Ahhh magicpoultice :-)

Jester was standing in the soft wet manure pile most of yesterday, and again this morning- so he could bury his toes, as I have seen sore footed horses do in pea gravel. Unfortunately, he can ill afford a thrush infection, so I blocked him out of that area. Backing up his toes to the white line again- vertically, took some more pressure off, and those bars keep dropping down so I took them down again. Taffy did this too- her bars were impacted and it took a while for them to relax into natural position. Jester did lots of lick and chew and sigh when I gave him back his feet, in turn. Still unwilling to move, I applied Kim's amazing herbal clay poultice to his soles and reapplied boots and pads. I am using size 2 Renegades, with pads cut from a 3/8" anti-fatigue floor matting cut to fit. He is already moving willingly, just a couple hours after I put them on. The right fore was the worst- he walked as if he had a rock stuck in the foot. Getting all the lever force off the toe-though I did second guess the vertical cut, seems to be just the thing. He is moseying around nibbling hay. I also did a vertical back-up on the right hind. Just that small adjustment and he is again willing to stand with that foot further back than the left. I have reduced his diet to 100% free-fed bermuda hay. Some is in small mesh hay nets and some is scattered in small piles. Neck, chest and flanks are really sweaty today. He will get a small amount of feed with salt. A slow hand walk or pony this evening may be possible. I could not find my camera to video his hobbling around. It's the kind of thing I'd rather put side by side with the "After" video.