Posts Tagged ‘poultice’
Hoof Poultice
Soaking rain showers have turned the paddock sloppy and the footing slippery, which is a little hair-raising for a limpy horse and her caregivers. Cyndie let me linger in bed while she did morning chores because she’d be gone all day and late into the evening, fulfilling her role as an election official.
She left me to keep a close eye on Mix.
Turned out that Mix was keeping a close eye on me.
I was happy to receive a message from our TOH (This Old Horse) handler, Maddy, that she would be stopping by to see what she could do for Mix. The first thing we noticed was that Mix was sweating beneath her rain cover. With temperatures in the 60s (F), Mix preferred standing in the rain to cool off.
Maddy was able to coerce Mix to move to a dry spot under the overhang where she was able to clean the hoof on the problem leg, pack it with a poultice, wrap it tightly, and then cover it with a boot.
Mix stood patiently for the entire procedure –she’s not inclined to move much in her current condition– and never reacted as if anything was causing acute pain. That’s all well and good, but it continues to leave us guessing about what the root cause is of her favoring that leg so much.
We are expecting a couple more days of wet weather before the ground will get a chance to start drying out. We are hoping the boot will survive the mud and muck through it all. It needs to come off in a couple of days to keep the hoof from getting too soft, so that foot will hopefully be ready for inspection by the farrier, who is scheduled to arrive in five days.
Our fingers are crossed with hopes for a full recovery to get our newly reduced-size herd on the way to settling into a new normal for a while. With so many funky accommodations being made for Mix and her highly noticeable lack of mobility, Swings and Light are coping but must be a little confused about what’s been going on.
It has crossed my mind that this might all be a convenient distraction that softens any potential shock over the sudden departure of one of their herdmates. In case there would have been any.
