I've got a box of Borax sitting here waiting for me to use. I
should have done it today but I had zero time. I don't see her
having a problem with soaking the foot though but if we do, I can
always have my little one hang out with us and help keep her happy
with some crackers and some lovins.

Fungus and thrush aren't usually an issue around here but we have
finally gotten some much needed rain and the ground has been pretty
moist for a while now. My gelding had a slight touch of thrush about
a year ago when I had a barefoot trimmer come out and that was my
only experience with it before Izzy.

I love my horses being barefoot and I love trimming them myself. Up
until a year or so ago, my Dad had always trimmed them for me but he
got to where he just couldn't do it anymore so I took it on. He had
always just done what everyone calls a pasture trim and the horses
were ok with that but when I took over, I wanted to know everything
I could about trimming and different types of trims. I spent a good
two weeks researching it when I found the barefoot trim. Reading
case histories and seeing before and after photos and seeing many
conventional farriers going over to barefoot, I was interested to
say the least so I found a near-by barefoot practitioner (who used
to shoe) and called her out. She was awesome and told me everything
she was doing and why she was doing it and my gelding got a trim and
took off prancing around the pasture like he was hot stuff after
that. I took what I learned from her and what I've read and do my
own trimming now. Oddly enough, when I was doing all this research,
I was actually leaning towards shoeing and now I'm glad I didn't. I
will never go back to a pasture trim and you will never see shoes on
my babies. It seemed like a lot of work at first because I had to
change my whole routine from keeping and adding rocks to moving hay
to different spots but now I don't even think about it. My horses
are happier for it and I am ok with that.

My husband tells me all the time if he were a horse, he would want
to be owned by me. He thinks I spoil them or something ;)


--- In barefoothorses@yahoogroups.com, Nicole Tucker
<nicolektucker@...> wrote:
>
> You're quite welcome. :0)
>
> Another thing you can do, if she'll let you, is to soak her feet
in a borax solution. That will level out the ph balances in her
feet/frogs. Thrush will not be able to grow. I can tell you that
soaking my mare's feet did wonders for them.
>
> I have been trimming my own horse's feet since for about 9
months now, and am just now getting my mare's feet in shape. I had
been fighting with farriers because they kept cutting down her
heels, and leaving her toes long. So, she had a very oval looking
foot, and a thin frog. The last farrier I took her to, who said he
would do a natural trim, invaded live sole so deep that you could
press on it with your finger and it would give. Needless to say, all
four feet became completely bruised, and she was unridable for about
6 weeks. That's when I decided to take it into my own hands, and
haven't looked back since. :0) She's still got a ways to go with the
frog, but she's pretty much crunching rocks on our rides, and is
landing heel first 100% of the time.
>
> Props to you for taking on the pony. She is lucky to have such a
caring person enter her life at just the right moment, and give her
a good home.
>
> Nicole
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>