Thank you all for your well wishes yesterday.
I greatly, greatly appreciate the support. It was a tough day and you all helped me prepare for today.
TODAY
The vet came out to take Xrays today… (I had Xrays done right before that fateful trim… and she was fine. That was two weeks ago…)
Silly me, I actually thought there would be no rotation. You see, for all the laminitis I’ve seen in the past 23 years, never has there ever been rotation.
Until today.
It is not good – her future depends on the next week. If we have been successful in stopping the cascade, then she will survive. If she holds this amount of rotation, we can work with it.
THE LAST FEW DAYS
As you know, the old tyme vet came out to help me with her on Thursday. He felt very optimistic that she didn’t have any sinking and that we were dealing with abscesses.
I called the old tyme vet out to help me with Tess last week. She was so uncomfortable. Here she holds her foot in front of the fan.
And, the next day, she did show signs of abscess on her coronet band.
I felt good… finally the abscesses were coming to the surface! She would have relief.
Except, she only had minor relief.
He had put in poultice to draw out the abscesses and two burst on her coronet band. I thought we would be home free now…
IN THE MEANTIME
In the meantime, she wasn’t bouncing back as she had in the past.
To make things more difficult, Hubby had treated the well and when I soaked her hay, she wouldn’t eat it. In fact, she wasn’t drinking any of her water.
As soon as I realized this, I remembered a Rubbermaid garbage can that I filled with water 8 years ago – in case our power went out and I couldn’t get water to the horses. I have not used it and probably have only looked inside once in those 8 years.
I washed off the lid and opened it.
Phew. Perfect well water.
I used that exclusively for her during the last three days so that she would have drinking water.
This is the garbage can that I had filled with water 8 years ago.
I WAS CONCERNED SO I CALLED THE VET OUT ON MONDAY
I wasn’t home, but the old tyme vet came out on Monday – just four days after he had been there – and was very concerned himself. He wanted to do Xrays. He said she didn’t look good and her coronet band felt wrong. He thought she was sinking.
Gulp.
I knew she wasn’t bouncing back.
Hence my doom and gloom yesterday. I was sick inside.
I tried to keep her comfortable. I bedded her stall very, very deeply and bought fresh hay with a very low NSC level.
TODAY CAME…
The vet arrived at noon to take the Xrays.
Watching her be so stoic but in huge pain was killing all of us.
It took us an hour to take the Xrays.
She had rotation on the left that was bad – however she had enough sole to make it all workable if she didn’t rotate any more.
The right had only slight rotation.
However, she kept lifting her right foot. She wasn’t standing on it well.
I listened, kinda numb.
I had thought she would be OK… I thought she had abscesses.
The bad news.
CLOGS
The vet carries clogs for foundered horses. They can be padded to support the heel or walls or whatever area and they break over easily.
He applied those via casting material.
Tess gritted her teeth and let the vet do his thing.
She was so good.
He then tubed her with DMSO, which she hated.
I have never used that previously, ever.
Fixing the trim and preparing her feet for the clogs.
BED
As soon as we were done (3 hours later), Tess went back to her stall – haltingly and in pain – and immediately drank then went down.
She didn’t get up for 4 hours. Flat out. Very scary.
I went inside the house and nearly lost it.
Every time I ventured to the barn, she was down.
The last photo I took before she hit the deck and went down flat for 4 hours.
7:30 PM
I went out at 7:30 to find her by the tack room door…
Hmmmm. She was still walking uncomfortably, but she was up and moving.
So, I gave her dinner.
She appeared by the tack room door. So, I gave her dinner!
She felt well enough to yell at Mayla.
I then decided to give her more clean water so I went into the wash rack and got her fresh bucket started.
Before I could fill it, she appeared!
She appeared at the wash rack as I was filling her water! So I let her drink.
I heard a ruckus outside so I ventured out.
It was just the dogs, playing…
The dogs had distracted me so I went outside of the barn.
When I came back in… I saw that Tess had moved to the back gate.
She had moved to the back gate.
NOT ALL ROSY, UNFORTUNATELY…
Yes, she is up. Yes, she is moving in her new clogs… But, she had moved this much in the last few days and she still got worse and had rotation.
She wasn’t getting better. She was getting worse.
So, I am not confident that she will recover. I am not confident that she won’t recover.
I can only wait….
MOVING FORWARD.
I continue to have her on the special meds and anti-inflammatory meds. I have added the Remission. I continue to use herbs…and low carb everything.
I have no idea how this will go. But, I am not ready to lose her and I know that she is a fighter.
I guess my end note for tonight would be:
Don’t do what I did.
Make sure you understand your horse’s anatomy and foot structure before you agree to a trim on a foundered horse.
Understand the mechanics.
I wish I had… I simply trusted.
SPECIALISTS WEIGH IN…
The general consensus from all of the specialists I’ve contacted is that the trim – taking away her support system of walls and heels and leaving a protruded frog – put undue pressure on her pronounced frog which created intense bruising under her canon bone which created inflammation … and the rest is history.
Many of you have written to me saying that the Barefoot trim is a lifesaver… And maybe it is for your horse with his anatomy and his type of founder. I’m not arguing successful result for others. I’m happy that it worked!
But, for my mare… it was not correct for her type of founder and for her conformation. In fact, that trim may be her undoing.
Not any one trim will work for all horses. It is all about the mechanics.
Huge Lesson – that I didn’t want to learn. But… I know now.
And so do you.
My very kind mare.
HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!
