Scratches For Gem

You would think in 5 years with some pretty spectacularly crappy boarding plots that the fungus would have taken hold a long time ago. But you would be wrong :)

When I went to ride in all 4 boots last weekend I was grossed out by her right hind fetlock that was covered in a gooey, crusty nastiness and had a typical mild panic attack. You would think that being a doc would allow me to evaluate my own animals and son in a methodical and fully functioning brain type fashion. But you would be wrong again :)

I pulled the hubs over to take a look and she had it on her other 3 legs as well although not as bad. The online forums/facebook have been alight with scratches posts, so I kinda figured that was the problem. I evaluated where the boots were and it was higher up her leg. That along with the fact that she hadn't worn the fronts before led me to the reasonable conclusion that it was thankfully not due to her boots and was more than likely due to the horrendous wet weather we have been having.

It is a little odd though since her pasture is pretty dry being on top of a hill. And the grass is short. I would have thought that the knee deep grass, always damp, puddly pasture at Crabby Acres would have done it before this place.

Anyway...I cleaned it up and sprayed it down with blue coat and crossed my fingers that it would go away quickly. She wasn't sore or lame and her hooves, while wet, were thrush free thankfully. I had planned to make it out on Tuesday for another look and potentially to shave the hair in those areas to allow better air flow for drying, but then my parents moved away from the arctic north and landed 7 minutes from my house in their own glorious abode in the land of sunshine and happiness, so I've been spending a lot of time there. It has been 8 years since I've lived close to family.

The hubs ran out to the barn yesterday to take out more grain (we supply our own at this new barn)  and I asked him to have a look. He reported back that the 3 other legs were completely healed. Her right hind had apparently gotten worse over the week and grew to double in nasty size, but had now dried out and was looking much better. It wasn't swollen or painful and while the hair has fallen out at least it looks to be on the mend. He applied my favorite anti thrush powder and I am anxious to get a look at it myself here soon. I'm lucky to have not had to deal with this before and will be keeping a close eye on her. If it continues to be an issue I will have to take a serious look at the flora in her pasture to make sure there isn't a particular plant she is reacting to as well as her nutrition to make sure she isn't lacking something important at the new barn.

As long as she looks and feels fine, we are heading out to the mountains with S this weekend to log some serious trail miles and test those boots. Yay!