06/29/2022
Pedicure day for this girl....call out to Clay Swank....our awesome farrier.
So....here's a little bit of her story. Her registered name is Captain's Miss Cathy. We now call her Dottie. She is extremely well-bred with a long lineage of champion show-stopping horses, including the 5-time All-American champion, Korrys Captian.
Because of her fabulous lineage and excellent breed standards, she was used as a brood mare for the first 16 years of her life, producing around 10-12 babies....from what I can find. Then as her usefulness as a brood mare came to an end, she was used as a team work horse, making a gravel road.
Her time as a team work horse was really hard on her hooves and she wasn't given the care she deserved. When she came to me, she had a huge abscess on her butt filled with pus, a wound on her other hip and her hooves had multiple abscesses.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when the front hoof wall split off to the abscesses of two hooves that were growing out and you could see the bloody quick. I thought for sure she was going to come up lame and we were going to be fighting infection. BUT.....today, my girl was given a clean bill of health from her farrier and even he was amazed at how well her hooves have done. To me, it is amazing what good nutrition, care and time can do to heal.
Her heart is healing too. Almost a year ago when I got her, she would stand in the far corner of the pen, turn her butt to you and shy away from being touched at all, let alone lovingly. Today, she will let you love on her and just lean against her, scratch her and even move your hands around her head.