Daisy Haven Farm, Inc.

I seem to be a bit behind in our foot of the week posts…I swear I don’t know where the time goes some weeks!

In the past few weeks we’ve seen some really good feet, and also some really BAD feet. So I thought this would be a good time to highlight the differences between the two!

The horse who owns this foot is a new client. We were called in because the horse can barely walk over uneven ground. With these contracted heels, narrow, weak frog, and lack of soft tissue in the back of his foot it’s no wonder he’s so sore! We’ve implemented a plan to rehabilitate the soft tissue, build his frog back up, and correct the imbalance in his feet!

Unfortunately in our area, we see a lot of horses with feet like these! Here are a few more examples:

Every one of these horses had healthy soft tissue at some point in their lives! Can you imagine where they’d be if someone recognized the path they were on BEFORE they lost this much soft tissue (frog, digital cushion, and strength in their lateral cartilages)?

So when I get after everyone about the health of their horses’ frogs, this is why. The first sign that something is going wrong in the back half of the foot is the health (or lack thereof!) of the frog!

Here is Hershey after only 2 months of rehabilitation:

Notice his wider, healthier frog! This also translates to his soft tissue in the back half of his foot. Also notice how his heel bulbs are more rounded, less “pointed”…that is the soft tissue underneath filling in between his lateral cartilages! Hershey is much more comfortable even at this point in his rehabilitation!

It was an interesting week this past week. Kelly, Terry and I saw many different kinds of feet, but there were several that stood out for their overall health! I have to say that the best foot of that group belongs to a draft-cross name Moses!

The best things about this foot, in no particular order, are:

1. Thick inner wall

2. Good concavity and healthy sole

3. Wide, bulbous frog, with no thrush

4. Good sized heel purchase with good inner wall

5. Thick well-blended bars that tie in to the heel purchase

Moses is a new horse for his owner, so her job will be to prevent Moses’s new environment from negatively impacting his beautiful feet! Not necessarily an easy job, but I know she’s up to the task!

I’m thinking with all the pictures that we take of the feet we’re working on, you all might like to see some of them every once in awhile! So I’m going to start a “Foot of the Week” post, which will be pulled from the previous week’s horses we’ve worked on. I’m open to suggestions of things you’d like to see…please email me!

So for our FIRST week, I thought we should start with a healthy foot with good structure!

With all the wet weather we’ve had this winter, we have been seeing an amazing amount of thrush and White Line Disease (for more information on thrush and WLD: http://www.daisyhavenfarm.com/thrush.htm )

What’s even MORE amazing to me is how many horses with VERY healthy feet can withstand even the amount of wet their feet are exposed to and maintain a healthy foot; especially white line and frog!

So in honor of those horses, I thought we should take a look at a good example of the kind of feet that are maintaining structure at this time of year…Kudos to their owners for a job well done! (you know who you are!)

This foot is an excellent example:

While Teddy’s environment isn’t ideal…mud, mud, mud, oh and did I mention, mud?…he is in consistant work, and his owner pays meticulous attention to preventing thrush with topical non-necrotizing antimicrobials. Obviously her hard work is paying off!

…there’s nothing like being on TOP of one!

Kelly and I took advantage of the mild weather we’ve been having and indulged in an afternoon ride. Kelly is on her dark bay mare, Alexa, and I am on, who else, Mr. National Champion, Windy. Nice to know even superstars like him “let their hair down” in the winter!

Kelly and I met because Alexa foundered several years ago. After pursuing treatment in NJ where Alexa was boarded, Kelly decided to move Alexa to here to Daisy Haven Farm, Inc where she has been ever since! It was the beginning of a terrific relationship!

Kelly is going to be competing Alexa in Dressage this year…can you tell we’re itching for SPRING?

It was a busy week last week as Kelly, Terry, and I attended the Int’l Hoof-Care Summit, in Cincinatti, Ohio. We attended 4 days of lectures, round table discussions, and how-to classrooms with a variety of farriers and veterinarians as speakers and presenters: Dr. Mike Steward, Dr. Steve O’Grady, Dr. Andy Parks, Dr. John Stewart, Gene Ovnicek, Dave Richards, and many others.

It never ceases to amaze me how wide a variety of people attend these educational events. The people you meet and make connections with is priceless.

I met an amazing farrier from southwestern Texas…practically Mexico…and was fascinated by the description of his daily work. He even has a monkey companion that travels with him every day! I asked him if the monkey pulled shoes for him…we all got a good laugh out of that!

I met women farriers from all around the world…I’m always interested to meet other women in the profession (sorry guys) as it’s definitely a male dominated farrier world we live in! Our challenges are always a bit different than those of the men, however our strengths are as well!

Ok, and how many MEN want to go to the fantastic “Churchill’s Tearoom” in Cincinatti for tea and sandwiches?

Well, even without the tea and sandwiches, it was an amazing experience. Some other highlights were the Laminitis roundtable discussion where we talked about Laminitis First Aid…what to do FIRST when you suspect laminitis. The consensus was: call the vet, apply support (frog and to some degree sole), and apply ice (in a slurry, but without making the foot wet). We listened to 2 very interesting lectures by Dr. Andy Parks, one on “Why Form and Function Are So Critical” and the other one “Laminitis Update: What Works, What Doesn’t and What’s Next”. Both of which were well presented and informative. One other very special highlight of the week was the time spent with Dr. Mike Steward. Dr. Steward walked us through a wide variety of his catastrophic laminitis cases, his protocol and the progress of each case! What a fantastic opportunity to learn from one of the leaders in treating laminitis successfully!

So all in all a great week! Over the next few days, weeks, months we will be processing and digesting more of what we learned at this year’s Int’l Hoof-Care Summit. If you would like more info on what we listened to, what we liked and what we didn’t like, please email or call!

Hello!

I’ve wanted to add a blog to the site for awhile now, and just hadn’t had time to get to it! BUT, here we are…BLOGGING! This blog will be full of items from our daily adventures in hoof care. Please feel free to comment, ask questions, etc.