After my last post Cruizer got trimmed for the first time since shoe removal. I could not be there because I was at school, and when I went to the barn that night I wanted to 1) punch the farrier and 2) cry because my horse couldnt walk. He had cut off around 2.5-3 inches of hoof, and the right front was an inch shorter than the left. WTF. I wanted him trimmed VERY lightly, due to this being Cruizer's first time being barefoot since his yearling year. His poor feet were so short I could see no hoof under the bell boot on the RF, and maybe half an inch to an inch on the left front. Cruizer was very obviously in a lot of pain, and didn't want to have his feet cleaned out or place weight on either front hoof. So.. nearly a month of being lame ensued. I found a new farrier to use, who did some very good work on my coach's horses.

Being thoroughly pissed off at ex-farrier, I asked my best friend & fellow equestrian (Kelsey) to look at Cruizer's feet, just to be sure I wasn't imagining how short his feet were..the look on her face said I wasn't. We started him on bute (1 gram) daily to try and help with some of the pain, and opted to try keeping him on regular turnout to make sure theres blood circulating and all that. The footing in his pasture is generally very soft and fluffy, and he would have to move around to get to water, hay, gate. After about a week he started getting better, but then all of a sudden one day I went out and he was dead-lame, hobbling around again. We took him off bute because he'd been playing Hi-Ho Silver all day and figured he might be overdoing it because of the bute. I started looking online for any hoof supplements or products that might help. I found Farrier's Fix Oil on Dover's website anddddd OMG.

The reviews were all good, so I decided to order it and hoped it would help a little. I am still shocked at how well it works. Within 6 Days it took my horse from hobbling around dead lame can't walk to being completely sound and rideable again. WOW.

I used it four days, then let his hooves be for one day, then applied it again the following day. By the fourth day he was mostly sound on the lunge. By day 6 I was on his back again. On day 5 he got to play with his boyfriend (Kelsey's paint gelding) in the indoor, which they both LOVED. They've never been loose together before so we were kinda worried that they might hurt each other, but all they did is run, run, run, run, rear buck kick, run, run, run, rear and so on. They had a blast, and it was a good workout for both of them. Cruizer looked completely sound during the whole playdate.

I rode him yesterday and the previous day, for the first time since my last post. While he has lost all sense of straight lines, power steering, and self-carriage, he is SOUND. He feels great. He's still slightly short striding on the right front, but is NOT limping or anything. The shortness isn't even noticeable unless you know his normal movement extremely well. He is also sound over gravel and rocks...which is shocking. Yesterday he was snorting like an idiot at a hat can in the barn owner's yard, so I walked him over to it. He never took a lame or even "ouchy" step on the gravel on the way to there.

Also, I have to say, I LOVE his temperament. The first day I rode him in a month, right after I got on the mares started galloping around their pasture, which borders the arena, and all he did was look at them and snort a little. I could tell he wanted to run and play with them, but he made a good decision and decided to just behave.

Love this horse. and Love Farrier's Fix Oil!