Oh Christmas Tree!
First off, I'm NOT a huge Christmas fan. I like getting together with family and what not, but I think Christmas presents, the pressure, etc takes away from the holiday. I LOVE Thanksgiving and Easter the best personally. Family gathering, no pressure, not a whole lot of travel, etc. This Christmas, we will celebrate it 4 different times. 4 times the fun? Not really. ;)
But..that being said, I'm not a Scrooge either. I do love our family, the dinners, etc and the decorating.
Our little Home Depot tree-REAL-thank you!
She smells great and has a nice body to her with not a lot of height which I wanted.
Here are some of my horse ornaments!
This beautiful white horse reminds me of Gem Twist
Who can resit a Ropin' Frosty?
A rearing wooden Palomino
My new ornament that I got at the Horse Expo...who does this handsome TB look like?!
Love a draft!
Another Palie
Everyone loves a Donkey and Eeyore too!
This one is from my Childhood, so it's pretty old (not TOO old!) and the horse's mane is rabbit fur..I used to love to rub it when I was little
Today was barefoot trim. Laz had 6 or 7 weeks since the last trim.
I decided to yank his blanket to allow him a chance to roll if he wanted (he didn't) and to free lunge him.
Look at how long his tail is getting! Hoorah! Gogo, watch out! ;) Haha, yea right
The snow was plush and so beautiful as it glittered in the bright sun. Still COLD though..I think it was 24 today? I didn't check..I didn't want to know but it was bearable actually and the sun was sooooooo great!
So free lunging got boring so I decide to run and play and have Laz run and play with me. He did a whole lot of this while I ran around him. I beat him twice around the round pen. Not a very fast OTTB today ;)
But sweet and kissable for sure. I threw his blanket back on as our trimmer pulled up.
Today, he took some clippers to the right hind foot....ugh.
I kept saying, "Oh god." and "how do you know it won't just start gushing blood?!"
Cliff is very patient with me and said come Spring he can show me how to do some rasping myself and will come and check on me so I learn by doing. How cool!!! (and scary) but cool! I would love to know more about the feet and I'm a visual learner, so a hand's on approach may be the trick, along with other aids of course.
Anyway, the clipping exposed some thrush that had been hiding inside. Cliff said the cold should kill it. I'll keep an eye on it and if it seems to stay, I'll bust out the White Lightening and finally give that a try. Seems I need a soaking boot for that??
Look at this poor, poor hoof. So stretched and thick and bulbous and ugly.
So ugly
And scary
Reminds me of my YiaYia's (grandma) toenail that as a child was stuck by a porcupine's quill in Greece and never grew back the same. Thick and lumpy. Could Laz have the same?
I hope it comes back normal. Cliff said his growth at the top looks good.
His other rear is looking so great and normal. Both feet had laminitis in it but the right rear was the worse of the two. I just hope we are still progressing. Laz continues to walk the same and trot the same so that has to be a good sign? Seeing his hoof is just an everyday reminder that we are not out of the woods yet...on our way but slowly. Barefoot trimming started end of March 2010.
I love your ornaments!!
ReplyDeleteYour tree, well, she is just beautiful! I love your ornaments, I need to get some nice ones like yours instead of the el cheapo ones that I have.
ReplyDeleteLaz is lookin' good! I'm sure the cold will get rid of his thrush too - nasty stuff! :(
The new hoof growth actually looks pretty good - just give it time to grow out and it'll look much better. He looks pretty happy in the cold and snow!
ReplyDeleteLove the pretty ornaments!
ReplyDeletePetra Christensen
Parelli 2Star Junior Instructor
Parelli Central
Lovely ornaments. It's going to take time for the laminae to reattach. Even when it does once they have laminitis or worse, founder the laminae will never re-attach quite as strong. Give him time and proper diet and he will recover more. ps- apple cider vinegar is good for an every day thrush treatment.
ReplyDeleteYour tree is really sweet - especially with all the horsey ornaments. We are Gem Twist fans here. I really think your ornament from your childhood is extra special.
ReplyDeleteI think Laz is doing well. His right rear hopefully will just take a little more time. You have been so patient through this ordeal. That is just going to require a little more patience. And, it really doesn't look that bad - he is alive and happy, so that makes it look fine to me!
I was going to post something like, "Awww, poor Laz and his founder feet", but you know, he's such a happy boy and has made such great strides I think he is one lucky boy! :) Also, his new growth looks good to me.
ReplyDeleteI know less than Zero about Laminitis...however, have you thought about getting another farrier or two in just to look at his feet and give their opinion (I would hope most reputable folks would charge a very nominal fee)? Again, I know nothing and Cliff sounds great, but with something so serious, even with the best of the best, I think it can't hurt for other opinions. Of course, that may also make you crazy if you get two or three people telling you different things:)
For thrush, a very wise horsewoman told me a combo of Neosporin and athlete's foot cream works wonders.
Happy Holidays to you and your sweet Laz!
Christmas isn't my favorite either. I haven't put a tree up in 8 years. Just another day for us. I do LOVE the draft though, hehe, and the Ropin' Frosty is way cool!
ReplyDeleteI saw a video once that says a simple mixture of bleach and water is one of the best things to squirt on thrush. I bet the 1 ounce of lysol to a gallon of water mix would fix it too either as a spray or a soak.
How long ago did Laz founder?
Wow, what a large tree! Yes, all very pretty!!!! Even his back foot looks really pretty and is coming along great!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks all..it's encouraging. Sometimes that foot looks so scary to me.
ReplyDeleteSyd-I do have apple cider vinegar, I will use it :)
Sarah-hmm that sounds interesting! What kind of athlete's foot cream?
Stacey-Laz got a fever back in Oct 2010 which caused his founder. I consider his positive healing to start end of March 2010 b/c it's when I switched him from shoes to barefoot, and changed his diet too, etc.
I know you use that mix on Klein's crack with good results, so I'll look for that online info.
I 'treated' his thrush all summer long and thought I had it beat. I've read that laminitis can cause the hoof more prone to infections. UGH!
BUT..yes, Laz is happy happy happy so in the end, that is all that matters. Oh and that I kill that thrush too ;)
Aaaack! No bleach on hooves! It kills the thrush, yes, but it also kills healthy hoof tissue. Not good!
ReplyDeleteI would go the White Lightning route (ya don't need a boot, I just use heavy-duty gallon-sized plastic bags, duct tape, and Vetrap) a couple times, and spray a 50/50 mixture of ACV & water on his hooves every day. Also, the athlete's foot/Neosporin combo that someone else mentioned is great for thrush in the central sulchus. You can use any kind of athlete's foot cream, and just a generic triple antibiotic. Mix it up, put it in a syringe, and you're ready to go (people call this "Pete's Goo" because Pete Ramey thought of it).
Laz's founder foot is looking SO much better!! All that healthy growth at the top will eventually grow down -- it is just going to take time. And, yes, having his laminae stretched will certainly make him more prone to thrush, White Line Disease, etc. Heck, Salem had a little bit of White Line Disease because his white lines were stretched from a bad trim. Honestly, everything that you're doing for Laz is absolutely perfect! You're such a good horsie mom; if Laz was with someone else, he might not have made it or had such a great recovery!
Lol, that last comment was from me, Kristen. Someone else was signed onto Google on my computer! :-)
ReplyDeleteWow, his hoof has improved so much! Far from normal, but amazing considering how bad it was. :) I think it's great that he's going to teach you how to use a rasp. It's really easy and great to be able to do some maintenance on your own.
ReplyDeleteFor thrush I use regular table salt and water. Put salt in a spray bottle, fill with water, shake it up and spray it on. It really dries it out. It made Chrome's hooves looks great, where before they were very soft and spongy and gross.