Founder Chronicles: Hot days, higher pulse

Founder Chronicles 1: Killer lameness strikes
Founder Chronicles 2: We fight back
Founder Chronicles 3: Encouragement, more remedies
Founder Chronicles 4: Battle of the bulge
Founder Chronicles 5: A diagnosis, more solutions
Bonnie seemed to enjoy being the stable pet, but as the summer began to heat up, so did her digital pulse. Taken behind the pastern, the digital pulse is an indicator of inflammation in the foot or leg. Every time Bonnie’s pulse increased, her pain got worse, and she would resist exercise. Plus, her feet, while growing, had become dry in the sand bedding of her stall. A dry hoof is a rigid, low-circulation hoof; not good, especially for the foundered horse. The 10-minute walks were not enough to keep this athletic horse happy, and stall detention was turning Bonnie into a crabby attack dog toward her neighbor, my kind, loving gelding. At one point, Bonnie kicked out a stall wall between the two horses. In hindsight, we probably should have gone shopping for stall toys. Sympathetically imagining what would make our own hot sore, feet feel good, we tried soaking Bonnie’s front feet in a five-gallon tub of chilled water half-filled with sand for support, along with 1/2 to 2/3 cups of Absorbine veterinary Liniment tossed in for a soothing effect. He soak worked like a miracle, providing yet another alternative to bute. After her soaks, Bonnie would dutifully and happily take her in-hand walks down the plowed Pooh Lane. Now we just needed to figure out a way to get Bonnie back on regular footing.
Next: Another little miracle