Bad news with Willie's feet

I don’t have good news about Willie. My farrier, Dan Wirth, came today and spent a lot of time working on Willie’s feet. He found pockets in both front feet, like there were in his back feet. Unfortunately, his right front is much worse than any of the others as it extends back towards the back of his hoof. He told me that it was important to open up these abscesses or pockets to get rid of the infection. He also stated that even though he removed a lot of what should have been supporting his hoof, it was not doing that and continuing on the poor positioning of his feet, which leads to additional discomfort. He was able to remove a lot of the bad infected hoof on both front feet and they look better “positioning wise”. He is sore right now, but the farrier thought that it was possible he would be sore for a short time, but then feel better because he is finally in the right alignment. The left front hoof is very bruised throughout the wall of the hoof and bottom sole. The farrier felt that this was because of the abscessing and chronic foundering. The farrier was very concerned about the current condition of his coffin bone inside the hoof. He felt that with founder, the bone could have changed condition since the last x-ray last year. I asked him to make a judgment in a “best case scenario” situation. He said that there was not enough good hoof wall on any of the feet to shoe them at this time. He also stated that depending upon the condition of his coffin bone it would be at least a 2 year process before his hooves regenerated enough for him to be ridden. I have enclosed pictures of his feet before and after the trimming so you can see how they are now.

Before...
After...

Willie's first day

Well, Willie got introduced to Donkey today...

I think Donkey was more excited to meet Willie than Willie was to meet Donkey! :o) A little later, Odin saddled up Willie and showed off his riding skills in the backyard. Willie is going to be a good addition to our little herd.


Well, everyone was getting along so well, that we decided to let everyone out in the pasture so that Rio and Willie could meet.

They did so well, we put them back in the corral together. Odin and I thought maybe the reason the meeting went so well, was because Rio was worried he was starting to take on "donkey traits" and loosing his "horsey" identity. ;o)

The new steed!

Today, Odin and I picked up Willie, a 16 yr. old Tennessee Walker. Odin has been looking for a easy going "beginner friendly" horse so that he can ride with me.

Trip to California

A little less than a week after the Clinton Anderson clinic, Odin and I left to visit family and friends in California. Our first stop was Susanville, CA to visit, Cheryl, Hayden, Christy and Christoff. The boys sure enjoyed playing with Odin...



After that we we drove to Chico, picked up Grandma and then drove to Mt. Shasta. One of the things that we did with Grandma, was to take her to see the Living Vetran's Memorial where Grandpa's name was just recently engraved.

On Saturday, my cousin Amy got married and here are some pictures from her wedding...

Clinton Anderson Clinic

Courtney, Lori and I went to the clinic together in Kalispell. Rio and I worked both of our butts off at the 3 day clinic. We learned a lot and had a lot of fun.