This is an update on my old senior quarter horse Sonny who suddenly just came up drop dead lame 2 weeks ago out of the clear blue:
We have always had bad feet to the point of ridiculous but Sonny has never been lame until now.
We suspect this whole thing could have been due to a rain we had a couple of weeks ago
that encouraged lush and sweet fall grass to grow practically over night here (Sonny is never dry lotted)
This is pretty much where we started a couple of weeks ago:
The heels had grown unusually fast and huge
Toes extremely sore
Heels and bulbs very sore, everything just sore sore sore
White line disease was suspected (by me)
Navicular was suspected (by me)
Laminitis was suspected (by me)
Contracted heels suspected (by me)
Deep huge crevices invited thrush but I had the thrush under control
You can see the line that goes up above the frog, like a little slit there. For some reason
I suspected that thrush may still be alive and hiding in there so I began flushing it with a
syringe (without a needle of course) a few weeks ago. Turned out that was a smart move on my part (I can't believe I did anything smart) because the vet in fact found old thrush still in there, but it was dead.
The vet was able to take down some heel last week but it didn't give him any relief and said we need a corrective expert
(That wavy line you see is just where I spilled iodine all over his feet)
From the front, it doesn't even look like he is long or in need of a trim, just a little rasping right?
Until you pick up the bottom and oh my gosh the mess under that foot!
Front right
Front left
My new vet (Donna) and Sonny's new farrier (Nora) both came today and worked together applying the
The Pete Ramey barefoot hoof trimming method. What a fabulous team. :aktion033:
Here are today's findings:
Sonny is in a pre-laminitic state. Scared the crap out of me when I heard that. The feet started to get warm right then at that moment so we soaked them in ice. (Yes I freaked and got wet eyes).
We do not have white line disease or seedy toe. I can't believe I got that one wrong due to all the chipping and cracks. We have some hoof/wall separation and just a bunch
of dead cracked hoof. It was "in the way" so she cut it back until she found live tissue. You can see up inside there now, it's pretty gross. It's not a radical re-section which I have seen before, but it's kinda like that but in a lesser way.
Heels are contracted and are causing the outer hoof walls to flare out so she cut some of the heels back and lowered them and cut that dead junk back too. The heels have to be opened up much more in time.
The thrush is in fact dead for sure so no problem there and she cut out more of the dead stuff around
the frog area.
The soles are very sore, and there is much dead sole that needs to be peeled away in time, but
this cannot be done now because Sonny needs every bit of that to try and walk on.
His feet are wrapped at this time.
Prognosis and my instructions:
I asked if Sonny is every going to walk again because if he will not recover before winter
I will put him down. I will not watch a proud horse like this suffer and drag on sink into
nothing. I was shocked at her reply which was, "He's going to be just fine" and she was very confident. She's not worried at all and is expecting a full recovery. She said he will not founder while in her care; we just have much work to do.
I have to soak his feet daily for now
Order him easy boots , I hate those stupid things but she chose a new design they have out
Put him on Biotin and Joint supplements
Change his feed over to something with reduced sugar, limit grass, and feed mostly hay ( He is going to be soooooo piXXed off ).
I have a call into Purina to see what they suggest I feed him to replace his Equine Senior feed
Anyone have a clue?
She will be back in 4 weeks for the second trimming.
By the way, she has a mini!!!!!!!! :aktion033: :aktion033: :aktion033:
(Sorry about the manure in the feet picture but he pulled his foot away and I wasn't fast enough
with the broom when the vet was taking these pictures)
There has been no change as of now and I am not expected to see any at this point.
This is what it looks like as of now:
Wish us luck.
We have always had bad feet to the point of ridiculous but Sonny has never been lame until now.
We suspect this whole thing could have been due to a rain we had a couple of weeks ago
that encouraged lush and sweet fall grass to grow practically over night here (Sonny is never dry lotted)
This is pretty much where we started a couple of weeks ago:
The heels had grown unusually fast and huge
Toes extremely sore
Heels and bulbs very sore, everything just sore sore sore
White line disease was suspected (by me)
Navicular was suspected (by me)
Laminitis was suspected (by me)
Contracted heels suspected (by me)
Deep huge crevices invited thrush but I had the thrush under control
You can see the line that goes up above the frog, like a little slit there. For some reason
I suspected that thrush may still be alive and hiding in there so I began flushing it with a
syringe (without a needle of course) a few weeks ago. Turned out that was a smart move on my part (I can't believe I did anything smart) because the vet in fact found old thrush still in there, but it was dead.
The vet was able to take down some heel last week but it didn't give him any relief and said we need a corrective expert
(That wavy line you see is just where I spilled iodine all over his feet)
From the front, it doesn't even look like he is long or in need of a trim, just a little rasping right?
Until you pick up the bottom and oh my gosh the mess under that foot!
Front right
Front left
My new vet (Donna) and Sonny's new farrier (Nora) both came today and worked together applying the
The Pete Ramey barefoot hoof trimming method. What a fabulous team. :aktion033:
Here are today's findings:
Sonny is in a pre-laminitic state. Scared the crap out of me when I heard that. The feet started to get warm right then at that moment so we soaked them in ice. (Yes I freaked and got wet eyes).
We do not have white line disease or seedy toe. I can't believe I got that one wrong due to all the chipping and cracks. We have some hoof/wall separation and just a bunch
of dead cracked hoof. It was "in the way" so she cut it back until she found live tissue. You can see up inside there now, it's pretty gross. It's not a radical re-section which I have seen before, but it's kinda like that but in a lesser way.
Heels are contracted and are causing the outer hoof walls to flare out so she cut some of the heels back and lowered them and cut that dead junk back too. The heels have to be opened up much more in time.
The thrush is in fact dead for sure so no problem there and she cut out more of the dead stuff around
the frog area.
The soles are very sore, and there is much dead sole that needs to be peeled away in time, but
this cannot be done now because Sonny needs every bit of that to try and walk on.
His feet are wrapped at this time.
Prognosis and my instructions:
I asked if Sonny is every going to walk again because if he will not recover before winter
I will put him down. I will not watch a proud horse like this suffer and drag on sink into
nothing. I was shocked at her reply which was, "He's going to be just fine" and she was very confident. She's not worried at all and is expecting a full recovery. She said he will not founder while in her care; we just have much work to do.
I have to soak his feet daily for now
Order him easy boots , I hate those stupid things but she chose a new design they have out
Put him on Biotin and Joint supplements
Change his feed over to something with reduced sugar, limit grass, and feed mostly hay ( He is going to be soooooo piXXed off ).
I have a call into Purina to see what they suggest I feed him to replace his Equine Senior feed
Anyone have a clue?
She will be back in 4 weeks for the second trimming.
By the way, she has a mini!!!!!!!! :aktion033: :aktion033: :aktion033:
(Sorry about the manure in the feet picture but he pulled his foot away and I wasn't fast enough
with the broom when the vet was taking these pictures)
There has been no change as of now and I am not expected to see any at this point.
This is what it looks like as of now:
Wish us luck.
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