DIY Hoof Poultice & a Few Miscellaneous Photos & Thoughts

Here's a trail blooper from a ride yesterday morning, the photos I don't usually share, but probably should. Something is wrong.  Can you see it?

Here's the photo you usually see.  Cowboy's eye seems to say, I like the other photo better, mom.

More pictures from the 1st day releasing Foxy.  Can you tell what's happening in this photo?

Here is the same scene with a little more close-up view.

And a ride with Cowboy from last week.  Riverside State Park--the same park where I rode with Leah in the Heaven, I'm in Heaven post.

This is the same spot I took the photo with Leah.

My herd is still sorting it out with Foxy.  We have a very strong mare herd dynamic--they can hear each other think--and it takes a bit to get a new mare synchronized.

I'm also nursing an abscess with Little Joe.  It popped in his frog this week.  I used the Animalintex poultice pads, wrapped in duct tape, to draw it out. They're kind of spendy, especially when they just fall off from bad wrapping.  I lost 3 of the 6 pads!  My trainer uses a diaper (cut to fit), with nitrofurazone and epsom salts, duct taped onto the hoof.  A little DIY poultice idea.

Today, since it has popped, I'm going to soak it in warm water and epsom salts and pack it with sugardine (sugar and iodine).  He's been getting my wraps off pretty easily, so I'm going to vet wrap it up and over his ankle and then reinforce it with duct tape around the hoof area, to keep it dry.

My neighbor delivered a truck load of cedar chips to me last weekend, out of the blue, no charge.  Can you believe it?  I was in need of wood chips, too.

The weather is cold, wet and blustery up here in the Northwest, and I feel like I'm always cold, but I'm going to bundle up and go out to ride Leah today.  I have a new obstacle I'm going to work on and that I'll share with you in a later post.