Day 44 Crumbling sole

Today, when I took Little Love's boots off, I noticed that the sole of her front feet is crumbling off at the tip of her hoof (in front of the frog).  I scratched it with the hoof pick and it literally just came off in flakes. I suppose this is old and dead sole that is exfoliating and I shouldn't be worried.  I'm wondering if the boots are sort of aiding this process, as the feet "brew" in the boots now that the ground is soggy.  The smell was definitely interesting, my dog loved it...  which says a lot.  Yuk.  Maybe I should give Little Love a "night off" from the boots to let her hooves dry.  Or should I? She is definitely more comfortable with the boots on.  and isn't moisture good?  Can there be too much moisture? I still soaked the 20 minutes today, regardless.

Little Love was again a bit slower this afternoon, perhaps because of the short canter she did yesterday in the pasture.  She has been quite energetic in the past few days, but I'm starting to get used to the "down" days that follow the "up" ones.  Today was definitely one of those days and we ended up not walking for very long at all.  I have also noticed she hasn't laid down for a few nights now.  Another sign that all is not well, I suppose. 

She is certainly spending a lot of time on the ground rolling when she is outside; she was so caked in mud today that I couldn't get all of it off, no matter how hard I worked.  Little Love actually let me scrub fairly hard, something she usually doesn't enjoy, but now that her hair is coming off she seems to welcome some brushing.  She even let me do it while she was standing in the buckets!  I don't know why she dislikes brushing so much, perhaps it is too evasive to her sensitive nature, so I do it as little as possible.  But on days like today when she feels comfortable with it, I try to take advantage :-)