Farrier Friday

As I mentioned the other day, my farrier was able to come out Tuesday, just a few days after our visit with our vet, Dr. Tolley. I have always assumed that everyone else loves their farriers as much as I do. I don't go through farriers very often. A few have retired or moved away; that's always a bummer. One turned out to be too rough with my horses. And for about a six month period I couldn't find anyone reliable.

Dr. Tolley (in the middle) and Brad Allen (farrier)

My last farrier and I parted ways when he disagreed with my vet's assessment. My vet thought one thing, farrier thought another, and we decided to go our separate ways. The split was quite amicable, and there weren't any lasting hard feelings. It was then that I met my current farrier, P. Mullins. He's been doing my horses for very close to 5 years.

PM's first visit back at our last barn.

When Dr. Tolley diagnosed Speedy with possible While Line Disease, I called my farrier a week early. To my relief, but not to my surprise, he was able to come out on Tuesday. I left him a lengthy voicemail detailing all of the concerns that Dr. Tolley had raised:
1) Speedy's possible White Line Disease
2) Speedy's current abscess - I wanted my farrier to give it a check three days after the vet had seen it.
3) Izzy's banged up hind foot

My farrier texted back that he would look at everything. 

One of the wonderful things about my farrier is that he has two assistants so he doesn't need for me to be there. I would like to be there, and once or twice a year it works out, but for the most part, he just shows up on the scheduled day and texts me if he has any concerns.

One of Speedy's freshly trimmed feet.

The good news is that my farrier could find no hint of White Line Disease. From what I gather, a quick way to check to is to trim the bottom of the hoof to "expose" the white line. If the horse has White Line Disease, the white line will have a white or gray powdery substance. Speedy did not show any of those signs. His white line was white. My farrier felt the hole was more likely the remnants of an old bruise or "whack," which is what I had originally thought.

Either way, the hole needs to be doctored to prevent any kind of infection from forming. He agreed that the Tea Tree Oil was a good choice, but any disinfectant would work, even straight bleach. 

My farrier also checked Speedy's abscess. He reported that while the abscess must have been deep, it looks like it's healing up just fine. He recommended keeping it wrapped until the hole no longer feels soft to the touch. he also suggested that I wrap until it's no longer pink. That's a hard visual to use since the Betadine stains the hoof red. It's still wrapped more than the seven days Dr. Tolley recommended. I'll reassess tonight, but I will probably leave it wrapped into the weekend.

No big deal.

We never even talked about the little split in Izzy's hoof. It was just a small crack where the hoof wall had sort of bent, but not torn off. It looked a lot like a hang nail. And like a hang nail, my farrier just nipped it off. I've ridden Izzy several times now, and it's not even something that I can see.

I will say that my horses have been studied pretty hard over the past week. Right now, everyone is mostly healthy and fit. Speedy is just about to get back into work, Izzy would probably like a day off, and I KNOW I need a day off.

Thank goodness for Fridays.