Jack's X-ray.....hmmmm.....What Now?!?!

Ok, so we called in the big guns today. Jack is lame and wouldn't even walk down a small hill - apparently too painful to put weight on front of hoof.

The hoof that is really giving him problems is the front right (x-ray on left). You can see the coffin bone looks misshapen. (See above cross sectional of hoof for location of bones) Compare it to the coffin bone in the left hoof (Right x-ray). A look on the outside of Jack's hooves and the casual observer would know they are messed up!

But it's not just his feet! Jack's coat continues to get duller and bleached out spots are showing up; he's slow and lethargic; sweats standing still! Is that any way for a four year old thoroughbred to act?

We are still searching for answers. There must be a piece to the puzzle we just aren't seeing! Tomorrow, the doctor will come out and draw blood: once in the AM and once in the PM and test for insulin resistance and Cushings.

I'm still left with the current immediate dilemma of whether to shoe or not shoe. Vet says put shoes on (and this will help the symptoms of lameness); barefoot trimmer says "No! It would only be covering up the problem."

There's more going on than lameness here. So what would you do? Do you believe shoes can cure symptoms of horse lameness issues with no long term repercussions? Should we forget about his other symptoms (of lethargy, dull coat) if he can be made to walk ok? Or do we try to get to the root of the problem, no matter how long (or potential painful to the horse) and find out what's going on in this horse, thereby curing his hoof problems? Have you ever had to deal with this kind of situation?

Tommy Boy Gets the Boot!

Tommy Boy gets more hoof work done. He's still pretty lame; alot of thrush and infection in the laminae and white line, so Joanna proposed a more aggressive treatment. We treated his front and back hooves with Clean Trax. If you read about it, the compound sounds very impressive and treatment is in both the liquid and vapor phases of the material. It is very labor intensive and requires two to three people to work it.


First, the chemical must be keep cool, and Southern California in the summer makes that challenging alone! We kept it in the refrigerator until ready to mix.

Ready, mix! - One gallon of water to one bottle of Clean Trax. Pour into the treatment boot, and put a clean front hoof into it! Easier said than done. Like I said, helps to have a lot of hands around for this job - and a cooperative horse, like Tommy Boy! After both hooves are settled into the bag, some one must stay with the horse to be sure he doesn't move for 45 minutes while he soaks!

When the 45 minutes are up, the treatment soaking bags are moved to the back hooves and the front hooves get plastic baggie booties so the vapor phase can continue to work on the front hooves.

That's Gaia and Jessika working to get the back boot on Tommy. They had the hard job! I volunteer to sit with him during the 45 minute treatment!!





So here's Tommy Boy in full treatment regalia! Back boots are now duct taped on (where would we be with out our duct tape!!) He was not so happy about having another 45 minutes on the back and tried to kick them off.

Plastic bags duct taped on the front hooves. When 45 minutes were up, the treatment boots were removed from the back hooves, the solution now spent, was dumped out. Back hooves were then wrapped in plastic baggies for vapor phase of treatment (45 minutes).

Tomorrow, treatment continues with Stalosan F, sole support impression material and hoof casting.

Tommy Boy - Hoof Care w/EquiCast

We worked on Tommy Boy's hooves this evening. Over the last several weeks, it's been evident that he is very sore and has difficulty walking. (He was on bute 3 times a week, and had joint injections prior to coming here - which wore off and left him struggling to move).


Left Front - his feet are practically flat due to false sole flush with wall - no concavity (1/4 inch depth at apex of frog); evidence of dropped coffin bone from chronic laminitis (He was wearing full shoes with pads on front when we got him about three weeks ago.) Sole sounded hollow when tapped. First, Joanna trimmed sole and frog, then packed with EquiPak CS (the neon blue stuff!). Adhere Equithane (black stuff) is then applied to hold a 3/4 inch foam pad in place on the hoof for added support while the hoof grows out. The whole hoof, pad and all, is wrapped in EquiCast. Entire procedure is repeated on the right front.

Right Front - again, sole appears flat; build up of sole is due to a combination of shoes and pads- there was nothing abrasive to naturally wear the sole. Possible causes are diet related, lack of circulation in hoof from limited movement, enzymatic and mechanical forces which all contribute to hoof wall failure. Peripheral loading is the mechanical force that tears the wall away from the coffin bone.. i.e. pressure or weight bearing on outer wall of hoof only; weight bearing not distributed to sole and frog as nature intended.

Tommy Boy will wear the EquiCasts for three weeks.

For more information on natural hoof care and hoof rehabilitation check Pete Ramey's website - Hoof Rehabilitation Specialists.

One Sweet Horse - Four Incredibly Bad Hooves!

As you can see, Jack has quite the hooves! No wonder this poor guy was tripping over his feet constantly! We saw a huge difference when his four shoes came off a few weeks ago. At that time Joanna gave him a quick trim, and left his feet to settle in to their new feeling of freedom!!

Today she was back ready to continue trimming and shaping his hooves. It will be a long, slow process to bring his hooves back to a more natural, balanced, healthy state.

Left Front - very grossly misshaped - extreme flaring; laminar failure, stretching of the lamina. (Perhaps a mechanical failure due to over compensation from soreness in the right hoof) What is so pronounced is the heels are under run, weight of horse is moved forward; instead of being shared equally by sole/frog/wall. Weak walls - (sound hollow when tapped) - disconnected toe. This hoof measures 6 inches at it's widest; 6 1/2 inches long; 4 inch toe length; 3/8 inch sole depth. Joanna trimmed dead sole.

Right Front - Hoof wall is flared at toe and pulled away from wall by one inch!!! Disconnect! Totally infected white line. Will soak for 4 hours in a vinegar solution tomorrow, then pack with poultice.

Right Hind - very deep thrush in central frog; excessive sole and toe length. Also, notice how hoof has been shaped oddly pointing out! What is that, duck feet?! No wonder he can't walk!

Left hind - not so much thrush. I was so overwhelmed with information, and frustrated to see how badly his hooves had fared under shoes!

TaDa!! Connor goes for a walk!!

Here's Connor out for a stroll in the arena. You can still see it's painful for him to walk, but I don't think he has one foot in the grave!!



A few weeks earlier, I had reach the point where it was more painful to watch him try to move than to think about having him euthanized. Luckily, the doctor who came that day suggested we give it one more try...

Don't you just love his little duct tape booties...?

Changing dressings on Connor's hooves

Slide show below shows Connor's left hoof, then right hoof. Notice on both, the abscesses (small, nickel sized reddish bulge) are healing; the edges of the abscesses are closing in with healthy hoof material. Side view shows high heel of Connor's right hoof.



For more information on holistic hoof care approach, see Hoof Rehab.

Connor's Hoof Wraps - Holistic Hoof Care

Holistic Hoof Practitioner, Joanna Schwartzel was back Saturday to work on Connor's hooves.
The first thing we did was bathe Connor; he had laid in urine and actually looked like he might have peed himself while laying down! A good blast of water cleaned out his hooves nicely. Then rotting hoof was trimmed away as much as possible, then the toe was filed. The sole was sprayed with a natural antibiotic, Banixx, then packed with "Q-shot" ointment, covered with gauze and wrapped in blue vet tape. A clothe diaper waterproof cover, that has a wear proof hoof sole made of Vettec Equi-Thane "Adhere" glue-on hoof repair, wraps around the entire hoof and is held in place with...duct tape! (where would we be without duct tape!)

Two things to note:

1. In the slide show above, the roundish, reddish bulge (about 1/2 inch in diameter) is the result of the hoof abscess pushing out of the sole.

2. In the photos below, the picture on the top is Connor's left front hoof; the photo on the bottom was taken off the internet and shows a very healthy, naturally trimmed hoof for comparison. (Beautiful!)

Connor's Week at the Spa

All week, since Holistic Hoof Practitioner Joanna Schwartzel first addressed Connor's major hoof problems, the old grey Thoroughbred has had daily treatments of Calcium Bentonite (Indian Healing Clay - the kind you use as a mud pack at a health spa!) with lavender oil packed into clean hooves; and then hand walked for 5 minutes. He walks slowly, but his mobility is improving!

Joanna was here yesterday and got some great photos and treatments to post after Mother's Day dinner.

PS I get no kickbacks from any of these links - they are just there to inform you!

Star's Thrush Treatment - Begins!

Star is a 28 year old Mustang mare. We've had her for about 8 years, but she's been around Fallbrook all her life, and even did her time in the Fallbrook Pony Club (before we got her). Here she is today! She looks really great for an old mare...but she's got really bad feet. The problem is she pees a lot!! Doctor says she may be a....psychogenic drinker!!! Because of all these factors, she has always had mild to severe thrush. This winter it got really bad.

Here she is this winter, standing in her cesspool of muck and pee! This horse is pretty well cared for - again, not show horse pampered - but well cared for: she is turned out into a large sand arena daily (with her two buddies, the mini-mares Emmy and Sugar), she is groomed (hoof picked) once to twice a day by young adoring riders, and she has a mat that she can stand on to get out of the mud. But she chooses to stand in the mud and pee next to her two buddies (see them in the photo) and her thrush was the worst it has ever been. So, we decided some drastic steps had to be taken. And, of course, we'll be chronicling every step of the way.

Connor - Right Foot Forward

Dr. Bender, Creekside Veterinary Services, was out bright and early this morning to have a look at Connor, the old grey TB gelding. We've been nursing an abscessed hoof on left front, and now, he appears to have pain in the right hoof, i.e. not bearing any weight on it. Truthfully, Jessika and I lamented over the thought that it might be Connor's time to cross the rainbow bridge.

But Dr. Bender located another abscess in his right hoof, again, in an unusual spot at the point of the frog. He did a hoof block, released and cleaned the abscess, packed in ichthammol, then wrapped the hoof with bandages and duct tape. With Connor able to bear weight on his right hoof, he could examine the progress on his left hoof. Still thrushy; he rinsed with 7% Iodine solution; then gave him a shot of bute. I'll give him 1.5 grams bute twice a day, Iodine rinse on left hoof once a day, increase Creekside Life Stages (supplemental feed) and mix in corn oil. Throw in some generic biotin for hooves. Connor is loosing weight, although he does eat well.

Wet winters, old age (30+) and Thoroughbred feet all contibute to Connor's hoof problems. We'll need to be extra vigilant to pull him through this.