My younger daughter and I are making regular trips south to Mary Constance’s stables.

We drive south two or three times a week to treat Chantilly & Claire…………..well……………mostly Claire.

Chantilly’s healthy as……………well……………..as a horse…

I was finally able to score some 7% Iodine for treating Claire’s hooves.

The 3% kind is watery & barely adequate…………no real “kick” to it…………kind of just a yucky food-coloring.

Why is it so hard to procure 7% Iodine these days?

Well…………………….

……………..in the past, what was a commonly found, dusty bottle on any cobweb-covered barn-shelf has now become an especially watched & regulated liquid.

I guess it’s used and abused in the making of crystal methamphetamine.

I just want it for hoof care.

Specifically for hoof-frog care…………and to ultimately dump it all up and down my arms while wrestling with a Clydesdale’s legs

It’s great when used to kill harmful organisms and as a sterilizing/drying agent.

Crystal meth’s not my thing………..but the meth-cooks have made it hard for me to purchase 7% iodine for farm uses………………..and that’s irritating.

Claire has excessive thrush…………..excessive, excessive thrush………………and she has probably had it for a VERY, VERY, VERY long time……………..poor dear.

*****(F.Y.I.————–Thrush is a fungal/bacterial infection of the frog-area of the underside of a horse’s hoof.  It smells rank.  It rarely, if ever, causes lameness.  Some horses are just more prone to thrush than others, but it usually develops in unsanitary conditions along with neglect of the hooves.)*****

Well, that’s Claire all over……………..smelly feet.

So we know she’s got thrush.  I’m treating that with regular cleaning and painting and saturating with 7% iodine.

But what we are worried about is the potential of hoof-canker……………….another condition all together……………..and quite rare……………….and quite difficult to treat and/or cure.

What is it with me and rare equine conditions these days!!!!!?

We’ll know more the last day of this month when my vet meets up with my farrier and my farrier’s mentor for the first time.  They will all evaluate Claire’s hoofies then.

I’m hoping Claire’s condition is a curable one.  I don’t mind the time spent treating her in order to heal her.  She deserves a shot at a healthier life…………..she’s a big, mammoth sweet-heart……………..she deserves better.

But hoof canker is a bad thing.

 

Time will tell.