What do Chicken Combs and Foal Feet have in common?
Well, after going back over all of my posts on Blogger for the past 5 1/2 years, I’ve discovered that nifty little column on the right side of our post list that says View Count, and keeps track of all of the views on each post.
Apparently my two blog posts about Chicken Combs and Foal Feet must be very interesting because they had the most views of all of my blog posts.
Feathery Foal Feet had 10,500 views!
Chicken Combs had over 10,300 views!
After a week of soaking, scrubbing, picking, poking, prodding, applicating, inserting, packing and wrapping I am done treating my Apache mare for thrush. I just don’t think thrush is her problem. We are just too darn dry here and Apache never has an opportunity to stand around in any moist environments. Yes, she has cracks in her heels and frog, but there’s nothing in there, but dry skin.
I’ve consulted with several experienced local horse people, including Colleen, the manager of Walkin in Circles Horse Rescue, two equine vet techs (one of which was over here the other day exploring Apache’s foot cracks and found no indication of thrush), my farrier, and two separate equine vets and an equine chiro practitioner. And they all agree that Apache’s feet don’t appear to be infected with thrush at all. And most importantly her lameness issues seem to be in her upper leg and not in her foot.
I also went back into my blog archives and found it interesting that even Baby Doll's feet looked much like Apache’s do now.
And then I went back to the blog archive post just before I bought Apache in March and looked at her feet. They don’t look much different than now either, except a less dry, but that was due to the fact that we brought her up here from the Rio Grande River Valley, where Apache was kept on a flat grassy pasture, unlike the steep, rocky, parched land she is on now.
My neighbor friend, Val of Fantastyk Voyage Blog has been kind enough to be my assistant and hold Apache while I’ve been doing the thrush treatments this past week. (and photographer, too) Val doesn’t think Apache has any issues with thrush either. We’ve both been surprised at what a good patient Apache has been this past week.
With all of my digging, poking, prodding, squirting, scrubbing, soaking, packing, and ripping of tape, Apache hasn’t shown any discomfort or sensitivity in her feet. And even after the last strip of duct tape has been strapped to her foot, and her halter removed, Apache still chose to hang out with Val and I as we chatted while I put all the supplies away.
Now even though we’re done with the thrush treatments, we’re not done with trying to get to the bottom of Apache’s lameness issues and help her stay healthy.
I love my current farrier, so I’m going to see if he’ll change some of the ways that he trims Apache and not be as conservative. I’ve only owned Apache for just under 8 months and she’s had 5-6 trims in that time. I want to have her trimmed from now on every 4-5 weeks, even though that will probably mean all the farrier will be doing is coming out and just doing slight balancing and rasping. With our arid environment, especially in winter, hooves grow very slowly. I plan to discuss with my farrier if he’s capable of doing Natural Balance Barefoot trims, because I’m not sure if her sole and frog are making proper contact with the ground the way they are trimmed now. I’d also like a mustang roll, although I know that won’t completely prevent Apache from getting knicks in her feet because of how steep and rocky our property is. And I know it will take time to get Apache’s feet as healthy as I’d like them to be. Her previous owner, who only owned Apache for a year, told me that when she found Apache her hooves were seriously neglected and it took her a long time to get them improved. And it’s obvious Apache still has a long time to go still.
We’re also changing Apache’s diet, much to my mare’s unhappiness. I’ve cut out most of her apple and carrot treats and also her grain, because she has definitely gotten chunky being a pasture puff for the past four months. I’ve never given Apache more than 1 measuring cup of grain, even though the grain is specially formulated and has absolutely no sugar or molasses (only Alfalfa Pellet, Corn,Crushed Milo, Rolled Oats, Rolled Barley, Rolled Flaxseed, Wheat Bran, and Beet Pulp Shreds, and is just 13% protein, 15% fiber , and only 5% fat ) (I have more info on this custom made, specially formulated grain in This Post.
But I’m not changing Apache’s diet because of the comment left by a particular blogger, which I must admit surprised me. This person, as far as I know, has never once visited my blog before. She doesn’t know me or my horse and she hasn’t even seen earlier photos of my mare, like this one from The very first post I ever did on Apache. There are lots of photos of her in that post, and besides being a little chunkier now, she looks much the same. If this blogger had been reading my blog over the past year, she’d know that was one of my concerns early on and I had my mare tested for Insulin Resistance, and not only is Apache NOT IR, but she is also NOT pre-Cushings. And of course, I also discussed with both of my vets the possibility of remaining toxins from the sage poisoning, but both vets reassured me that because sage is not considered to be highly toxic (many horses eat it as a daily forage food) and sage isn’t held long term within the body, and because the exposure was so brief, this isn’t something I should worry about.
As for her personality change when she kicked me, that could have been caused by the sage poisoning………or not. Remember that I was chasing her with an item she wanted nothing to do with, and I was too close, and she did warn me before she kicked me. Any horse can get annoyed and kick. And Apache, although sweet, does have her moody moments, too. Don’t you all remember the time She Bit Me when I took her for a walk, before I had even bought her? Apache can be a little outspoken at times when she’s got something to say and thinks you’re not listening.
Which leads me to her recent dietary changes. She is one grouchy girl right now. I used to always bring her a carrot or an apple when I’d head up to the paddock and Apache would be so happy to see me, nickering, snuffling, ears pricked forward, but patient and relaxed. Now that I have no carrots or apples, she greets me impatiently, pacing, nickering, snorting, prancing, with her ears laid back. And she acts that way, while giving me the stink eye, the entire walk up to the barn! She is not a happy girl.
Yesterday, she was so impatient in her stall as I walked into the barn, pawing at the ground and the fence, that I ignored her and fed the llamas and goats first. She loudly and deeply nickered her displeasure at me, but finally decided to stand still and wait. And this morning, between the windy cold weather and her moodiness, she was hyper, shaking and bobbing her head, trying to run circles around me while making low nickering noises. I’d wave her away and she’d make a pouty face and lean her neck and head back towards me as if asking, “What’s changed? Why are you unhappy with me?”
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*Warning: Griping Below*
Anyway, in response to the hoof comments, it bugs me that strangers who have never visited your blog before, can feel so superior to just pop on and leave a judgmental, know-it-all, advice-riddled comment when they know nothing at all about you, your horse care management, or for that matter, your horse.
And sometimes other bloggers think they are being helpful by giving you their opinion on your choice of footwear, while you photographed your horse’s hooves. Oy!
But I think it’s sad and even disturbing that I posted about my horse’s hooves and received more than 30 comments, while the post about my daughter the very next day, and how she conquered her fears, which also related to my own fears and confidence issues with horses, only received 7 comments!
It seems that posting about problems or issues gets more people stopping by to add their two cents, while posts that are positive or happy, get passed on by and ignored. Sheesh…….maybe I should get injured more often and have multitudes of problems so lots of bloggers will leave me comments………or maybe I should just take my blog private….or stop blogging all together.
I called my farrier on Monday morning to set up Apache’s trim. He likes to see her every 6-8 weeks during the dry season because hooves tend to grow very slowly around here when there is no moisture.
This is what our ground looks like most of the year. (Much the same way that Apache’s feet look like)
I also wanted to give Apache a week after her chiro treatment to see if there was any difference in her lameness issues. There is, but it’s very slight. Most of the changes are in her movement throughout her back and hips. She definitely is able to trot and canter more freely. But she is still off-and-on lame when walking uphill. The morning after her trim I even got my hopes up, because when I opened the gate, Apache trotted all the way down to me, and then as we walked up the hill, she walked briskly, with no apparent lameness at all. But then when I went up to feed her lunch, she walked down to greet me and then heaved herself up the hill behind me, favoring that left front leg again. Bummer.
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Note: I took the following “BEFORE” photos 5 days before her trim, the day after the vet was here to give Apache the nerve block and her chiro adjustments.
Note: The “AFTER” photos I took on Tuesday, right after the farrier left. I should mention that my farrier, Scott, was pleased to see that I had remembered to soak Apache’s feet with water before he arrived, because sometimes I forget (bad horse owner!) and he has to work extra hard trying to trim her hard-as-rock hooves. This time her feet were much softer and more pliable, and a lot easier to trim.
Note: Please excuse the dirty hooves and not-so-great photos. I was by myself with Apache unhaltered and munching hay while I tried to pick out hooves and pick them up, along with trying to hold the camera and focus. I probably should have asked for an assistant, but hopefully the photos aren’t too bad.
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Front Left Before:
(You can still see some of the dried blood from the nerve block injection on the back of her hoof, and lots of chips and sand cracks from our hard, dry, rock covered ground )
Front Left After:
(My farrier was advised by the vet to take some pressure off her toes, especially on the steep hills she has to walk up every day in her paddock. After watching how Apache moved up and down the hill, he went to work squaring the front toes, which I believe some folks call a Mustang Roll? She’s still getting used to the shorter toe and sometimes seems to forget that her toes aren’t long now. But I can already see how much easier it is for her to walk up the hill now)
(That’s a smooshed flower above her frog)
Apache sloughed off a huge chunk of her frog and had a lot of loose frog. My farrier only took off what her foot was willing to give, but it was still a large amount. Normally he doesn’t touch the frog or much of the sole, unless there is anything obviously loose. Surprisingly, Apache wasn’t tender or ouchie on her foot. Scott has always been very good about being conservative with trims and my horses (Baby Doll and Apache) have never been sore after he’s done. But still her poor crumbly frog looks pitiful to me.
Back Left Before:
(Sorry about the gunk, but trying to photograph one of the hooves that clocked me in the head a couple months ago still gives me the willies, so I took this photo purposefully trying to spend the least amount of time back there.)
Back Left After:
Back Right Before:
(Same explanation,as above, for the gunky foot. This was probably the actual hoof that made contact with my face.)
Back Right After:
(Notice the red bruise just to left of the middle of her hoof. Do you think that my skull caused that? gah!)
I’m not sure what that little bit of redness is located in the white line area of the toe. Bruise?
Front Right Before:
Front Right After:
Both Front Feet Before:
(This photo was taken with Apache standing on a slight incline, so her pastern and hoof angles aren’t quite right)
Both Front Feet After:
Both Back Feet Before:
Both Back Feet After:
Something interesting that my farrier did notice during his examination of her. He saw and felt a small hard lump on the outside of her front left pastern.
Scott called it sidebone. Sidebone is the name given to the calcification, ossification or bony deposits in the otherwise flexible lateral cartilage of the foot. It’s a common condition in horses and most often occurs in the front feet, and it doesn’t usually cause lameness unless there are complications.
These supporting structures are found in all horses above and just forward of the heels of the horse's feet. They are part of the anti-concussion mechanisms of the horse's foot - which also involve the frog and the navicular bone. Most horses get a degree of sidebone in the lateral cartilage of the foot as they get older without showing any signs of lameness.
Sidebone can be detected by feeling around above the coronary band - when there is loss of the normal flexibility of the heel over the affected cartilage.
The coronary band of the foot may also bulge over the cartilage and the conformation of the hoof wall may become more upright. Lameness can occur in horses with sidebone if some of the bony area fractures - or if 2 separate ossifications develop and rub together.
This will present itself as an acute or sudden lameness. A vet will be able to to X-ray the foot to confirm the diagnosis and assess the damage, which is something I may be doing for Apache if she continues to be lame. For now, I’m giving her daily massages and soaking her feet. She does seem to enjoy the cold water on her feet and lower legs, so I’m hoping that will help. I’m also getting some bute to act as an anti-inflammatory, in case that may make her feel better and heal quicker, too.
Poor Apache. I think she was also getting confused as to why I kept pointing my camera at her feet for so long.
It’s disappointing that I’ve owned Apache for less than 8 months, and out of those 8 months, I’ve only been able to ride her for 4 months. The other 4 she’s been lame or dealing with sage sickness symptoms. I try not to compare, but it’s amazing to me that I owned Baby Doll for over 2 years and she was never sick, injured, sore or lame that entire time.
Maybe Baby Doll was just a tough old broad who was made of rusty nails, but it’s interesting how two horses can be so different, while even being kept on the same property and cared for in the same way, too.
I was hoping to ride Apache in the back-to-back Halloween ACTHA rides at Walkin N Circles Ranch Horse Rescue, but I was asked today if I’d consider working as a judge on Saturday and possibly Sunday, too. For now, I’ve agreed to be a judge on Saturday, I kept Sunday open, just in case Apache shows me she’s ready to head out on the trails by then.
Come on, my pretty girl, let’s blow this taco stand and go have some fun together. Feel better, please?
Yes, these photos were taken soon after I arrived home from my visit today to the Emergency Room at the Hospital.
Yes, that’s blood in my hair. (I was thinking about becoming a redhead, but now I don’t think so)
Yes, these injuries were caused by my mare Apache. Yes, it was my fault. Yes, I was kicked in the face. No, I wasn’t wearing a helmet. No, I wasn’t riding. Yes, I was doing groundwork and desensitizing work with Apache. Yes, I was too close to her backside. Yes, she did give me a warning. No, I didn’t think she would kick me. But, yes, it was my fault.
Yes, Apache has been a little cranky the past few days. Yes, I should have taken that into account before working with her. No, I don’t think she meant to hurt me. Yes, I believe she just meant to tell me to leave her alone. No, I didn’t listen.
No, this doesn’t mean I’m selling Apache. No, this doesn’t mean I’m never riding a horse again. Yes, it does mean that I will be much more careful in the future. Yes, it means that I’ve learned some very important lessons from this. Yes, I’m a little sad, a little worried, and a little scared.
Yes, I had a CAT Scan. Yes, my eye socket is broken. No, they didn’t need to operate. Yes, my vision is ok, just blurry and sluggish. Yes, it’s hurts like Hell. Yes, I am taking strong pain meds. Yes, my head hurts. No, there doesn’t seem to be any brain damage. No, I didn’t get a concussion. Yes, I should have worn a helmet. Yes, it probably would have helped absorb most of the kick from the hoof. Yes, I needed four stitches and some medical glue for my two cuts. Yes, I have an Ophthalmology/Neurology Appointment tomorrow. Yes, Ranchman John is flying in tonight.
Yes, I’ll be laying low for a while. Yes, it’s painful and tiring to try and keep my eye open. So, yes, please forgive me if my comments are missing from your blogs for a while.
Yes………..I’m lucky to be alive.
(Warning: Long post. Visit the potty and grab snacks first)
This is a ‘catch-up’ post. Please forgive me if I’ve not stopped by your blog in a while. I have been trying to read everyone’s posts, but I’ve not been as good about leaving comments because they take so much time and I’m sure lacking that commodity these days.
Hey! I thought summer was supposed to be laid back and relaxed…as in “The Lazy Days of Summer”???!
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The chicks are 6 weeks old today, so figured it was time for an update.
They are inside the coop with the rest of the flock, but are being kept in a quarantine mini-coop, with their Foster Mama, Mrs Cotton, who hatched out Sid’s baby, Pat Benatar.
Good thing that Pat is also a boy’s name, because it seems that this chick is going to be a rooster
I’ve compared photos of Sid Vicious as a chick and the resemblance holds true. The spiky doo is a trait of the Polish rooster, while the Polish hen will have more of a bouffant doo.
Well, out of 4 fertile eggs that we’ve allowed Mrs. Cotton to hatch out, only one has been a hen. Another reason Sid Vicious must go. He seems to create mostly males, and we don’t need anymore roosters like him around here. Why do the good lookin’ ones have to turn bad?
Anyway, Liza Minelli, the Black Star pullet is doing great. We like her pretty black and gold coloring.
She has a curious and calm personality so far.
And Matilda, the Buff Orpington pullet is growing like a weed. A pretty weed to be sure, but she’s a big girl already.
Because Mrs. Cotton is a low senioritychicken in the flock and will get her feathers flattened by some of my older and larger hens if she tries to act tough and protect her chicks, I’ll keep them all in the quarantine pen until the chicks are bigger and can be safely and easily integrated into the flock. They are already basically part of the flock since the only thing separating them is a wall of chicken wire.
Sadly, Pat Benatar will be given away soon, as we just don’t want anymore roosters. Mr. Cotton has been a well behaved, polite rooster, so he’ll stay, but no more roosters are permitted to call Laughing Orca Ranch their home.
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Good news. Even after those late snows and hail, and a serious lack of rain all Spring and early summer, our fruit trees have decided to give us fruit, albeit not as much as last Summer/Fall, but we’ll still have plenty for our family, just none to sell or share.
The peach tree has decided to only produce fruit on one side. And the branches on that side are already starting to sag to the ground with the weight of all the peaches. It’s weird how not even one fruit is growing on the other side of the tree, though. My opinion is that side of the tree receives the most wind and bad weather, while the other side is protected by the house.
The Granny Smith apple tree is producing a good amount of apples this year, too. But still not as many as last year.
But the Red Delicious Apple Tree is definitely making up for the low harvest it gave us last year. We only picked maybe 15-20 apples off the entire tree. I think we have at least double that amount this year, though. My mouth just waters thinking of biting into a fresh, cripsy, sweet apple, and a juicy, sweet peach in a few months!
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I had my farrier, Scott Trinka come out to give Apache a trim yesterday. Apache was a good girl as always.
It’s only been about 5-6 weeks since her last trim and her feet haven’t grown all that much, but I wanted her trimmed now to smooth out any rough edges, and give her enough time to toughen up after her trim. The reason why? Well, in just a couple weeks I’ll be taking Apache up to Northern New Mexico for our first-ever Horse Camping trip! I’m so excited! Long before I bought my first horse a few years ago, I dreamed of camping out with my horse and riding all day long, exploring beautiful places that would take too long to reach only by foot.
Anyway her feet, besides being very dry because of our lack of rain here, are looking pretty good and are ready for trail riding.
Have I mentioned how much I like my farrier, Scott Trnka? He’s been my farrier now for 3 years and he’s knowledgeable, easy to talk to, willing to answer any questions and offers advice and helpful tips, too. He does a great job with barefoot trims for me and never takes too much off the foot, so the horse isn’t sore. And he only charges me $30. But it’s no surprise he’s so good, because his family has been blacksmiths and farriers for a long time.
In fact, his brother, Craig Trnka is a Certified Journeyman Farrier and has been the President of the American Farrier's Association as well as won many Championship Farrier and Blacksmith Competitions. He’s also been a qualified judge for the World Blacksmith Competitions around the country, including the recent Hammers and Hooves event that was held near my home, that I had to miss due to participating in the ACTHA CTR.
(I think Scott thought I was nuts for wanting to take his picture. He’s such a modest guy, I’m sure he was thinking, “I’m not famous, why would you want my photo?)
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So…….we have had an equine visitor staying at our place for over a week now.
Do you know who it is?
She’s got a very big butt. Built like two mountains with a canyon down the middle, and a back as broad as a sofa. (I could probably use a spoon to scoop the dust out of the divet created by those two large butt humps)
For those of you who followed my blog back in February, you might remember this horse.
She was the third horse I rode, after being injured by Baby Doll and getting back up on her back after Christmas to move forward and past my fears. But this horse was after the sweet, steady-eddy Rosie, to regain my confidence and get more riding experience.
I rode this mare out on the snow covered trails with my Snowy Mountain Cowgirl Club friends. (By the way, that experience and the post, too, was very beneficial and an important part of my journey coming back into horses after my injuries and surgery)
Do you remember this horse now?
