Thrush!!

Um!

Well so I was outside to day picking the horses feet and I noted a foul smell (but not enough to knock you over) coming from Leah and Cricket's front feet. I very quickly noted it had slowly increased in the past 3 days and I ran inside to look it up online. Yes, it was a mild and early case of Thrush!

It makes perfect sense! The rains we got in the past 2 weeks, standing in the same place for feeding every day for hours at a time. It really fits together!

This is what a mild and early case of Thrush looks like; moist/wet hooves, stinky hooves, and a small amount of blackish pasty mud in the cracks of the hoof.

No! I didn't stand around like an idiot and think, "I say! Hmm! This might be bad!" .... No, I found out how to treat it! You get a bucket of warm water and add some dish soap and vinegar, then get a hoof pick and scrub brush, get your horse and pick it's feet and without letting the hoof fall, scrub for ages until all the black comes out! AND, after all that you have to dry the hoof with a towel until **all** the moisture is gone! It takes for ever and from what I heard it still leaves a stain. Repeat for a week or till all moisture is gone.

So about where to feed, I'm going to move the hay and be sure they stand in a dry spot.

All this treatment and talking makes me feel like a hoof and horse care expert. Kinda like a doctor! . . . . Well . . . . Let this be my lesson. . . . . Clean the hooves more often and feed in dry places. Well, at least I caught it and it's all under control!

Toodles!

Priscilla