Ride 100

I didn't take any pictures, sorry!  I almost talked myself out of riding for no reason at all except that I just really didn't want to... but I made myself get on anyway.  It was short, but good.  The wind was blowing really hard, but Chrome didn't seem bothered by it at all.  I mostly worked on lateral flexion, backing and yielding his haunches.  He remembered how to move off my leg in BOTH directions!!! I'm so proud of him!  He still tries to walk forward sometimes and occasionally shuffles sideways (he even did a perfect sidepass!!) instead of crossing over properly, but he definitely has the idea figured out.  We can work on technique hehe.  I'm thinking about asking him to do it in a walk.  I'm wondering if crossing over might be easier if he's moving forward.  Is that too advanced for just learning?  Should he be able to do it perfectly while standing still before we move on to walking?  Anyway I'm really proud of him for remembering!

I cut the ride short because it started sprinkling on us and I just wasn't in the mood to ride I guess.  After I untacked him I had just a halter on him (left my rope at the barn oops), but I asked him to trot and he did this HUGE trot beside me all the way to the pasture hehe.  When I turned him loose, he cantered away, so he was feeling frisky, but he contained himself while I rode.  :)  Sorry our 100th ride was so boring haha.  I hope you all are having good rides!

1st Oxine (White Lightning) Treatment

 I love seeing what pictures the GoPro takes when set to every ten seconds hehe.

I did Chrome's first thrush treatment today.  It was a total pain in the butt, but Chrome was a total love bug and an absolute perfect angel so it's okay.  He's worth it.  :D

First I had to clean them out as much as possible... without a hose... lol.  I used water bottles to pour water over his hooves.  They definitely weren't as clean as they should have been.  Oh well.

Jackal was convinced he had to help by eating the stinky crap I dug out of Chrome's hooves... ew.

 Still helping...

Then I had to mix the Oxine and vinegar to activate it.  I didn't realize it had to sit for a few minutes before adding the water so we walked up and down the driveway to kill time.

 Chrome had to help me take the tape off lol.

 Pausing during our walk for a foot picture.

Our legs are the same length lol.

Then I added the water and got my fancy (ghetto) Ziploc baggie soaking boots and put his hooves in them.

 Zipping his hoof in the duct tape reinforced baggie.

 Wrapping duct tape around his pastern to keep it on and keep the gas in.

 Chrome's ghetto booties.

Waiting for twenty minutes while they soaked was boring!!!!  Chrome did a good job of keeping me entertained by smiling at me, licking my hands, wiggling his lip in my palm, etc.  He is the derpiest horse on the planet and can totally keep himself entertained so easily haha.  He did fantastic standing really still too!

The baggies held up really well (I put duct tape all over the bottom where they would touch the ground to reinforce them) so I should be able to reuse them.  :D  I was bad and didn't do his back hooves because my back is hurting.  I will do them tomorrow.  Then we will see mid week or next weekend how they look and decide if he needs a second treatment.  I'll continue to do my salt water during the week and I have a ton of Apple Cider Vinegar so I might try that too since a reader commented about having good success with it.  Thanks!

After that we went for a mile walk to let his hooves dry while still clean.  I know it's a lost cause with all the mud, but Jackal and hubby wanted to go too so it was fun.  Here are pictures from our walk (still LOVE my GoPro!).

 My boys!

I reached over to take the rope back from hubby and got clobbered (see the shadow?).  Naughty horse!  He didn't bite.  He just uses his lips.  He's good about that.  :)

 My handsome boys!

 Hubby steering Chrome back onto the road and almost tripping over Jackal lol.

Chrome is a big boy and can walk all by himself haha.  

I left his rope over his back while I walked backwards in front of them for pictures.  He tried to explore a trail that he is absolutely fascinated with (goes off into the woods, but sadly it's private property) so that's why hubby had to lead him back onto the road in the second to last picture.  :)  

The walk was fun, but doing the hooves was boring and annoying.  It would be so much easier with running water (ours is off in the winter) and a concrete wash stall, but we did the best we could.  I'm impressed how well the baggies worked, but I'm gonna have to buy mom another roll of duct tape because I used a lot of it lol.  I'm looking forward to seeing how his hooves look in a day or two.  They looked so clean and smelled nice after the soak, so I'm hopeful.  I only had to use two tablespoons per hoof of the Oxine so that bottle should last me years!!  Even if I decided to do monthly maintenance treatments in the winter to prevent it.  I love that it's all natural too so it can't hurt him and it bio-degrades into regular table salt so it's environmentally friendly.  :) I'll keep you updated on his hooves!  I'm hoping to ride tomorrow to see if his stride feels normal again.  I haven't ridden him since the longeing we did last week.  :\

White Lightning for thrush.

A bunch of people suggested White Lightning for treating thrush, so I decided to try it.  When I got to work today I was so disappointed to find she doesn't carry it.....  So I asked hubby to order some online.  He looked at it and told me some great news!  White Lightning when mixed with vinegar creates Chlorine Dioxide!!  That's also the active ingredient in Clean Trax and Vetricyn.  Chlorine Dioxide (Oxine AH) is what we used to disinfect our poultry facilities when we were raising a lot of chickens!!!  So we have some.... somewhere.  I have no idea where it ended up or if it's been in the sun at all, so I'm ordering a new bottle.  The good news is it's a LOT cheaper than White Lightning.  You can order a gallon for around thirty bucks (that's with shipping and handling so if you can find it somewhere without paying shipping good for you!).

Here is an article I found on using it for hoof problems.  http://www.hoof-smart.com/2010/07/02/hoof-care/treat-and-prevent-hoof-infections-with-oxine-ah/

As soon as it gets here I'll let you know how it works out for Chrome.  In the mean time I'll continue using my salt water to hopefully keep it from getting worse.  I wish I'd started using my salt water as a preventative at the beginning of winter so that he never would have developed it, but I forgot.  So for anyone who uses White Lightning, definitely check into this as a cheaper alternative (about a dollar per treatment for all four hooves if activated).  :)  Also don't worry, it's the exact same stuff, so you aren't sacrificing results or safety for price.  You can google Oxine AH to see what all it has been used for.