Farrier visit April 27, 2009

(Pictured: Buttercup gets her regular lysol soaking to prevent infection of her stressed lamina)

The farrier visit went well, as always with my great, new farrier. I'm very lucky to have him. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: a good farrier is worth his weight in gold.

Yesterday's goal was to keep our angles the same, but to help the heel grow straight down from the heel bulb. My farrier changed Bud to a steel regular shoe, set it back only slightly, but with the branches wide and level with the heel bulb. He slightly filed the heel so that it will stop following its desired course of underneath her.

Right front:

To be honest, I'm not quite happy with this hoof. I think the toe should have been set back a little bit further and as a result of not doing so, the angle is a little to low. But it still doesn't look nearly as bad as it has in the past and progress is progress! 

For comparison (four months ago before our current farrier):

The problem hoof, traditionally, has been Buttercup's front left. This is the one with the most stress on the laminae because of the splayed hoof. On a good note, the vet we saw two Saturdays ago said that the lamina are heeling and she will likely regrow a strong lamina (provided we keep her infection free) in less than six months. Unfortunately, after every time we trim and shoe, her lamina gets stressed and she gets lame for about a week afterward.

Here is the left:

I don't care who you are ... that is a beautiful hoof! OK, maybe I've gotten a little bit barn blind. But the progress is amazing, even in comparison to the way her hooves looked in March. Yes, the heel is a bit lower, which may seem counterintuitive since we are trying to build heel, but that's because to get new, healthy heel, sometimes you have to remove the underrun nasty heel.

Notice how much further the shoes are underneath the heels on the most recent pictures? A wise woman once told me that hooves grow into whatever space you give them. Look at the above picture, if you were a hoof, where would you grow? Now, look at the most recent picture. Where would you grow? 

On Friday we got great news from the vet: Buttercup's P3 (coffin bone) is completely normal in her front left hoof!!! Further proof that we are on the right path! The $75 for X-rays is always well spent to make sure you are moving forward in the rehabbing process.