try a ride, she seemed fine. I'm not giving up, she will get the recommended amount of supplement daily for another 5 days.

I have some time off during the Holidays (Starting Thursday the 24th) so I will not be posting much during that time... I will take advantage of the daylight (we don't get much this time of year) to spend time with the horses and do things outside... as well as get a good dose of fresh air to recharge the battery.

If you are all wondering about the colt... here is a more recent picture of him (last week). He is now 6 months old and growing like weeds! He is the sweetest thing ever! Jet black (yes, even more than Dandy!) with only a star and his inner pasterns are white on both hinds.

Here is a side view of him. He is kind of in his ackward stage, he is downhill and clumsy, but he leads great and gives his feet. We are able to trim his feet without a struggle. He will probably grow up to look like his dad...

Here is a picture of his dad. Remember that these are Canadian horses, which are used as much for hauling than saddle... they are considered a draft breed.

Last but not least!

So, here is the last hoof of the bunch, I wish I had taken more pictures of how her hooves look.

This is her back right hoof and it is an infamous white hoof! *Gasp!*

I don't really know what the big deal is about white hooves... ok, some people say they are much softer and white hooves really can't exist without shoes. I think this is a bunch of crap!

I've seen many white hooves in my day and they all have the potential to be as good as a black hoof. I've also seen some white hooves fall apart, just as much as black hooves can. In the end, every hoof has the potential to either fall apart or become as hard as stone. When I bought Dandy, her white hoof was overgrown... and I mean, there was at least 3 inches of extra wall. Her back feet had never been touched and pretty much self-trimmed for two years. The black hind foot had broken in the quarters, the white foot was intact all around, not a chip in sight. The hooves were dry and full of little cracks. As a result, I still rasp into small pockets of sand today and I am convinced that it is that sand that caused the abcess in Dandy's left front foot.

So here is Dandy's only white foot... take note that it is as nice or nicer than any other hoof on that mare.

This is the before shot... a little long overall, but that foot could've gone another 2 weeks without a trim and would've been fine. Excuse the ice in my Dandy's fetlocks, I couldn't remove it. This is a great looking hoof and that frog is one healthy squishy coushion... I love white feet!

Here is the after picture. It's a bit hard to see with all the white pigmentation. I have applyed a good roll, the bars are shorter and the heels have gone back to where they should be. You can see, in the waterline, the little sand "traps" that I have spoke about. These could also be small abcesses that have grown out from the coronet. They are old abcesses and they don't jeopardize the integrity of the hoof. They are not a big concern for me, but I like to know they are there, just for my personnal information. Also, you will note a bit of red around the wall of the hoof. Don't worry, this is not blood, there is no sensitive tissue in that part of the hoof. Those spots are always there when I trim this foot and consist of pigment in the wall of the hoof. Dandy's wall is almost pink in some spots. This hoof is very healthy. To put it in perspective, the outer ridge of the wall on this hoof does not touch the ground when the hoof is weight bearing.

So that is my trimming ordeal... Just to compare... here is Dandy's front left after I did her first trim ever back in May 2008.

And here is the left front foot last Sunday after her last trim (not ever).

Hooves, more hooves!!!

This is more trimming pictures of Dandy. I'll do two feet today... since the other front looks a lot like yesterday's post... but here we go!So... this is Dandy's left front foot before trimming. It is a little long, but it looks good overall. The frog is nice, wide and healthy, no thrush in sight. She had a bout with thrush this summer when the weather was so wet and humid that the horses never got dry land to step on. Quickly cured it with a home recipe and she is back to normal! This is also the foot that abcessed.

The first thing I notice when looking at this picture is a little ridge between the sole and the wall on the right side. There is good concavity in this hoof too, I am thrilled about that! The heels are long and the bars are slightly laid over.

After: I did trim the end of the right bar after the pic was taken. The little ridge is about gone, but this will grow out, since this is a point were the abcess broke through (coronet and white line... yeah it was a big abcess!). Looks pretty good now, everything seems back to normal on the bottom side of the hoof. I apply a good mustang roll (see "Mustang Roll" in links on previous posts) to all hooves, this helps lessen the pressure at the breakover and makes walking and running painless and fun for your horse. Otherwise, Dandy's walls would be about half an inch thick! I will try to take more pictures to see the roll, the concavity, the height of the heels and the white line strategy trim when I fix the right front.

This is Dandy's left back foot before trimming. You can see that this hoof is not really long and in very good shape the only thing to do with this hoof is trim the heels, the bars (a bit over the level of the sole), thin the walls and bring everything to the level of the sole. Dandy has wonderful back hooves that practically maintain themselves. You can see that there is a longer point on the lower left part of her hoof. This is causing her to stand splay footed. After removing this and trimming, Dandy stood pretty square. These hooves are practically self cleaning once they are trimmed right, the pump action of the hoof when weight bearing (expand) and not (shrink back) gets rid of all the dirt.
The back hooves are also always oval in shape as the front feet have a rounder shape, this helps with traction.

So, stupid me forgot to take an after pic of that back foot... all I have is this mid-trim pic...

So, as you can see, I used the nippers to shorten the left heel, I can't use the nippers on the tip of the hoof since it is too hard. I had rasped all of the right side but I didn't apply any roll yet I hadn't rasped the left side yet. Naturally, the left heel is higher since I didn't get the chance to rasp it yet. After the roll, the walls should be left thinner and only the water line (the white line you see) will touch the ground.

I NEVER trim sole from Dandy's feet or any other horse's. The only time I will remove some sole is if there is dead chalky sole in the seat of corn. I believe that the thicker the sole, the better. I do not want to thin it more in any way, shape or form. You cannot carve you horses hooves, you need to work with them to build them. The sole is only about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch thick, if you take away from it, you risk damaging the soft tissue. On top of that, your horse's sole will never build up and be strong and concave, because it will spend 4-6 weeks trying to recover and heal from the trim... after 4-6 weeks, the farrier is back and still trimming sole and the circle starts all over again. I was told never to trim the bars, but Dandy's are laid over, which can cause other problems in the internal structure of the hoof, so I trim them a bit longer than the sole (since bars are made for traction) to try and get them straight... they would only end up breaking and creating more imbalance.

Just for fun... Sunday, when I was trimming, a snow storm started... This is Dandy after all her feet are trimmed, she's standing tied (not to her usual post, because there was too much snow there for trimming hooves) in the snow. She loves snow. I had wiped a bit of it off of her back before taking the pic, but it was nearly filled back when I took the picture! She is standing pretty square (if she wasn't trying to look at what I was doing!) plus, there is something under her left front, either a rock or a ball of ice... Her coat seems to be doing the job, unlike mine... lol

Hoof Trimming

So I have a few pictures about Dandy's feet. I will take more while on Holiday, since I want to correct more stuff on her feet.




I will only post a few pictures at a time to evaluate one by one.




Like I said before, Dandy's feet are super hard and I have a hard time getting the nippers to cut through them... Also, my back causes me a bit of pain if I spend all day trimming hooves. So this time, I took two days to trim Dandy, because I have such a hard time with her rock hard hooves.





So here is our first picture.


It's a bit hard to see with all the snow, but this is Dandy's right front hoof before trimming. I cleaned it out as much as I could before taking the pic. That ice was really stuck there! You can see that the wall is about a half to 3/4 of an inch longer than the sole (maybe you can see... but I'm telling you!) The heels are longer than I like to see, but the frog and sole look super healthy. I have noticed that Dandy's feet have gained a great amount of concavity, which means that the coffin (or pedal) bone sits much higher up in the hoof capsule than it used to. This is great news and means that Dandy is now more resistant to rocky footing, slippery footing, etc. She is also less 'ouchy' on gravel. The bars here are a bit laid over. Laid over bars are useless, so I will trim them short, short enough so there is no more dirt between the bars and the sole.

Here is the same foot after the trim. The bars are much shorter, the heels are back to where they should be and the wall is trimmed to the level of the sole. There is still something that bugs me... and that is the quarter of the hoof on the let (of picture) You see there is like a line of dirt between the sole and the white line... this would need to be assessed. What I would do with something like this is trim the hoof (in that area) right to the edge of the sole. This does not mean removing a large quantity of hoof, but rather removing enough hoof so that the pressure is completely relieved from that area when the hoof is weight bearing... this allows the hoof to reconnect to the laminae inside. After the hoof is tight and connected, a regular maintenance trim will do the trick. This could solve Dandy's problem (unbalanced hooves in the fronts). So, this means that I will be trimming to the edge of the sole next time I have a minute to do it in daylight. I will take more pictures when I do so to show what it looks like.

This picture is how I like to keep Dandy's feet. For me, this is a great looking hoof. I have a great sense of accomplishment when looking at Dandy's hooves today. I haved solved most of the issues with her hooves and what is left is minimal compared to the first trims. Dandy certainly doesn't need supplements to help her hooves grow... I think that getting the blood to flow correctly in the hoof is the key to rock crushing feet!

After trimming Dandy's fronts, I jumped on her bareback to ride on gravel, she didn't put a foot wrong and can trot or canter on gravel. The enclosure she is in is mostly gravel (that's the composition of the land where Dandy is pastured), she will run, buck and play all over it. Transitions from dirt to gravel is flawless and easy for Dandy. I am very proud of the way this turned out. Her left front is the one that abscessed this summer and the line that broke in the coronet is now almost to the ground... which means that in 4 months, her feet nearly renewed themselves completely.

Update!

Ok, so I've gotten some supplement for Dandy, it's called Cough Free. I've read good reviews about it and it's all natural! It is a powder that is to be added to the feed.

I've bought a custom feed that I had mixed at our feed store, it is cracked oats and soy bean meal, I've had no molases added, I don't want too sweet of a mix and Dandy is already crazy over the stuff! On the other hand, the little colt is not so fond of it. I guess it is a taste to develop, I remember the first time I gave Dandy a treat, she spit it right out! Until I kept putting it back in her mouth. Once she got to taste it, she never spit one out again!

I've trimmed Dandy's hooves this weekend. I have to be careful because my back is really sensitive to everything! So I did the fronts on Saturday and the back on Sunday. Her back feet weren't bad, but the front was a bit longer than I like to leave them get. Plus her fronts get unbalanced if I leave them get too long... conformation probably, or a lack of hoof care during critical young years where she was growing. Unfortunately, Dandy never received proper hoof care during the first two years of her life (she didn't get any hoof care for that matter). This caused her hooves to self-trim and become very unbalanced, they still tend to pull to one side, althought I did get them in much better shape than they were.

Her walls are so hard that my regular pair of nippers that I usually use with ease on every horse at my barn can hardly do the trick on Dandy. I swear, I would've had my sister take a video, but she was busy helping me close the nippers to trim the hooves... needless to say that I had to rasp a good part because the nippers just wouldn't cut through her tough hooves. Thank goodness the other horses don't have such hard hooves (although it does have disadvantages).

As a result of her hard hooves, Dandy can walk over any surface and can go long distances on pavement without having her hooves wear down to the point of damaging the sole. Whereas with Peg and Pearl, I really have to be carefull if I take them out on pavement. Those race horses prefer to walk on hard surfaces (or they were just trained that way), so their hooves wear down quickly since the quality isn't so good. However, I am pleased to say that their hooves have improved about 75% since I have taken them under my wing. Considering that Peg is base-narrow in her fronts and that her hooves wear in most unlikely places, the new growth coming from the coronet seems thicker and much healthier since I have allowed the blood to flow in her hooves. Pearl has one club foot but it doesn't seem to bother her at all, I just have to keep an eye and lower the heels when need be. I am also carefull not to trim too short on the Standards since their hooves wear fast... I have to consider wether or not we will ride them, how much and how can this much riding affect their hooves. It worked out pretty well after I had figured it out, but they did become a little sore at first, but we didn't use them when we noticed they were a bit off.

I won't have pictures posted today, because I haven't had a chance to upload them to my computer yet, I've taken before and after pictures of every hoof, I will probably post them tommorow. I had my sister take the pics. Dandy is always super patient with any handling and can stand tied for hours without getting really impatient.

After I trimmed her fronts on Saturday, I decided to hop on Dandy bareback to see if her cough had went down or worsened. I just went around the house and back and about mid-way, she coughed twice, but I am thrilled because they were tiny little coughs almost like she was faking it (but she wasn't, she's not a faker and loves to go for rides). It wasn't a cough where her sides flare up and she didn't seem in any discomfort from coughing. She went on to blow her nose twice after that and was fine, she even proceeded to trot back to the colt (she thinks it's her foal, silly mare). I am surprised that I could handle the trot so well bareback, but she trotted super slow, like a little jog and it was very comfortable... she knows I would've never survived the usual trot so she was really careful.

That made me realize that I really need to work on my bareback skills! I was so unbalanced and I hate it! On the other hand, Dandy was great, she stood there patiently for me to mount and I had only tied the lead rope to her halter. She went great! I was proud of her because we don't often ride bareback, but I do it much more often in winter and will probably try her out again next weekend to see if she still coughs. There is nothing like riding bareback.

The reason that I didn't ride bareback so much is because one of my friends (I helped her train her horses) told me that horses needed routine and structure and that riding bareback didn't prepare the horse for a ride... I thought that was a little far fetched and I remember thinking that I wanted my horse to be able to handle anything without me having to announce it. I just want to be able to jump on my horse and ride whenever I want. I'm not up to the bridleless yet, but I would like to work up to it. I would also like to work on my balance and doing bareback work could help... maybe that is why my friend is so unbalanced in the saddle.

I was giving lessons to my mom when Dandy started to cough really bad... so our lessons are on hold until my girl is back to normal... I have made an agreement that we would have a review course on Dandy before we continue. My mom is a first time rider and was quite nervous around horses. She did ride Dandy before but I want to prepare her and build her confidence up to where she can canter on a horse or take a spook without panicking. She was coming along so good! We were up to trotting, so we will have to take a few lessons to walk and work on the posture again... oh well... I am in no rush to teach and my mom is in no rush either, but she was pretty excited about her lessons! I'm thinking that we will be able to start again in a few weeks. I want to give Dandy a chance to fully recover before we do anything else. Her nose is no longer running as much as it was and her eyes and alertness are back to normal!

I will post tommorow with the pictures... I have before and after of each hoof, so do you want a detailed evaluation of each one or just a general evaluation... a detailed evaluation would give you a better ability to spot little defects in your horse's hooves (or mine! Feel free!).

*********** Picture above: Dandy (right) and Jenny (left). Jenny was a horse we boarded for the summer. She was untrained and a real nightmare to be around.... unfortunately, Dandy and Jenny became the best of friends. We did teach some manners to Jenny while she was staying at our barn... she was the kind to attack anything or anyone.*************

One last ride

Last weekend, we went on what could have been our last ride for the winter. I don't think I will ride the Stndbrds in winter and since Dandy in sick, I will try and keep anything that could irritate her lungs more out of the way.

I've found an herbal treatment for horses with allergies, heaves, stable cough, etc. and I want to try it on Dandy to see if it will alleviate her symptoms. I will also start giving her some feed. I've had a mixture prepared at our local feed store that consists of rolled oats and Linseed meal. I will add the medicine in there to feed to her. I don't think that she can survive on hay alone so I will try to help boost her immune system and health level. In the summer, she will be on pasture grass just like this year. It worked out well for her and she was fat (well not too fat!) and shinny. After that, I will assess her health again and adjust if need be.

I will start her treatment tommorow or Sunday. The product is well rated on the market and seems to work quickly to relieve cough and help keep it that way. I will see for myself in a few days. I also have to trim her hooves and that will probably be on Sunday, weather permitting. I LOVE to trim in winter, you can give them a break and not have to clean the hoof all over again. I will take before and after pics of my trim this time... her hooves are really long, I rarely leave them get this long. Since I am not riding her and adding my weight to the problem, I think she will be fine until I get it done. Dandy's hooves grow really fast. The wall is super healthy and thick which makes for really nice hooves. I will take many pics for you guys... I have to remember the flower setting!!!!

So I'll keep you updated on Dandy's status as she progresses... She seems to be doing better since the cold came in, I will look up more closely and in daylight this weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Snow Storm!!!

Wow, it is REALLY snowing out there! The horses looked fine this morning... I'm thinking they'll bundle up in the shelter, but I'm probably wrong... Dandy LOVES snow, she'll probably spend a good part of the day playing in it, rolling in it and bucking around.

For the old ladies, I KNOW they'll be bundled up in the shelter, they have a good winter coat on and should do just fine in the weather, but they spend days inside when it's nice out, so I'm thinking they should be inside right now.

I don't think we'll be able to stay at work all day, the drive in was painful and the storm had just started!!! I can't imagine driving back... I'm a bit scared. If it's bad, I'll just have to suck it up, keep calm (I've learned to control my emotions to a tee thanks to horses!) and drive carefully and making sure I am aware of every other driver.

For Dandy... what do you think I should do. I haven't been able to reach a vet yet and I want to know if you guys know of anti-inflammatories that I could buy in a tack store or feed store... is banamine good for this? I just want to get the inflammation out of her lungs so they can clear up, it might help her gain control over the situation. I will look up info today... if I can get some work off of my shoulders...

Thanks for all the comments, help and support!