Watcha been up to Mr. Bonfire?

Tootsie4U

Tootsie4U

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Aug 19, 2002
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First off, re-starting Bonfire is reaping HUGE rewards! Immense rewards! I have to get you some pictures to show you the difference!

Onto my question:

It was the Thanksgiving Holiday this past Thursday, and I was out of state for five days. I dont know if I just noticed it because I've been gone or if it happened in five days.

Bonfire's cannon bones seemed to have doubled in size. They seem much rounder. He has also put on some weight. I knew he had, but the farrier joked at how 'tubby' he got in a month.

Side note: Remember the feed problems I was having - well, I cut all grain and he's only getting hay and hay cubes. So much for me worrying he'd drop weight as a result of the grain change. :rolleyes: Easy keepers......

Now, the thing that really has me in a worry is that he is a bit sensitive on one of his front feet and there is some heat on the right one....... (farrier who was out last Monday didnt mention anything even though he was like this then as well.)

I'll call the vet if needed, but am I being a worry wart? He has zero history of ever having any health problems.

Sudden weight change + fat bones + heat + ouchy bits??? (I think its ouchy - he's so stoic)
 
can you stilsee definition in his cannon bones or are they puffy and swollen?
has he been going out as usual? exercise? is he tender on the hot foot at all?

it does sound like something is up, but i'd be hesitant to suggest anything it might be without seeing him or at least pics of the afected legs. .
 
Man, you're quick :D

There is still definition, you can see the different bones. They're thicker - resembling his draft cross neighbor's legs rather than like his own little Morgan legs.

The heat is coming from the coronet and pasturn.

No sensitivity detected on the hoof per say. The only way Im getting the idea its ouchy is because when I asked him to pick up the right front (only the right front) for the past week or two, he's been unhappy about it and tries to pull it away (unlike him). Just that leg. I know this can mean his left front is the bad one....

He still gets the same amount of turn out but he is out with a new herd. Exercise is less intensive since we re-started but frequency hasnt changed.

His dam has horrible legs and has foundered many times. Is that genetic - the foundering I mean - vet and farrier claim he has good legs and feet.
 
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the predisposition can be genetic i believe - sensitivity to sugars etc. madam is more prone if her exercise is suddenly cut - the last time she had it, a couple of years ago, it was when i went on holiday and she did no work for 2 weeks.
but given he has had grain cut out and still exercising i'd be surprised if that was it. it's also rare for it to be only one foot, although common for one to be worse than the other. if he's happy to stand on it while you pick the other one up, that indicates nothing *too* horrendous. the other possibility is compensating for something non-visible in another leg. classically, you'd look at the diagonal pair, or the other foreleg. so perhaps it's that he doesn't want to stand on the left fore, rather than objecting to the right one being picked up.

have you measured round his cannons? see if they're stable or fluctuating?
 
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