I guess for any normal horse, if one was to cut their toe and blood sprouted, it would be a bad thing.

But, for Tess, who I was told would never, ever have blood in her toes (after terminal founder), this is nothing short of a miracle!

Now, this does not mean she is out of the woods or free and clear from all of the side-effects and damage of terminal founder.

However, blood in the toe is a very good thing.

PHOTOS LOOK UGLY BUT THIS IS GOOD.

I know, the photos of her feet are hard to view.

But, really, when you think about it, this is a process and perhaps there is another person out there with a horribly foundered horse who is growing back new hoof (for the 4th time) and is also seeing what I see daily.

For that person, this is invaluable – to know you aren’t alone.  And, for that person to know that my horse is walking around the ranch, fairly comfortably – even with these feet!

THE FOUNDER WARRIOR WAS HERE – MT’s right and left feet.

We work so fast, the Founder Warrior, her student and I that I usually forget to take photos.

But this time I remembered.

First off, MT grows a tremendous amount of sole and heel.  In 4 weeks between trims, we have an exceptional amount to work with (thank you Theraplate).  I know that any tissue with constant inflammation will grow due to the stimulation, but her foot growth is remarkable.  No thin soles here.  The coffin bone is well protected.

THE RIGHT FOOT.

Tess’ right foot is the most sore, which is difficult to believe after viewing the pics.  We figure this is because either she has less nerves in the left, or indeed, the right is just more painful.

Anyway, the FW dug a bit into the right foot’s very clean and dry hole (it is an abscess track that is growing down) and found a bit of nasty in the corner.  So, she dug that out and today, Tess is feeling probably 50% better on that foot.  Whatever pressure was built up in there, has been released.  Yay!

The right sole is also very, very hard.  We nipped and dug but could really only carve out her frog and small channels.   We did check her bars.  Those are fine.  I will use a poultice the day before our next trim, to soften up her soles.

 

THE LEFT FOOT.

As far as the left, it looks awful.  The topside has totally split down the middle from an abscess track.  I use a Hoof Cinch to ease the pain.  And it works… Tess will stand on her left foot forever.  No pain.  Amazing.  We don’t know if this is because of nerve damage in that foot, or because the abscess track is wide open and it can drain when needed so there is no pressure.

FYI:  She does not drain daily.  The abscess tracks on the left drain when they drain and I am always trying to decide the cause.  Right now, I am going to try taking her off of LMF SENIOR LOW CARB because it is alfalfa based and that may be the issue.

We are not convinced she has a coffin bone infections.  The Xrays are inconclusive.  And, she walks really well most days.

As you can see by the picture, Tess has a huge, gaping hole at the toe of her left sole.  We carve that out so there are no infection pockets.  Slowly that part of her toe fills in – and we carve it out – until it will fill in normally, hopefully, in time.

The big HURRAH of yesterday was that we drew blood!  (Thank you, Theraplate!)  This is the first time we’ve had blood in the left toe that far towards the tip.  I am elated for her.  And, I plan to continue to keep her going like this to see how far she can heal.

LASTLY… she is shaggier than normal.

So, she is shaggy all of a sudden – since the last trim 4 weeks ago.  We’ve decided to up her Prescend dosage.  Also, I am going to administer it to her in a different manner, to make sure she receives her concentrated dose.

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