Seeing the Light
On the dog and horse front, I may be starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe. This morning I’m feeling the most optimistic I have in weeks, so we’ll take that happy momentum and roll with it regardless of what ends up happening.
Today, let’s talk about Simon. I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read my post on his NQR’ness and offering their insight. We left it with seeing how booting worked, and I had pretty much decided that if he felt off to my trainer this past Wednesday that I’d get the vet back out.
Imagine my surprise when I get a text from my trainer saying how awesome Simon was. That he felt great and was a super star.
Oh horse, how you confuse me.
So I made a plan to take a private lesson Thursday night. That way the trainer could witness our every move and if I felt “weirdness” I could ask her about it there on the spot.
Before my lesson, I put Simon’s new BoT hock boots on for the first time. He wore them about 30 minutes before and after our ride, and I’m going to do that for about a week until he’s used to them. Then I will ask nicely bribe our amazing farm hand to put them on/off Simon for several hours a day when he’s in his stall to get the maximum benefit.
We also wore our new fetlock boots for the lesson, and Simon’s hind end may or may not have looked ready for war as he stood in the cross ties while I tacked up.
During our warm-up hack, he felt amazing. He was very stretchy and loose through his back and poll, and his stride had great cadence. My trainer remarked that he looked fantastic for just starting up, and usually doesn’t look that good until he’s thoroughly warmed up. She also said he was tracking extremely even in the hind and better than she had seen him in a while.
The negative is, he would feel funny in the hind every now and then… especially turning. I was legit crazy person going, “There! Did you see that?”
She did, and said he was hitting himself. When he hit, he felt weird – even with boots.
At the end of our lesson (which was good but nothing to write home about), I asked again if she thought there was anything going on with his stifles or anything else. She said no, that she had seen a lot of horses and think she is just interfering.
With that feedback, I asked my farrier to re-balance his hind feet on Monday. We will see how Simon is after that. If the interference/tripping continues, I will potentially pull his hind shoes. I will also probably send my vet some video just to make sure he doesn’t think anything else is going on. In-between these “funky” steps, Simon feels amazing. I mean he felt good this past weekend too, but last night was even better… BoT hock wraps maybe?
The other thing to note is that I have to wave my “Bad horse owner card” a bit for y’all.
A while ago, my trainer mentioned that Simon had “cracks in his heels” and I needed to put iodine in them. So I did, but half heartedly. I didn’t really know what the cracks meant and I squirted iodine in them 1-2 times a week.
After his training ride on Wednesday she mentioned it again, and that they were painful. I did some research, and stupid me – it’s deep sulcus thrush. As in “certainly not helping my foot sore horse” thrush.
Feeling like an ass, I upped the arsenal last night to fully get rid of these. I thoroughly dug out the cracks with a mix of anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and triple antibiotic cream on a q-tip. Then I soaked cotton pads in iodine, and shoved those bad boys up in the crack.
So for those of you’ve that have made it this far – here’s the NQR’ness summary: Horse is actually more right than NQR. Horse needs shoeing adjusted, and if that doesn’t solve the problem I will troubleshoot more with vet & farrier. Horse has thrush, which his mommy is finally taking care of properly. Horse continues to be a nerd.
24 thoughts on “Seeing the Light”
So glad to hear he’s moving better!!! Those BoT products are magic, I swear. I have the mesh blanket for my dog and he’s a much happier pup after wearing it.
Thrush is nasty business. I had to deal with a nasty bout of it with my old girl last winter and what finally cleared it up was this stuff called Tomorrow. It’s a mastitis treatment for cattle, cleared that mess right up. Just something to keep in your back pocket in case it becomes a super stubborn case.
Love Tomorrow! It’s a great product.
Glad to hear the boots are helping! Simon’s thrust looks exactly like what I’ve been seeing in Foster- it kind of freaked me out that his cracks were so deep! I did a mixture of what you’ve done with the iodine (even wrapping it in duct tape after when it was really wet outside, and then your run-of-a-mill thrush medication. About 2 weeks later and it’s gone! Hopefully Simon’s will clear up just as quickly 🙂
Haha, I love hearing about other people’s “bad horse owner” moments! It makes me feel better about my own. 🙂
I’ve used regular old bleach to treat thrush before; it worked pretty well for a mild case. It sounds like you’ve got it well in hand, though!
The thrush could be a HUGE contributing factor to him hitting himself! If his feet are sore, he probably isn’t moving normally, and I bet you once the thrush is under control he will not be so wonky in the hind end. Glad it doesn’t look like a stifle issue or anything worse, though! Big hugs.
So glad things are looking up!
Urgh thrush. I went into last spring not being prepared…this year I am ready! It is so tricky. Hopefully it clears up quickly for you!
And yay for good lessons and sound ponies!
Oh, thrush. Annoying, annoying thrush! Hope Simon continues to feel better!
So glad Simon is feeling better already. I’m using your thrush-busting ideas on Miles today, so hopefully that will help me too!
Glad things are looking up and hope they keep the upward climb!
Although the thrush is annoying it’s still nice to be able to take an actionable step right now that will at least make him feel better! Thinking of you two!
Deep central sulcus thrush can make them lame as all get out, definitely could be a contributing factor! Go completely nuts treating it, treat it until the crack fully seals up and don’t stop until it is gone – if there is still a crack, there is still thrush.
Check out the Zephyr’s Garden thrush spray…. this stuff is AWESOME and easy to use and seriously packs a punch. Non-necrotizing and all-natural, and I’ve seen it work on stuff where nothing else would touch the problem. Not cheap but a small bottle goes a LONG way and all you have to do is pick up the foot, clean it, and spray – and beats spending a ton of other money on products that don’t work as well. https://www.zephyrsgarden.com/store?page=shop.product_details&flypage=&product_id=39&category_id=4
Great advice. I will check that product out!
I’m also jumping on the BoT hock boot bandwagon in the very near future. Glad to hear things seem to be improving!
I wonder how much of Simon feeling amazing between NQR had to do with his chiro appt and not just because of the BOT boots. 🙂
Great to hear Simon is feeling more right than NQR…possibly a stupid question, but do you think the thrush/cracked heels could also have been contrubuting to his ouchiness?
Hopefully the BoT boots continue to do their thang…what a fab range of products they offer!
Yup, I think it’s certainly possible. This kind of thrush can absolutely make horses go lame, and the inconsistency may mean that it hurts more on harder ground than other, etc.
Glad to hear you are finding a solution and hopefully some peace of mind with it.
I’m a huge believer in the BoT products. I wear one on my ankle all day and its a huge pain reliever. And considering that I have bone on bone right now any pain relief without drugs is a good thing.
The thrush could definitely be contributing to his slight offness. Glad he seems to be on the mend. Watch out with the BOT gear, I went from owning just the hock boots to owning nearly the entire horse and human line 😉
Deep sulcus thrush <— I've dealt with it. It can and will make a horse lame. It can also get really aggressive when a horse is on stall rest. I found for me (and Jez) Tomorrow worked the best out of everything i tried.
Love the BoT hock boots!!
Yay for Simon doing better!!
I battle with thrush alot too. I find it so difficult to catch all the little things are possibly going wrong in your horse’s hoof without being a farrier, and since the farrier only comes out every 6-8 weeks, that’s a long time for something to go wrong in the interim. I think too that we stare so much at our own horse’s feet that we don’t realize what is or isn’t normal. I worry alot about my horse’s feet and whether I’m catching all the little things – like thrush, etc.
Very exciting!