Our skinny, young farrier came this morning…

His belt buckle still out-weighs him…

I hope he hasn’t gotten into chewing tobacco yet…

Normally that’s a must with blacksmiths & farriers here in the South…

You can see the faded “ring” on the back pocket of their jeans where the Skol or Copenhagen can has left its mark…

(being involved in sports medicine…….I just don’t get chewing tobacco…….our vet, Stevie Wonder does too…….I just don’t get it)

But poor ole’ Claire has had her bad, bad hooves done again——-along with Addy’s tootsies…

Forty-five minutes ahead of time, Claire got her sub-lingual dosage of Dormosedan…

Drafts are such light-weights where drugs are concerned…….she gets dosed at 625 lbs (1/2 a tube)…….she weighs way more than 625 lbs…

…..the gel does the trick though…….and the shoeing stock holds her up when she gets loopy & sleepy…

…..but without the sedative, she WILL NOT lift up her feet for trimming…

I can’t blame her………….because the “normal” course of treatment for a farrier is to cut away as much of the canker as possible…

Hoof canker is highly vascularized—–which means there can be a GREAT deal of bleeding when cutting away the over-growth.      A real blood-fest…

But that’s not what we do.

Montana (my farrier’s alias) just trims her toes (no pain) and takes down the sole and frog just enough to give me a fresh layer of tissue that will accept the medicated soaks that I make her stand in later…

But poor ole’ Claire hasn’t worked that out yet…….she still expects that anything done to her hooves will hurt…….so she refuses to lift up her feet on her own…….we have to pulley them up…….

…..her hooves are so big & heavy…….it’s exhausting…

But for an old broad…….I can still heave a hoof pretty good…

I hold while Montana nips & clips & files away…

…..and Claire drools…

*******But here’s some really great news*******

Claire’s hooves are growing out well…

All of the horses’ hooves are…

I’ve been feeding a top-dressed, biotin supplement for awhile now…….and it’s really helping…

*****Biotin 800 Supplement Information*****

All the drafts have improved hoof growth…

But time will tell…….

…..maybe caring for Claire’s hooves will get easier…….

…..maybe Claire’s hooves will improve…….

…..maybe Claire’s hoof canker will be eradicated…….

…..maybe.