The Founder Warrior was here on Monday! Horsegod bless her that she drives the 5 hours round trip once a month to trim Mama Tess!
But first, Sam’s foot.
SAM
Many of you wrote when you viewed this photo of Sam and MT from a few weeks ago. The authors thought that Sam was in pain due to a vertical crack in her left hoof.
- As you can see, Sam had a vertical crack in her left front foot.
I wanted to reassure and show you how Sam’s feet self-trim. They may look a bit rough, but it always works out.
For any new readers, Sam is mostly untouchable. Yes, she has been to multiple trainers, including Monty Roberts. She is a mustang that behaves and does what is needed, but sees no reason for human contact. So, we don’t trim her. Mother Nature and our hard ground – does.
Here you can see, a week later (today), her hoof had cracked off on one side. Probably by tomorrow, the other side will crack away and she will have a nice, trimmed hoof. I’ll take a photo when that happens, so you can see how ‘trimmed’ it looks – even though her feet have never seen a nipper!
- This is wild horse Sam’s foot tonight. You can see how the crack is gone because the side of the hoof broke off. By tomorrow or the next day, the other side will break off and the hoof will appear as if it was trimmed – but it was all done by Mother Nature and our rocky pasture. Her mustang feet are incredible. (Don’t try this is a sandy or loamy pasture.)
THE FOUNDER WARRIOR WAS HERE FOR MAMA TESS
The Founder Warrior came on Monday to trim Mama Tess.
We were both encouraged that MT’s feet seemed to be stronger with no outward sign of infection. And, MT was more willing to let us work. We did both fronts and backs without too much protest.
The first photo is the Founder Warrior filing Tess’ left front. I’ve circled the toe area that is still not viable. She carved out any dead tissue so there is no culprit internal culverts for infection to hide. We didn’t notice any foul odor or seepage. It seemed clean and dry. Now it is up to Tess to regenerate more bloodflow and therefore tissue that lasts. The Theraplate helps with circulation and stimulating blood flow.
This is the FW filing MT’s left front. I’ve circled the toe area where you can see we’ve continued to dig out the non viable tissue so that the area remains open and won’t lodge infection. Now we wait for the blood flow to return enough to create a stronghold on the tissue in there. That toe area grows tissue it then dies due to lack of bloodflow.
The next shot shows her feet together.
The right hoof is greatly improved. Previously, it had an almost constant abscess at the coronet band. Now, that area has grown down (arrow) and the new growth is smooth and clean. We are hoping that this abscess is finally quiet.
The left hoof wears a Hoof Cinch because it helps support her walls from spreading (and causing pain) – due to the center, vertical crack – when she puts her full weight on it. That crack down the center is dry. It doesn’t weep or seep. But, the lamina there is so damaged that with any trauma, it splits. For a while, the hoof will not crack, and then it splits open. Very frustrating.
It looks worse than it feels, I think, because Tess puts full weight on this foot and walks around on it. We are convinced the Hoof Cinch helps her greatly.
Tess’ feet after the trim. The right looks much better. Her previous abscess point has closed up and grown down smoothly.
The left has a vertical crack due to damaged lamina. She wears a Hoof Cinch to keep her walls from painful spreading when she weights this foot. The Hoof Cinch really helps because she walks around and weights that foot all day long. The Purple color on the left foot is PURPLE MUSH. It is used for Canker, but I find that it dries and hardens tissue. So, it helps with her strengthening her split hoof.
This is a sideview of her left BEFORE the trim. You can see where she weights this foot and how the Hoof Cinch keeps the walls from spreading while the vertical hoof crack has a chance to heal. The Cinch gives her added support so she can fully weight that foot. The vet and I think this device is a godsend! As you can see from the previous screw holes, we just move it up and reapply it after every trim.
TIME TO LOSE WEIGHT!
The Founder Warrior said that Tess is too plump. Oy. We all know this girl loves her food.
The culprit, we think, is because I haven’t allowed MT to go out and graze this past month because the grass is really sugary. It is cold at night and sunny during the day – plus it has rained just enough to make the grass lethal for her.
However… those daily jaunts (exercise) around the ranch kept her thin, we have concluded.
So, I’m cutting back on her rations (poor thing) and I’m going to let her out with a grazing muzzle this week. THAT should be interesting! ;)
I took this a few days ago… I wanted you to see that she has no problem weighting the left.
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