Attempted Heel Pix

This is Sonny Bunz off side (or right) fore, that he tends to try to be "clubby" in. Why? For one, genetics does come into play some here. As I looked at a picture of his sire, I saw the exact same front end and hooves as Sonny- which made me wonder why the heck they bred that horse. (But what do I know, right?) Second, the way Sonny Bunz tends to stand and spread his weight on his front end has some to do with it as well- this leg tends to be almost always out in front of him, not bearing as much weight, while the other tends to be under him a lot more, bearing the brunt of the load. Now- that being said, I *am* beginning to see a difference in his stance now as well, with BOTH legs holding weight equally more often than not. Will this help this foot? It seems to be, as this foot- while still looking pretty crappy to me here- is showing improvement. Kacy- I have not forgotten about the knife post you need, and had every intention of providing that WITH pix for you today, but as you can see the frog went ahead here and did a self exfoliation for us. What did I do to help that? Cleaned it and sprayed it with Listerene for about 10 days. It dried out the area, and allowed the crap in there to open up and continue drying. I'll add in some pointers on frogs in a moment for you.

Third reason this foot tends toward clubbiness is the contraction in the heel, due to the deep "infestation" of thrush/ anaerobic bacterium still in the cleft. That too is showing vast improvement. I have a couple of treatment options to consider here, and will sort out which one will work best for this case soon. Of course, results will be shared!

OK, Kacy (and everyone else here who has questions about frogs, garbage in frogs, and just what you can do to help there.) When you have a pocket, that traps material inside, you can set up for the right environment to create a rotspot. (Is that a word?) To prevent that, the best thing you can do is get a good knife- NOT a flat one!! I strongly suggest The Knife, made by Anvil Brand. The reason? The curvature of the blade will NOT allow you to cut too deep AND the QUALITY of the blade. It will hold an edge for a very long time for you. Take your The Knife, (available through JeffersEquine.com for a very reasonable cost,) and trim away the loose areas. No knife? If you can pull it off with your hand, do so. You are not going to hurt the horse. Either that, or your job is going to be clean it VERY well everyday, and try to keep as much debris out of there as possible.
This image above shows how we treat heels. Rasp them. The heel closest to my leg was a wee bit higher, so I was able to do a bit of rasping to show you what we look for in a properly trimmed heel. Is it the healthiest? Nope. Am I done trimming it? Nope- not really. But it IS a start. Worried about rasping those heels too far? Don't be. Just take small amounts at a time, and you will see wonders.
This is admittedly a really crappy shot, but it shows how I check level with my rasp. Sort of. Sonny Bunz moved as I was taking the shot, so I am sorry about the lack of quality in it.
And lastly, THIS is how Sonny Bunz spent the majority of his day today. We got a hay drop on Thursday morning, and it is a different type of hay than Sonny HAD been eating. Know what? My horse has a slight bellyache. We have alternated walking and moving around with resting all afternoon. He IS pooping, normally, has minimal gut sounds, is drinking normally, but has refused his favorite treat a couple of times. When Sonny Boy won't eat an apple, I know something is up.

Drugs are in the fridge as needed, and I will be up checking on him through the night... Everyone cross your fingers that we can connect with our usual hay man and get him back on his usual hay soon. Apparently Sonny Bunz is a delicate type.

OK- I am going to gallop off on you all now, and take him out a warm mash and check on him. Hopefully he slurps this up, and all is well. Will keep y'all posted, of course!