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Mama Tess was trimmed on Thursday of last week.
It is amazing to me how fast her heels/toes grow. The vets say that happens because with a foundered horse, their body is constantly trying to heal their hoof so it sends extra blood down there like crazy. This helps the healthy parts of the foot grow in excess! So, between all that extra blood, the Theraplate and her Enzion Hoof Supplement (no affiliation to any), this girl is growing hoof like there’s no tomorrow!
We could trim her trimmed every 2-3 weeks… But we go 4 because the Founder Warrior lives so far away. Our goal is to train an apprentice who lives closeby to trim her lightly in-between times. Luckily, we think we have found an apprentice who is willing, committed and not afraid to work on MT. ;) (Most farriers have never seen feet like hers… so they become intimidated.)
This is a bad photo (I’m the photog) of MT’s left front as the Founder Warrior is trimming. The underside drainage is right at the toe. You can kindof see it there… at the toe, there is a dark area and that is a hole where we have removed non-conforming tissue. We’ve also trimmed the toe back as always. I know it is difficult to believe, but that large toe hole is much smaller than before.
This is the right foot. The drainage channel is much smaller than previously and much easier to clean.
THE TRIM
As usual, I forget to take many photos because we were working so fast.
What we do is start on the left front foot (The FW trims, I shine the light) and when MT gets tired, we work on the other… back and forth like that until we have finished both of the fronts. We don’t have any lull time at all.
Once we have done the fronts, we trim the rears. This is usually a bit stressful due to MT’s arthritis. Tess doesn’t want to lift her left rear foot – no matter what height – even though she lifts it fine when she walks… Tess is simply fussy on this aspect of her trims, so we take it slowly and do our best. Usually, it is a bit of a dance to accomplish the rears.
This time, her left foot crack down the center was sealed at the midline and toe, but open at the coronet band due to abscess seep.
I knew this and thought that maybe we needed some sterile medical maggots to come onto the scene and help us fight the good fight inside of her hoof. More on that later…
The right looked pretty good. The lumpy, bumpy surface has grown out smooth. However, we still have the abscess drainage on the underside so we figured some sterile medical maggots would help here, too.
In preparing her hoof for the maggots, the FW trimmed the toes, the heels and cut away as much useless tissue as possible which created nice holes in both soles for the little troopers.
The good news is that the underside continuously draining infection holes are getting smaller, the drainage is less and the areas are easier to clean out.
This is Tess after she was trimmed – making her way down to the gate.
Here she is, coming back to the barn and wondering if I have a treat for her.
This is her questioning face… “Does she have a treat?!”
MEDICAL MAGGOTS
I love Team Maggot! They arrive very tiny and in sterile medical containers – not oogey at all. Once released into the hoof, they dig around and eat up anything necrotic or infected… when they’re done, they quit.
…No surgery, no knives, no real pain and no recovery.
Having said that, I do think the maggots are a bit irritating once they grow. I think their movements when larger – are felt – and can be tingly or tickly feeling.
Tess seems to not mind them the first few days, but she starts raising her feet once they’ve been in there a while.
“Small Human, can you please get these bugs out of my feet?!”
Truth to tell, I cannot imagine Team Maggot NOT being a bit ‘funny feeling’ as they grow and mature … medical maggots squirm about quite a bit and with 500 in each foot, that can be a lot of maggot dancing. So, I feel for Tess and I make sure to take out the maggots immediately upon their job well done.
When is the job done? Well, the maggots come out when they are full grown. I peeked at them today and the left foot has more mature maggots than the right (which means the left had more to eat…). So, I will probably take Team Maggot out of the left foot tomorrow and out of the right foot Wed or Thurs.
This was today. I had just checked and rewrapped her feet. The maggots are still inside her hooves and larger now – so they tickle her. But, she ignores them when she gets to walkabout! Here she decided to go uphill and visit Finn.
MT HIKES AFTER HER TRIM!
MT usually feels very good after her trims and she asks to have a walkabout.
On this trim day, she decided to go towards the front gate and then to the pony pasture.
Tonight, after I checked and rewrapped her feet, she wanted out again. So, I let her roam around a bit. She decided to go up the hill and hike around Finn’s pasture.
Like clockwork, I will find her working her way back to her bed around 9:45pm. She will be in her bed by 10pm. So, I usually rush down at 10, make sure she that has what she needs, smooch her, “Good night, don’t let the bedbugs bite” then ask all the Angels and Healers to do their thing while we both sleep.
This mare is amazing.
As long as she fights, we fight with her.
The sun was setting as she made her way over to Finn’s pasture. In an hour or so, she will make her way back to her bed and turn in for the night.
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I’m waiting for updated pics and info on the new batch of nursemare foals arriving at Last Chance Corral! Click image to learn more and donate!
