Friday, June 26, 2020

Croc O' Donkey


We have been dealing with our donkey, Shelby (yes the race car) and her bad feet for over 10 years. She came from a farm with white line disease. Basically is it crumbly feet. When we had three weeks of rain from the recent hurricane, her feet went really bad. They crumbled into powder in my hand. She would not walk and was in pain. Facing the reality of putting her down, I dove into research. She needed hoof stability while the new hoof grew in. Local farriers do not do this kind of specialized work herein the Ozarks. So I ordered a hoof resin kit, cut up a pair of kids Crocs and call the vet. Our vet came out and trimmed her feet and I mixed the resin. My first resin experience was crafting two new hooves in fast setting epoxy with window screen mesh. We took turns holding up her hoof till dry set in 15 min each hoof.Then we slipped on the crocs and the epoxy set the crocs onto her hoof. Then I wrapped orange duct tape around the crocs. The vet said she can stay this way until the boots wear off. 
This was my third attempt at securing her padding for her feet. She has super tiny feed only 3 inches wide. I have about 6 pair of children shoes I have cut up and placed on her feet all over the pasture. The secret I discovered was the quick set hoof epoxy and an extra set of hands. They do make sneakers for tiny feet but they are very expensive for something the donkey will tear off and spit out. These crocs were perfect in size and material and cheap used price. Shelby is a lot happier and keeping up with the herd again.

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