Hot Hoofs: Do you have a horse with laminitus or heat in the hoofs for other reasons that you can’t hose or get to stand in a tub? Try securing ice cubes to the feet with some VetWrap©. This is, believe it or not, done most easily if the horse is lying down. Secure VetWrap to the feet first, allowing a small portion of the wrap to extend under the hoof, and a lightly wound bandage to extend to the coronet band. Then, stuff two or three ice cubes into the wrap on each foot, from the coronet band down into the VetWrap, evenly spaced and about midway down the hoof. Done right, this will ice the feet for half an hour or more, holding the cubes secure and offering much needed relief. Plus, it saves the time required for hosing and allows all feet to be treated at once.    

Putting weight on a horse: Do you keep increasing the grain to a horse that stays ribby no matter what you do? Of course, check for worms, attend to the factors that contribute to an anxious or stressed animal, ensure disease is not an issue and confirm the hay and grain you are feeding is of an adequate quality. Once you’ve eliminated the obvious, see if reducing the grain amount and switching high energy feeds to high fat content mixes transforms your malnourished looking mount to a picture of health. This will also likely increase a picky hay-eaters appetite for more, which helps too. We had a Thoroughbred broodmare that was skinny no matter what we tried – a psycho that was wound awfully tight. After years of supplements and everything else imaginable in an effort to establish a healthy physique to no avail, reducing the grain by almost half and switching to a high fat content product transformed this mare to the picture of health in a matter of months and this formerly lousy hay eater is now constantly nickering for more. Plus, whether feed or maturity is the bigger factor, she’s now much more pleasant and predictable. 

Infection troubles: If you’ve done everything to try and draw out a nasty infection to no avail (and yes, a vet should be consulted for any issue that you are not comfortable dealing with), try applying cotton (the cheap kind that doesn’t stick) with Novalsan© cream directly to the wound under your standard bandage. In many cases, this will draw out a difficult and stubborn infection and it doesn’t stick to the affected area. Of course, you want to clean the wound appropriately prior to application.