Luckily, the weather has been on our side and still is with an lovely somewhat late summer almost. Yesterday I was glad to have finished work early and dashed back 'home' to take off 'Mr F's rug. While the morning was very chilly with torrential rain, suddenly the sun came out at it must have been 15 degrees. The flies certainly were out in great numbers still ... I took some lovely photos of the 3 ('Tolka' 'Kitten' and 'Mr F') which I upload later.
Although the weather has been mostly dry, the ground still is saturated, albeit not muddy but it seems enough to make a mess out of 'Mr F's frogs, especially the front. And I am partly to blame for this too because I hadn't cleaned his hooves everyday as I thought I might interfere with a natural balance of good / bad bacteria. It appears though that I have, because of this, missed a key moment where I could have possibly prevented the quite big holes in his heels. In fact they have never been this bad.
Surprisingly, 'Mr F' isn't sensitive while I dig around in them to clean all the muck out. I am fully stocked up with 'Hoof Stuff' 'Field Paste' 'Sole Paint' etc etc. The previous evening I used some field paste together with cotton wool and stuffed it into the cleaned holes. This morning, although the underneath of the hoof was coated in sticky albeit almost dry soil, the cotton will was still in place and kept the inside of the hole clean. I cleaned the entire hoofs (both fronts) once more and sprayed them with 'Silvastrol'. A spray I was recommended by the barefoot trimmer lady and it works really well. I have used it on my own cuts as well! After treating with said spray, I covered the sole with cotton wool, wrapped a little clingfilm over it and over all that some vet wrap although only a thin layer. Then I put the easyboot hoof boots on which appear to have become a little too big now; just as well!
I shall see how they stay on when I return from work. The good thing about the easyboot gloves is that they are solely attached to the hoof. They do have a gaiter that fastens around the pastern but that is designed in such a manner as not to put any pressure on it, i.e. no interruption of circulation etc. Hopefully it keeps his feet dry for a few hours so they can start healing rather than having to unsuccessfully fight bacteria.
I guess it is the nature of the Thoroughbred that they are just not as resilient as other types of horses. Having said that, 'Mr F' overall is a strong horse and has no other issues.
Oh, except for the biting lice infestation he seems to have every year come winter. While on previous years I applied various powders, none of them seems to have worked, nor did shampoos. So I just got hold of a 'Coopers Fly Spray Plus' bottle and applied that (after testing for allergic reaction first) and I couldn't find any new nests of the critters (little itchy bumps on the skin).
His rather fluid rear end business has also returned back to normal. Not entirely sure what was the cause of it ... perhaps adding Calendula flowers to his meals or the load of lush grass he ate on our walks. I cut down the lush grass eating and we have run out of the flowers.
But he has a new favourite treat, and so do I: sunflower kernels and pumpkin seeds. It's our snack when we go out walking and adding some sunflower kernels to his feed makes him eat slowly, rather than gulping it all down.
Here's hoping the boots stay on during the day.
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