I took a few photos earlier this morning of Rocky and his Old Macs G2's. Looks like the spring thaw is well underway and we have been alternating between muddy swampy goop and frozen hard ground. As you can see from these photos, it's quite the mess!
Rocky has been wearing his G2's for four days now in these conditions and I wanted to see how things looked inside. Well, I didn't really *want* to (lol), but I figured that I had better check to make sure he wasn't getting any rubs anywhere, or scratches. I'll put a note next to each of the photos below explaining what they are. Click to enlarge.
This shows the area that the horses are in now. It's been like this all week. It melts during the day and becomes a goopy mess. Then at night, freezes up hard.
Here is how the boots look on Rocky when I got him out. He's wearing the G2's on his fronts, with dome comfort pads inside. I'm not using an inside gaiter or anything because I thought it might get too messy and wanted to see how it would work without.
After digging through the caked on mud, I found the end of the leather buckle strap. Used a tool to grab onto it and pull it to open. I did this same thing when putting the boot back on and was able to get it nice and snug.
Here is how the boots looked inside. I was able to use a hoofpick to clean a bit of the mud out. Once things dry out further, I'll take the boots off and give them a good cleaning.
I bought some medicated foot powder at the $1 store and have been putting that inside the boots. This helps keep it from getting smelly and so far so good - no signs of any thrush and no stench.
I used a brush and brushed off the foot that I took the boot off of. You can see that there has been no rubbing from the boots and everything looks great!
Another view showing Rocky's RF from the outside. There are no signs of scratches, rubbing, or tenderness. I am pretty sure that he is going to be diagnosed with insulin resistance (since he has all the signs) and am glad that he can wear the boots for extended periods in these kinds of conditions. I am really glad that he can walk around comfortably on the frozen uneven ground and have total hoof protection. Rocky is a happy camper!
Now if only this mud would dry out and stay dried out!!
Karen,
I have dealt with two insulin resistant horses and the biggest help I've found is Dr. Kellon's website on yahoo. Go to Yahoo Groups and search under Equine Cushings/Insulin Resistance. Neither of my two IR horses have been able to tolerate pasture time. However, exercise makes all the difference. If they work hard enough they can eat grass so if he can continue to do endurance that makes management a lot easier.
Good luck on this new journey with Rocky.
Mary
Posted by: Mary Sutliff | February 21, 2008 at 02:30 PM