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Wentworth Hunter Pace - June 6, 2021

After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time!  most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the...

Anyone have any experience with shoe boil boots???

Snap Dancer is probably the only horse I have owned who has the strangest little problems.  My old Morgan, Sparky, liked to randomly colic and freak me out and Dreamy has COPD which I have managed in a wide variety of ways over the years.  While both of those issues are scary and potentially serious, I was always lucky to be able to easily treat them over the years.  

Snappy has had ulcers, aural plaques, weight gain problems, and now dry elbows (which if I don't treat could eventually turn into shoe boils and/or capped elbows).  They have always been slightly flaky when she wears shoes for half the year, presumably from the heel end of her shoes hitting her elbows when she lies down in her stall. Over the past several months it has gotten progressively worse.  Her elbows are not inflamed or swollen, just dry and cracked with flaky skin.  I have tried bacitracin, Bannix, a product called Dublin Dip, and Vit E capsules and bell boots at night.  Nothing made it any better.  Even though the bell boots protected the elbow from the shoe, there was still pressure.  Today my vet came out to float teeth, so of course I asked his opinions.  He prescribed a triamcinolone (corticosteroid) ointment and recommended the shoe boil boots instead of bell boots.

Now, call me crazy, but these things look super uncomfortable.  Anyone in blog land ever use them?  Are they as hard as they look?  It makes me worried she won't want to lie down with these hard plastic things on her hooves.  Maybe it will help, since it appears the boot will create a large space for her elbow (unless she just pushes the boot against her elbow...!).  I am wondering if there are any other ideas or experiences out there anyone can share!  :-)

Comments

  1. Hi. I've had a mid-20's Standardbred for 3 years and he came with flaky elbows. He's barefoot, so I know it's not irritation from shoes. He is committed to sleeping in his stall at night, so it's possible it's pressure-related. But, no topical worked for me -- I've used a steroid/antibiotic/antihistamine ointment, Corona, aloe. Adding a cup of Omega Horsehine -- flax -- to his feed has helped the most. He's a mildly itchy guy, year round, and the flax has helped reduce all of his dandruff. At the recommendation of a racetrack friend, I'm about to try coconut oil on them. Good luck.

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  2. Those are interesting! I have never even heard of them. I do feed my horses an omega 3, that sure helped Henry's general (not area specific) dry skin :)

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  3. I had an extremely leggy barefoot QH gelding that developed a grapefruit sized abcess on one armpit. The vet lanced it, gave antibiotics and recommended a boil boot-the black buckle on donut looking device. He healed up nicely and did not seem to mind the boot-even as an exuberant six year old. As the healing progressed he went back to work and only wore the boot during his paddock time. I ended up leaving it on for almost three months as the original abcess was so deep and gnarly and he never gave any indication that the boot was bothering him.

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