In which it's not even raining yet, but we prepare for a Swamp winter

When it comes to farriers, Fiddle has to vote "yes."

Ears back (but not pinned) and eyes and mouth soft:
for the Dragon, the next step is "rent a UHaul and move in together"

My horse is not allowed to say "no" to people in general.  She is required to behave like a polite grown-up horse at all times.

HOWEVER.

If she consistently pins her ears at an individual, or if I see the whites of her eyes when somebody is touching her, it's my job to direct that person elsewhere.

Fiddle was a confirmed roller derby queen when she arrived in 2006, with skills in biting, kicking, and body slamming.  It took me a long time to extinguish those behaviors, and one vitally important detail was to pay attention to her.  I could see those early signs of distress, and if I removed the source, she never had to escalate her communication to the point of bad behavior.

Farriers are a love/hate thing with Fiddle.  She loved Ron, but his body started paining him (after he turned 75 years old!) and he had to retire.

She didn't love the two guys who came after Ron.  One of them got abruptly fired when he insisted on patting her face even after she--and I--asked him (repeatedly) to stop.  She hates to have her face patted.

Fiddle will tolerate face touching, because a grown-up horse has to tolerate touching everywhere.  That's basic. But she sincerely hates having her face patted, and anybody who handles horses can tell when a horse sincerely hates something--and a person who ignores that is likely to ignore other stuff.

So out went that guy.

Fiddle loves Mel for a lot of reasons.  Mel believes in paying close attention to the horse--not just the feet and the legs, but the whole horse.  She shoes a lot of older mares, and has learned how to keep them comfortable during a process that might otherwise put them in uncomfortable postures.

Here's a video from 2016 that shows the kind of give-and-take Mel uses with the Dragon.




When Mel brings something to my attention and makes suggestions, I pay attention.  Foot care in a Swamp horse is vital, and getting suggestions from somebody who deals with Swamp feet all the time is worthwhile.

So today, when we removed Fiddle's shoes and pads prior to trimming and saw this:

Thrush--a large area, but not deep.
But it's not winter yet, either.

Mel had a good suggestion:

A newish product, with some good ingredients and research behind it.

Before I continue, I'm going to state plainly here that there are plenty of horses who never experience thrush because their owners are so skilled and caring and magickal and stuff.

Also because those horses do not live in a Swamp.

I know that's not ideal for a Swamp horse to wear shoes + pads all year. I'd love to pull her shoes and pads for a month or two each winter, but she is not comfortable barefoot. Shoes and pads work for her--and it's my job to pay attention.

So, since she's gonna wear shoes and pads, she's gonna have some thrush.  But this new stuff will supposedly help!

The base of the thrush treatment is clay, not alcohol, so it immediately begins drying
the hoof tissue without damaging it.

After the foot was trimmed and balanced, Mel applied the clay stuff and then put the shoes and pads on.  There is a gap at the heel where I can squirt more clay stuff in periodically between shoeing appointments.

And now, we wait.  At the next shoeing, we'll see if it's made a difference.

And while we wait, there's this:

fall colors on the trail today

It's good, y'all.  It's really, really good.