Mud vs Me

Charlie has endeavored to instruct me on many aspects of horse care. Sadly... despite, uh, extensive repetition, I'm still somewhat hilariously shitty at wrapping hooves. 

spare shoe for maximum precision in duct tape reinforcement

But ya know. I'm a gambling woman, so let's review my latest effort and take bets on whether or not it'll survive the big test: Charlie is returning to turn out today (yay!), but will have to cross significant mud to get to his lovely grassy pasture. 

betadine + animalintex worm shoved in there with a hoof pick 

And ya know. There's still a friggin hole in the bottom of his foot. The options, as I understood them, were to either.... 

- Keep him in

- Let him out, and not even bother wrapping

- Or make an attempt at a boot that's at least slightly mud-impervious 

relatively loosely wrapped gauze to hopefully protect heel bulbs

The trickiest thing is that the mud is wet (duh) and deep. And it's literally the first obstacle in Charlie's path. Which means that if he fills his boot up with mud within the first few steps out, he'll be standing in a mud-filled boot all day long... A distinct, but not ideal, possibility.

lol... feedbag layer for actual shits 'n giggles

I added a layer of cotton gauze hoping it'll be loose enough padding as a base layer that I'd reduce any risk of making the wrap too tight or having any pressure points on the heel bulbs or coronet band. Tho... if mud DOES get into the wrap, this layer will likely hold a lot of moisture. 

vet wrap... again, relatively loosely

I also added a cut out piece of feedbag to reinforce the weight-bearing surface. Someone told me about this hack years ago, but it's never really worked for me before. In the past, I used it under the duct tape layer. Hopefully slipping it under the vet wrap will work better? I dunno!

hmmmmmmm

Anyway. Last step was the duct tape. And yea, I know, someone always tells me "GoRiLlA tApE iS bEtTeR" and... sure sure, agreed, it is. Tho ya know what's good enough? What I have on hand, haha. Sometimes the best tool is what you already have. So. Duct Tape is good 'nuff. 

duct tape bottom patch applied and taped on

As you saw earlier, I like to make a reinforced lattice patch, with lots of extra tape layers where the shoe sits, and a couple lengthier overhangs to fold up over the walls of the hoof. Plop that on the sole, then do a couple loops around the edge to solidly secure. 

pressure-relief snip, more duct tape.... and (lol...) some elastikon as a last ditch effort to keep the mud out.....

From there, I just build the duct tape up the wall and over the heel bulb, attempting to make a shape that can't easily be ripped off, while also not being too tight. My plan was to make an extra sort of "collar" out of elastikon as a final resistance against mud filling up the wrap... but naturally only had a literal scrap of the stuff left. So I sealed up the space behind Charlie's pastern...

place your bet, ladies and gentlemen!

And I guess we will hope for the best lol. There are a couple possible outcomes as far as I can tell.... The wrap could fill with mud, or rub Charlie raw, or blow out on the bottom, or fall off entirely... Or maybe it'll still be there doing its job when I get there tonight? 

What do you think? Do you do it differently? See any critical weaknesses in this wrap? (And please don't say "Gorilla Tape" lol...). Is it worth the bother? Overkill? Or do you figure, eh, that hole will probably seal up and what's a little mud anyway?