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It has been exactly a year since MT had her coffin bone surgery.
It has been 18 months since Tess was told she couldn’t survive her Founder.
Wow! Time flies…
Well, Tess hasn’t beaten the Founder yet, but she sure has survived!
This was Tess’ foot a year ago after coffin bone surgery. You could see through her hoof. (You can see the towel under her foot, through her foot.)
TODAY’S UPDATE
We were a week overdue for her monthly trim and I knew this was making Tess uncomfortable. She has a constant drainage track in her right foot and if it isn’t trimmed regularly, it heals up – which inhibits the drainage which creates pressure.
Her left foot will always be difficult to look at, but it doesn’t seem to give her pain. However, it has a split down the middle.
I knew after this trim, she would feel better. And, she did. Immediately. As soon as the Founder Warrior lopped off all of her grown out toe, the relief was clear.
Tess is not healed. But, she is healing… Due to the amount of internal damage and necrotic tissue in there, she will abscess until the blood flows normally – which will take a while. We also need to keep those abscess tracks open and clean… so… we brought in another farrier to learn and help trim Tess when the Founder Warrior cannot make it down easily (she lives 2.5 hours away…).
This was MT on her morning sojourn. I could see she was sore and I knew she was overdue (by one week) for her trim.
OUR DAY…
It is always tough for me to remember to take photos because we work as fast as we can to make sure we don’t stress MT too much. This time, I forgot to take ‘after’ shots of her trim.
While we were waiting for the Founder Warrior to arrive from her 2.5 hour journey (one way), I unwrapped Tess’ feet and showed the apprentice farrier (Geeno) her hooves. He almost fell over! He had never seen feet like hers. The left has a definite lumpy split track down the front and the right also has some infection tracks. The split on the left is not soft. It is very hard still. She wears a Hoof Cinch to help her keep it together and not stretch the lamina. The right’s infection track has grown down with her growth, which is encouraging. Still, these are feet that were never supposed to grow at all. The venogram 18 months ago showed no blood flow to most of the left foot. Luckily, the capillaries are slowly growing back.
She grows tremendous sole – a very good thing. Just in 5 weeks, she has phenomenal growth. (THANK YOU, THERAPLATE!). Here, you can see the abscess track that we’ve opened on the underside of the right foot. This will help it drain more efficiently. And, I can keep it clean more easily.
Here the FW is lopping off the frog and heel growth. As you can see, the left has a huge pocket at the toe that we opened up to aid in the removal of necrotic tissue. I am considering maggot therapy again, but not sure we need it yet. As soon as we cut away the excess growth and exposed the abscess track, she was quite relieved. She stood on her feet solidly as soon as we did this. Constant abscesses are part of severe founder recovery. There is lack of blood flow from damage – so the tissue that does form, dies and has to exit, until the entire foot can heal through restored blood flow. The hard part is keeping everything going as the foot heals… there are so many complications. And, Tess has had her share. Abscesses are her main issue. But, she deals with them. They don’t really stop her. I think the Theraplate helps with the abscesses – the vibration must do something because her abscesses are less painful than before the Theraplate.
Filing down the heels, nipping the toes and leaving the walls for support.
Geeno videoed the entire procedure. He had never seen anything like this and wanted to LEARN!
I love that the FW is not afraid to nip in any way possible to help Tess out..
Afterwards, Tess gets her treat for being such a good and brave girl!
She immediately walked over to her dinner and started eating. She didn’t lay down or fuss or anything. This girl is amazing. (I need to trim weight off of her… The FW said she looked to have gained about 25 lbs since last visit. I attribute that to her ulcer healing (Thank you, Omega Alpha Gasta-FX!) and her appetite gaining!
JEWELRY THAT BENEFITS THE BUCKET FUND HORSES! Every sale counts! Click image to see the new pieces!
Click here for webpage, click here for Facebook!
MAMA TESS DAY! ALL JEWELRY PURCHASED TODAY WILL GO TOWARDS HER CARE!
FEATURED 1: Mama Tess “Stand in the Light” Sterling Charm bracelet! ONLY $28! A very sweet bracelet with clear crystal dangly on shiny silver links! Totally adjustable and you can add charms! 8″.
SOLD! THANK YOU!
2) MAMA TESS Sterling Silver Charms with small lobster clasp are ONLY $18!!!
I have 25 in stock so get ’em at this deal while they last! Perfect for the Holidays! The front has a crown with her initials, the back says “Stand in the Light” – which is her motto!
Click here to purchase (change quantity at checkout if you’d like more than one!):
3) ANOTHER MAMA TESS “STAND IN THE LIGHT” NECKLACE! $28
Sterling MT pendant on a 25″ delicate, rectangle box chain!
SOLD! THANK YOU!
