TB Feet

Four days after we got home from Prineville Cartman was due to have his shoes replaced. 

When Gary pulled off his right front and started to trim it he discovered a small bruise in the toe.  It was actually oozing a little bit of fluid :(

As he trimmed he even found another tiny spot of bruising, also in the right front toe.

We deliberated.  At first he wanted to leave the shoe off and have me wrap his foot.  I was OK with that but didn't want to wait too long to get the shoe back on.  The earliest that he would be able to fit us back into the shoeing schedule was 6 days later.

I was really hesitant to leave the shoe off that long, uncertain whether I could successfully keep his foot wrapped for almost a week.  It is really hot and dry here and Cartman lives in a field.  I could just see the wrap wearing off one day and him bruising that foot up even worse.

Finally, after several minutes of examining the bruise and coming up with other options we settled on a plan.  He would pack the toe of that foot with a medicated material that he uses under the pads on Navicular horses.  The regular Equi-Pak would fill in behind the medicated material and support his foot as it normally does.  The medicated stuff is a little softer than Equi-Pak so would allow the spot to have less pressure.

If I observed any soreness, swelling, or other signs of foot trouble I would get the shoe off and start soaking.

Its been 10 days now and Cartman seems absolutely fine.  Michelle and I did a real easy 8 mile trail ride the weekend after shoeing and he had no troubles with that. So, we have been back to regular training for the last week.

I believe that the bruising was caused by me riding him too hard on the logging roads prior to having his pads put on:(  He never seemed sore or lame, except for that freaky spell right before Klickitat- and that was the OTHER LEG????  WTH.  Horses will give you an ulcer!

My plan for next year is to pad immediately when I have his shoes put on for spring training.  I always try to be careful with Cartman and it was just horrifying to think I caused him to bruise his sole.

Last weekend we got in almost 10 miles on our home trails on Saturday and the horses did some killer hill trots.  I made sure that when we were riding on the older logging roads that we stuck to the grassy strip in the middle to keep the footing as soft as possible.

Sunday Todd and I took Buddy Weiderman to his first car show in Woodland.  It was a blast. We relaxed and got some sunshine and even got some yummy Teriyaki!