Four months ago I was despairing at the state of Frank’s trotters. As discussed in earlier posts, I have documented bruised soles, flaky feet and lost shoes. When I bought Frank three years ago, the five-stage vetting advised remedial farriery  – particularly to his near fore. In the couple of weeks leading up to my buying Frank he didn’t seem to be able to keep a shoe on that left foot. By the time I had acknowledged this, it was too late, I had already fallen in love and handed over the cash.  As soon as Frank arrived at Crickton my farrier, Stuart Jacobs, was summoned and I was anxious to know the verdict.  Stuart  frowned, and just shrugged, when I asked him to tell me what he thought. The foot looked smaller than the right foot and a slightly different shape, it had a raggedy edge from having lost a shoe the day before whilst cross country training and the angle of the dangle looked all wrong.  ‘Well? what do you think? is it really bad or what?’ I scrutinised Stuarts face for clues – I was sure he was avoiding eye contact – he was thinking how to give me bad news.  Stuart just shook his head and I couldn’t tell whether that meant yes or no. ‘Oh God Stuart, is it that bad then?  can you do anything? Please tell me you can do something….’ Anyway, Stuart trimmed the foot and found some wall upon which to nail the shoe. There he said, it’s done. Six weeks later and the shoe was still firmly in place.  Stuart Jacobs you are a genius!  Since that shoeing ‘miracle’ Franks feet have weathered a couple of wet Welsh winters and have waded through deep bog mud on the Bryn which I’m sure is full of all kinds of bacteria from all the shit from all the cattle, sheep and ponies that graze it.  Frank has suffered with persistent  mud fever (which I have now figured out how to manage and prevent) and his front feet have become progressively weakened by the environment.   The foot situation is not helped by the fact he has weak soft soles and has had a couple of bruised and punctured soles in the last couple of years.  He feet have gradually deteriorated, so much so that since March/April both front feet have become quite friable and the  situation not helped by Stuart breaking a leg and Frank having  to be shod by other farriers.  I decided that something needed to be done here… I started to look into hoof supplements and asked friends for advice about Frank’s flaky feet.  My good friend Sarah Russell-Wedgbury suggested application of something called ‘Anti-bac’ . I ordered this online and it arrived in a couple of days.  I bought a range of hoof oils, and sprays from Nettex and thought I’d give cornucrescine a try – especially as it smells so good. That Frank might be suffering a bacterial infection in the wall of his feet made sense given the constant mud fever he seems to have if measures for prevention are not taken.  I ensured that Frank’s feet were hibi- scrubbed clean and dried and when he came in from the field or a ride and I made sure he had a deep clean shavings bed.  Just for good measure I also applied fresh frog – as his feet did not smell so sweet.  I was determined to eradicate any bugs or fungus. Four months ago, Frank also began a course of Nettex VIP Hoof Builder again, on recommendation from a friend. I have discussed in earlier posts my scepticism of supplements in general since few are based on research from randomised controlled trials but I suppose in desperation I hoped it might be worth a try.   It says on the tin that results may be visible after three months but that it is best to take for at least nine months given the rate of horn growth.  Six weeks ago there was barely any hoof on Frank’s left foot to attach a shoe, he was lame for three weeks after bruising a sole, he’d managed to pull a shoe off his right foot just one week after being shod and on Sunday he lost his left shoe halfway round the cross country course at Gower Riding Club one day event. I am surprised that it managed to stay on as long as it did. I was worried that he wouldn’t be able to go to Lincoln for the Riding Clubs showjumping finals  on 2nd September.  Boo hoo 😦

So, I was unexpectedly elated yesterday when Stuart declared 100% improvement in wall strength and density and sure enough Frank’s feet did indeed look fairly fabulous.  Of course, we can’t be sure if this is down to the Nettex supplement, the twice weekly applications of anti-bac, the thrice weekly massaging of the coronets with cornucrescine or simply due to good farriery and a bit of hoof oil.  Anyway, it is early days and it’s Summer.  Hoof horn always grows faster and stronger in the summer months.  The real test will be in Winter. However, for now, Frank’s feet have never looked so good and despite what I have said in earlier blogs I think I do now believe in miracles 😉

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