Not a Morning Person

Did I mention I am  NOT a morning person? Saying that I would love to wake up extra early to go to the barn and duct tape frog pads to my horse's hooves is one thing, doing it is completely another!

I did find a really soft 3/4" thick rubber foam tubing at Home Depot that works great for cutting pieces and using velcro to place inside the boots. It feels really nice and squishy; I placed it under his foot to check his opinion and he put all his weight on it and began licking and chewing - approved! The tubing comes in a 6ft section for $6.25. I figure I can get 14 pads cut from it, or less if I also use it for frog pads. He was walking correctly and heel first landings going in a straight line, but only the outside foot on a circle would land heel first while the inside one would land toe or flat first. Not sure if that's normal for a horse going around in a circle the length of a standard lead rope or not.

Today I picked out and scrubbed his feet with dish soap. I noticed some thrush in his back left hoof yesterday, so I decided all of his feet could benefit from a good cleaning and scrubbing. I use CutHeal Hoof Heal once or twice a week. It is not meant for thrush per say, but there are a lot of reviews out there that say it does manage it. I also have a travel bottle of mouthwash that I will pour over his hooves - it kills bacteria in our mouths and doesn't kill us, so it would be nice to think it does the same on his feet! I don't do the harsh chemicals that kill the bacteria and also the healthy tissue. The more natural the better!

Verdict on these Home Depot hoof pads and frog pads: Shorty tells me he feels good by tearing off galloping and bucking as soon as I let him go in the pasture. This is a good thing! This has never been a habit of his so I know he feels good. He looked pretty good cantering and running, but dropping down to a trot? LAME! Ugh! Down on the left front, which at least he is consistent! That means we're still looking at pain or just plain compensation happening on the right front/left hind diagonal. I am hoping it is something that chiro and accupuncture can get back on track. Shorty will have his next appointment in March coming up real soon.

It is the weekend now, and I can totally do all of this pad and velcro cutting on the weekend! During the week? Eh...snooze, snooze...Zzz..I just can't help it! The days of waking early on Christmas Day are gone for me.

Solution? Shorty will be getting his very own pair of SoftRide boots! Still easy to take on/off for me and the barn folks who care for him, and I will know his feet are getting everything he needs all the time. Right now it is dealing with which pads work, which pads last more than 2 days, which pads don't compress and flatten and then become useless after a couple hours? Hoof Pads on the market are expensive! The Softrides will pay for themselves in pads and time saved.

Besides, I have still not seen him move quite as awesome as he did with the Softrides. There is something about them that get him moving very well after just a short time of consistently wearing them. I still LOVE the Cavallo Treks and they are going to be perfect for riding. We'll just leave this 24/7 booting thing to the Softrides as they were made to be a 24/7 therapeutic boot which is what he needs right now.

You want to see that video again? Of course you do!

Boot Rehab

Shorty's feet look much better after getting trimmed up over a week ago, but they still have lots of growing to do! The Cavallo Trek boots are working out great and he will still have several millimeters to grow into as his foot widens. He has since been doing really well with wearing the boots all day while turned out. So well in fact, that my barn owner and I were curious if he would manage being turned out on his grassy area without them.... nope! Just a couple days later he was short stepping and ouchy. So back on the boots go!

The Thinline pads wore very quickly and lasted just over a week. I did ride him a couple of times which seemed to be very nice rides, but then he went sore in the middle of my latest ride so I have decided not to work him until I am sure his feet are ready. My farrier is going to provide our next pads so I don't have to pay for shipping everytime, so to get by I bought a .99cent piece of  6mm thick foam from the hobby store. This time, I bought adhesive velcro to put the pad inside the boot with - the Thinline pads rotated and moved around a bit which no doubt sped up the wear and tear. So far this has been working out great.

I still don't think he moves quite as well as I saw with the Softride boots, but I suspected from the beginning he might have liked the frog pressure that those provided. Tonight, I cut out some triangle frog-shaped foam pieces and duct taped them over his frogs and put the boots on. I got the idea from who else but Pete Ramey! Here: http://www.hoofrehab.com/bootarticle.htm

He says: "For instance the increased frog pressure pads will dampen vibration and start to allow the horse to work the back of the foot, often for the first time in many years. As with any other weak, living thing we start to exercise, we can overdo it and create soreness. Don’t be discouraged; change your system. Usually switching to a softer or thinner frog pad, or switching back to a flat insole will “rest” the back of the foot while the horse stays comfortable for riding."

That's exactly what Shorty needs is to begin fully utilizing the back of his foot again! I think this is going to be an important part of rehabilitating those feet faster. I have also been a bit concerned lately about the feel of his tendons below the knees not being as tight as I know they usually are. Tonight after I put the frog pads and boots on, I walked him around, let him graze, trotted him a few times over about a 25 minute timespan , and he seemed to do increasingly better! Each time I asked him to trot he would over willingly leap forward as if he would like to take off, but didn't. He definitely looked sound and comfy, snorting several times as we walked, licking and chewing, and I believe more bright eyed and bushy tailed by the end. It hard to tell how he was landing since it was dark, but he was overreaching (touching the boots from behind) at a walk consistently especially when he had his head lowered and he began really, really marching forward in a nice walk as we went. I took the boots off in the barn isle and he walked back to his stall without the boots with no signs of soreness and his legs felt tighter. Wow, complete 180 from how he walked out of his stall just 30 minutes earlier!

Well....I guess I am going out every morning I can to duct tape frog pads on him! I would glue them to the pads, but I want to make sure the frog pads stay right over his frogs for maximum comfort! If the pads or his foot rotate at all, it won't work right. I can't wait to see what his feet look like in 2 months, 6 months, and then a year from now! I think they are going to be completely different.

Hoof Boot Miracle!

My super compassionate and awesome barn owner allowed Shorty to wear a pair of Soft Ride boots the past couple weeks https://www.softrideboots.com/. He was turned out in these until we could find our own boots to use. Lo and behold, he felt fantastic in these boots! Who knew! He trotted with them in the pasture, down the barn isle, and moved and turned like a pro across concrete and rocks. I got a video of him going in the pasture one day and guess what! He was not only moving correctly heel first, but he was tracking up more from behind and trotting exactly how I have been wanting him to all this time! The video includes the slow motion where you can see his toes flip out and land after his heels, especially when he begins moving more forward after the first 10 seconds. He also moves more round and totally comfortable!

I was soo excited to see this, and I was now even more excited to find our own boots. After a lot of research, reviews, and talking to the Cavallo rep, I decided on the Cavallo Trek boots. https://www.cavallo-inc.com/?products=trek-hoof-boots
His hoof length measured at 120mm and width at 114mm, so I confirmed with the Cavallo rep that he would probably be a size 2 Slim. I ordered them last Sunday and received them Thursday. My farrier was out on Friday morning and he checked fit and also cut the Thinline pads I bought to put at the bottom. I knew that the Soft Ride boots were providing him a lot of additional padding, and Thinline material is known to be very good at absorbing shock and providing therapeutic support. The boots ended up being a great fit and Shorty also got his feet trimmed up in more of a barefoot trim. As soon as I let Shorty go in the pasture with his new boots on, he took off galloping to the hay that was out. I think he likes them!

He has been trotting into the barn for dinner and really looking nice and comfortable. Tonight was our first ride in them and it went great! Luckily, I had a knowledgeable friend to ride with tonight who kept telling me how comfortable he looked and how nicely he was moving. He continued to track up more from behind than before. He was super responsive and easy to go forward, almost too exuberant at times!

We are definitely going to run with this success that we have found! I have always believed that everything happens for a reason. If we had never gone on that trail ride and lost those shoes, we would never have taken this path! We saw good days with bar shoes, pads, wedges, injections, etc., but besides that one day where Shorty showed of his incredible floaty, knee snapping trot about 2 years ago shortly after getting bar shoes, he just has not done anything like that again and I had yet to be satisfied with the way he was moving. Everyone please cross your fingers and think good thoughts for long term improvement. We do expect him to be able to live out just fine barefoot after another cycle or so while he transitions. At that point, we'll just boot up to ride. It's possible that after this "rehab," he will probably be able to handle some arena work and dressage shows without them again.

I just gave Shorty his monthly dose of Pentosan as well. He seems to be a very happy boy right now. What an adventure!