A little too much help

Snoopy and I had a great show season. Starting in February, we went to one show a month, until August. I was concerned that it was pushing the envelope for his body, but I kept him seeing the chiropractor and monitored his physical condition. When September rolled around, I breathed a sigh of relief.

No more shows until next February at the earliest.

Then one morning, after Niki had schooled him, I got on and... he was limping. On the broken leg. Gah-d.

Thus we began a series of investigation/medication/lay-up to try to figure out why he was sore. We tried a few days of bute-plus-handwalking.

Nothing.

Then we had Dr. Pollard out to visit. He reported a strong pulse in the foot, then administered a block from the pastern down. With his foot numb, Snoopy trotted sound both directions. Dr. Pollard pulled the shoe and tested the hoof. He thought the inside was more sensitive than the outside. Based on these indicators, Dr. Pollard pronounced it an abscess.

I hate abscesses, but if there's something wrong with my horse's leg/hoof, that's what I'll vote for. Still, Snoopy has only had one abscess before, and it never actually popped, making it a frustrating experience. Especially since he was four months old at the time and we had to soak his foot every day. It took three of us - one to keep his foot in the warm water and Epsom salts, and two to scratch his withers as a distraction.

After the vet's visit this time, we soaked Snoopy's foot twice. I'm happy to report that Snoop was a more agreeable horse. Then Monte, our farrier came out to put his shoe back on.

That's when all the pieces came together.

Monte is always trying to make certain that Snoopy is sound and comfortable. This usually means padding and thicker shoeing to lift his heel and make certain his leg stays in the proper tracking. When Snoopy was last shod, Monte had put a new padding in that foot to raise it a little. Turns out he raised it too much.

This was basically like wearing a shoe with an arch insert that's a little too high. Yeah, your foot would hurt, too.

He swapped out the shoe and padding and Snoopy showed relief immediately. We're slowly putting him back to work, but it looks like new shoes solved our problem. (Seriously, when don't new shoes solve a problem?)

In the meantime, Snoopy and I are committed to posting on our blog every day in October. We are going to be asking questions, having contests, and giving out freebies. Stay tuned to see if what you can win! (Hint: It won't always be a free book. It might be a gift card or ???)

Today's contest: Answer correctly in the comments and win a free copy of Snoopy's ebook, in whatever format you would like.

QUESTION - What is the proper name for bute?