The joys of hoof boots!

BUTE

Sonny has been off bute for 9days now. He is still very gimpy on all but soft grass & sand. One would think that with all that sole built up from wearing boots all the time that it would protect his feet as it should but that isn’t the case. There is little heat in his feet now too. I did notice yesterday a hot patch in one back foot. That is good because until recently all his feet were hot all the time so it was very hard to feel if there was an abscess brewing for example.

HOOF BOOTS & MORE RAIN

It’s been raining here lightly all week. Then yesterday it got a lot heavier & last night we had 4inches in a few hours. Also during this week I have had problems keeping boots on Sonny. Doesn’t it always happen that way? :-D  He has learned how to get the Velcro tabs undone on his epics & all 2 full sets of epics are broken. He can almost get the RX boot tabs undone too. Right at the time when I have ordered new boots that are done up with wide Velcro tabs! I had to send the first pair back because they were too short in the toe to heel length. Under normal circumstances the size 3 Trail would have been perfect for him but with these longer feet there wasn’t enough tab overlapping to say they would be securely done up. Obviously when his feet do return to normal, the new size 4 (which haven’t arrived yet) will be too big. But it’s more important to keep his feet dry over the next several months than worry about what size he needs next year.

He seems to have a problem with his heel bulbs & coronet band. He is always scratching or biting at them with his teeth which is how he learnt to get the Velcro undone. I even went back to his old plain easyboots that had ankle straps that were a loss prevention measure. However within 5mins of being let out & the boots getting wet he would just roll his foot out of them. Those boots used to fit perfectly, not needing anything to hold them on. We even did rides where the clips came undone from getting caught in deep vines & I could hear the clips bouncing but the boots never came off. It would be nice to get his feet back to that again.

With his new hooves half grown out it would be a shame to have rot set in again up inside the capsule from walking around on wet grass & dirt. If there wasn’t any rain & the nights were dry, making for dry grass, he could go without boots on occasion. But winters here are usually plagued by all night thick fogs unless there are westerlies which blow the moisture out of the valley. So the grass is mostly wet, even when it is dead from frost or drought.

IMPORTANT STAGE IN HOOF SHAPING

As far as the shaping of his hooves is concerned we seem to have reached an important point. I have noticed this week that the significant angle change that was growing down has disappeared somewhat, much as it has done so many times before. Obviously there is too much leverage on the toe. Both hooves are equally affected. Particularly the RF which originally appeared to be like a new hoof coming out of an old hoof. That isn’t the case any longer. Since the toe has reached the ground & begun to share breakover leverage the angle has reduced markedly. On the LF it is now hard to see the angle change.

 

I have tried to address that & the boot ill fit by shortening the toe & rasping to the next new heel position but I think a lot more needs to come off. Cas has asked me not to touch any part of the hoof in front of the tip of frog but it’s plain to see there is too much leverage(too much hoof in front of what should be the center point). I feel I’m now wasting time as I am committing the same mistakes as previously when growth has got to this point. I am finding it easier to make the heels shorter because the heel bulbs are reducing in height getting back to how a heel should look. But those toes are going to end up way too long again & now is when it seems to happen. Therefore now is when the trim method needs to be altered. The fact that his boots won’t stay on is the biggest indicator.

 The rest of todays photos can be found here:-
http://s340.photobucket.com/albums/o358/claireT_2008/BBB/June%202012%20Sonnys%20Feet%20photos/
 I just never seem to be able to get these photos set out here the way I want them! :-D


SCREAMING HIS KNICKERS OFF

Apart from that it’s ‘steady as s/he goes’. He’s getting a bit sick of being ‘kept in’ for several hours daily. I have to hose his boots then dry them upstairs on top of the oil heater which takes a few hours. He doesn’t see the reasons for it. I have taught him new tricks & hung a big ball in his shelter that he has learned to bat around & he also has those red road safety cones which he likes to chew & throw around. I have taken some video which I will upload soon. But it’s all getting rather hohum from his point of view. He’s starting to do naughty things again.

He does a lot of running around at night time when he’s out in his grazing areas. When the other horses wander off to the far back paddock which is out of his sight, he gets his knickers in a twist & comes to the back gate of the house yard (which is nearly below my bedroom window) & screams at me to fix things for him. He is so loud! He wakes me most nights screaming for help. He doesn’t whinny, he full throat screams very loudly.  L  Of course I never go to his aid anymore which aggravates him so he thunders off screaming like an ambulance in the night!

HOPEFULLY

Hopefully his new boots will arrive early this week & hopefully they will fit well & hopefully they won't irritate his coronet bands & hopefully he won't find out how easy they will be to get off! 


ahhh, the joys of hoof boots hey?