Farrier's Thoughts

The farrier came out to trim the horses on Monday.  I was curious about his thoughts regarding the state of Jackson's feet.  Jackson has been walking sound, through the mud and muck, with his trail boots but I was worried that maybe his hoof health would suffer.  I've been spraying his soles, frog and heels with anti-thrush spray and they look good to me; but I'm not a farrier; not an expert.  Because we've had steady rain, storm followed by storm followed by storm, Jackson has been wearing his boots 24/7 for a month.

Our farrier was amazed at Jackson's lack of abscesses and the health of his feet.  Last winter, Jackson had 6-8 abscesses (I lost count, there were so many).  This season we've had four times as much rain and, so far, zero abscesses.  I am going to purchase another set of boots so I have a back up pair.  I think Jackson will wear through these pretty quickly.  Trail boots aren't cheap ($100+ per pair), but they are cheaper than steel shoes and pads (that didn't work) and vet calls.  We think that the abscesses were caused by stone bruises.  Jackson has extremely thin soles.  In the winter they get wet, and then very soft.  The farrier thinks he was getting bruised by the smallest of stones.  With trail boots, he just motors over the rocks with no discomfort at all.

Jackson and I are ecstatic.

Meanwhile, Flash continues to eat his pills and improve.  Brett has to hold the bowl of pills and sweet feed for Flash.  If he doesn't, Mufasa would help Flash eat his meds.  Even with Brett holding the bowl, Mufasa tries.