To be honest, I don't even remember what my last post was written about. It's been quite a long time, and a lot has happened between then and now. So I figure I'll try to put together a blog post of our overall progress these past few months in the next week or so. So, for now, I'll just post what's been on my mind recently, and what Chase and I have been doing, ect.
The main topic that's been prompting itself has been hoof care. Hoof care, hoof care, hoof care. Chase abscessed last week, and while it wasn't that bad, it's still fascinating to learn about. His bars have been growing insanely fast-I have to trim them at least once every couple of weeks, if not once a week. He's also prone to blocky soles, as pointed out by the wonderful Fran Latane. I've learned that there is a whole lot out there for me to learn about the hoof as a result, and I'm delving into it happily with a voracious hunger. When I showed Fran the photos of the abscess, I learned that the abscess occurred because I left the bars too long and didn't clean the sole out enough. >.<. oops. Anyways, here's a couple photos of the abscess-it was on the left hind hoof.
If you noticed, the abscess was actually directly on a bruise. I cleaned out the abscess after it blew, and then starting to take out the bruised sole, only to find that it went deeper than I felt comfortable carving out. It's also interesting to note how he walked before the abscess blew the first time (it blew twice, the spots close together.), and until the damaged sole was taken out. It wasn't a normal limp-he'd bend his body like a banana while walking, his head bobbing up sharply every time his abscessed foot hit the ground. After the first clean out, he went back to walking straight, but with a pronounced limp still. Interesting stuff. A week later, he's no longer limping, but is tripping a lot. He's getting better, so I'm no longer worried about it, although I'm keeping an eye out.
On to the next hoof puzzle-for the past month or so, he's been stepping toe first on his left front. I was puzzled, because his hoof appeared to be fine-but what I wasn't aware of was that a frog can have thrush even when it appears to be fine, and that thrush causes pain in the back of the hoof, which would explain the toe-first stepping. I went out and tested his central sulcus with my hoof pick, and lo and behold, he jerked, and when I pulled the hoof pick away, black gunk came with it. So I then went and researched more, before deciding on a treatment to try. I'm scrubbing his entire hoof thoroughly with dawn and hot water daily, patting it dry, applying a few drops of vinegar to the affected areas, and then rubbing desitin into the entire frog before wrapping it in a make shift hoof boot made up of diaper padding and duct tape (to keep it clean and dry while it heals). Here's a few pics of my first attempt (last night). I definitely need practice, but chances are I'm never going to be this inexperienced at wrapping hooves with duct tape ever again, so I might as well record it and enjoy it ;). Wish me luck on my endeavor!
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