Horseshoes & Tattoos, 31 Days Out

We've crossed the 30 day mark since Whisper's injury. The wound itself is looking good and we've dodged infection while scarring (tendon healing) is forming. Odds are growing steadily in our favor to have a pasture-sound horse at the end of this. My vet is staying on top of her healing process the whole way, probably deserving extra points for handling a slightly neurotic TB *cough* owner *cough* as well.

She's graduated from the rolled-up casting and tape heel elevator, to one fashioned out of steel.. Keeping her toe down and heel up will keep the tendon in the best position to heal.

The bars on this shoe are fashioned so that they can fairly easily be cut to gradually lower the heel down over time, hopefully keeping the tendon from healing too tightly while providing enough support that the tendon isn't stretched while weak. With the shoe on, she's moving at a walk like a sound horse.

Obviously, this is a strictly stall-rest-only shoe. Stall rest is becoming more difficult for Whisper and it hurts my heart to see her sometimes exhibiting neurological behaviors like weaving, chewing, and spinning. The radio is on 12 hours a day and she has company at all times. A few times a week she won't allow me in her stall to pick as she works up into a full episode of spinning, When she's like that, we're better off leaving her to work it out and coming back later to clean. As of today, she's been cleared to start walking the barn aisle (the same shavings/dirt combo as her stall to keep the shoe stable) with me.

Bandon and Spotlight are showing signs of her confinement taking a toll on them too. The lack of herd interaction while they are on solo turnout shows when I handle them. Rain is back soaking our area and preventing me from getting in much riding in anyway so it's just a strange sort of vacation for everyone. Daylight Savings is the most anticipated "holiday" of the year for horse folk and I'm counting the days.

While we wait out a dry out, I had a tattoo done to represent my beloved Thoroughbreds. I searched a long time to find just the right image. The day after sitting for the tattoo, I saw a photo Boss Mare Photography took of Bandon and I couldn't believe the resemblance. It wasn't meant to be a portrait, more a likeness of a TB that could be gray or bay with a star since both of mine have one, it turned out a LOT like my bay baby horse.

Farm Girls Do It Better

Having the ability to walk out into a cold night under a sky so full of stars it feels like they will start dripping on you; just to go see your clean, fuzzy horses and feed them an apple before bed, is amazing. It comes with a price above and beyond the purchase of the space, that little thing that is lovingly called sweat equity.

Okay, maybe I make farm upkeep a teeny bit harder by being *slightly* OCD and liking things done instead of seeing them sitting on a to-do list.

Things like getting rid of 4 truck loads of garbage from the barn and pasture, distributing a dirt pile that was longer than I am tall and 4 feet high, leveling out stall floors that are clay based and don't want to hold, getting water from the house and up the hill to the barn, killing 20 wasps, sweeping up remains of rats, and cleaning out the masses of spider webs. The house list was even longer and my list of things I can do (garage door hardware installation, doorbell replacement, etc.) grows every day....but this is about horses and you really don't want to hear about mild electrocutions and forgetting to tie my hair back before operating a drill.

The barbwire fence enclosing 5 acres will be coming down next week (and given to a bobcat operator who moved all the dirt for me for barbwire payment) and this will turn into my new fence.

The farrier in our area came out today to trim Ben and do Whisper's shoes. He was good with them both and they stood nicely in return. Added bonus, the farrier used to ride here with the previous property owners (who apparently worked roping horses but went through them like candy) and told me how great the footing is in the riding ring, under all of the over growth there now, including an arena drainage system. Score!

After the fence goes up, some gates get replaced, some gates get painted, barn doors are made, stall walls are filled in, and winter hits, I should be ready to take on the beginning of a dream... stay tuned.

I want it all quickly 'cause I don't want God to stop and think and wonder if I'm getting more than my share - Velvet Brown

Adidas for Horses

One of the humbling parts of chronicling my journey thus far, is remembering how I've stood with conviction on some ideas only to find out down the line that I couldn't have been more wrong. All I can say is, when you know better you do better and that's about the best any of us can do.

Last year I had Whisper's track shoes taken off and my stance on how healthy barefoot was for a horse I proclaimed loudly. I don't deny that I still feel that way, what has changed is my opinion that every horse can be a barefoot healthy horse. You can go back to wild horses all you want to and the truth will still stare you in the face that we've bred lines of horses off of that for so long that it's not healthy or productive to paint a broad brush stroke on all horses based solely on the Mustang.

Without shoes Whisper stone bruised. Multiple times. Then she abscessed. I began to re-access and looked at the very painful lame horse in front of me. I needed to go a different direction and fast. It wasn't the food, it wasn't the pasture, it was the plan we were using on feet that were VERY flat, incredibly low in the heel, and had a long splayed toe.

She needed shoes again and fast to give her poor sensitive foot some clearance over the ground. Since that time we've been allowing the hoofwall to come down with that abscess hole slowly over almost a year, working to maintain the hoof as best we could to get through this time. Now that has finally occurred, she is ready for some work to start actually correcting her problems for the long term.

Today Whisper got the horse version of sneakers. Basically the farrier shaped up the foot, shaped a shoe and a mesh screen, then attached the mesh to the spotless hoof under the shoe.

Then he filled the whole thing up with a liquid urethane that sets up like firm silicone. This will give her foot a foundation to grow a healthier hoof, one that is supported from the inside to prevent the growing down caving in on itself. It also allows a more uniform pressure to the foot, ironically more like a barefoot horse feels, when she steps down. As a traditional shoe only supports the hoofwall, this pour-in also cushions the frog and gives support like an arch support in your shoe does. The pour in feels like a sneaker sole, firm yet very shock absorbing. She had already had it down a few times before I could grab a shot so it picked up some dirt already.

With a little wedge added, she now has a heel to walk on. I'm hopeful that over time this will help her hoof correct itself and we'll see a normal foot emerge. Whisper LOVED the shoes, though maybe not so much the process, did I mention she pooped so much she actually slipped on her own poop, tore out a crosstie and almost broke out a ceiling light? Once I turned her out she took a few laps around the pasture strutting her stuff awhile, bucking and kicking up her heels like a silly youngster.

Professional Advice

The hoofcare specialist came out today and told me that Whisper and Promise are both dealing with founder issues.  Chris, Erin, and I were shocked to pull up to Whisper barely able to put pressure on her right front leg yesterday morning. She stumbled and tripped as she tried not to allow weight to go on the leg, I cringed with each step wishing I could do something to take the pain from her and wondering if she had been that way for the few days I wasn't with her.

Founder, aka laminitis, is an inflammation reaction brought on by all sorts of things though this time of year commonly by the high sugar content in spring grass. Horses do best in the spring and summer being confined during the day and turned out at night in addition to limiting grazing on pasture after temps dip close to frost at night resulting in even higher sugar load.

Founder is the second leading cause of death in horses, colic being the first, often because humane euthanasia is the only relief for a severe case. In it's worst form, the coffin bone can rotate and actually penetrate the sole of the hoof. You can imagine the agony that could cause a horse. Often horses dealing with founder stand in an unusual stance,  like a halter show horse spreads out, in an effort to relieve the pain in all 4 feet. I'm fit to be tied over this information and I'll have the vet out first thing in the morning to assess the girls.

** Post Script **

The day after hoof evaluation, I had a vet consult to determine the extent of the founder. I learned a few things

1. Laminitis is the broad term of the inflamed laminae, founder is the end stages
2. hoof bulge, that the hoof person pointed out, can be created from any type of hoof inflammation, including but not limited to founder
3. the pasture we have the horses on has enough weed load that it does not contain enough rich grass to founder a horse Whisper's size (a very small pony or mini is possible)

The pain Whisper is having is a hoof abscess, not founder. To my dismay, brought on by the way the hoofcare person was trimming her feet. With Whisper's flat feet, she suffered a stone bruise that resulted in a deep and painful abscess.

A lesson on being careful what 'professional advice' you trust.