MAMA TESS UPDATE! Not sure why she is sore but Team Maggot is coming back on Wednesday!

Tess has been sore on her bad foot the past few days. Not horribly… but she wasn’t right.

I wanted to jump on this – whatever it was – right away.

So, I called the Founder Warrior and luckily, she was able to clear her schedule and travel down to see us. (She lives 2.5 hours away…)

I was so relieved to know she was on her way…

Yeah, it hurts a little more than usual, but I’m OK…

NOTHING OBVIOUS…

MT wasn’t sore to hoof testers. She didn’t have any oozing fluid or foul odors coming from her sole. However, I had noticed a small amount of fluid at her coronet band a few days ago.

Her pulses weren’t elevated. Her feet weren’t warm to the touch.

But clearly she was sore on her left front.

So, the Founder Warrior (who is a veterinarian) started trimming and digging.

She thought that maybe there were pockets that needed to drain.

This is her good foot – the right one. You can see the previous ‘corn’ pocket which has since healed. Tess stood on her left foot while we trimmed this foot.

AS HER FOOT GROWS OUT – MORE DEAD TISSUE TO UNCOVER and BLOOD!!

As The Founder Warrior dug to expose what has since grown downward, we did find more necrotic tissue, but we also found BLOOD!

Yahoo! Blood so far down the toe is a very good sign!

We decided to stop digging manually and instead bring in Team Maggot to clean up the tissue naturally.

As we trimmed off the end of the left hoof, we found blood! A great sign! I was told she would never have a blood supply there! Ha! It may not be perfect, but she has blood in her toe!

WHY IS THERE ANY ISSUE SINCE SHE HAD SURGERY?…

I asked the same question… I thought all the bad tissue had been removed. But the reality was that the surgeon removed all the infection and scar tissue from the coffin bone. And, he followed the original path of the maggots and cleaned the necrotic tissue in the front of her hoof.

But, we think there are smaller pockets that are revealing themselves now – as they grow downward and are exposed via trimming.

This could make her sore.

We used a Betadine scrub to clean up the area and get her ready for bandaging. From this angle, it doesn’t look as severe as it did when I got down on the ground, parallel to it – like below.

In this view, I am down on the ground, eye level with her hoof. We see blood on both sides of her toe. The black areas are what we want the maggots to clean. And we want them to go into all the crevices that we opened up today. As you can see, her hoof wall in the front is growing in lumpy. That is where it isn’t attaching very well due to the damage.

HOOF INSTABILITY – Hoof Cinch

We are also concerned that the front hoof wall isn’t growing in and attaching properly to the laminae. This would create instability around her coronet band in that area – which could cause pain.

So, I am going to reattach a Hoof Cinch on that foot. It could offer the stability she needs to help that attachment now and in the future to grow in more properly.

And whenever she wore the Hoof Cinches previously, they seemed to help with the pain. So, since I have one available, I want to put it back on.

When I used the Hoof Cinches previously, Tess seemed more comfortable. It puts pressure on the hoof to help stabilize it.

i put in this photo of a previous Xray of her right foot to show you when she wore the Hoof Cinch…

CLEANED AND WRAPPED

After we had used Betadine scrub to clean up the area, I re-wrapped her foot.

Throughout this treatment today, often Tess stood on that foot – fully weighted. So, we are perplexed as to the acute onset of this lameness.

Such a mystery.

What?! I’m fine. I could use some food, however… (She had taken a walk out on her veranda as we packed up.)

AFTERWARDS

After we were done, MT asked for food and then walked back outside on her veranda… As we packed up, she came back inside and stood on her Theraplate, asking for a ride.

Of course, we obliged…

So for today, we know not much more than we did before. However, Tess is still very happy and she has blood in her toe! Wahoo! And for that small victory, I am happy.

Oh, and I’m happy that Team Maggot is arriving on Wednesday to help with the cleanup.

For me – as long as Mama Tess remains happy – it is one day at a time. We will continue to uncover and remove the sick parts of her hoof so she can continue to heal.

As the Founder Warrior says, “That mare is just so full of heart and will, it is amazing!”

Yes, she is.

MT got right onto her Theraplate – wanting her dinner. She is unweighting her left in this shot, but she wasn’t really doing that too much… She wouldn’t have climbed onto her Theraplate if she was hurting. (Thank HorseGods and Chip for this incredible Theraplate device. A true Godsend.)