When Mrs Mom suggested that maybe Estes had deep tissue thrush, I was confused as I've always been told that Colorado's too dry for thrush. I mean, we worried about it when it was damp for extended periods of time, but not day-to-day. Mom picked out Estes' club foot and treated it for thrush for a couple of weeks and Estes quit gimping. Huh. Thrush in Colorado.
I always thought of thrush (when I thought of it) as primarily attacking soft tissue, like the frog and surrounding tissues, but never thought about it attacking the sole. Holy cow was I surprised when Mr Mrs Mom took the hoof knife to Estes' sole and found all sorts of thrush. In fact, her sole looked like marble and her frog was a disaster, even after the two weeks' worth of treatment.
Here's a video of Mr Mrs Mom working on Estes' gimpy foot. It's long and there's lots of chatter in the background, but you can very clearly see the marbling in her sole from the thrush.
Did you notice that he didn't use a traditional farrier's hold? I love the way he held her hoof and it's much easier for me, too.
We'd ridden pretty hard before her trim and she was a little sore, which you can see at the end of the video, but it's nothing like her gimpy video.
14 comments:
Thrush is a huge issue in the Pacific Northwest. I'm battling it with Kona right now.
Can I ask - without sound like a total dork... about how much frog seemed to be trimmed away? I have a barefoot trimmer and have been learning a lot about how important healthy frogs are and that ideally, they aren't supposed to slough off to a major degree.
Kona is a bit tip-toe-ish right now because her frogs are tender.
Glad to see Estes improving!!
I learned more from that one video than I have from watching my own farrier for the past ten years. Also, I think I need to sharpen my hoof knife, because mine certainly doesn't slice that easy. It looked like he was slicing into a block of cheese.
Wow, thank you so much!
First, I could happily listen to MMM talk all day. He sounds exactly right. Yall, that is what people are supposed to talk like.
The video was totally fascinating! Estes didn't know what to think about her new foot when she walked off. I could tell the breakover had really changed from the way she was flipping it around.
I hold feet that way too. I think it's slightly harder to rasp, but much easier for me and the horse to get away from each other if she yanks or I fall over or whatever. The traditional hold seems like it's really easy to torque those knee ligaments sideways.
Great, great video. Thanks to all of yall for participating and posting!
Funny how easy he makes trimming off that hoof look so easy. I've tried and I just don't have the strength in my hands to get that kind of response.
Thrush here, isnt a problem. However we do get it. It was basically treated the same as in the video. As this country can be quite wet, we do always keep an eye on this. It can cause a horse to founder.
We have quite a bit of thrush here, but this summer and fall have been very dry so it hasn't been much of a problem this year so far. Very interesting and instructive video!
Rachel- Dear Husband (aka: Mr Mrs Mom ...LOL) only took what was ready to slough or infected. We tend to be very very conservative in what we remove from frogs, and also sole material. ONLY take what the hoof is willing to give at any time.
Hey Funder- just think... I get to listen to that every day ;) *giggle*
NuzMuz- A brand new factory sharp The Knife comes with an edge like no other. Keeping yours sharp is helpful, but remember- Dear Husband is strong like bull and has been doing this for many many years. He makes most all of it looks easy.
MiKael- He has a grip strength that bottoms out the grip meters. No kidding-- one hand was over 800# when we were trimming full time. These days its less, but still strong enough to get the job done and make it look way easy.
I don't know why, but I love watching farriers trim hooves. There is something about the strong, sure cuts that do make it look as easy as slicing a piece of cheese. I've also tried it...it ain't easy!
How interesting that the marbling was almost symmetrical on either side of the hoof. Do you know if that is typical? Since more of the sole was cut there to get rid of the dead tissue, did MMM have to trim the other hoof in the same manner for balance, or doesn't it matter?
WOW, what a great video of Estes getting her healthy trim !
I loved hearing/seeing M.M.M. tell us how tos...thanks for posting this and so happy that your mare will soon be Trush free.
KK
Dreaming- When you have a situation like that, you have to trim each foot to it's own balance point. Estes was more balanced when Dear Husband was done, than she was pre-trim. We don't balance one foot to another- each foot is its own entity, and is worked on as an individual.
Technically, where Mom and Bill live is high desert, so it's dry. And since it was dry, I didn't worry much about thrush. However, as I learned - being in a dry environment doesn't mean anything. Just think about how your skin dries and sometimes cracks when it's dry - same thing happens to their hooves. That crack allows the thrush to enter and thrive since it's anaerobic (doesn't need oxygen to survive).
Pardon me for jumping in here Mrs Mom...but just wanted to clarify for Dreaming...
Estes left and right hooves are drastically different. Her left sole was in very good shape, just needed cleaned a little bit. It did not have the same deep marbling as her right hoof. Since Estes is prone to growing more heel on the right hoof, her breakover is different on that foot and she is not inclined to shed sole the same way as the left foot.
DH did bring the heels on Estes' right foot down. She had a lot of heel that needed to come off to bring her back into balance. However, balance to Estes does not mean that her 2 front feet are matching in shape and angle.
Thanks for the video. I have slow internet, and this is the first chance I got to play the whole thing. Loved it!
yep, high desert of southern Idaho here, and a couple of our horses get thrush too.
- The Equestrian Vagabond
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