Will's Foot continued

Just and update. The farrier has been and the hole in the sole of Wills foot has been cut out and the shoe put back on. He is 100% sound. The farrier said we had already done the hard yards with the poulticing (and the Davis Poultice Boot). We also used a Davis Barrier boot which is sort of like an Easy boot but much easier to use (also more reasonably priced!). Once the need for poulticing was gone, the vet suggested keeping it wrapped or covered, so we used vetwrap and then put on the barrier boot. It was great as he was able to play and canter around as he usually does and the barrier boot is more hardy than the poultice boot. All in all a great result for our horse!

Here's Will and The Amazing Poultice Boot

Warren Backhouse 5 Star Reining Clinic

WOW!  What a week. Speed and I have just arrived home from a fantastic week at a 5 Star Reining Clinic. We all know what an amazing trainer and rider Warren is, but now I know what a great teacher he is!  I cannot recommend these clinics highly enough. There are just not enough adjectives!

Day one we learnt how to move our horses, bend them, isolate the front parts from the back parts. Day two was lead changes and oh how simple they seem now! Day three was turn arounds, day four, roll backs and day five, the all important stopping and how to ride a pattern.  But there was so much more that evolved over the week, I have learnt so much and have gained heaps more confidence in my own abilities.  The differences in everyone's horses by the end of the week was astounding. Some more than others!

Thanks to all the other riders for their companionship and friendship over the week, especially to the 'Golden Girls'.... you know who you are!  Also thanks to those who provided such great meals for the week... you also know who you are!  And of course, thanks to Wazza for pushing us when we needed pushing but also at the same time knowing when to ease up!

Can't wait for the video....

Will and his sore foot

Well the vet's been again and she says it all looks good. Still have to keep his foot dry so I am keeping the poultice boot on and just wrapping his foot in vetwrap.  I've had to tape off a huge  corner of the paddock as there is a large puddle there and guess who's been playing in it? Poor Will looked quite forlorn today as if I'd taken away his favourite toy!

5 Star Reining Clinic

Off to Caboolture today for a week with Warren learning lots of new stuff! Can't wait!

Mitchell Campdraft

Mitchell Campdraft cancelled. Poor Ian and anyone else who travelled all the way out to Mitchell, only to turn around and come home the next day. It started raining as he arrived on Thursday night and it hasn't stopped. The cattle all arrived despite one of the B-triple cattle trucks getting bogged at the site but it was just too wet to start.

Davis Poultice Boot Saves The Day!

Yep, it stayed on. (See my previous post). I reckon if Will can keep one of these boots on, any horse can wear one! I could see some teeth marks that indicated that he'd tried to have a play with it but all is well and he's given up.  It started to rain in earnest this morning and he's happily slopping about in the mud with the boot on and his wrapped up foot is clean and dry. I changed the dressing last night and it wasn't too difficult to get off and then back on again. Will is also not lame anymore with the boot on so that is a bonus. Still has a huge hole in the bottom of the sole of his foot, but not lame.  Only one more needle to go and I have successfully done the last four without blood or butchering his poor neck!

The Sore Foot and How Not to Give a Penicillin Injection...

Poor Will, his foot is VERY sore this morning. I gave him his needle, something I have done countless times. I did all the usual things.... drew the imaginary triangle on his neck, inserted the needle in the correct spot, and checked for blood and all was fine. But for some reason, this time when I reattached the syringe to the needle, it wouldn't budge. I just could not get the plunger to go in. So I had to remove the needle and go again. Poor horse, what a pin cushion. The look on his face nearly made me cry. Anyway, got it done but worried and worried all day. Was he ok? How was his neck? Had the lump (yes there was a sizeable lump) gone down?  When I got home he was the happiest camper so I really needn't have worried.  Tonight's needle when decidedly better with Ian's help holding him  and I gave it to him in the chest.  He barely noticed I was doing it.

So with rain forecast, my next dilemma.  The vet had said "Don't let his foot get wet!" Our stables are not completely set up yet, so the paddock is our only choice.  What about a poultice boot?  So I grabbed a Davis Poultice Boot and put Wills bandaged hoof in it. Went on really easily and did up with not much fiddling. Anyway, he's got it on tonight and it seems fine. Will wasn't the slightest bit concerned by it and even walked a bit better with it on.  Fingers crossed it's still there in the morning, but I honestly can't see how it would come off.  Watch this space...

Shoe Ripped Off

Last night Will ripped his front shoe off when Speed chased him from the hay. (ALL the  hay belongs to Speed, apparently). Anyway, he twisted away and the shoe/nail cut the sole of his foot, right through the laminae. When I arrived home last night, Ian had rescued Will from the evil clutches of Speed and tied him up with a hay net in the stables. But he could hardly walk and wouldn't let Ian remove the shoe. So in the car headlights (no power at the shed), with much teamwork and cursing, we finally removed the shoe and I cleaned his foot, poured about half a bottle of Betadine over it and poulticed and wrapped it up. Luckily, I am very practiced when it comes to bandaging and poulticing with Animalintex (don't know what I'd do without it and I always have some in the horses first aid kit) as I had a gelding years ago who regularly needed his feet wrapped due to abscesses.

The vet Tracey came today and is concerned the nail may have scratched the pedal bone so he is on antiboitics and has his foot poulticed all the time. But she also did something I'd not seen before....she soaked the Animalintex in a solution of Iodine first, then placed that on the foot, then wrapped it. What a great idea!  Keeps the antibacterial Iodine right there with the drawing properties of the poultice. Thanks Tracey! So Will is out of action probably for a month. Hopefully he will have a speedie recovery. He's lapping up all the attention!

Tight Saddle

At the show on the weekend, Ian was approached by a rider who asked if he thought her saddle (western show saddle) was too tight down on her horses shoulders. Her horse had been showing signs of discomfort and pain whenever that saddle was used on that horse. She was concerned that the saddle was hurting him. When I tried, I noticed that I wasn't able to slide my hand in under the front of the bar. On assessment from Ian it did seem to be extremely tight, and this can restrict the shoulder movement and cause pain. He could not slide his finders under the saddle at this point, and he noted that the saddle was slightly 'downhill' on the horses back.

This can be caused by a tree that is too wide at the base of the front of the bars. So it slides too far down over the wither.  This means the weight of the saddle and rider, is not shared or spread, over the broad surface of the bar as it is supposed too. All the weight is concentrated on a narrow strip, at the top of the bar with very little weight at the bottom of the bar.  (Like standing on your toes instead of your whole foot.) We were able to loan this rider a contour pad to run under the saddle, as Ian thought it would assist in filling up some of the space left by the too wide bars, and offer some cushioning at the top. With the contour pad on, the saddle sat quite level. Using the contour pad did seem to make the horse more comfortable.

Please note that if a saddle tree doesn't fit a particular horse, it does not make it a bad saddle or tree. It just means that the tree doesn't fit that horse's back at it's particular time of development. No one saddle tree will fit all horses.

Weekend Show

We attended the Gunalda 'A' show at Nambour this weekend and had a great day. Great turn out to a well run show. I had a friend, Zac, show Will and what a fantastic job he did winning and placing in Improver and Beginner trail, his first attempt at showing. Speed and I had a mixed day as we are still learning how to go one handed!  Managed a 3rd in Amateur Trail  and a couple of other placings so was happy with that. But I was most happy with getting a score in the Beginner Reining! Thanks to all who gave me advice on the day.