Black Horse Hoof Care

06/19/2024

Without the vital blood vessels in the equine foot, the cells on the foot are starved and will die.

The vital life force - keep it healthy.

With:

Diet
Movement
Trim

These tiny vessels are the bottom line, literally for foot health.

Photo taken of a slice medial to lateral with the hair on the right. Vessels shown are between the colateral cartilage and the skin.

04/15/2024

✨ PREPARE TO BE AMAZED BY THE MOST MAGICAL AND RAD DIY DONKEY SKIN POTION! ✨

Are your donkeys experiencing hair loss in patches?

It's a common issue for donkeys. Whether it's caused by lice, mites, rain rot, fungus, bacteria, or just springtime itches, I’ve got a gentle, safe, and effective DIY solution 🌿

Introducing the ultimate non-toxic remedy: a magical DIY skin potion made from a blend of organic cold-pressed neem oil and avocado oil.

Follow my recipe below and you'll be mixing up your very own potion like a modern-day donkey-loving wizard 🧙‍♂️ This remedy has the power to soothe itching, banish hair loss, and tackle a plethora of other pesky skin issues.

This easy-to-make topical has been my go-to for the past 10 years.

BOTH NEEM AND AVOCADO OILS HAVE A MULTITUDE OF BENEFITS FOR YOUR DONKEY'S SKIN:

🌼 Neem oil:

Anti-fungal: Neem oil contains azadirachtin and other compounds that have anti-fungal properties, which may help treat fungal infections on donkey skin.

Anti-parasitic: Neem oil can be effective against various parasites, including lice and mites, as it disrupts their growth and reproduction.

Anti-inflammatory: The oil's anti-inflammatory properties may help soothe inflamed skin and reduce itching.

🥑 Avocado oil:

Moisturizing: Rich in fatty acids, avocado oil can help moisturize and nourish dry or damaged skin, promoting skin health.

Hair growth: The oil may promote hair growth due to its nutrients and moisturizing properties.

Soothing: Avocado oil has a soothing effect on irritated skin, which can help alleviate itchiness and discomfort.

But hey, you don't have to take my word for it! 🕵️‍♂️ A quick Google search will reveal a treasure trove of information about the benefits of both Neem and Avocado oils.

DIRECTIONS:

• Combine one part organic cold-pressed neem oil with six parts avocado oil in a clean container

• (for example, use 1 tablespoon of neem oil and 6 tablespoons of avocado oil).

• Mix the oils well, ensuring they are thoroughly combined.

• Apply the potion to your donkey's affected skin areas, taking care to cover all the problem spots.

• Leave the oil on your donkey's skin, allowing it to work its magic on the affected areas and provide ongoing relief.

• Reapply the treatment every 3-4 days, or as needed, depending on the severity of the skin issues.

If you'd like, add a few drops of therapeutic-grade essential oils to your potion for an extra touch of enchantment. 🌟

Lavender essential oil:

Soothing: Lavender oil is known for its calming and soothing properties, making it excellent for easing skin irritations and itchiness.

Anti-inflammatory: The oil can help reduce inflammation on your donkey's skin, providing relief for various skin issues.

Antimicrobial: Lavender oil has antimicrobial properties, which can help protect your donkey's skin from infection.

Helichrysum essential oil:

Healing: Helichrysum oil is renowned for its skin regeneration abilities, making it perfect for promoting the healing of cuts, scrapes, or other skin issues.

Anti-inflammatory: Like lavender oil, helichrysum oil also boasts anti-inflammatory properties, helping to calm irritated skin.

Antioxidant: This essential oil is rich in antioxidants, which can help protect your donkey's skin from environmental stressors.

DISCLAIMER:

🚨 While I'm all about that DIY life, I have got to remind you that I'm not a veterinarian. Just a long time donkey-lover sharing some of my magical secrets. So, before you go full-on potion master, always consult with your trusty veterinarian to make sure your donkey's are getting the best care possible.

*always use 100% Cold-pressed Neem Oil

*Avocado Oil is the carrier oil.

*1:6 ratio 1 Part Neem / Avocado 6 Parts

*Neem must be diluted do not use without a carrier oil.

*Test a small area first to make sure your donkey does not have an adverse reaction

*pregnant women & pregnant donkeys should avoid neem oil

🚨

Please let us know if this helps you and your donkey by sharing a comment below. We'd love to hear about your experience!

Wishing you and your donkey a magical journey towards healthy skin,

Megan Hensley

Holistic Hooves - The Donkey Farrier

03/29/2024

03/02/2024

03/01/2024

02/14/2024

All right, y’all, I’m going to vent a bit.

I’ve seen plenty of posts on social media of lame horses and owners asking for help with rehab. Unfortunately, hoof issues are a bit of a pandemic, but fortunately - through attention and research- we are learning so much more about the foot and ways to keep it healthy and give it a fighting chance at soundness.

So this morning, when I scrolled across some radiographs of a laminitic horse- where the before and after didn’t seem much better to me- I stopped to read the post.

The horse had been sore for quite some time and nothing seemed to help, so they tried bigger and bigger interventions to the feet, until finally they found an extensive shoeing package that allowed the horse to amble around a bit more comfortably.

My first thought was- wow, that seems really extreme, but I’m glad they found something to make the horse a bit more comfy.

My second thought was- I wonder why this horse needed such extreme measures to improve.

That question was answered pretty quickly when I saw an image of said horse out in a large green pasture of fresh grass.

Up to 90% of laminitis is endocrinopathic. Meaning up to 90% of laminitic cases should not be on grass. Meaning up to 90% of laminitic horses will continue to founder and their laminae will continue to fail until their diet and metabolic issues are addressed.

And we can do all we want to their feet- and some things may help, and some won’t, and some may work for a time until the horse can’t compensate anymore- but ultimately NOTHING will stop the laminae breakdown until the root cause is addressed.

I see so many turn to bigger and bigger interventions, more drastic approaches, when the root cause isn’t even addressed. And don’t get me started on the fact that half of these posts I see are trying to sell a product for these horses.. without even addressing the cause of the issue. Let’s sell a bandaid to people desperately trying to save their horse.

I’m trying not to become too preachy over here, but to be honest just sitting here typing this I’m getting a bit worked up.

Because when we focus on the feet in isolation, we are missing the forest for the trees.

Hooves are attached to an animal and the hoof reveals the health of that animal -in laminitis cases especially.

Doing things to the feet may (at least temporarily) help with comfort, but it will not stop the internal damage until we remove the trigger for the laminitis.

And maybe, if we got to the trigger first and removed it right away, we wouldn’t even need those interventions at all.

Now I’m not naive to believe that every single laminitis case is this straightforward. In fact, I absolutely know they aren’t. There are some where a toxin leads to SIRS laminitis and those feet almost melt apart. Supporting limb laminitis can feel like a car crash you don’t know how to stop. And some metabolic cases can be so tightly managed and still have refractory high insulin.. or we increase pergolide just a few weeks too late for the seasonal rise and those horses just crash and then we are chasing ACTH levels.

There are some who need every single tool in the toolbox and some who we just can’t make comfortable.

But at the very least, we need to start with the basics. ECIR emergency diet. Looking for the root cause. Removing as many triggers as we can think of. AND work on getting the horse comfortable.

But don’t just look at the feet and forget the horse and their living situation.

/rant. (And apologies for the drama).

01/15/2024

We talk about Gelding Scars in The Hoof Wear Patterns Class. Here is an article written by a veterinarian on the subject.

BY DIANE ISBELL DVM

Most of us don’t really think twice about how big an impact a seemingly simple procedure such as castration can have on the horse’s body. However, gelding scars can sometimes cause significant trouble for the horse.

UNDERSTANDING HOW GELDING SCARS FORM

Castration is obviously an invasive procedure, as tissue is cut open and the te**es are removed. When you make an incision into the tissue, it triggers a healing process. In this process the body produces scar tissue, which can branch out from its origin and stick to tissues nearby. What can sometimes happen with castration is that the remnants of the spermatic cord and the cremaster muscle (which attaches underneath the 17th and 18th rib), can sometimes scar down to the skin or to the tissues on the outside of the abdominal wall or the inguinal ring. This can cause significant discomfort to the horse. In humans, cremaster muscle pain is considered to be absolutely debilitating. Not surprisingly then, scar tissue from castration can have a huge negative impact on the horse’s performance.

POSSIBLE INDICATORS OF PROBLEMS

If there is suspicion that the horse has trouble because of scar tissue from castration, the veterinarian can block that region and see if the horse improves. The biggest problem with these horses in the more mild cases is sometimes you have a lameness and sometimes it’s just that they can’t collect well, they may be slow movers and they are struggling with transitions up and down. They have trouble any time they really have to use their hind end, because it pulls on the connection between the cremaster muscle to the inguinal region to the back of the ribcage. The symptoms they exhibit can be very broad and they are symptoms that can also be typical of other issues. So diagnosis can be tricky. When the horse has gone through a complete vet check-up and nothing shows up on any of the tests, gelding scars might be something worth looking into. Sometimes you can get a good sense of whether or not there is an issue there if you palpate the area. If you pull gently down on the sc***um tissue, you can feel the skin moving up – this is the cremaster muscle contracting in response to pain and pulling the skin up.

Gelding scars can cause a lot of trouble, so the sheath area should always be checked for adhesions during the bodywork session.

:Horses with fascial restrictions caused by gelding scars can have trouble properly using their hind legs, which makes it difficult for them to more correctly under the rider.

THE REHABILITATION PROCESS

If the horse improves when the area is blocked, there’s a good chance his discomfort is coming from scar tissue resulting from the castration procedure. In that case we have to lay the horse down under general anaesthesia, carefully dissect the area and find the scar tissue. Most of the time the scar tissue is just a set of strings going everywhere – it’s not like everything is simply adhered to one side. So during the surgery we cut away the adhesions to make the horse more comfortable. The rehabilitation process after this procedure is very important. It is essential that the horse is brought back to work very gradually, otherwise there is a chance that they might injure themselves. I have seen cases where horses would get suspensory injuries after the surgery, because the horse has now started to use his legs in a way he hadn’t until now and that overburdened the tissues. You really have to take a longer time to bring these horses back. The tissues in the lower limb of the affected leg will not be strong enough to do anything so you have to condition them slowly.

It’s hard to say anything concrete about prevention of these types of issues. Doing the castration procedure with the horse lying down in general anaesthesia does reduce the risk of scar tissue forming, but this type of castration is more expensive and there can be a risk for other types of complications. It is important for owners of geldings to be aware that this type of issue can be a very big problem.

09/04/2023