Sit Right Back and You’ll Hear A Tale

Ten points to anyone who can identify that line? Anyone?

Finnegan has had a busy week. Not riding but other things going on. Remember he had a farrier appointment earlier this week? In terms like let’s make a deal, who had him having slight canker in two of his four feet in their bag? No one? Yeah me either.

Definition:

Canker is a bacterial infection of the hoof in horses, characterized by black or brown, foul-smelling, cauliflower-like growths. 

Causes: The exact cause of canker is unknown, but it is believed to be related to a combination of factors, including: Bacterial overgrowth, Poor hoof hygiene, Moist conditions, and Trauma to the hoof. 

Draft horses tend to have it. But the bottom line? Is that not taking care of their feet also will help them have a tendency to it too! So I am a bit angry. Not just at the Amish who left harness scars and never got his feet properly taken care of. But also the fact his hoof care was poor even once he was in a sport horse home. His feet were atrocious. They were flared out needing trimming. He is pigeon toed on both front feet. We are correcting it but it is there. Again most likely aggravated due to poor foot care the last year.

The farrier I am using works out of the equine clinic nearby. He is fantastic and I am so lucky I brought Finn to him. We have a plan of treatment and Finn may actually need surgery to remove some tissue but the prognosis is good. Finn was an absolute angel for the farrier appointment. And self loaded going and coming. How weird is it to have a normal horse who does all the things!?? Weird right??

So he goes back to the farrier in 2 weeks and the surgeon onsite will also schedule him for surgical removal if needed of the growth. Then he goes to the farrier in another two weeks for another trim (We are working slowly to get his feet the right angles but we don’t want to let him grow out and start flaring again). The farrier repeated over and over again what a nice horse he is. He also pointed out he is butt high again which I chose to ignore. He is not still growing. Right? 🙂

Anyway that is my tale. Stay tuned for more. Lindsay is back from her honeymoon today so riding will commence shortly! Also answer to my title is below. Only us oldies will remember this. Happy Friday!