Chronicle of the Hoof

End of Chronicle of the Hoof

2011-11-20T09:37:00.000-08:00

It's been coming: the end of the Chronicle of the Hoof. I haven't wanted to create this post and even thought about deleting the blog all together, but there's some good information here and I originally started the blog with the intent of sharing my experience and findings. Deleting that would defeat its purpose.

The blog is ending because we've come to a stalmate with Buttercup's condition. She tested negative for insulin resistance and tested negative for cushings. In fact, we're not sure what she has. Not even one of the most premier laminitis experts in the nation knows what's wrong with her. But he said we're not alone.

Even he owns a horse that has strange triggers without a biological reason. He's studied them and can't find a reason behind it.

The good news is that her condition, unlike IR, isn't progressive. He said when we find a trigger, remove it and move on with our lives. He also said I need to stop panicking every time she has a bad day.

He commended us on management and keeping her healthy, and said she would continue to be healthy as long as we carefully manager her.

While it's very frustrating not being able to pinpoint her condition, it's very comforting that we're not alone. There are others out there, frustrated and worried, trying to do right by their horse.

When I started this blog, I felt very alone. I didn't have the team of hoof care professionals or vets standing behind me that I have now. I didn't have friends with laminitic, cushings and other chronic condition horses. Now I have all that support.

When I started this blog, I also felt woefully under-educated and in a position of being unable to help my horse. But now, I feel like while I still have much to learn, I know how to take care of my horse.

A big thank you to my readers who have chimed in and helped over the years and have followed this rather tragic and unhappy tale. We've had a lot of bright spots over the year, and a lot more good days than bad, but those haven't always been shared.

I hope we haven't depressed you too much because I'm still optimistic. Buttercup is happy and healthy, and that's what matters to me.

Happy hooves, everyone.

If you still want to see infrequent updates on Buttercup, like us on Facebook.

Space-age Shoes - Aug. 19

2011-08-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

We had a mild laminitic episode this week (lasting less than 48 hours). Responded with icing her hooves twice a day and by the second day her pulse returned to normal. No heat in the hooves, just a slightly elevated pulse. This is why taking pulses is so important!

So we are still experiencing some lameness with Buttercup even with her last fancy shoes. To me, it looks mostly like hind-end skeletal lameness. The chiropractor will actually be out tomorrow to fix whatever is out for her.

Today, Russ came by for her regularly scheduled shoeing. We decided to go with a Morrison Roller shoe. While we actually gained more sole in the last four weeks with the regular four-point shoes, the Morrison shoe is supposed to really increase bloodflow and build lots of sole.

We are out of the Equi-Pak, and seeing how we do with out. While we did grow more sole, it was mostly soft sole. Not the hard, weight bearing sole that is desirable.

The Morrison shoe is some space-age stuff. Literally. It is made out of aluminum and magnesium. "The kind of stuff they make jet air planes out of," Russ said.

The provide a three-degree wedge and have the breakover even further back than the four-point, natural balance shoe. If Buttercup was any judge, freeing up her shoulders, I'd say she likes them.

Click here for more information about the Morrison Roller.

It's not cushings, but she's still lame

2011-07-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

Just got Buttercup's results back from the ATCH Insulin test. Insulin and hormone levels look normal, which mean she does not have Cushings Disease.

While Cushings Disease would have meant access to supportive drugs, this is still a good thing, the vet assures me.

Her normal insulin levels mean we've been managing her diet well and the vet said that Equine Metabolic/IR horses can have normal levels so that's still on the table.

At this time, I have no plans to have her tested for EMS/IR because the tests are prohibitively expensive (I have fancy new shoes I have to buy Bud every four weeks), can often miss the IR and even if she is diagnosed, we wouldn't be doing anything different than what we are already doing. There is no cure or treatment for EMS, other than diet management.

Buttercup hasn't improved much with her new shoes, but she does seem more comfortable from last week.

Here's the latest lameness video, which I've sent to person who is excellent at analyzing lameness to see what he thinks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOdRcDDCwcA

New shoes - July 23

2011-07-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

We had to up the ante on getting Buttercup comfortable. Forty-eight hours after getting her plain steel shoes, her comfort level dramatically decreased. So Russ came out and the new strategy is four-point shoes (also known as natural balance shoes) paired with a fake gel sole.

Her heels have been her main base of support with her soles so thin and her P3s on the ground (the breakover really hurt her). The four-point really takes advantage of her happy heels, moves the breakover back so that she isn't spending more time on the part that hurts.

The gel is copper infused so it should keep any thrush down. Normally the gel is paired with a styrofoam pad that is level with the ground. Russ filled in with the gel, but kept is just below level of the shoe with the ground, so that it acts more like a sole and minimizes impact to her tender hooves.

She is drastically more comfortable, but still not sound. Hopefully we'll see her continue to improve.

Lameness Update - July 19, 2011

2011-07-19T13:28:00.001-07:00

So we had the vet out yesterday to try and determine underlying causes through new radiographs. I also had an ATC insulin test to test for Cushings. While Buttercup does not have the clinical appearance of a Cushings horse, she also doesn't have the clinical appearance of an IR horse either. Plus, we could support her with better medicine with Cushings and it's the cheaper of the metabolic tests.

What the X-rays revealed:

• No arthritic changes, so that's a good thing!

• Dramatic decrease in sole depth over the last year and half since the last X-rays

• Building up her heel then created downward pressure on her rotated P3, causing it more pain.

The vet recommended we go back into shoes to give her immediate comfort and my old farrier Russ was right down the road. He came over and shod her. While the vet recommended eggbar shoes with padding, Russ wanted to go with a plain steel shoe and then work from there. If she needs more than this, we will go to it in stages.

X-rays: (they got flipped)

Above view of the P3 looking for arthritic changes:

Vet shoeing Rx:

Freshly shod pics, left:

Right:

And while she's not completely sound, she's the most comfortable she's been in three months and that's good enough for me. Hopefully she will continue to improve.

We're still stumped as to why we lost all the sole depth. Maybe it was a triggered by a laminitic episode due to the rabies shot? Maybe it is a seasonal thing for her? All I know is that she lost it and we're doing what we can to make her comfortable.

That brings me to another point: Buttercup is officially retired. All this time I've been working on getting her back to the ring, back into showing, back into jumping, back into something. But I've known for a while now that's a pipe dream. I'll be happy to have her comfortable enough for the occasional trail ride. She may just be a pasture ornament for the rest of her days, but she may also come around to the point where she can go out and enjoy herself on trail. We'll see what she's up to. But she's retired — officially — at the ripe old age of 9.

Instead of a gold watch, she got steel shoes.

And recent video of her, still not sound, but at least comfortable:

Wound looks great ... but lameness mystery

2011-07-15T04:53:00.001-07:00

Buttercup's leg wound looks fabulous! I don't even think the scar will be as apparent as it continues to heal. I'm so pleased!

What I'm not pleased about is her soundness. In all honesty, this has been going on about 12 weeks now. At first, we blamed it on the rabies shot and some re-balancing work on her hooves. Then it was the Triple Crown senior we briefly tried. Then it was bran mash to get her to eat her medecine. Then it was the stall rest and lack of circulation.

She's been out of the stall nearly two weeks and her soundness has not improved. She's sounder on harder surfaces and really ouchie on soft surfaces. Scott said that's because of the pressure around the hoof.

It looks to be ouchie near the toe on the outside of the hoof. She's weighting the inside of her front left and landing heel first.

I called up my old farrier today and he agreed to come look at her tomorrow. I'm pretty upset about the lameness and I'm just not certain what the root cause is. I just want her to be comfortable.

Scott said this may happen every summer with her laminitic condition. Her being uncomfortable for months at a time just doesn't fly with me. So if we have to shoe her or take other measures to get her comfortable during these tough months, I want to explore that option.

Here are her hooves from about four weeks ago while on stall rest:

They look even better now, in my opinion. The hooves structurally look like they should be healthy. There is no bounding pulse in that front left either. She has been booted in the meantime just give her a level of comfort.

Update on the leg injury

2011-07-07T07:50:00.000-07:00

(Buttercup was released from stall rest earlier this week to her own private paddock)

This month was going to go so much differently in my head. Buttercup and I were going to get up early nearly every morning and walk for a short distance down the beautiful trails of our new facility for longer and longer distances until I had her walking up to 45 minutes at a time undersaddle over the last four weeks.

Instead, my mornings, that are not really busy with my new job, I am out at the barn, treating and re-wrapping a leg. Buttercup was stuck in a stall for the last four weeks. Every time she would lay down, her wound threatened to open. After the first two weeks, proud flesh began to emerge (likely a product of my antibiotic ointment — just say no to Furazone, I've learned) and location of the wound.

The wound originally wasn't under wrap but when the proud flesh was subsequently cut out, the vet wanted us to wrap tight.

Buttercup's front hooves have suffered from limited blood flow from the lack of movement — the simplest things become complicated when you have a horse suffering from laminitis. To make some matters worse, Bud went off her feed at the time she needed her antibiotics the most, so bran (super high in sugar) was introduced to get her medicine down. She's been off the bran for 2.5 weeks, but she is still exhibiting hoof soreness, likely from the limited mobility.

Her hind legs have been stocked up nearly every morning too.

The area has been difficult to wrap, nearly too long to just have a wrap around the gaskin part of the leg, requiring some wrapping of the upper part of the cannon. And the wrap itself has created sores, that also need to be treated.

Meanwhile, Buttercup, who has never taken to stall rest well, has actually made life very easy on me and her caretakers. She's been pleasant and willing and understanding. I love that horse.

She was released from her stall earlier this week into her new, individual paddock. The paddock is gorgeous and completely shaded by mature oak trees and void of any grass. With the increased movement, she is less foot sore, but it's still there. She'll probably take a few weeks to recover full soundness.

Another issue we have is that Bud appears to have lost some weight. Not too much to be concerned about. It looks like loss of conditioning rather than true weight loss. It's hard to tell right now since she's not only had the injury and stall rest to contend with, but we also switched her to a beet pulp and alfalfa cube diet since she's arrived at her new barn. (Her WellSolve L/S wasn't available at this facility, and she did not do well on Seminole's lower starch brands.) I'll have to make a decision soon to see if we need to get her on a fat supplement, or if she'll perk back up just being out of the stall.

Making Bud very happy: she has a very handsome boyfriend next door. So she gets to squeal and show off, but then leave him stuck on the other side of the fence. Bud's a tease.

Progression of the wound pics:

Week 1:

Week 2:

This shows the proud flesh emerging and the issue of keeping the stitches in such a tough spot.

Week 3:

Here you can see the wounds created by the wrapping.

Week 4:

This had just reopened prior to me getting there (Bud decided to sleep flat out that night). But pretty healthy looking!

After about another four weeks on pasture rest, I might start to think about riding her down that trail. In the meantime, Bud is fine getting her daily grooming and loving!

Non-hoof related injury

2011-06-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

(Buttercup enjoying a few minutes of grass at her new place prior to her injury)

While refreshing to not talk about hooves, this new injury certainly wasn't a good thing!

Buttercup arrived June 1 at her new barn outside Charleston. On June 3, barn management discovered a gruesome injury during morning feeding. Everything is fine and it appears to just be a flesh wound (Thank goodness!).

She's been on stall rest the last week and has another week of stall rest before she goes out in her own individual paddock, since the injury is suspected to be from a pasturemate.

Day 1 injury:

Day 6: (all cleaned up!)

And just to end the post on a happier note:

Happy feet

2011-05-09T06:40:00.000-07:00

Scott called me last week to report that he was trimming Bud in the paddock with no halter or lead. This is a huge milestone for Buttercup.

Bud was always great for the farrier and was known for being able to be done right out in the paddock/pasture without a halter or lead. As her hooves pained her more and more, and as she realized the folks handling her hooves were causing her pain, she became nasty and ruthless. Yanking hooves, rearing up, lunging. She was scary ... but she was also scared.

While her hooves haven't hurt for quite some time, she held onto a lot of that anticipation of pain. She has gradually stopped rearing and stopped lunging. But she still wanted to yank and be naughty — though if someone was pounding nails into your sore feet every 6 weeks for a few months, you'd hold onto the fear too! That's like torture.

To hear now that she is "back to normal" is such a relief. One more step towards normal. Maybe we'll actually get there?

___________________________________________

I got a text this morning from Scott: "Her mental change has been her greatest improvement." I think that says a lot about not only how far we've come, but also how far we still have to go on our journey.

21 months barefoot

2011-04-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

I was digging around in some old photos and wanted to share the changes Buttercup's hooves have made since going barefoot. Now I'm still not an every-horse-must-be-barefoot person, but I do believe it was the right decision for Buttercup's hooves. And, really, that's what hoof care is all about: the best thing for the individual.

Since we've had ups and downs over the last 21 months (going barefoot post), things haven't always been 100% with Bud being barefoot. But I think these solar shots show a story of a hoof developing concavity and a stronger frog and toe callous.

September 2009:

November 2009: (post laminitic episode)

February 2010:

June 2010 (post laminitic episode):

September 2010:

(On the previous post's subject of bars, you can see the trenches in this photo of where the bars have been taken below the sole plane)

January 2011:

April 2011:

It's also fun to go back and see what I was writing even just two years ago ... I don't feel like I've changed all that much until I read those posts. Just like it's hard for me to see the change in Buttercup's hooves until I look at all these pictures.

Hoof update 4-26-11

2011-04-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

(My husband and Buttercup share a rare moment together)

Got to see Buttercup this past Saturday. She is looking very good under the watchful eye of Scott! Her hooves are steadily improving and her weight looks fabulous. One of the biggest things I notice about her hooves is the straightening of the coronary band. A smooth, straight coronary band is a sign of a healthy hoof.

While Bud isn't on a specific cycle right now, she does look like she's ready for a touch-up. Her sole was pretty dead so I scraped some of that off for the pictures.

Left:

Not too much longer now! Grow, baby, grow!

While these bars are not ideal, I'm still pleased with her hoof overall. I will address the bars later in the post.

Right:

(taken on a weird angle and not straightened)

So about the bars, they are being taken back slowly over time. Having worked with them myself, I understand why Scott hasn't just wacked them back to the collateral groove. They aren't so much folded over the sole, as pushed against the sole. As in, there isn't sole underneath the overgrown bar ... I may just be learning about hooves but I can't see any benefit in opening her hoof where there is no sole underneath.

I've never seen bars quite like hers and I've been working with quite a few hooves lately. I have a lot of questions as to why they're like this and if this is a common affliction or due to her genetics. But the bars are literally spread and up to the point where you see them in the pics, below the sole plane.

Here is the best way for me to describe it:

Top left is a normal hoof showing the frog, bars (red) and sole (yellow). Top right is a hoof with overgrown bars that are laid over the sole. Bottom center is how I feel Buttercup's lay. Now it could very well be that there is sole underneath those bars, but because it is below the sole plane, it doesn't feel that way.

Anyway, I think we can't get much better, other than continuing to grow out separation, until the bars are normalized. I'm not sure if they can be normalized, but remember the bars have a lot to do with hoof health and a nice straight coronary band. I guess time will tell while she's in the expert hands of Scott.

In other news, check out the Chronicle of the Hoof facebook page and post your favorite silly horse picture!

Commenter blog: It's Quarters for Me

2011-03-31T11:44:00.000-07:00

A commenter just posted on an older post of mine and I went a snooping and found she's got quite an interesting and informative site!

Check it out: It's Quarters for Me.

Buttercup visit March 25, 2011

2011-03-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

Finally got out to see Buttercup, and she looks good! Her hooves have made some really good improvements. Scott said he's doing her probably every week, which means the corrections happen faster.

I only took two lateral pics because I got distracted in between shots searching for a hoof pick with a brush and then decided to ride and then forgot all about the other shots. I didn't remember until I was nearly an hour away! And I wasn't turning back around! Next time I'll get better shots.

So rode Buttercup for the first time in months and she was sound and loving it. Scott then decided to hop on and make my mostly dressage-ridden pony go western pleasure:

I thought she looked cute as a western pony! But you won't catch me in a western saddle any day soon!

Don't forget to like us on Facebook!

Slow feeding

2011-03-08T10:34:00.000-08:00

I don't take a lot of time to discuss nutrition here, with the exception of saying what Bud gets and why. There's a reason for that: I'm a layman and nutrition is really complicated.

However, there is a growing interest in "slow feeding" horses and, surprise, there actually seems to be a growing consensus about slow feeding equines.

The idea behind the principle is that equines are foraging critters, designed to eat all day long as they graze along the plain. The concept isn't too different from the recent "grass-fed" cow movement and I've wondered if the two are somehow connected (i.e. someone said "Hey cows are healthier grass fed because that's the way their gut is designed ... I bet that would work for my horses!").

Here is an interesting site that was linked by SmartPak Equine's blog on the subject. And here is another website offering information on this practice (looks like it's connected through the Swedish Hoof School).

Growing up, you threw a scoop or two of super-sweet sweet feed to each horse. Each would get maybe a pad of hay with their meal. These meals were only twice a day and the horses didn't get anything in between. I am on the East Coast, so many horses are in small paddocks or stalled and don't have access to a lot of grass. And as I've discussed, grass itself (especially managed grass) can be dangerous on sugar-sensitive equines.

There are a lot of arguments against this "conventional" feeding method that I grew up with.

One argument says that the horse's gut constantly produces acid and, without a constant intake of food, it can cause ulcers or even colic bouncing from "starvation" to "feeding bonanza."

Another argument says that this also messed up the horse's insulin levels. They suffer sugar crashes and booms several times a day and this can lead to metabolic issues if they are already prone to that.

But they all seem to say the same thing: the equine is designed to graze all day, continuously, and the traditional way, while pretty darn easy and efficient on the owner's part, is not healthy for this type of gut system.

And just throwing more hay at the horse is wasteful and not really the answer (though if you have unlimited funds, go for it!). As a rule of good equine nutrition, your horse will eat more hay than anything else during a day, but if he is anything like Buttercup, he'll down 10-pounds of hay in less than two hours, leaving another six to 10 hours before he will eat again. So this is where you get into some cool gadgetry and mechanisms.

Here is an interesting slow feeder design.

One of my friends highly recommends NibbleNets. I'm actually buying two for myself once I save up the cash.

I like this from their FAQ:

Q: WHY ARE THESE HAY BAGS SO EXPENSIVE?

A: TO START WITH, THEY REALLY ARE NOT EXPENSIVE COMPARED TO THE WASTED HAY THAT IS TRAMPLED INTO THE GROUND. WITH THE NIBBLENET, THE HORSES EAT SLOWER, SO LESS HAY IS USED AND MONEY IS SAVED. NOT TO MENTION THE POSSIBLE VET BILLS FOR SAND COLIC, ULCERS AND OTHER AILMENTS FROM NON-CONSISTENT GRAZING WHICH THEY ARE DESIGNED TO DO.

Of course, there is the always tried and true method of slow grazing (it works with hay and pasture):

These things are both like grazing without the downsides of grass pastures. Here is a link to Paddock Paradise's page with different slow feeding designs. Some of them I would try and some I totally wouldn't. But use your own judgment on what works best for your horse. A lot of this is really easy to incorporate.

Another slow feeding method is using soaked forage in with a grain or eliminating grain all together. This means the horse can't simple "wolf" down the food because there are soaked alfalfa cubes or soaked beet pulp in there.

Think NibbleNets will offer me a sponsorship for being mentioned on such a well-known blog? A girl can dream, right?

Facebook with Bud!

2011-03-07T12:23:00.001-08:00

Well this blog has finally jumped on the bandwagon of Facebook!

Like us!

Buttercup goes to Scott's

2011-02-28T13:28:00.000-08:00

(Buttercup categorically denies that she was difficult to load. Here she says "Look at me! I love the trailer. Let's get rolling!")

Buttercup left her caretaker's yesterday and is now, for the time being, at her trimmer's farm. Scott was excited because he said he can work with her now on a week-to-week basis and possibly get some faster progress on her hooves.

We had some hiccups — Bud got wound up and decided she was not leaving the property (an old trailer loading issue that I thought was over and done with *sigh*), truck broke down, etc. — but we all got there safely.

(I did have a camera and apparently used it for the worst parts of the trip!)

Unfortunately, while there, I spaced it and didn't get any pictures! I blame the hectic day impeding my natural inclination to document everything Buttercup. This also means I, yet again, do not have recent hoof pictures! Buttercup is now nearly three hours away, but this does make her closer to our next destination: Charleston.

The end! (at least of this post!)

Trimmer visit Jan. 22, 2011

2011-02-13T07:34:00.000-08:00

(Playful Bud is not the most appreciated pony at the moment!)

Things are looking great for Buttercup. She actually seems to be having a second foal-hood — further cementing my theory that because laminitis begins in the hindgut of actually processing the sugar that comes in, she's been uncomfortable for years before her hooves became an actual problem.

She's jumping all over her pasture-mate and causing general chaos at her caretaker's barn. And unfortunately, because she's become rather destructive with her feel-goodery, she will be finding a new home here soon ... whether that's back at the barn near me or with her trimmer, Scott.

We are facing a move back to Charleston, S.C., this summer so things will be in transition for us over the next four to six months. If I neglect things here, it's not because the saga is over. It's just that moving is really super stressful!

Onto the latest and greatest trim!

Left:

Right:

Let me start by saying, putting yourself out there on the Internet when it comes to hoof rehabilitation is hard, especially as a layman. I'm often asked things about Bud's hooves that I really don't have a clue about. But the great part about it is that it helps me view her progress a bit more objectively.

No one wants to see progress more than me — even to the point of seeing it when it really isn't there. The mind often sees what it wants it to see. I'm happy to share my story, not only to help others but also to objectively view my own horse, who I love dearly, and my own decisions. I haven't always made the right decision, but I try to make those decisions for the right reasons.

So, while these hoof pics here aren't 100% great, I think we've been making great progress. But I want to point out where these hooves can be improved. I think I've been to rosy lately and have not been as critical as I should be. So here's where I find issues:

(Left and right, respectively.) While the balance between both sides of the hoof, dissected, has drastically improved and really looks positive, the thickness of the bars and its location to the actual heel are still very thick and far forward. Where the buttresses of the heel are at the top horizontal line, is near where the bars should start ... not near that bottom horizontal line.

Her bars have been an issue and the current program is to keep backing them up slowly with each trim. Why? Well, I'll let Scott answer that one (excuse the typos, he was typing from his phone):

This is the thing in some trim methods they say cut them (the bars) out and in some others they say don't touch. So what I have done that works for me is this I will take them out and I mean really get them out ONLY when the rest of the hoof is in good shape to carry the load remember the number one RULE I DON'T WANT them to be SORE I have found that if I just dig out the bars every time the horse will step off so I try to get all the other things healthy FROG. BALANCE. Hoof wall. Heels. Toe. And when just a few of those things happen the other things get better like the bars and the horse was in work moving happy. Its like training I'm not focused on what's wrong and attacking that problem I'm just going to work on things that are going to fix the problem like softness. Hip. Shoulder. Poll. Neck. Collection. In buttrercups case it was frogs first. Balance. Toe con cavity. And hoof wall crack is where we are now I think she has made good hoof growth we just have to keep working

Thank you, Scott. Love hoof care professionals that don't mind a few questions!

To show that we have had further positive growth in the hoof, I've taken lines to the lateral views of the hooves:

To those wanting to know why I didn't follow the exact angle of the hoof wall: 1) she still has separation and the hoof wall is not a good judge of angle on the hoof that way, and 2) I did it from the actual break-over point of the hoof, which does show a more accurate angle. Also, these images, while fairly good, are not angled correctly for best angle assessment.

Her heel, while curved under, is not drastically wrapped under or at a severe discordance with her toe angle.

Oh forget this critical approach! I'm just happy my little Bud has made any progress at all!

Finding laminitis triggers

2011-01-28T11:12:00.000-08:00

Let's talk about laminitis. (Really this is a ploy to distract readers from the fact that I don't have hoof pics from our trim last Saturday! Promise, I'll have them this weekend)

Laminitis is simply put: inflammation of the lamina. The lamina is the connective tissue between the coffin joint and the hoofwall. If you get inflammation in the lamina, the P3 (coffin bone) can drop (founder), and the lamina can detach and allow the hoof wall to be painfully stretched away from the hoof. Laminitis creates an unhealthy hoof that can become more predisposed to abscesses and infection.

You can have laminitis without founder. And while it is rare and usually mechanically induced, you can have founder without laminitis.

Unfortunately with this body response, each subsequent laminitic episode comes on stronger with less stimuli. This is similar to chronic pain or allergies in humans. Our bodies just streamline the message and make it worse and make us more sensitive to future events.

The best way to treat a horse prone to laminitis is to prevent an episode from ever occurring. Easier said than done.

And to do that, you have to figure out the cause.

What causes laminitis? Well, any number of things can trigger an episode. These range from metabolic syndromes to simply too much concussion to hoof. Unfortunately, each horse seems to be unique in the way that they not only display symptoms, but also in how he ends up with the inflammation.

Like the hoof journal (you better have one by now!), I find keeping a record of your horse will help you find the answer. Have a horse that has an annual episode at around the same time each year? Write down everything that was in common and not in common from year to year.

I didn't discover Buttercup's sugar sensitivity until I was reading back through this blog and saw that she had the same exact problem last spring (and the spring before). And problems in the fall. A pattern emerged from my record keeping of her hoof issues.

Unfortunately, if you cannot find a trigger through patterns then you're in for either subsequent laminitic episodes or expensive tests through the vet (which may or may not find the underlying issue at all).

Here are some of the known triggers:

• Sugar (usually spring or fall grass, sweet feed or consumption of anything high in sugar like weeds)
• Concussive forces (trotting an unfit horse a few miles on a paved road? Hello, laminitis)
• Medicine/dewormers (According to Claudia Garner, there is some evidence that medicine can upset the hindgut and that can in turn send inflammation to the hooves)
• Extreme cold (According to safergrass, cold can trigger a laminitic episode in laminitic-prone horses)

To learn more about laminitis, here is some good reading:

Laminitis is a symptom with many causes. They include high insulin levels, excessive
concussion, excessive weight bearing due to injury on other limbs, carbohydrate overload (binge eating), retained placenta, colic, any systemic illness, bedding with black walnut shavings, ingestion of toxic plants, and excessive use of steroids. The treatment that is most successful for an individual case requires removal of the cause.

...

Once a horse has had more than one attack of laminitis they are considered ‘chronic’ and more susceptible. Damaged laminae are more vulnerable to triggers for future episodes.
They may experience hoof pain from being overdue for a trim that puts mechanical stress on damaged tissue.

...

For horses with reoccurring, chronic laminitis keeping a journal is very useful. Make notes
about any changes in diet such as a new batch of hay, bagged feed or new supplement.
Make notes on hoof appearance and care, exercise, vaccinations, significant changes in
weather, changes in general demeanor. Sometimes a pattern will develop that will allow
you to discover a previously unrecognized trigger.

Laminitis Defense

How did you discover your horse's trigger? How do you prevent it?

Hooves for 2011

2011-01-03T06:18:00.000-08:00

(Looking back when we should be looking forward!)

Finally! Pics to show what we're starting with in 2011. This is going to be a big year for Buttercup's health mainly because we're moving (not sure where yet; military) and this could really upset all the positive we've gained for the last six months.

We started off the year poorly though. Some volunteer wheat hay was discovered in the new hay Buttercup was fed just yesterday morning. By the time I arrived at the barn, she had a mild pulse and was about a 1 on the AAEP scale (lameness scales).

Lisa and I poured over everything she could have possibly eaten and decided to get samples of all the hay to test it. She had just gotten a new batch Saturday so we started there. While digging for samplings, wheat hay was found. Wheat hay, along with oat and peanut hay, is one of the most sugar-rich hays there are. Crisis averted, but if it hadn't been caught so soon it could have been really bad.

Keeping the New Year's resolution for no laminitic episodes will be more difficult than I thought.

I touched up her hooves before these images because I wanted to make sure there was nothing to encourage separation or lameness after her brief encounters with sugar.

Right:

Left:

Parting shot:

Hopefully 2011 won't be full of wheat hay in your alfalfa-timothy.

What will 2011 bring?

2010-12-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

I helped Scott trim Jaeger for the second time Dec. 11 and then the following Saturday, Dec. 18, went out to see Buttercup as he trimmed her. I didn't get my rasp on her hooves yet, but Scott explained some things in more detail to help me understand what's going on.

Unfortunately, both times it was pouring down rain and I did not get pictures. So since I'm slack, I figured I would talk New Year's resolutions.

My two biggies:
• No more laminitic episodes
• Get my own property

Pretty tall orders for 2011 to deliver. I feel like we have managed Bud's laminitis very well the past seven months, so if we keep our stringent routine of diet and hoofcare, we shouldn't relapse.

As far as property goes, Buttercup's care is very intensive. We're facing a move in 2011 (military) and I think her boarding costs are quickly going to add up to a second mortgage payment. So it would be cheaper for us the rent or buy property and provide care for her.

What are your 2011 resolutions for hoofcare/horsecare?

Buttercup's Nov. 16, 2010, trim

2010-11-22T06:05:00.000-08:00

I didn't go to the beach Sunday, so that meant I could go out to see Buttercup and take pics of her new duds.

Traveling an hour to go see her has gotten a lot easier now that I have a brand-new car that gets great gas mileage! Readers should be happy to know that Buttercup's visitations are taxing the environment less.

To start, I'd like to talk about the above picture of Bud. It seems that as her hooves improve each time, I can see more and more of her "old" personality back. There used to be a time when she was curious but slightly bratty and always game. As her hooves deteriorated over time (I think this deterioration started back in 2007), that personality turned into bitchy and aloof. Since she was aging and maturing, it was hard to realize this was a sign of an unhappy, uncomfortable horse. I'm happy to have the old Bud back. Sure she's still bratty, but I love her anyway.

Also related to that very cute photo of Bud, I went to a Claudia Garner hoof care clinic not too long ago, and one of the things Mrs. Garner spoke of during the clinic was removing stress from the recovering horse. I think bringing Buttercup to Lisa's has done just that. Here, in a two-horse herd, Buttercup doesn't have to constantly fret about what position she is or who's the boss of whom. She can relax. And I think that's made a world of difference in her hooves. (Check out that link to Claudia Garner; she's got some great information and does photo consultations!)

Scott seemed excited after this trim, and after seeing it I can see why. Yes, Bud has a long way to go yet in her recovery, but she's starting to show steady improvement. Her separation is very close to growing out and I'm hoping by Dec. 18 trim she will get rid of the last of it.

And here you can see the new epoxy solution in the crack. I assume it extended all the way down the crack to the toe, but must have lost the bit at the toe since it was applied.

Looking at the front shots of both hooves, it is easy for me to get dismayed. They show a lot of imbalance in the hoof. On Dec. 18, I plan to ask what the course of action will be with that because I don't know why it is taking so long to get that portion balanced when everything else is looking so positive. It appears that she is always loading the inside of her hoof and the outside of the hoof is just going more to the outside. It isn't pretty, that's for sure.

I'm very happy about the frogs and heels. I swear, Bud's hooves have increased by about 20% in size due to the expansion of her hoof. They feel and look substantial in person.

I'm very excited to get my own hands on them so I can get a better understanding of Scott's vision during the Dec. 18 trim and trim lesson! Hopefully this will give me much better insight into her hooves.

Even though I've been diligent in asking questions, I think getting the hands-on experience will be extremely informative.

Taking the rasp into your own hands

2010-11-21T04:23:00.001-08:00

I'm starting this special post with a strong opinion of mine: having a little bit of hoof knowledge is like a college student in a psych 101 class. Yes, you may have a good grasp on the information, but odds are you can do more harm then good. I do not advocate EVER for a laymen to pick up a hoof rasp and to just start doing his horses hooves. However, I do advocate the laymen educate himself on hoofcare by using a hoofcare professional as a mentor.

The above picture is of my tools. Surprise! I've asked Scott to show me how to maintain a trim on Buttercup so that the next time we move I won't be desperate for a hoofcare professional and end up with the wrong guy (again). We are moving sometime next year, so figured I would step on it.

Those of you wanting to do this with your hoofcare professional: please keep in mind that he or she is likely very busy (I've yet to meet a farrier or trimmer who has a lot of time to kill). Offer to pay him or her for his or her time. This will also show that you are serious.

In addition to this offer, pick up your own tools to mess up. I bought two, used hoofknifes and one very nice rasp for $38. Not a bad deal.

Now, why is it important for the horse owner to learn how to maintain a basic trim on a horse? Well, for one, you'll gain some sympathy for your hoofcare professional. You get farted on, stepped on, yanked away from, nibbled on and much more while trying to trim a horse ... and that's usually the not-so-bad ones! Secondly, it will broaden your understanding of the hoof if you know what your hoofcare professional is doing to it. And thirdly, you will be able to maintain your horse's hoof in a pinch, like in case the hoofcare professional is out of work or whatever.

Yet another disclaimer: please do not ask your hoofcare professional to show you how to trim and then go off and start up your own hoofcare business. Not only is that extremely rude, but it is also not how you gain true hoofcare knowledge. If after you learn to trim and handle the tools, you decide you want to embark on a career, there are plenty of schools available to you to suit your needs.

OK, now that is out of the way.

Yesterday was my first hoof trimming lesson with Scott! We used Jaeger, a 4-year-old Appendix. He's my leased horse and is doing lower level dressage at the moment.

Now I'm going to use the term "we" here like I have in the past, only we means that I helped out in the paring and rasping too. I felt like a monkey most of the time, and Scott said most of this is learning how to manipulate the tools. He told me to get back to him after I did 20 horses. I laughed but I don't think he was joking.

This was Jaeger's first trim with Scott. I have pictures from a few weeks ago to show his before and afters. I'm showing the before so that you can see what Scott and I saw, and what Scott gleaned from just looking at the hoof.

Now to me, there isn't much of a story to tell here besides some separation. But to Scott, this picture with the sharp curve on the sides of the coronary band meant extra pressure on the quarters, which in turn meant sloppy bars (I had a post on bars earlier this year).

We turn the hoof over and here's what we see (approximately):

The first order of business was to take the bars back to where they should be. We also worked on opening up the collateral groove (next to the frog) so that we could see the depth of that groove. That tells us how far in and how balanced the coffin bone is. If both sides of the collateral groove show the same depth, then our coffin bone is balanced. If not, then we have an imbalance.

We also opened up the frog so that flaps weren't inviting infection into the collateral groove or into that crease at the heel. Scott said this horse has a contracted heel due to the quarters taking all the weight and not letting him comfortably land on his heel. Another issue contributing to this horse's contracted heels was a beveled roll all the way around. Although the beveled roll is great at preventing separation from toe to quarter, the heel needs to have a flat rasp to it so it can properly flex.

OK so here's my first ever trim! Now I probably only did about 20% of what you see, but I'm still proud of myself.

We started from the solar view first, using the hoofknife to put the bars where they needed to be and the seatcorn where that needed to be. Then we rasped at a 180° angle the heel. I believe Scott even gave it a slight backwards bevel toward the heel bulb. He called it a "heel bevel," which is not to be confused with the bevel from quarters to toe (it allows for lateral expansion of the heel). And then we gave a 45° bevel from the quarters to the toe to about the waterline on the hoof. Scott then took the quarters down slightly so that the hoof would distribute weight equally over heel, quarters, toe.

On the first pic, you can tell he didn't take the rightside bar back completely. He said "baby steps" about that one. Experience, I guess, will tell you when to take and when to leave.

Front left:

Front right:

I'm amazed how the curve in his coronary band was nearly gone by the time we fixed up the solars. We then propped up the hooves on a hoofstand and did the fine rasp side to get rid of any hooks or crannies or anything that would go against the 45° angle we established on the bevel. We only went up about 3/4 of an inch up the hoofwall, anymore and you're just thinning the hoofwall, Scott said.

Back left:

Back right:

I learned a lot yesterday. Some of it was very over-arching of horsemanship: patience and getting out of the horse's way when they do something stupid. A lot of it though was about putting the trim to use and working with the horse's hoof. And much of it was learning that tool manipulation is a lot harder than it looks (let the rasp work for you! Use leverage on the hoofknife!).

It's a lot easier than it looks, and I never thought it was easy! My next trim lesson is Dec. 18, and it'll be with Buttercup. I can't wait.

Oh and I got the inside scoop on what Scott did to her hoof last time. He cleaned out her crack and used a new type of epoxy to fill it in to try to help strengthen that part of the hoofwall. I was hoping to get out there today but I'm going on a beach ride in a little bit and I don't think that will be in the cards.

Sneak peak from Nov. 17 trim!

2010-11-17T10:05:00.000-08:00

I know! It's a tease! I just got this from Buttercup's caretaker Lisa, so I don't have all the information. But from what I can tell from the photo, it looks like Scott removed the cracked horn down to healthy horn and also gave her a much more aggressive bevel/roll to get rid of the last of the separation.

Also, I will have a treat after Saturday for the blog. I'm getting hands on with the information I've learned over the last few years. But that's all I'm saying for now!

The crack

2010-11-15T06:47:00.001-08:00

The crack remains ugly, and I think I mentioned I don't think it will ever go away. I think the scar at her coronary band causes the hoofwall to grow in too weak to withhold the expansion/contraction of a healthy hoof. But so long as it is attached to the lamina, I'm happy. And so far it is growing out that way:

This last pic illustrates the attached crack down to the detached crack. Luckily, even the detached, wider part of the crack isn't extremely flared off the lamina.

Her hooves are at five weeks here and she's getting done on Wednesday, so the flaring is very apparent right now.

And new side shots:

Can you believe that this horse is on mostly coastal hay, just a handful or two of WellSolve L/S and her SmartPak EZ Keeper grass balancer? She's looking good!

Midway update on Bud

2010-11-11T05:59:00.000-08:00

(Buttercup makes the sweetest faces)

Wow so having Buttercup an hour away is much more complicated now. Her next trim will be Nov. 17, and I won't be able to be there since it is a Wednesday and a girl's gotta work.

So I decided to take pictures of her hooves this weekend to show how they transform over the weeks between trims. I have touched up her bars and her toes in these pics to prevent some separation issues that were trying to form, but overall I'm quite pleased how they look in between.

I think it is really important to be on a four-week or less schedule. Otherwise you are jumping between too short and too long, and always have hooves in transition. At four weeks, you can really keep the hoof from abrupt transitions. That's important for long-term soundness.

Front left:

Front right:

Solar, right: (excuse the gunk, I couldn't find a wire brush at the barn to clean her up)

Solar, left:

Notice I really "squared" the toe here. I was concerned that she would get additional torque on that crack while waiting for Scott to come out and trim her in a few weeks.

Ideally, the hoofwall all the way around these soles would be brought back to a tight line against the soles; you can see from the pics that separation is still very much apparent.

Here is a tighter hoofwall against the sole to compare (from Sept. 4):

And we are getting quite a bit more concavity in the hooves. I still kick myself every time I think about what the farriers told me when Buttercup was three and four years old: "This horse is genetically flat footed and she'll never develop concavity. She'll also be uncomfortable outside of shoes." Now she's turning into a veritable, barefoot rock crusher even with her hooves still in transition!

To compare, from Sept. 4:

And September 2009:

It isn't a significant change over the last year, but it's something. She'll never have true "rock crushing" hooves. But she can develop concavity and she can be fine over 90% of surfaces barefoot, even with her softer, inferior hooves.

Hope to get pictures of her new trim the weekend of Nov. 19!

Trimmer visit Oct. 12, 2010

2010-10-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

I wasn't able to grab pictures until this weekend so there was a long delay for this post!

And wouldn't you know it? I forgot solar shots. But I was slightly distracted:

Yep! I snuck a ride on the vaca-diva herself. After some acrobatics on the lunge, she begrudgingly indulged me in a little tour of her dry lot.

I will likely try to do some more groundwork with her when I see her, and perhaps go out on trail around the property for a short ride in the future.

While she has been sound since June, she needs some chiropractic work before she comes out of vacation in February. I could feel her just muscled wrongly.

OK, hoof photos! Been a long time coming this time around!

What I really like is the angle we've been keeping. You can see we've gotten less aggressive with rolling up the hoof wall as the separation has grown down, too. They actually look like real, honest-to-goodness hooves.

Bud's heel foundation is looking very strong. Her hooves just look fantastic in person. I love holding them in my hand.

The evident separation is much more apparent on the front left with the huge dietary rings and flares. I'm hoping we have less than three months left on all that separation. The crack — which I also failed at getting a pic of — is still evident from the coronary band on down, but the place where it detaches from the lamina is growing down with great gusto. I think it looks more open to me but I can't compare pictures so that could just be me fretting over it. If it is more open, I think that's from the delay in trimming we experienced because of the floods.

Something that I don't like about this trim — and I will have to mention to Scott — is the pointed quarters. I worry that can upset the balance we've been trying to establish and that it may encourage the heels to draw forward again.

Flooding delayed trim

2010-10-08T09:33:00.000-07:00

We had some epic rains here in eastern North Carolina last week, washing out many roads. Unfortunately Scott was unable to make it up here without tacking on an extra three hours to his already exhaustive trip up here.

The vet saw Buttercup yesterday for her fall shots/coggins, and reported that she is in great health, her hooves look fantastic and she's a little snot. Well, the last part is a given. The diva has been on vacation so long now, she's bound to make lots more demands. Boy is she going to have a rude awakening in February!

Hopefully her hooves will get done Monday or Tuesday of next week, but things are still up in the air.

Stay tuned! I promise more hoof pics ... eventually!

That brings up an interesting point though. I've had this happen before under different circumstances where the farrier simply couldn't make it to the appointment. One had me wait nearly two and half weeks!

What do you do in that situation?

Typically if I love my farrier, I will wait, even at my horse's expense. I learned my lesson a long time ago when this happened and I figured "What the heck, this farrier here won't do any harm." Wrong. He completely undid my farrier's hard work. I'd rather her be uncomfortable for a few days than have to rework the balance in her hoof, if we have the choice.

Trimmer visit Sept. 4, 2010

2010-09-06T11:46:00.000-07:00

I think the main story here is concavity. Unfortunately, the update isn't huge since two weeks is not a lot of time to grow a lot of change. But you can still see a lot of positive in these pics!

Left:

Right:

Hurricane preparedness

2010-09-02T10:52:00.000-07:00

So it isn't hoof related and, in fact, not really related to Buttercup, but I thought I'd post some of my suggestions on what to do in the event you live close enough to the coast to have your horses threatened at some point by one of these bad boys (or girls, depending on the name they get!).

Hurricane Earl is skipping his way parallel to the East Coast right now, so I guess this is timely.

Here is a great resource for those in North Carolina (even if you don't live in the state it has good information): www.ces.ncsu.edu/disaster/factsheets/pdf/horsefarms.pdf

Hurricanes are like those Choose Your Own Adventure books. Every choice you make has a consequence, and regardless it is going to be somewhat eventful (and probably not in a good way but in the way of you being super annoyed, sweaty, wet or just plain miserable).

I like to think that Bud and I are veterans when it comes to hurricanes, and I hope I have good information to share.

So like a CYOA story, you are faced with your first decision:

1. Turn to page X, if you decide to stay and wait out the hurricane.

2. Turn to page Y, if you decide to evacuate.

This decision must be made 48 hours before landfall, as far as I'm concerned. 24 or 12 hours before hand is simply too late. My rule for evacuation is this: I'd rather look silly and waste my time than put my life or my horse's life at risk.

I have not had to evacuate Buttercup ever (now that I said that I will probably have to soon), but my other rule of evacuation is this: Category 4 and 5 with landfall within 100 miles means go time, now.

Page X

So you've decided to stay and wait out the hurricane. Here's some things you should know: it's going to suck. Even a brush-by will suck and require some sort of preparation.

Here is a list of what you need:

1. Proper fitting halters

2. ID tags for halter (I like dog tags from Petsmart)

3. Orange spray paint

4. Flymasks

Know your area.

Does it flood? Keep the horses out of any structure if it is prone to flooding. And cut electricity. Last thing you want is to come back to barbecued horses in the pasture.

How is your barn built? If it is cinderblocked or cemented into the ground, you may be OK keeping the horse in unless you're getting sustained winds of more than 100 mph.

Debris is also your enemy. Clean up the barnyard, pastures, whatever. Be proactive. You'll be amazed at what flies in even 30 mph winds. Impalements are common when it comes to high winds and debris.

So now you're at another crossroad, but the solution is the same. Keep the horses in, put the halters, IDs and flymasks on. Put them out in the pasture, same deal.

What's up with the orange spray paint, you may ask? Oh, well sometimes halters break and you lose your ID tags. If the barn tears down or a tree falls on a pasture fence, and the horses break free, you're depending on a scrap of leather and your horse's lack of getting into trouble to bring him back home. So if it's gonna be a bad hurricane, spray paint a contact number on the side of your horse. Yes, it really sucks to clean up. But getting your horse back to care for him takes priority over cleaning issues.

Page Y

Congratulations! You're about to embark on one of the most frustrating experiences of hurricanes, where you may instantly regret risking your life because of the mounting inconvenience. There are horrendous traffic and price gougers and much more nipping at your wallet and your sanity.

But, this is often the safest option for your critters and yourself. Better to evacuate and look silly and be super annoyed, than be trying to reach the guy with the backhoe, if you get what I'm saying. Hurricanes are really serious, and I hope my post — though slightly fun — can at least convey that message.

Your state extension office will have a list of evacuation sites. Call them and they will give them to you. Most will be free, but you need to bring shavings and feed (7-days worth) and vet records.

Since you are leaving 48 hours before the storm, you won't have to worry about hauling in horrible weather. Please do not leave 12 hours before the storm. The odds of you having to ride it out in your truck (and your horse in the trailer) are too great. And just one huge wind gust can imperil your travels. It's your call to do it 24 hours before a storm. I personally wouldn't do it because of the traffic and shelter situation, but I'm not stopping you.

Pack like you're going overnight camping or overnight horse show for this. I'm going to leave it to you to know how to pack for a trip. But remember, you could be there longer than a few days depending on damage.

Trimmer visit Aug. 21, 2010

2010-08-22T05:48:00.000-07:00

Hello from vacation!

Buttercup's farrier came out yesterday and the visit yielded positive results and positive comments. First off, these last four weeks were completely laminitic free under the vigilant eye of Bud's caretaker. Second, because of that all the growth we got was with healthy lamina and no detachment of lamina. Third, Buttercup's hooves seem to be trying to mold themselves into a healthier entity.

We have about three or four months before the rest of the separation grows out. Such good news!

Because the separation is so apparent in the front left and that's our problem hoof, I'm going to start with that:

The one unfortunate thing about Buttercup's station vacation is the lack of concrete for me to take some nice level pics. But we'll cope. The separation in this side view really isn't that bad. Scott has been really vigilant in her trims to keep her from getting any torque on that hoof as the hoof wall grows down.

Last trim, Scott decided to "test" the hoof bars to see if they wanted to hold up her hoof or not. They decided to try and create some extra support for her instead of laying down. So, he trimmed them again to see if they'd continue their supportive role. They are also straightening up.

Take a look at the overall balance on that hoof. Starting from the angles of the wall being even with each other and the wall being even throughout the hoof. You can't really tell from the pic but the toe callous has also started to extend from just the tip of the sole to around to almost the quarters. This is important to provide her some cushion and also shows that she is developing more concavity in the sole.

Anyway, really happy with how quickly we are making progress. Scott fingered proper trim and proper nutrition (and really that proper nutrition is the No. 1 culprit to the positive growth we've seen).

So how about that crack?

This pic really shows the separation. You can see it on the sides of the hoof wall, where it starts straight down from the coronary band and then angles out to the side. That also correlates to where the crack begins to open up. If we can keep her hoof tight for the next three to four months, that crack may be just an ugly memory. Scott thinks that while the crack may go away, the scar will likely remain and the hoof will have a ridge and distortion from the scar at the coronary band.

And now onto the pride and joy, the right hoof:

This hoof has really balanced out over the last few trims. Whereas it wasn't bad before the summer, it just wasn't "balanced" and it seemed slow in getting to that point. But it has made a lot of improvement.

And I'll end this post with how Buttercup spends her nights while on vacation (with a very handsome thoroughbred named Moment, oooh la-la!):

Buttercup goes on vacation

2010-08-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

OK, the title is misleading. Bud has been on vacation since this year's troubles began in May. She has left the barn to go further out into the country to go hang out with a milder crowd and be taken care of by a meticulous and caring woman — and that just did not fit neatly in a headline.

It's the first time since our entire hoof saga began that she's not right at my fingertips. But I'm not worried, my friend is taking excellent care of her and has been for three weeks now.

Bud is only out with one other horse, who is very laidback, and is just enjoying herself. Of course, my friend doesn't have a drylot so when Bud goes out, the muzzle goes on, but that's not an issue.

So far this cycle, we haven't had any issues with laminitis and everything appears to be under control. Fingers crossed it continues!

Scott comes out Saturday so it'll be good to hear what he has to say. I think we've got a lot of positive growth this time around.

Trimmer visit July 24, 2010

2010-07-25T10:34:00.001-07:00

Well we certainly got tested during this four-week cycle.

We consistently hovered about I or II on the Obel Scale and the on Monday, July 12, Buttercup went dead lame. Like so lame that she just wanted to sprawl out and not move.

I called up Team Bud members (sounds so corny, but it makes me happy) and we pinpointed a suspected laminitic episode. Was she getting grass from underneath the fence? A weed? It didn't matter. Get her away from it, put her on just twice soaked beet pulp and hay, and ice her once a day to bring down her digital pulse and reduce inflammation in the hooves.

(Bud getting iced)

She went back into another dry lot Thursday to not even registering on the Obel Scale. Fantastic. But as the weekend drew on, her lameness resurfaced. My barn owner and I combed over everything possible. In this search, we discovered that her grain and supplement did not provide any salt or any magnesium. Salt is necessary to all living beings, and magnesium aides the metabolism (something with which Buttercup needs all the help she can get).

So we started her on a heavy load of electrolytes. By Wednesday, July 21, she was sound again. But we all know what Buttercup does when she is sound: tears around the pasture. She went super lame again Friday morning but worked out of it.

When Scott saw her Saturday, she was almost a II on the Obel Scale. However, it appears to be related to her antics and not a new laminitic bout since her digital pulse was not elevated.

OK, pics of the trim! Her hooves are looking fantastic!

Left:

I'm surprised how much connected growth we got on that crack this time around in the face of our laminitic bout. But I think that's just testament to quick action of Team Bud and icing.

Compare the above crack picture to this one taken in May:

OK, on the front right, which is looking more and more normal:

And then to give you an idea of growing down more connective tissue and getting rid of the self-fulfilling flares on her hooves, here is June's pic:

Not too, too bad. But then compare to this July's pic:

(Note to self: take pics at the same angles always ... )

Notice how the hoof capsules keep the same basic shape all the way down? Pretty good indication we're growing out that flaring without creating more flares! It also means that our laminitic episode two weeks ago didn't create too much damage.

Also, Scott said her nutrition line is evident that things are going well over the last six weeks. It is straighter and tighter than her other nutrition rings. You can kind of make it out in these pics, but not sure if you can see it all that well. But he said it was definitely a sign we're in the right direction as far as her nutrition goes.

It's been a really frustrating and difficult four weeks. As with everything with horses, dealing with chronic laminitis has no clear cut prognosis or treatment. It's all a guessing game, which makes matters worse when you're in the midst of an episode. It's horrible and frustrating ... and, did I mention frustrating?

That's why I didn't post between trims. I should have. But it's all too overwhelming. How am I supposed to gather my thoughts to write on this blog when I don't even know how to get my horse out of pain? And especially when all we can do is "experiment" to see what works?

That reminds me: Scott said something pretty funny yesterday. With all the awfulness that has befallen Buttercup's hooves, she's gotten very leery of farriers/trimmers handling her feet (she used to be great for the farrier). At one point, she pulls her hoof away from him and he makes her move her feel around, and then goes to pick up her hoof.

"You're ungrateful, you know that? Most owners would have sent you to the glue factory by now. But here you are getting a manicure and pedicure. You're lucky."

I don't know if I'm going beyond what most horse owners would do for their horses. But I owe it to her to do everything within my monetary means to get her well again — or at least comfortable again.

She's not a high dollar horse. That's evident in the pictures on this blog, and with her chronic laminitis she'll never be worth anything in the future no matter how sound I get her. Maybe she won the lottery when I agreed to buy her. But maybe she didn't.

I'm not sure where I'm going with all of this, but I don't feel like I'm doing her any favors. I'm just doing what's right. And I hope other horse owners would do the same thing.

Trimmer visit June 26, 2010

2010-06-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

Regular readers may notice a difference in that title. Farrier has been replaced with the word "trimmer." Why? Because I'm now with a barefoot trimmer! Gasp!

I can't believe it either.

Now that we are past the initial shock, I'm going to go right into this trim's hoof pictures. Because we switched hoofcare professionals, I'm doing before and after shots. I'll do my best to explain things, as usual.

This before shot of Buttercup's front left show the flaring and resulting torque on her hoof wall. This was caused by the laminitic episode a few weeks back. Luckily, Bud's episodes seem fairly mild and only manifest themselves as flaring (and no dropping of the P3 or other horrible laminitic nightmares). Please note the amount of dead sole and over run bars in the above photo, also.

The new trimmer spent most of his time removing dead sole from Buttercup's hooves, and the result was somewhat surprising. Underneath all that dead sole was a toe callous and concavity! He also spent time removing her bars that aided in the flaring. The flaring also exerted pressure on the sole, creating a soft spot on the inside of this hoof.

Like my past farrier, the trimmer took any pressure on the hoof wall away so that Buttercup is just using her frog, heel and toe callous for ground contact. The reason this resulted in lameness in the past was because of the dead sole on the sole creating too much pressure everywhere else (or so it has been explained to me). The trimmer also did a neat trick of filing the hoof wall at a 45° angle so that any pressure exerted on it will cause it not to move away from the hoof, but be pushed into the hoof, maintaining a strong lamina.

Same on the front right:

Before lateral shots:

After lateral shots:

Not too much of a change here. The angles are about the same, just more of that toe taken off. The trimmer sure wasn't shy about using nippers!

Before front shots:

After:

This trimmer used superglue in the crack instead of bondo. I like how he removed so much of the flaring on this shot.

Trimmer is Scott Spencer. www.spencerhorsemanship.com

I'm overall very pleased with the outcome, especially since he thinks one or two more trims should clear up most of Bud's balance and flare issues. He's also one of the professionals who pinpointed sugar as a cause of her neverending battle of the flares, so I like that he has a holistic approach to his clients.

That was my big surprise! But I do have another one!

On Aug. 1, Buttercup will go to a friend of mine for three to six months. I will still see her several times a month, but she is going to get some rest and relaxation. It is kind of against the trimmer's advice as he wants her back in work ASAP, but I feel like this is the best thing for her. Let her just sit in a pasture and grow a healthy hoof. And as my barn owner pointed out, this is the best thing for me, mentally.

Soundness/new routine update

2010-06-24T05:51:00.000-07:00

(Part of our regular routine. Soaking in lysol to prevent infection on both front feet while she plows through a pad of hay. I sit next to her and read a good book, and it's been nice to spend the time with her like this.)

It looks like we finally have a good base of Buttercup's new laminitic pony diet. The best part is? It seems to be working!

Here is what she gets daily:

5 lbs WellSolve L/S

3 lbs (dry) of rinsed then drained molasses-free beet pulp

10 lbs or so of coastal hay

And she's not only doing well with her hooves, but she's getting quite chunky on the new diet. Remember the starter pic? Well I'm certain she's about 25 pounds heavier now.

The only times she exhibits lameness is when she's been running around like with her pasturemates or before din-din time. I suspect this is a result of stress to the lamina from the torque of her flares. She will be trimmed up this Saturday so I hope that problem will resolve after the trim. (Reminder: big surprise next trim!)

Starting with the diet

2010-06-16T08:58:00.001-07:00

I have a team set up between my hoofcare practitioner and my veterinarian trying to figure out the best route for Buttercup.

By all estimates, this is going to be a very long and hairy process. The good news? I will likely be able to continue this blog forever. Yay!

As much as I love helping others through my experience, it isn't something I wanted to hear. What's worse is that figuring out how to manage Buttercup will be trial and error. And then once we figure out what works, it could be six months down the road before she is well enough to come back to work.

So last post I mentioned getting her on the beet pulp diet. We've changed that up since posting that. She will continue to get beet pulp to help supplement her forage since she no longer can eat grass, but for her "grain" she will get WellSolve L/S. It is one of the feeds recommended for sugar sensitive ponies.

We aren't certain if we will stay on the ProAdd Ultimate yet, but like having it so we can figure out what ration of WellSolve and beet pulp works best without feeling like she isn't getting all the necessary vitamins and minerals.

I've been reading everything I can get my hands on. Here is an excellent resource I've run into on the Web: (again, I apologize about the lack of links; please copy and paste the urls)

www.safergrass.org

Click and go to articles

For those of you uncertain as to how Buttercup's laminitis went unnoticed for eight years: she never showed an alarming digital pulse or any other symptoms besides flaring on her hooves. She never showed much more than a propensity for abscesses in our old home of coastal South Carolina and we think the grass up here in North Carolina must be much richer.

Laminitis is really just inflammation in the laminae. It can be caused by the body not processing sugar, too much grain, concussive forces and more. Sometimes it is severe, like when Buttercup had mechanical issues compounding her laminitis from sweet feed and rich grass, and sometimes it is minor, like just a mysterious offness, with no heat or heavy pulse.

Prognosis is up in the air for Buttercup. She's had so many episodes but none were so severe that her coffin bone dropped to the point of bulging her sole. Her front left coffin bone dropped but was stabilized as of last fall. I don't think I will get Xrays this time around since the routine will be the same regardless: fix her diet and fix her hooves. I'm really hoping for a full recovery but that is looking doubtful with more research I uncover.

I have a surprise for you readers on our June 26 trim coming up. So stay posted!

Dealing with laminitis

2010-06-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

(Picture of Buttercup yesterday to help us evaluate her weight as she comes off grain and grass)

So June 5, Buttercup went off grass completely. And now June 11, Buttercup went off grain completely. She is on a full beet pulp diet. She gets three feedings a day of 1 lb dry beet pulp (soaked for at least an hour prior to feeding and then rinsed).

A few days off the grass and she was looking fairly nice. Only 24 hours of taking her off the grain and she is 100% sound trotting and more comfortable than ever on concrete.

The sudden change is absolutely amazing. Why haven't we pinpointed this before? It makes me ill. But at least this is something we can control and now we know.

Yesterday, I took pics of Bud so I can evaluate how she is fairing on her new diet. Will she lose weight? Gain weight? She may lose weight so we want to be on top of it. I plan to take pics once a week over the next month or so to evaluate.

She's not in fabulous condition right now just because she's been out of work for 8 weeks and has lost a lot of muscling. But we certainly don't want her losing any weight. The barn owner has expressed concern having a "skeleton" walking around the property, and she's right to be concerned. So we will address her needs one week at a time.

Also, for those of you looking to feed beet pulp to a laminitic/sugar sensitive horse:

1) Buy beet pulp with no molasses added
2) Soak for at least an hour to get rid of excess sugar
3) Rinse before serving to remove more sugars

And I have actually repurposed a salad spinner for this job of soaking and draining. It works really well.

Grass restriction begins

2010-06-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

(Buttercup asking me to please take off the grazing muzzle so she may eat some high sugar grass – fat chance, pony!)

First thing's first: taking Buttercup off the grass, or at least limiting her intake. If she is not in the dry lot, she'll be modeling her grazing muzzle. Horses can still graze a bit through this muzzle but nothing that will hurt her hooves. When she's in the dry lot, she'll have access to hay so she doesn't drop weight.

This is the second step toward staving off the hoof problems we experienced last year. The first one was putting her on ProAdd Ultimate, a multi-purpose supplement that is low in sugar and is also great for building hooves.

The third step will be sorting out her daily diet. Right now she gets 50/50 Horseman's Edge and Horse Chow 100. Neither are low enough in sugar for the sugar-sensitive horse. In my last post I talked about moving her to a beet pulp-based diet but we may end up with another low-sugar pellet instead. We are taking care of a few steps first and won't be changing her all at once (never a good idea with horses).

It feels really good to be able to pinpoint a reason behind some of the drastic changes we've seen spring/summer time. Wish we had discovered it sooner but that happens. I may need to change the title of the blog to Chronicle of the Sugar Sensitive Horse!

The vet will also be out later this summer to pull blood to see if Buttercup is actually insulin resistant (think diabetes) or just sugar sensitive.

Farrier visit May 31, 2010 and diet change

2010-06-01T05:49:00.000-07:00

As the great Yogi Berra said, it's deja vu all over again.

Last year at this time when Buttercup was shod, her flares worsened and that balanced hoof that we thought we had was gone in weeks. Now, that balanced barefoot hoof we had is falling apart. But you know, this happened two years ago and four years ago too. I'll get to that in a little bit.

Buttercup never regained soundness after the last trim and has no regained soundness after her trim on Monday. As you can imagine, this is heartbreaking for me. But it also lit a fire under me to put a new plan in order.

But first, pictures from the trim. And I want to start with the solars.

Ignore the bondo for now (I know, super hard to do especially now that I've pointed it out). We developed a ton of sole growth these past two cycles and my farrier ended up having to remove a ton of dead sole. He removed much of the bars but still not the collateral groove. How amazing do those frogs look? Wow. I love them.

Buttercup's recent unsoundness has been all toe related, especially on that front left. Last trim, my farrier rolled up (or beveled) the hoof wall up to alleviate pressure. This time around, he didn't remove so much hoof wall.

OK, the bondo. What's it doing there? I'm skeptical too.

According to my farrier, it will prevent the hoof wall from stretching too much creating further separation. Though it is not uncommon to see bondo on hooves, it can be uncommon on bare hooves. It is a pretty neat product that once applied and hardened can be rasped down like a regular hoof to have a smooth, hoof-like surface and help with balance and flare issues.

But the bondo isn't the biggest thing going on this post. No, we need to ask ourselves WHY are we getting these flare. WHY are the hooves coming undone after nearly six months of positive.

Here is a timeline to the riddle:

Summer 2006: Barefoot, Buttercup gets a succession of abscesses that leads to the crack on her front left hoof, scarring the coronary band. She is shod.

Summer 2007: No hoof problems to report.

Summer 2008: Due to farrier issues, Buttercup's hooves begin to fall apart with LT/LH

Summer 2009: Came into spring with an essentially well balanced hoof that then begins to flare and fall apart, letting the shoe sink into the white line and create further separation

Summer 2010: Came into spring with an essentially well balanced hoof that begins to flare and fall apart despite being barefoot

Nothing more than coincidence that our problems crop up at around late spring or early summer? And what about the summer of 2007 where we had no issues?

Here's more clues to the puzzle:

Summer 2006: Buttercup moved to a new barn in spring. Though the barn feeds SafeChoice, it also offers a very rich pasture

Summer 2007: Again moved Buttercup that spring. Though I'm feeding a complete sweet feed, her diet is mostly grass hay and the pastures are barren

Summer 2008: Buttercup is eating a sweet feed diet and on a rich pasture

Summer 2009: Again Buttercup is eating a sweet feed diet and on a rich pasture

Summer 2010: She is on a low carb pelleted feed but on a rich pasture

Starting to get the picture?

Now we aren't 100% sure that the rich pastures are creating all of her issues, but it is worth a shot. We are enacting an action plan this week to help save her hooves.

1. Start ProAdd Ultimate supplement and probiotic regime. I was going to start a new supplement to help her hooves and figured I would get her gut in order too in case that was out of whack.

2. Switch to a beet pulp based diet. Though she's already being fed a low carb/starch feed, we can't eliminate all the sugars since she's out 24/7. The best bet is to eliminate sugars in her daily feed.

3. Muzzle her from 10 a.m. until afternoon feeding to decrease grass consumption during high sugar hours.

According to some literature, the sugars from grasses and feeds destroys healthy laminae and decreases blood flow to the hoof. According to that same literature, the hoof should show improvement after six weeks of eliminating those sugars.

More information on sugars can be found here: www.safergrass.org (sorry about links lately, every time I hyperlink them it tries to put this blog's url in front of it, even when I put it correctly in html code ... so copy and paste it is! Back to the stone age)

Lameness locator

2010-05-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/lameness-locator-brings-bit-more-objectivity-veterinary-medicine

How cool is this???

... the human eye isn’t very reliable in recording and processing information. As a result, studies have shown that veterinarians tend not to be very consistent in their observations of lame horses. That is, one veterinarian may think a horse is lame in one leg, whereas another might pick another limb (or limbs) as the culprit ...

... This fall, a new piece of diagnostic equipment was made available to the veterinary community. It’s called the “Lameness Locator.” It was developed by Dr. Kevin Keegan, a professor of surgery at the University of Missouri, in Columbia, Mo. I think it has the possibility of revolutionizing lameness diagnosis, because it moves the process to more objective measurements. Essentially, the machine is a very precise way to measure the observations that we try to make anyway.

It’s a very clever bit of technology. It combines:

Two accelerometers - devices that measure acceleration—in this case measuring the up and down movements of the head and pelvis
A gyroscope - a device for measuring or maintaining orientation—in this case the orientation in space of the right fore limb
Bluetooth technology - for sending data over short distances
A proprietary computer program to collect and analyze all of the data

These devices are much more accurate at recording the movements of the head, pelvis and limb than is the human eye; the human eye is sampling about 20 times per second, whereas the Lameness Locator takes 200 samples per second

Going to the bar

2010-05-19T09:44:00.000-07:00

OK, I have a new obsession: the bar. Not just any bar, the hoof bar.

No you can't order a beer with your friends there, but the more I find out about them, the more I'm intrigued. On a farrier forum not too long ago, it was brought to my attention that Buttercup's bars were getting out of control. I will talk to my farrier about this on our May 31 trim (see the new count down clock on the blog? Isn't that neat?).

So naturally, I've been doing some research.

Here is an informative video I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Zl2Davp_g

And here is an interesting story:

Is Trimming Bars Really Necessary?
By Scott Kroeger
(Ref. A Lifetime of Soundness by Dr. Hiltrud Strasser pages 134-135)

It's a trick question...

If your horse is able to move 24 hours, 7 days a week over sufficiently hard and stony ground (covering 20+ kms a day) then you would probably never have to worry about doing anything to the bars of your horse's feet--all things being ideal. But that is seldom the case. Horse hooves grow and if not worn down naturally--become overgrown which leads to problems. That is where you come in.

The following scenarios can occur if you do not tend to the overgrowth of the bars:

They will grow so as to touch the ground on weight bearing, sending tiny shockwaves up into the solar corium as the bars press the corium against the navicular bone. This causes bruising of the corium and pain. The longer the bar and higher the heel, the worse the pain. This is most often the cause of "Navicular Syndrome" in horses.
Hoof bars naturally grow down and forward. If they are not worn down naturally, the bar grows long contacting the ground during weight bearing. Over time they will overlay themselves onto the floor of the sole and grow forward covering the sole. The problem with this (aside from a now deformed bar) is that the solar corium will quit producing sole with an overlaid bar...making the sole very thin underneath. If the bar is "chunked" out through natural or unnatural wear, there can be sole penetration.
Forward growing bars coupled with other forms of contraction within the foot (i.e. sole contraction and frog contraction) often show the bars jamming the frog so much as to cause a curl or semi-circle of the bars instead of nice straight bars. These type of deformed bars will continue to bunch and crowd the frog, meeting resistance that will often cause the formation of bar pools at the end of the bars on the solar floor. These bar pools can be very deep and if left alone will continue deformed growth of the bar.
Long overlayed bars along with high heels produces leverage forces on the hoof capsules doing damage in several places, one of which is the cracks in the bar causing pain to the horse.

What you should do...

Natural looking bars extend from the heel down to the middle of the frog (half-way between the apex of the frog and the heel). The level of the frog descends from the heel down to the floor of the sole.
Proper measurements are: mid-way on the bar a measurement of 1 cm should exist to the crown of the hoof wall level. A 1 cm measurement exists from mid-way on the bar down inside the lowest level of the collateral groove. This is you ultimate goal and may not be achievable in the first few trims.
Trimming the bars back to this conformation can be a delicate procedure and may have to be done in stages depending on the amount of sole underneath the bar that is NOT there.
With the blade of the hoof knife flat against the bottom of the hoof, use the hook of the knife to remove excess bar.
Seek to straighten the bar by removing the excess and forcing the line of the bar down to the floor of the sole near the collateral grove exactly half-way along the frog. No semi circle bars. You may have to descend below the normal straight line to the solar floor midway on the frog in order to achieve this.
The thickness of a healthy bar is 2-3 millimetres and should be a flat surface ramping down from the heel to the solar floor.
Trim out any cracks in the bar if possible.
Trim out any bar pooling as you will need to restore the proper horn tubule direction of the bar and retrain the growth pattern.

What to be careful of...

Turning the knife up and gouging the sole...keep it flat on the sole...and take small flakes at a time.
Removing too much bar so that you either draw blood or you compromise the integrity of the sole. You should never trim a bar so that you draw blood. You should never trim so that the sole is spongy. Know when to stop. Trim as much as you can and then leave it for a later trim as the sole straightens out and strengthens. Your immediate goal is to remove enough bar so that it is not weight-bearing except where it meets the heel.
You may have to do this in stages if there is no sole due to overlayed bars.
Bars that are highly impacted may fall dramatically when not weight bearing and can "regrow" as much as a full centimetre or more in the space of 24 hours. It may take several weeks before impacted bars return to a normal state and not fall down anymore. Regular trimming is essential during this time.
The bar triangle can also be rather thin if there is significant sole contraction. Test it by pressing down on the bar triangle to feel for movement.
Sometimes it is necessary to dig out the bars down to the corium in order to decontract a hoof and achieve hoof mechanism. This procedure is not recommended by any except those who are SHP trained or under their strict guidance.

Remember that trimming the bars is only one small part of the overall barefoot trim and is not to be used in isolation from the rest of a properly done barefoot trim

(http://www.thenakedhoof.com.au/html/article-IsTrimmingBarsReallyNecessary.htm)

That story really hit home for me, whereas the video gave me a good visual of what to look for. Here is Bud's hoof now:

Her bars are clearly laid over and out of control. Her heel buttresses (yellow) are where they need to be. The red line is where her bars are laid over and the squiggly red is where they are laying down. They should be near the blue collateral groove:

We'll see what the farrier has to say, but I don't see a reason to keep them. I will do some more research in some of the books I have in the meantime.

Beyond hooves

2010-05-11T05:34:00.000-07:00

(Bud, about to sneeze)

This is quite possibly the hardest topic to discuss with a non-horse person.

"I don't understand why they had to put *insert racehorse name here* down; he had three other good legs left."
"Well, a horse can't survive on only three legs -- even for just six to eight weeks."
"What do you mean? Dogs can do it. Why not horses?"
"The amount of weight on the remaining three legs is too much for them and problems will crop up like founder."

And even then, the person might still not understand.

Yesterday, the chiropractor came out to do a follow-up visit on Buttercup. Although Bud's been doing good back in work since mid January, I noticed some problems with her gait. She also has been sore from her farrier visit last week and usually sore after every trim for a few days. (This is being discussed with my current farrier right now and I want to get her on a more frequent cycle so that she doesn't have to be completely re-done every six weeks.)

I was actually surprised that Bud had to have nearly the same adjustment she had back in November. Several cervical vertebra were out. Right pelvis stuck. Lots and lots of sticky ribs.

And the chiro found indications of hock soreness on her.

This shouldn't be surprising on a horse that has spent the last two years in and out of chronic or acute hoof pain. As one front hoof hurts, the horse compensates by shifting more weight to the rear opposite hoof and the other corresponding hoof. As the other front hoof starts to hurt from the extra weight, the horse begins to compensate with the rear opposite hoof.

But it doesn't end with the hooves. Think about having a rock in your shoe that you can't remove. To prevent walking on it, you're going to change your gait, twist your hips, twist your spine and twist your shoulders. Pretty soon your lower back will hurt, in addition to your other leg hurting from compensating.

So Buttercup's hocks hurt from her trying to rock back off her front hooves. Her neck is stiff from trying to hold herself off the ouchie hooves. Her pelvis is sticky from trying to hold herself also.

Chiropractic adjustments aren't a panacea, either. Once the root of the problem is fixed (in Bud's case, her hooves), a chiropractic adjustment can get everything back in place, but then there is muscle memory to overcome. Those muscles will just pull those bones right back into place. You can try acupuncture (there was no way after all the pops yesterday that Bud was going to allow herself to be stuck with pins) or muscle massages or correct work. But the odds are you may need a follow-up adjustment.

I was hoping for this to be our last hoof-related adjustment. But I think I'm wrong. I think she'll need at least one more and then we can go to more of a maintenance routine of once a year or only when needed.

At a Jean Luc Cornille clinic a few weeks back, Jean Luc told the audience that if your horse needs a lot of adjustments, start looking at the rider. I agree with this (not surprisingly, I'm really into his research right now; www.scienceofmotion.com) up to a point. Horses that have actual mechanical reasons, like hooves recovering or a terrible fall, may need more than just one adjustment to help bring them back to normal.

Of course, when Buttercup is comfortable again – she's comfortable in her boots but that's not good enough for work – I will make sure that my back is completely vertical and only moving as much as her back moves so that we can "dance the same dance."

In the meantime, I'll be stretching and massaging Bud this week after some handwalking. Hopefully we won't lose too many days of her being sore.

Farrier visit May 3, 2010

2010-05-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

The spell of dry weather we've had this cycle really created some challenges with Buttercup's hooves. Her hooves started growing and the hoof wall started getting pressure exerted on it, and the flares and her crack that were quickly disappearing all came back.

So to keep that in check, we had to drastically roll up her hoof wall again. She is slightly sore as of Tuesday, but sound for walk/trot on the pasture footing. As you can see from the pics, her hoof walls are definitely rolled up.

Unfortunately, I somehow forgot to take solar shots. They are beautiful. We got rid of a lot problem areas and the heels are right underneath heel bulb. You can also see some waves in her coronary band. That related to a hoof balance issue, something we've been fighting with but only able to manage until now. I'm confident we have the right hoof balanced nicely and the front left will get there in just a few trim cycles.

So that crack that was reduced to being only a half-inch open and the rest superficial has opened up more than an inch (eyeballing, so I could be wrong). Just a little disheartening.

Farrier admonished me for continuing to work her in hoofboots and told me I'm not doing her any favors. Per his request, I'm retiring the hoofboots for trail riding when we may encounter rocks or other poor footing.

---------------------------------------

Edit May 13 to add solar shots:

Huge milesone

2010-04-18T06:53:00.000-07:00

That's right folks, Buttercup (aka As You Wish) and I went to our first show since this entire ordeal went down. In fact, this is only Bud's second show, and first dressage show for the both of us. I'm so pleased!

We scored 67.0 on both Intro A and Intro B, winning second and third place, respectively.

I was just happy to finally be there. I ended up crying I was so happy to be in that moment and time.

We had some rough spots in both tests that come down to consistency/tempo and our transitions but those will get better with more time.

(This is the big surprise update I promised a few weeks back!)

First solo trail ride back

2010-04-06T09:50:00.001-07:00

The firsts keep on coming! The cynical part of me has essentially stopped nagging me and now I actually am starting to believe we made it over the "hump."

We are doing what I consider regular workouts (walk, trot, some canter, lots of bending) and everything is going really well. Buttercup is fitting up nicely and showing no signs of hoof problems. I've even worked her twice without her hoofboots – gasp! But then decided I still don't care if she doesn't need them, they give me peace of mind using them so I will continue to do so.

Above is from Sunday, when we took our first solo trail ride away from home. I think this is my new favorite photo. She just looks so healthy and happy. Even when she was sound last year for weeks or months at a time, she never looked like that.

I may or may not have a special update coming in two weeks! But I'm keeping it a surprise because I don't want to jinx it!

Hooves and genetics / Frustrations

2010-03-24T07:02:00.000-07:00

There have been a few things random people have told me over the past two years of dealing with Buttercup's hoof problems.

1. Get rid of her
2. Breed her while you wait

OK, to address the first one, no. I will not just trash a horse because I failed to keep up with her hoof care. This is my problem, not her problem. I don't care if it takes 10 years, but I'm going to fix it and make her healthy again. Not only would it be unfair to her, but it would also be unfair to her future owner (provided anyone would actually take her). Now I did briefly contemplate the idea of euthanizing her, but that is a last ditch effort and, now, no where near the realm of possibility (thank goodness).

So let's take a look at No. 2. Wow. First off, let's just discount the fact that she'd be bearing more weight on unbalanced hooves. Now, as much as I love my mare, she's hardly breeding worthy. She's not a conformational trainwreck but she isn't going to compete beyond the lower levels at any sport. And whereas I absolutely adore her attitude, I realize that her demeanor is not most equestrians' cup of tea. She's ornery and testy and can be down right mean. She's also not the smartest pony.

I love my horse and I think her good qualities outweigh the bad but those above reasons disqualify her for breeding, in my opinion. And that doesn't even begin to get into her hooves, the foundation of any horse.

I have said before Buttercup has always suffered from a poor quality hoof. If she was competing at the Rolex**** and finishing in the Top Ten, her poor hooves (even before the current problems) would be enough for me to discount her for breeding purposes.

But too many people don't factor this in when it comes to breeding because there is always a way to "fix" poor hooves to allow the horse to compete. Just look at Big Brown, who competed on largely synthetic hooves. Although, those who know that often don't remember that there are thousands of thoroughbreds with "good breeding" who didn't make it through training. It could be hoof related or something else, but why short change a future competing horse by breeding a parent with poor quality hooves?

I worked with Buttercup's dam after Bud was weaned. She was barefoot and I actually don't remember if she had nice hooves at all. But she was never lame that I ever saw. Bud's sire passed away not too long after he bred her dam. If I had to guess, neither of them had stellar hooves (and I absolutely know neither of them should have been bred since they came from a long line of horses that were just bred to be bred and that's about it).

To drive the point home, take a look at your own feet and hands. Then, sit down with both your parents. Do your feet and hands resemble your parents'? Are they a hybrid? Genetics are genetics. Odds are they will look like one parent's or the other's or a hybrid of the two.

The question shouldn't be, "Why not breed your mare?" The question should be, "Why should you breed your mare?" And "cuteness" or "I love her" are not acceptable answers.

Not that I would ever get into the breeding business (I get attached way too easily and have never been around a legit breeding operation to learn from anyway), but I think my breeding qualifications for sire and dam would go like this:

1. Hooves
2. Performance at upper levels
3. Conformation
4. Attitude/trainability

Even then, breeding is a crapshoot. You can breed the best to the best and still get a foal that has no prospect at the upper levels (this is the reason why the argument "breeding for lower level horses is important" fails to me).

----------------------------------------------------

(Lessons on a school horse are a great way to go beyond what your horse is ready to do, whether because of hoof problems or training level; That's me riding school horse Trax in a lesson last Saturday)

Let's talk frustrations.

There have been little setbacks for Buttercup the last few months and I've been incredibly careful to take things slow with her so as not to create a setback through training.

The other day, I took her for a hack out in the neighboring field. But it just wasn't enough. I wanted to jump ditches and canter and do any other pace beside walk and trot. It turned into a bad ride because I was fighting with my inner self the entire time and all the while getting more and more frustrated that I couldn't do what I wanted to do. And poor Buttercup had no idea why her rider was frustrated (heck, if it was up to her she'd be doing those things too!).

But the simple fact that Buttercup is not ready won the battle.

And the next day, I called my instructor and set up a jumping lesson on her school horse.

Just because I want to do something does not mean my horse is ready at this stage in her rehabilitation. I was really proud that I was able to curb my behavior and then find an appropriate outlet for my frustration. And the best part? It worked! I had a blast (and got really sore) and am no longer frustrated.

Farrier visit - March 22, 2010

2010-03-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, just wow. I'm absolutely in awe that this day has come. It now has been four trims since Buttercup has shown signs of lameness. She is really doing well.

Naturally, we aren't out of the woods yet (as you'll see, we are now really working on balance problems particularly with the front left) but it feels really good to be at this point.

Not only are we fighting with balance (again) we are fighting infection (again). I used Clean Trax last Sunday and I'll be moving to a more aggressive soaking routine (using mostly lysol) to knock the rest of it out.

But Buttercup's frog is hard and making leaps (pun intended!) in progress.

This time, my farrier took away that nasty heel. That means he had to take away a lot of hoof to compensate and Buttercup is now slightly sore on concrete. But she seemed comfy enough on the pasture and I'm going to give her just a few days off to recuperate. I'm not too concerned about it.

Left:

Right:

(forgive the wonky angles on the solar shots ... it makes her solars look more distorted than they are, though they are slightly distorted)

I can't recall exactly what my farrier said about the blood spot on the above solar shot. I think he said it was something about an abscess that didn't get fully formed? Anyway, apparently nothing to be concerned about right now. I think I was just too excited to listen carefully.

Edited to add new pics of clean shaven pasterns to accentuate the hooves:

Buttercup goes to the beach

2010-03-01T10:02:00.000-08:00

See that new pic in the mast of the blog? Yep, beach ride.

I don't think I've smiled bigger or could have been happier this past Saturday. Just thinking about it makes me well up a little with tears.

There were so many highs and lows this past year and times when I thought Buttercup would never pull through. I know we aren't out of the woods yet. But Saturday felt a little bit like ... redemption.

We rode for nearly two hours (mostly walking except for the photos). I had my vet and my barn owner/instructor with me, so that gave me extra assurance I wasn't pushing Bud past her physical limitations.

I did ride her with her EasyBoot Edges and I'm disappointed that sand got underneath one of the gators and rubbed her a little raw. It was an oversight on my part. I should have given her a vet wrap sleeve to protect from the sand.

The picture that says it all:

I don't think I can smile any bigger.

Buttercup goes to Whippoorwill

2010-02-23T06:03:00.000-08:00

Buttercup's been in light work since mid January and this was our first off-property ride. We hauled two-hours one way and had a two-hour trail ride. Admittedly, I had horrible nightmares the night before freaking out that something awful would happen to her hooves (like fall off ... silly imagination).

But nothing bad happened and it was all positive.

Next Saturday: the beach!!!

I ended up hauling Buttercup in her Rx boots to provide extra protection. The EasyBoot Web site says they provide a little extra cushion. Since my trailer is rather basic, I figured it could only help. I rode in the Edges. She strode out like the fabulous little trail horse she is.

Snow and boots

2010-02-15T08:15:00.000-08:00

(New favorite pic of Buttercup and me)

I have finally discovered the Rx boot's weakness: snow. They stay on relatively well for deep mud and all other turnout activities, but the snow worked into the velcro to form little snow balls that eventually rendered them no longer velcro-y.

But that's OK, it's not like it ever snows here in Eastern North Carolina. We just got 7-8 inches Friday night and it is nearly gone now.

Saturday morning when I went out to the barn, I had to search through the snow and mud to find both boots. Once found, I figured I would keep them off because they were only going to come off again.

Here's pics of her second snow ever:

By the time I arrived Sunday morning, she was very ouchie from the snow turning to ice over night. I slapped on her EasyBoot Edges, and since she went back to being very comfortable, I took some pics. I thought about taking her to the bean field for a nice walk in the snow, but was concerned about her feet already being stressed, even if she did look comfortable once her boots were on.

So that she wouldn't continue to be ouchie when I took her Edges off, I put her cleaned and snow-free Rx boots back on. But before taking her back out to the pasture, I wrapped the velcro with duct tape to prevent snow from lodging in there. Seems to have worked since I went out this morning to bring back her blanket (she tore it Saturday night and it needed some extra water proofing after all the rain and snow) and the duct tape was still there.

Farrier visit - Feb. 8, 2010

2010-02-08T11:04:00.000-08:00

First farrier visit of the New Year!

Today was very informative with my farrier and I got new insight into Buttercup's own conformation. But first, like always, updated pictures of Bud's hooves.

Left:

Right:

He left a lot of heel this time around (something that I speculated would be trimmed off this cycle because of it looking pretty warped). He said he wanted that heel since he's been taking more toe. He isn't concerned that the heel is really ugly, so long as she's sound and comfortable. Plus, it helps him remove as much toe as necessary. The frogs on both her hooves have grown very nicely and he even trimmed some of the icky parts off. A first!

If you take a look at her right solar shots especially, you'll notice that she's not very even around and that brings me to the next point.

A good farrier always works within the confines of the individual's conformation. As much as I love Buttercup, she's not a perfect specimen. From last trim's pictures, I noticed Buttercup looked a little high on her insides, and made sure to mention something to my farrier this trim.

What he had to say amazed me. Bud turns out at her knee through her cannon on her front right (shown below).

She also turns out at her knee on her front left, but then at her fetlock, turns back through her pastern.

So much for straight legs! He went on to say that not only is he having to re-make her hoof, he also has to constantly fight against her conformation – impeding the rehab process. (As a side note look at her crack growing out! Doesn't it look great?) Her natural break-over point on the front left is more toward the outside of the hoof, so therefore, the inside gets a bit longer because it doesn't wear on that side as much (which also brings me to the next point).

Bud will go back to being more aggressively booted for turn out but we will start removing the frog pads. The reason? She wore down a lot of hoof this cycle and my farrier wants to keep that hoof so he can better mold her. And the reason why we are trying to remove the frog pad is to encourage her to support herself instead of letting the frog pad support her.

I have moved her to the softer density frog pad so that on days where she does need her frog support, she isn't getting much support.

She was slightly ouchie on the concrete after the trimming, but he did take off some toe. I put her Rx boots on and she immediately licked her lips and looked content.

Forward progress

2010-02-07T07:33:00.000-08:00

From Riding Buttercup

Since getting our hoofboots four weeks ago, Buttercup has continued to improve with our light walking schedule. I keep expecting to go out to the barn and find her lame. Instead, she looks better and better every day, even if I think she can't possibly look any better the day before.

We have been slightly more aggressive the past few weeks with turning her out bare instead of in her Rx boots. She has gone more than 48 hours without them and not been ouchie. The key is to get her to be stronger without causing her hooves any undue stress right now.

Buttercup again went back to 24/7 turnout since her Rx boots keep her feet relatively dry even in wet weather and plus, she is ready to be moving a lot more, booted or not.

From Riding Buttercup

I am really impressed with my EasyBoot Edge boots. They have pretty good grip in poor, sloshy footing, and really seem to protect her hooves while conforming to them. Good product overall. My only complaint: they don't drain. I would drill some holes in them, as I've heard others have had success doing that, but I am afraid of compromising the structural integrity. The water that gets in there though doesn't seem to bother Bud one bit.

From Riding Buttercup

Oh and we also got some new shipping boots so that when she's ready for beach rides, ranch sorting, trail rides and dressage tests, she'll have better protection on the trailer. She'll also ride with her Rx boots so to provide extra cushion in the trailer.

From Buttercup photos

Farrier visit Monday! Can't wait to see her further improved hooves. I have a feeling we are getting out of "rehab" stage and moving into a normal just trim every six weeks.

Buttercup's first trail ride back and frog improvement

2010-01-18T09:56:00.000-08:00

It has been more than three months for Buttercup and since getting her EasyBoot Edge last week, we are taking it very slow.

Anytime a horse comes back from pasture condition (and specifically from dealing with hoof or leg problems) lots of walking with minimal turning is best. We are 20-30 minute walks. On Saturday, I felt confident in her ability to do an hour long, easy trail ride. Keep in mind, we do not have hills where I live. Just flat, soft ground.

Her condition looks bad, but she seems comfortable.

(Buttercup is moving consistently heel first)

The short trail ride really exhausted her, but she was feeling fine the next day. I think she's happy to have a job, however small it may be.

(Best seat in the house!)

Now, this is kind of a two-part post. I wanted to update everyone on the changes to Buttercup's frog over the last month.

Dec. 6:

(Completely receded. Barely even a noticeable bump and soft to the touch.)

Dec. 20:

(Frog starts to rally and harden up. )

Jan. 17:

I noticed yesterday was the first time when I picked her hooves I could put the pick into the grove between frog and sole. The flash flattened the grove a little bit. There is less than a finger's distance on the front left (second pics in the series) and the ground and about a finger and a half distant on the front right (first pics in series) right now. We are about halfway through our farrier rotation which is why her frog is all icky.

Lameness evaluation

2010-01-08T10:17:00.000-08:00

Since lameness is a huge factor in hoof rehabilitation, here are two ways to diagnose lameness. In my opinion, each system is equally useful. I find the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) system useful for a horse showing acute lameness signs. But the Obel system is much more helpful in a horse undergoing hoof problems, since sometimes they don't show that "hitch" at the trot.

AAEP guidelines:
0: Lameness not perceptible under any circumstances.
1: Lameness is difficult to observe and is not consistently apparent, regardless of circumstances (e.g. under saddle, circling, inclines, hard surface, etc.).
2: Lameness is difficult to observe at a walk or when trotting in a straight line but consistently apparent under certain circumstances (e.g. weight-carrying, circling, inclines, hard surface, etc.).
3: Lameness is consistently observable at a trot under all circumstances.
4: Lameness is obvious at a walk.
5: Lameness produces minimal weight bearing in motion and/or at rest or a complete inability to move.

Obel lameness grading system:
Grade I: At rest the horse will alternately and incessantly lift the feet. Lameness is not evident at a walk but a short stilted gait is noted at a trot.
GradeII: Horses move willingly at a walk, but the gait is stilted. A foot can be lifted off the ground without difficulty.
GradeIII: The horse moves very reluctantly and vigorously resists attempts to have a foot lifted.
GradeIV: The horse refuses to move and will not do so unless forced.

Obviously, with the Obel scale, there is no grade for a sound horse. The Obel scale is great for inflammation, heel pain, etc. I like the wording "stilted" for the gaits. That's the hoof landing flat or toe first.

Right now, Buttercup is like a Grade 1/2 on the Obel. She's not quite stilted at the trot, but she's a little short. She's moving comfortably with no hitch in any gait, so that would put her at a 0 on the AAEP scale.

She has officially gone 48 hours without her turnout boots. She registered a Grade 1 with Obel and a AAEP 1 after the 48 hours, but still looked relatively comfortable. Her frogs have built up to where there is only one finger width of missing frog on the front left and two fingers width of missing frog on the front right. Progress!

We are still waiting on our new EasyBoot Edge boots (just a hint, never order EasyBoots through Country Supply ...). Once we get them, I plan on taking her for long walking trails. She needs a job right now, but no stress. She's feeling good but we don't want her to backslide.

Farrier visit 12-28-09

2010-01-05T09:34:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010! We are starting the New Year with new hooves. The exact words from my farrier: "I'm tickled." Buttercup's hooves look great, her frog/heel are getting stronger (though still rather receded) and we will be starting some light walking work undersaddle once our new EasyBoot Edge boots arrive.

Let's start with the solars since that's the highlight.

Just to compare, here is a healthy hoof's solar view:

And the ideal diagram:

Another bright spot is that her crack is grown out and what remains is superficial to the wall:

Unfortunately, we are still distorted at the heels, likely as a result of the cast being applied too tightly. This time around, we again really had to rein in the front right toe. But we also got some really strong heel growth. It was the first time since the my farrier's first time working with her that he has used hoof clippers on her. Normally, he just rasps away the hoof, but this time she had enough growth the warrant hoof clippers. Progress! If we got that amount of growth in the winter time, I can just imagine this spring boding good news. I may even begin to say we are out of the rehab stage if we continue this path!

Again, to compare, here's two relatively balanced hooves in the lateral view:

(lower heel)

(higher heel)

Best of luck to everyone in the New Year!

Atrophied frog

2009-12-22T05:42:00.001-08:00

(A healthy frog.)

As evident in last post's pics where Bud's frog completely decompressed under pressure of the frog pad, her frog is likely atrophied. I got to thinking and this is likely the reason why she is sound in the boots (which provide support for this underdeveloped muscle) and takes a while before she gets sore out of the boots.

The frog is a muscle, designed to absorb impact to the hoof. If the muscle isn't properly conditioned, this can become quite painful. Just like when a limb on a human comes out of a cast. It can take quite a while to rebuild the muscle to regain normal function.

Buttercup has been put on isoxsuprine to help build her heels in addition to her hoof boots. In the last few weeks, I feel like I've seen an improvement to the sturdiness of her frog, like it is starting to push back. Now it needs to build up.

Here is what her hooves look like as of a few days ago:

Left-

Right-

Maybe I'm seeing things, but I like to think we are in a positive direction. I have also purchased some EasyBoot Edge boots for our handwalks. I will put in a soft, green frog pad for those boots to continue to support the frog. I just can't compare these pics to first pic in this post – that's rather depressing!

Game plan for hoof conditioning

2009-12-07T07:03:00.000-08:00

I've read some of Pete Ramey lately and have decided to blend my farrier's advice of keeping Buttercup booted with Mr. Ramey's advice to boot and use frog pads to help hooves condition.

Right now, Buttercup is on as much turnout as possible in her Rx EasyBoots with a big green frog pad. When (or if) she comes into her stall, her boots are removed and she is bare in her stall. If I hand walk her, I put her in her used Epic boots with a thick foam pad.

The idea is to stimulate the frog and increase bloodflow to the hoof. We also want to keep her hooves dry and the barn right now is flooded, and likely will be through winter. She has the driest hooves in the barn.

Here's a pic of her Rx boots with frog pads:

Here's what it does to her hooves: (squished, atrophied frog)

'Tis the season

2009-12-05T13:17:00.000-08:00

It will be one year exactly on December 16 that my farrier willingly signed up to not only spearhead Buttercup's rehabilitation, but also deal with one opinionated and annoying owner (me).

To say thanks, I compiled my hoof journal in a spiral bound book at my local Staples. It isn't much, but at least he has a record of her improvement. I printed one out for myself also. Now I can clear up some harddrive space that those pics are eating up!

So that begs the question, with the holidays approaching, what are you going to give your farrier?

Farrier visit Nov. 23, 2009

2009-11-24T06:12:00.000-08:00

Buttercup experienced significant pain the day after the chiropractor and I ended up calling my farrier in a week and a half early because I was concerned. She was standing like a severely laminitic horse. Very uncomfortable.

At the time another farrier was out and he suggested putting her on a diet that cuts out starches and sugars (decreasing inflammation) like a horse foundering. We are game to try it because it sounds like that makes sense.

When my farrier came out two days later, he agreed with the assessment, trimmed her like usual, and didn't put either cast back on. So, we are officially 100% barefoot! She is wearing Easyboot RXs for right now, but she was completely sound yesterday after the trim and today (on concrete with or without the boots).

I'm pretty pleased!

Pictures, left:

Right:

First chiropractic session

2009-11-20T16:43:00.000-08:00

Buttercup had her first chiropractic session ever yesterday.

Good things came out of it. Not only were there lots of popping, cracking, unhappy faces and finally sighs and relaxation, but also
I learned that although she was not a "trainwreck" from having so much wrong for more than a year, she needed the adjustment.

Unfortunately, Buttercup did not like the acupuncture, which lets the muscles around the adjusted bones relax. The chiro said she would try at another visit since Bud was likely well worked over at that point.

Sorry for the snapshots of video. My camcorder's acting up and doesn't want to upload anywhere but the TV.

Hoof reconditioning

2009-11-18T10:15:00.000-08:00

It isn't simple and straightforward, unfortunately.

After about 12 days of being barefoot on her front right, Buttercup was still incredibly ouchie. Her toe was completely purple from bruising and you could literally squeeze her entire hoof together with both hands and watch it flex.

Our vet happened to be at the barn treating another horse and I asked her about it. She said that likely Bud's hooves can't properly condition themselves because they are too busy responding to the acute pain resulting from the bruising. This made sense to me. After all, this is why horses drop weight when they hurt despite getting fed the same amount. Their energy has to go elsewhere.

The vet suggested I wrap her hoof in the Equicast, but only a few times around to let it wear off quickly and letting the hoof gradually condition as the cast wears away. Luckily, I had purchased a cast when I first considered it a few months back. I had watched the farrier apply it every time, so I felt confident I could do it.

I wore gloves because I know that stuff sticks to you and you can't get it off. First off, the material comes out of the bag and it is rather slippy. I had problems of it slipping and sliding as I tried to wrap it around the hoof on top of itself. I tried to wrap it a bit looser to try to protect the hoof and yet encourage it to do its own thing. It also doesn't harden as fast as I thought it would.

When putting the hoof down, my glove became stuck to it and that was rather funny. After it started to harden and take form, I then walked her around the yard to encourage the cast to really mold to her sole and get rid of bumps and nasties.

It has been over a week since I applied it and it's still on, but wearing down quickly. Buttercup has been sound over most surfaces except for concrete. I'm sure glad I paid attention and could apply that cast to give her temporary relief! Even two days of bute didn't put a dent in her hoof woes. I was applying keratex and turpentine over the week and a half and nothing hardened that hoof.

My hope is that it wears off well before our next farrier visit in early December, and the hoof starts to condition and harden off.

The chiropractor comes out on Friday so I'll have a big post coming! I can't wait to see what's going inside that pony's body.

Neglect hoof video

2009-11-05T11:49:00.000-08:00

A fellow horse forum member sent me this video, and as predicted I love it. It's with a donkey rather than a horse, but the farrier is very patient and knowledgeable. It was definitely worth the 10 minutes or so to sit down and watch it.

I particularly love 8:22 where the donkey looks at the farrier with a happy face. He's so adorable.

Farrier visit Oct. 29, 2009

2009-10-30T04:53:00.000-07:00

First off, apologies for ugly cell phone pics. I had a very nice camera sitting at home, by the door, where I left it that morning. These will have to do.

Again, I got the before pictures so we can see what the hoof looks like before being messed with. My farrier was quite pleased to get the X-rays, and when we unwrapped the front left, we got a big surprise: even more concavity than the X-ray (a few weeks old now) showed!

The crack is somewhat dirty, but free from infection. The crack past the thicker crack part is mostly just superficial to the wall. If we keep infection out, there should be no reason for it to continue to split and separate.

On the solar view, you can see because the cast has to grip around the angle of the wall, it seems to draw the heel forward as the heel tries to expand. She isn't ready to be without the cast on this hoof, so we just have to make sure that heel is rasped down to prevent it from wrapping under or getting crushed and getting out of control.

Now check this out! Look at that dish:

I didn't get this type of shot on the front left before. But it was never this concave. To kind of show the improvement, here is what the better hoof looked like on Sept. 24:

So it looks like how the right front looked last trim. Very good news if you ask me!

Post trim, it was clear that the front right has never looked better. The hoof is downright beautiful. I'm incredibly tickled that my horse has three "normal" hooves right now!

The solar view on the front right still shows some asymmetry. Because the insides of her hooves are still quite low, this will correct with time. Farrier said this was the closest to balanced as she's ever come:

Because of this hoof's progress, it was not wrapped with the Equicast! So she is officially bare on that hoof. We did not do the same on the front left because of the crack and the hoof wall separation.

Of course the front left is not quite as beautiful as the right hoof, but as the before pics show, they are getting there. Can't even see the separation right now from the lateral view:

Despite all the mechanical problems of this hoof, I like the symmetry we have on the solar view. You can also see where we rasped down the angles of the hoof so the heel isn't encouraged to draw forward with the cast.

This morning, I'm supposed to haul Buttercup to a chiropractic/acupuncture appointment outside of Raleigh (about a 4 hour haul) to help with her body being so out of whack. However, with the cast removed on the right hoof, she may be slightly sore. I have called the vet, and she wants to assess this morning.

Chiropractic work can be undone if the cause of the bones being out of place is not remedied. Kind of disappointing, but we'll eventually get the work done if we can't get it done today.

Photo day

2009-10-26T06:59:00.000-07:00

Since I've only been hand walking, massaging and stretching Buttercup these last few weeks, I broke up the monotony yesterday by doing a photo shoot. Naturally, Bud was much more interested in carrots than pictures, but we got a few nice ones.

One year later with new X-rays

2009-10-22T13:26:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's been a year since Buttercup's hoof rehab began. It was Oct. 13, 2008, when I finally sought advice on the internet and acknowledged that something was horribly wrong with my horse.

One of the first things I did was get X-rays so the farrier and the vet could assess the damage. You can never tell the true extent of hoof damage without X-rays. If something is off about your horse's hooves, it pays to get these done. And don't make excuses! My vet charges a pretty penny for antiquated film X-rays. Sure, I want lessons and to keep riding with my horse in rehab, but priorities are key. Bottom line: you need them.

The last few weeks I have really worked to educate myself further on the subject of inside the horse's hoof, and before I give you the X-rays, I want to share information on the internal structure. That way, we can all be on the same page. I'm also reading up a lot on massage, myofasial and stretching techniques, but that's another post for another day.

So let's take a look inside that hoof:

(snagged from a google search/ azequinerescue.org)

Essentially, there are three main internal parts: P1 (P for Phalanx), P2 and P3. P1 is proximal phalanx or pastern, P2 is middle phalanx (P1 and 2 a joint above the coronary band) and P3 is the pedal or coffin bone. And underneath P2 and behind P3 is navicular (the bone of the dreaded Navicular Disease).

This is Buttercup's front right from October 2008. Unfortunately, my picture of this film X-ray has cut off the P1 a bit and reduced the quality. The nail seen in the photo marks the top of the coronary band, and it kind of follows the outer hoof wall. However, most vets nowadays use a glue that shows up on X-rays that follows the hoof wall better than a static nail.

Remember, this hoof suffered the least amount of damage during the poor farrier work. But you can already see a "lipping" at the tip of the pedal bone. As it has been explained to me, this is from lack of blood flow and the bone starting to alter.

The pedal bone has not begun to sunk yet, but it looks like it's thinking about it given the lack of blood flow. Also, note how far back inside the hoof is the head of the P3 and how flat the hoof looks.

Not incredibly amounts of damage, but no good omens either. This hoof was in dire need of change since nothing good could happen in its current condition.

One year later:

The most obvious change is lack of shoe, but that's really secondary to all the changes we see. 1) the top P3 is in better relation to the front of the hoof; 2) There is no "sunken" look to this pedal bone; and 3) although the sole depth is minimum, there is visible concavity to the hoof. Please notice how the tip of the pedal (P3) bone is permanently scarred. Although we are pretty certain that blood flow has been restored, Buttercup's skeleton has been altered from the ordeal.

Now onto the more extreme:

In the left front, the P3 is definitely more sunken than the right front. When the coffin/pedal bone sinks, this is called "rotation." Although this X-ray does not show an extreme rotation, it is about 1-2 degrees of rotation. Like the front right but with more damage, the tip of the coffin bone has been lipped from lack of blood flow. The sole is flat and this hoof is down right ugly.

Here's how it looks today:

Even to the uneducated eye, changes are apparent. Many of the changes are similar to the changes on the right hoof, only more visible since this hoof altered so much (for bad and good). It no longer appears "sunken" and concavity is forming in the sole. These are great signs for returned blood flow. Of course, the pedal bone will remain scarred.

With a lot of positives these past few months, we are now ready to address the rest of Buttercup's body. Her hoof problems have relayed throughout her body to create other changes in her body. Think about limping around for a few hours. Your other leg will begin to hurt, and so will your back. The same is true for a quadruped.

I actually stopped riding her Oct. 3, because 1) the move to her new barn caused her hooves to go through a reconditioning process, making her sensitive for a week or so, and 2) I realized her lack of cadence was not from being out of condition, but from changes to her skeletal and muscular system in response to her hoof problems over the last year and half.

Here is a picture of her moving out of cadence, which I think is the direct result of the hoof issues:

I made a calculated risk when I brought her back into work in August. I misjudged the severity of the damage to the body.

When the vet was out for X-rays a week back, I had her assess Buttercup's overall body. Her 7th neck bone (C7) is out and she has several ribs out, in addition to being very tight and sore over her withers and the lumbar area.

To address these issues, I have been doing my best to learn massage and proper stretching with Equine Massage: A practical guide, and I scheduled an appointment for Oct. 30 with a chiropractor who also performs acupuncture. Although the bones need to be reset, her muscle memory and tightness may pull them back to where they were, the acupuncture, stretching and massage will hopefully prevent that from happening.

Then, beginning with light work and progressing nicely, new muscle memory will be formed to keep her bones in place. If something pops out again, we will have to have another session.

Farrier visit Sept. 24, 2009

2009-09-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

It has been nearly a week since our last farrier visit and I apologize for not updating the blog sooner. *insert excuses here*

Several days before the farrier showed up, Buttercup started experiencing discomfort when rolling over her front left. I assumed – later confirmed by the farrier – that her hoof wall had grown down and the lip was touching the ground, creating that bamboo up the fingernail bed feeling when she trotted on a circle.

With the trimming and new casts, she's again 100%.

OK, so today we'll do something a little different, I'm going to show her hooves before and after the trimming. At the end of the post, you'll also see some neat, gross pics of us excavating the crack in the front left.

Here she is unwrapped and ready for trimming:

You can still see the separation is a big problem on the lateral views, but it is growing out some. Notice the flaring at the quarters.

This is the front left, notice how asymmetrical it is. This is partly due to the shoe a few months ago ripping off the inside quarter, so that side is building from scratch.

Front right. The toe wall isn't experiencing as much separation as the sides of the hoof. This hoof is almost normal. Will and I were just tickled about it.

Here's something neat about the going barefoot process: we're getting concavity to a previously flat-footed horse. This pic shows that she is getting sole growth and concavity in all the right places. This means she has probably completely restored bloodflow to the hoof.

Now for the freshly trimmed pics.

Can you believe that's the front left! Wow, it's come a long way.

Now that we have addressed balance and the failing hoof wall, our attention has turned to the ugly crack that I have worked so hard to forget about. It wasn't a pressing issue, as I've mentioned before, since she was sound before with the crack.

Anyway, for three years it has attracted all sorts of infection and I've battled to keep it down. (Note to self: buy stock in concentrated Lysol products.) But now that we are trying to grow a healthy, attached hoof wall, that ole crack has come to the forefront of our rehabbing process yet again.

Will decided to excavate it completely, clear out all the goopy black stuff and then treat it and seal it with bond before closing it up in the Equicast. This is the third (fourth?) time since the crack appeared that it has been excavated. The previous attempts failed at growing the crack out, but this will be the first time she doesn't have any pressure on the hoof wall or nails from shoes further weakening the hoof wall.

About a tablespoon of that nasty black stuff came out. Pure infection. One of the down sides of the Equicast is that my soaking has not been effective in clearing infection once it is already in there.

The above pic is really kind of neat. Apparently, the separation is not as bad as it looks, as she has a really thick hoof wall.

All clean:

With bondo:

Looks almost normal, huh?

Buttercup is now going into her workouts with hoof boots and splint boots. The hoof boots will prevent the Equicast from wearing away quickly, and the splint boots will help support her tendons and such. She popped three splints in the first weeks of being barefoot. Not from a bunch of work, but from play. So we are going to be extra cautious about her leg welfare from here on out.

Not trying to jinx myself but ...

2009-09-09T10:03:00.000-07:00

Things are going really well. I feel really confident that we have turned the corner and now are down the final stretch of our journey.

Saturday I took Buttercup for a nice long trail ride in one of our local riding trails. As of Tuesday, she is almost sound on pavement and still feeling really groovy. Here are the pics; you can tell she's had a lot of time to sit in the pasture!

Farrier visit Sept. 4, 2009

2009-09-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

Three weeks have flown by since our last farrier visit. At first, she felt great transitioning to barefoot, and then she got very ouchie. But slowly and surely her hooves are getting conditioned.

The last visit we did not apply a lot of the cast. As a result, it came off in a hurry. I lost most of it from the sole by week two, and all of it by today. No biggie since we had rolled her hoof wall back to prevent pressure. But if she wasn't done this week, we may have gotten pressure on it again as it grows down.

We have some heel growth coming in and a few positive looks. I only took pics of her feet without the casts since the casts have a way of bulging up at the toe and making the hoof look distorted anyway.

Front left:

I like the heel growth we are getting here. You can see we still have really rolled the toe back and rolled back on the quarters. The bulge at the toe is really not evident right now, but imagine it going up about halfway up the hoof. That's where we have good growth coming out. Now, if we can just get it to grow down.

I'm not concerned about the crack. I'm not concerned about the crack. I'm not concerned about the crack ... I have had to repeat this a million times to my husband the other day. She was sound with it up until more than a year ago, and she was lame with it. I don't care if it sticks around until Buttercup is in her 30s, so long as she is comfortable and sound. But maybe our new method will encourage it to grow out? I don't know. I'm not concerned with it. I am a little concerned as the hoof does not show very proper symmetrical balance at the cornet band. But as we progress, that will get better. One step at a time.

You can see on this view how wrapped under her heels were and how they are gravitating back toward the bulb. I'm actually pretty happy with this solar view. She is not quite symmetrical, but it is getting there. It is hard to tell from the pic, but she has some concavity (though not much) forming on the sides of the frog and at the apex of the frog. That's a good sign that blood flow is restored and her hoof is starting to rebuild.

Now for the right:

We weren't happy with this hoof going into the trim. The toe seems to be getting away from us, despite her looking pretty nice on the solar view. Her heel is also staying stubbornly wrapped after the quarters. But patience! Time and pressure will bring it around.

She's standing a little wonky in this photo, but this hoof has nice symmetry (especially compared to her left).

Now that's a solar view! We did end up rolling more of the toe hoof wall away after this pic was taken, however. This being the healthier of the two hooves, she exhibits more concavity here and from the last Xrays does have more sole depth. You can also see how her buttresses are starting to work their way back toward the heel bulb and lose that hard angle a few inches down where the heel used to be.

At this point and time, I wish I had a good solar of Buttercup's hooves when they were so badly underrun last year at around this time. Unwrapping the crushed heel and setting it back has taken some time. But we're progressing nicely. Hopefully it will only continue to progress as we are in this new phase of rehab.

Buttercup gets hoofboots

2009-09-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

I ordered a pair of hoofboots on an impulse buy. They were used and only $40. I wasn't even sure if they were the right size.

But they seem to fit! Unfortunately, I don't know if they will fit once we put the Equicast back on tomorrow.

I figured I needed hoofboots since she is still slightly sore on the pavement and gravel. I took her for a walk around on the pavement and she seemed much improved, though walking a little awkward with the hoofboot sensation and not quite 100% sound. It will be good to use when we go to the beach and have to walk 1/4 mile on road to get there or go to the mountain and have to walk on hard-pack, rock-laden land.

(Buttercup models how her hooves feel better on pavement with her hoofboots)

According to some sources, it can take six months to a year for a horse to grow a hardened hoof. Although I plan to let her hooves encounter her terrain in their natural form, I plan to use the hoofboots when I need to take her somewhere or ride her over some place that she just isn't ready to do yet.

UPDATE 9/4/09: These hoofboots indeed do not fit. They are too large. However, with Buttercup's extra hoof (Equicast) they fit a lot better and more snugly. If you want to know if your hoofboot fits, consult the manufacturer. If you have EasyBoots, go to this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/user/EasyCareVideos#play/uploads/60/ytY2cgl_RsA

Hoof anatomy

2009-09-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

Found a great diagram today to help those of us without professional training to describe parts of the hoof.

Embarrassingly, I did not realize there was a difference between bars and quarters. I am so happy to be corrected!

Quick update: Buttercup is scheduled for her second barefoot trimming and Equicast application tomorrow, so I will have updates. She is sound on everything but pavement right now and moving pretty comfortably, despite tearing off most of her casts in less than two weeks.

First day being barefoot

2009-08-16T09:49:00.001-07:00

Before I forget to post, here are the lateral view pics. I really like the balance that I see:

Front view:

And for those curious as to what the underside looks like:

Now the transition to barefoot isn't all fun and games. She moved really nicely yesterday, but her under-conditioned hooves are now no longer feeling quite so good after 24-hours of full pressure.

According to the barefooter who helped us, I can ride as soon as she's moving comfortably. She is sound right now, but not moving comfortably. She's freer in her shoulders, but a little hesitant with her front feet.

Here are some pics I took today in the round pen. Notice that in some of the pictures, she is very obviously not landing heel first up front:

Equicast

2009-08-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

(Buttercup models her new bridle earlier today)

Sometimes, you have to take a giant leap of faith.

Since March, Buttercup has exhibited a balanced hoof. We've got some heel growth going, and she is moving pretty nicely.

Unfortunately, in the last few months, we've plateaued. That happens in rehab, and that's OK. But sometimes you have to re-evaluate and see if you need to do anything differently.

The big issue was that we couldn't keep her hoof wall from separating from the laminae. The laminae was already badly damaged from last year, and even with the new re-balance on the hoof, we were fighting a losing battle with the hoof wall continuing to tear away.

Now, I read a lot of resources on the Internet and try to inform myself as best as possible, but I want to remind you to be careful about that. As much good information that is out there on the Internet, there's a lot more crap.

My farrier and I kept discussing the hoof wall issues and we just couldn't seem to take it under control. In my research, I came across Equicast. I read some more about it on farrier forums and at the site, and finally called the creator, Dave Richards. After a brief conversation, I felt this product could work.

There are many cast products out there to help hooves. However, Equicast is a little bit harder and supportive, from what I understand. I talked it over with my farrier, and we got together with a barefooter in our area to help us understand the application of the product.

(My farrier and the barefooter discuss the product and talk about its application this morning)

This is where selecting the right farrier comes into play. My farrier is wonderful and hungry for learning. He not only has an excellent grasp on hoofcare, he also keeps an open mind for new information. Inviting out the barefooter might have hurt another farrier's ego. But not Will. Will kept his ears open, and what he heard, he liked.

For those who are curious, here is a product description of Equicast from the Web site:

Newton’s third law of physics (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction) helps explains how and why we need to address the hoof wall. When the foundation (hoof wall) is not strong enough, or the hoof capsule is not placed in the center of the bony column, failure is inevitable.

Essentially, the cast acts as the horse's hoof wall and holds the hoof together.

Now, at first, we thought we would trim the hoof like we were about to shoe it, then apply the Equicast, and then tack on the shoe. It is one of the recommended methods for using the cast.

However, the barefooter evaluated her hoof and said the separation is so great, we should go without the shoe and leave the laminae and hoof wall alone by not driving nails into it.

Here's a pic of the separation we were getting after three weeks of being shod after pulling the shoe:

Look at the sole (the lighter color) and see where it ends at the toe. Then see that dark stuff? That's her hoof wall separating from the sole. There shouldn't be that much space between them. What was happening, according to my farrier, was that we'd get the hoof wall nice with the sole and then over the course of the shoeing, the hoofwall would just grow around the shoe.

Talk about bamboo torture. Can you imagine something slowly peeling back your fingernail?

First, we had to trim the hoof. Will rolled the hoof wall so that Bud would essentially be using her entire hoof the walk on and the hoof wall couldn't find an excuse to tear away.

After the trim, the barefooter and Will sanded the outside of her hoof roughly so it could be grippier for the Equicast. Then, came the tricky part.

Equicast dries very hard in a matter of minutes of opening the package. You open, wrap up the hoof, place the hoof in water, then take the hoof out and place it on a pad with sand (so that it doesn't stick to pad), and then smooth any bumps.

After a few minutes, you remove any bumps on the sole and any flares with a hoof knife.

(Will sands Buttercup's hoof before applying the Equicast)

Here are some pics of the final product:

Then, we were ready for the true test. Would she be in pain? She certainly didn't seem ouchie, and the fact that we didn't drive nails into her laminae should make her more comfortable. But the proof is in the pudding:

Walking five minutes after application

Trotting about a half hour after application

Well, I'm sold! We aren't sure if we'll keep her barefoot after the Equicast has served its purpose, but I know I love this product. I hope I get to ride tomorrow so I can report back on if it makes a difference under saddle.

Frustrations mount

2009-08-12T10:16:00.001-07:00

I tend to gloss over my every-day frustrations with hoof rehabbing, and maybe that makes my blog a little misleading.

Hoof rehabbing is incredibly frustrating. You make very little progress over months, and within seconds it can all be undone by a shoe getting ripped off or some other phenomenon.

I've posted on here about Buttercup losing shoes or having loose shoes, but probably not as often as it happens. We are at a critical stage in rehabbing during the summertime when nails loosen out of the hoof regularly without having hoof problems to add to it. Having some of her hoof still missing from where she ripped her shoe off a few months ago is not helping.

Bud was last done July 23. She lost nearly a week of riding time because she was incredibly sore (we think an infection flared up in her laminae to contribute to this). I was able to ride until Saturday, which meant about one week window of riding. What happened Saturday? She got sunburnt all over her back.

OK, no problem. We have a clinic scheduled for this Saturday, so I just worked her in the roundpen Sunday and Monday. By Tuesday, her sunburn was healed. Before hopping on to ride, I checked her shoes ... loose shoe on the front left.

So, no ride. No clinic. Nothing.

Being frustrated stems from two things: 1) I'm mad as heck at myself for letting her hooves deteriorate in the first place, and 2) I'm extremely selfish and darnit if I don't want to ride. But, there's nothing I can do about that.

What do you do when you encounter setbacks? I've decided to immerse myself in arduous exercise. Release some endorphins, sweat a lot, and forget for a little bit that I'm a screw-up and am missing riding days.

Last night, when I came home, instead of crying or re-directing my anger at my husband, I got on the treadmill for 40 minutes. It felt great.

On a positive note, Buttercup will be trying Equicast when she gets her shoe tacked back on. It is supposed to hold the hoofwall in place to allow the lamina to be able to reattach itself to the hoofwall – exactly what we need! I bet it will help with the loose shoes to boot! (I plan a post on this at a later date.)

In the meantime, I'm just going to have to take this lesson in patience and grow from it.

Farrier visit July 23, 2009

2009-07-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

To be fair, it was more like a me-visit than a farrier visit, as I took Buttercup to his house.

Buttercup had a loose shoe, and my farrier was unable to make it to my barn, so I loaded her up and took her over. She was only four weeks or so into her rotation, but we figured we might as well do all four since she'll likely just loosen or pull another shoe in a few weeks (glum, I know).

Things are actually looking up, despite the loose shoe debacle. The summer has finally started to play out with her hooves and we are getting some fantastic hoof growth ... even hoof growth, which is even better. Her heels are also starting to come in.

Front left:

Front right:

I know, I broke one of my cardinal hoof-picture rules: take pictures on even ground like cement. The ground is uneven, the angle is off and the dirt obscures a good view. But, my camera broke and we've got to deal with bad pictures this time around.

This trim (and last semi trim and the trim before) we have focused on shaving down bulges in the outer wall of the hoof. Hooves are tricky: if they grow into pressure. So a bulge is likely in get more bulgey. And she was getting bulges on the outside of her front right especially. To also help alleviate pressure from growing unwanted areas, she is also being trimmed slightly concave along her hoof so it doesn't quite meet the shoe.

We have a mixed bag of news for Bud. The pros: she has finally developed concavity in the front left hoof and is growing lots of frog (a sure sign blood flow is coming in full force) and her heels have "turned" to start to grow down into her setback shoe and are unwrapping. The con: she has gotten a slight infection in her crack again (notice the bucket in the background of the front right pics).

Things are looking up. Let's hope progress continues and we don't have too many more obstacles in front of us! Her hooves are more and more looking normal.

As a side note, I have finally put together a full chronology of hoof pictures from October 2008 through July 2009 to give to my farrier. I think he'll appreciate seeing how much progress we've made.

Limitless possibilities: the wonders of duct tape

2009-07-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I marvel at the things I have used over the years for the sake of my horse.

I have used bailing twine to rig a bridle and a stirrup and I've fashioned a hay net from bailing twice. I buy infant diapers to suck out potential abscesses or infections on hooves. I've used duct tape to do everything from fix tack to hold together my horse. I use Lysol to control bacterial infections, also.

On Sunday, Buttercup came up with a loose shoe on her front left. Not at all surprising when you figure in the crazy super wet-super dry weather we've been having in coastal North Carolina.

To make matters worse, my phone drowned in a few droplets of rain last Monday, successfully eliminating my entire phone book from my life. Of course, these numbers were no where else but my Blackberry.

I got in touch with my instructor through her husband's Facebook and was able to get the number to my farrier. When I called him Sunday, the phone was off. Same thing Monday and Tuesday. I started freaking out.

Bud, normally a good-natured pony, turns into a gremlin when stalled for more than 6 hours at a time. No furby. Just a gremlin. She gets pushing, she won't stand still, she overreacts to everything. Bottomline: she drives me crazy. And it isn't like I can exercise her to let her release her frustration when she's having hoof issues.

So, my incentive to reach my farrier was strong, not only to protect my horse's healing hoof, but to protect my sanity.

After leaving probably five voicemails over three days and calling about 20 times, I realized my farrier's voicemail message was completely different. It was automated. Not his normal "You've reached ..."

I asked my instructor for the number again. This time, I got a completely different number! I called it, and my wonderful farrier picked up on the second ring.

"Hello."
"Will?"
"Hey."
"Will, I've been calling you and leaving messages. Did you change your phone number or something?"
"Nope, same number."
"Are you sure? Because that means I just left a ton of messages on some strange person's cell phone about my horse's loose shoe."
"Nope, this is my only number."

Ugh. I feel stupid. Anyway, I have an appointment tomorrow to drive out to his place to get the shoe tacked back on.

For right now, I have decided to take Bud out of stall rest for the above reasons. I fashioned a hoof boot out of an old, ripped bellboot (we have a ton of those) and duct tape to help keep her shoe on.

I got the idea because just duct taping her hoof, it always comes off because she has no heel to attach the duct tape to. So, it's like trying to keep on high heels that only cover your big toe: it just won't work.

I should have gotten pics of it, but the bell boot had its ring intact, which I placed around the pastern. It was missing about half of the bell-part. So I positioned the rubber bell part at the heel. I duct taped the toe and the shoe to the hoof very well and then attached everything to the ripped up bellboot to make a very fancy (duct tape is silver, so fancy) hoofboot.

It should last until this afternoon, when I'll make another one. I plan on actually ordering a hoofboot now after this!

So, what are some the crazy things you've fashioned out of diapers, bailing twine or duct tape?

Farrier visit June 15, 2009

2009-06-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

(Pictured: Buttercup ready for her regular "close up" with the camera; she gets more pics taken of her than a super model)

Last week we had two breakthroughs with Buttercup's hooves: 1) she is no longer in the "rebalancing" stage of her hoof rehab, which means her lamina will heal faster; and 2) she grew a microscopic, smidgen of a heel!

All exciting news. I've also started to use turpentine to help strengthen her soles and seem to be having really good results. Her crack is also looking like it really wants to come together (a sure fire sign her laminae is healing and her hoofwall is in the right spot).

Right front:

Left front:

(see that heel growing?!?!)

Front view:

Not sure if you can see but that crack is actually very, very shallow right now. She's also standing a little off kilter.

In this front view, notice her hooves still lack symmetrical balance. We're getting there. We had to fix her hoof angle, start growing some heel and a few other things. But now we can start focusing on getting her better balanced.

That reminds me: my farrier is still suspecting we aren't getting adequate blood flow to her hooves. I'm going to investigate this further and figure out possible avenues to explore. If you have any information on this, I'd love to hear it.

By the way, notice the bell boots? We've gone to double bell boots to prevent any more shoes being pulled. We simply can't afford to lose any more hoof to forging.

The long, long road to recovery

2009-06-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

It has been days or maybe a couple weeks since your horse has exhibited signs of lameness. Time to ride, right?

Well, yes and no. Hooves are a tricky thing. They can be under conditioned, over conditioned, too soft, too hard (there is such a thing, I'm sure), among many other factors.

It has been nearly six months since Buttercup and I have been on the long road to recovery. At first, it was touch-and-go. She'd be sound for days and days, then be lame for days and days. She'd be sound for weeks, and then exhibit lameness for a day.

I have lost muscle tone in the last year of lameness and recovery. Bud has too. We've lost a pivotal year that was supposed to be her big debut into the world of showing and the end of her "greenie" status.

It is so frustrating. As some of you have guesses, I happen to be a crier. And guess what, I've cried over this. Especially since the time is nearing for me to have children and that means I have even less time to compete with Buttercup. Biological clock meet lameness setbacks.

With my own frustrations, it is all too easy for me to get pushy. What's the harm if I just start 30 minute trot sessions next week? Oh, jumping that line won't be a bother, will it? Our walk-trot transitions are going so nicely, maybe I'll do just a few trot-canter transitions or even a walk-canter transition?

(Pictured: the rare occasion I trot Buttercup, taken on June 12)

I can't post on here and say I've babied Buttercup every step of her recovery. I wish I could. I've pushed her when she wasn't ready and I've lost days because of it. One example of this is when I got my brand new horse trailer in January. I was so excited, all I wanted to do was to load Bud and let her share in my excitement.

But she was not a fan of the new trailer. Not being one to let a horse win and end on a bad note, I had to push her and we finally came to terms that the trailer was not going to eat her. During the process, there was rearing and heavy-landing feet. I was so nervous the next day. I knew she'd be lame.

Miraculously, she wasn't.

But I learned my lesson. I would not ask anything that could result in an hour-long argument (though we continued with trailer loading to further cement the lesson).

The next month, I decided to take Buttercup for a relaxing walk on the beach. Bud's a great trail horse. You can take her out by herself anywhere and she's just as relaxed as she can be. Even at her first horse show, she barely balked at all the excitement. So, naturally, I figured with all the walking we were doing, why not mix things up a bit with a walk on the beach?

Well, apparently, her good nature stops at "OMG scary waves!" And I ended up with a horse that I could maintain, but could not calm down. I let her canter and extend into a hand-gallop thinking "She's out of shape and will end up getting winded and calm down."

(Pictured: us cantering down the beach in February)

40 minutes later, with much blowing but no relaxing, I finally took her home.

This was another moment of "Oh crap, what have I done" for me. Luckily, she was still sound the next day.

When is it OK to ride for a horse coming back from injury or hoof problems? I generally gauge if the horse is moving comfortably at the walk for several days, with perhaps a slight hitch at the trot, he may be fine with just a nice 20 minute walk to loosen him up. I don't trot until it has been a week or so after he is moving nicely at the trot with no hitch. Then, I give about two weeks of walk-trot before transitioning back up to cantering or jumping. Obviously, Buttercup and I are not cantering or jumping (and usually not even trotting) right now because she will still exhibit intermittent signs of lameness.

So, what have I been doing the last six months or so during the rehab process? Mostly playing it by ear, but a whole lot of walking with minimum trot work.

(Pictured: walking Buttercup on June 12)

I've heard trainers and instructors over the years extol the benefits of walking for horse and rider. I believe them now.

When Buttercup got her teeth floated two months ago, the vet was so happy with her proper muscle condition and how she has almost completely lost the heavy muscling under her neck. She looked good. The vet was only slightly surprised that only walking under saddle helped create the transformation.

I continue doing about 60-75% of our schooling sessions at the walk. Mostly because we are constantly in flux of being lame and being sound, and I don't want to push her too hard.

I have started taking dressage lessons on an old schoolmaster to help keep my fitness level up, and I plan to use dressage to bring Buttercup back during the rehab process.

As much as I want to jump and gallop, I have to remain patient. If walking means sound hooves faster then walking it is.

Here are some benefits of walking according to me:

• Improved balance for horse and rider
• Refinement or introduction of cues and aids
• Keeping up fitness levels without creating excess concussion on hooves or tendons
• Allows horse to relax and move out, so if his back is sore from being off he can get a little loose
• Breaks up the monotony of hand walking or just grooming (only do if horse is sound)
• You can go out on trails and just getaway from it all when frustration mounts

There are a lot more reasons to take it slow on the road to recovery, and I'm sure we'll hit many more speed bumps. But if we take it slow, maybe those speed bumps won't hurt at much.

I have some new pics of Buttercup's hooves, done June 15, so keep an eye out for an update. The best news? We have moved into a new stage in the rehab process! Stay tuned.

You don't have to know a lot about horses ...

2009-06-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

... to understand how important their hooves are.

Here's an actual dialog (as remembered by me) between me and my very, non-horsey husband.

"So when is that crack going to grow out?"

"Probably never. It's been there for three years. The hoof grows in funny because of the abscess that scarred her cornet band."

"Really? That sucks. Won't that cause her a lot of problems?"

"Well, she had it for two years before it ever caused any problems. But, yeah, if her hooves are not properly cared for it kind of exacerbates a problem."

"That's a shame. It really sucks that happened to her and then all this – horses need good hooves."

And he's right. Horses need good hooves. My husband does not have horse and has probably only ridden about 20 times in his entire life (including him walking Buttercup around last night), and yet he can see something wrong with her hooves and know how serious it is (not just because I've been crying over it for the last year haha).

I don't know how many of you are currently in hoof rehab because of your own inattention, but I know I feel guilty nearly every single day. As an animal lover, I hate to think I caused her so much pain.

But I take comfort in that it is reversible, and we are taking steps in the right direction. Buttercup has recovered completely from her supposed abscess and is back in some walk-trot training. (new video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I160qCIgUy4 )

It's like that woman who was on Oprah about five years ago who was burnt on 70% of her body and barely had a face. She said she only allows herself to cry for five minutes every day and then she snaps herself out of it, and moves on with her day.

Anyone have a horse in hoof rehab at the moment? Please share your stories!

Getting another farrier's advice

2009-06-03T06:24:00.000-07:00

I'll say this up front: I love my current farrier. He may not be perfect, but he's an honest, hardworking man who has a fair amount of intelligence, especially when it comes to hooves.

But ... I cheated on him.

Don't worry. He knows about it.

Due to family problems, he wasn't able to come out and explore Buttercup's abscess this week. Another farrier was in the area, and he was able to fit me into his schedule. Of course, she was completely sound with no signs of lameness when he came out yesterday.

Nonetheless, I took time to probe him. I like getting second opinions. If my arm was sheared off at the elbow, I'd get another doctor to come in to confirm that my arm was indeed sheared off at the elbow.

I called a farrier near me and what I described of my horse interested him. He had never seen an abscess scar a horse's cornet band to the point of splaying a hoof (he's been in the biz for more than 30 years) and it stay splayed for nearly three years. He also was curious about why she was so acutely lame.

Without a lame horse, all we could do was guess why the lameness occurred. It couldn't be a hot nail, because she would have gotten progressively worse. It could have been an abscess, but there was no exit point. Maybe she had a touch of tendinitis because there was swelling in both front legs?

While he was there, he discovered that Bud has rather weak soles and said adding turpentine to her hoof regiment will help toughen it up.

I asked him if her hooves were balanced, got an affirmative response.

I asked about what he thought of her hooves at this point and time.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked. I tried to rephrase.

"They look fine. Look, you want a perfect shoeing or trim, give your farrier a perfect hoof. Never seen a perfect hoof? Well, neither have I."

He was actually impressed that an abscess was the root cause of scarring her cornet band. He'd said it was so rare, he never saw anything like it before and didn't know it could happen.

Remember what I said about farrier work being an art, not a science. Without prompting, I got a long dialog from him about the artistry of hooves.

"Farriers are more like sculptor – an artist. They got to see the correct hoof underneath the poor hoof and figure out a way to make it come out of there."

Looks like Buttercup is sound and I got some new advice. A good day, all and all.

When to make the call

2009-05-28T05:55:00.001-07:00

(Pictured: Buttercup saying, "Just say no to hoof abscesses!")

I feel like I always have to straddle two worlds: over-protective mommy and too relaxed devil-may caregiver.

In all reality, you don't want to be one or the other, but you want to incorporate a little of both with horses. For example, over-protective mommy would have been appropriate last year when my horse went lame (actually when I was trying to remember my former farrier's instructions would have been more appropriate). However, that is not an appropriate reaction to something like a stone bruise.

From my jinxing last week, I was on the phone with my farrier every day until we worked something out with our schedules to get the shoe put back on. I'm sure he was glad to finally get the shoeing over with. I can be a bit pestering and prone to over-reactive side since realizing my grave errors last year.

On Monday, I called him and told him how Buttercup was faring. She was landing rather "heavy" on both front feet, which is what it looks like when they are tending toward landing toe first and not flat or heel first.

When he replaced her shoe on Friday, he discovered some infection flaring up in her front left, so we chalked this up to the infection causing some discomfort. I soaked her Monday and Tuesday for about 15 minutes each in a Lysol solution (the only thing I have found so far that kills her infection).

Yesterday, I came out to the barn to a severely lame horse. She almost couldn't bear weight on her front left when I picked up her front right.

There are many times in our horsey careers that we will come out to the barn with an acutely lame horse. A horse that was sound just hours before is now hobbling like his leg is broke.

The first thing to do is not to panic and put your vet and farrier on three-way, freaking out.

If I notice some off steps, I inspect her legs and hooves. Any swelling? Is there noticeable heat anywhere on the hooves?

After, I trot my horse (from the ground) on a straightaway for about 25 yards. I've gotten pretty good at watching her feet, while not tripping and running. Does she get better as she moves out?

Usually not.

Then, I put her into a 10 m or less lunge at the walk. How is she moving at the walk? Again, does she seem to start moving better? Try a trot, too.

At the halt, inspect the hooves again. More heat? Less? More swelling? Less?

Here's the truth about acute lameness: nine times out of 10, it is an abscess or an injury sustained out in the pasture while the horses were cutting up. Both create swelling, but an abscess will create heat in the hoof. Usually, after moderate exercise, this heat dissipates.

If it is just a pasture injury, look for scrapes. Sometimes the most minimal of scrapes is an indicator of an injury. If you can't see something right away, look at the soles of the hooves. There may be some slight purpling, indicating a stone bruise. If injury's the case, bute and some hand walking over the next couple days usually clears that right up. (Of course if the horse is opened up and bloody, or he doesn't get better, please call your vet.)

If it is an abscess, it usually appears better after about 10 minutes soaking in warm water and epsom salts, or after some moderate exercise. You'll want to call your farrier and tell him you suspect an abscess. Many farriers want to come dig out abcesses, other prefer to let it pop out naturally. Just call and let him know and ask him what he wants you to do.

There is controversy about buting a horse that's abcessing. The reason being is that bute, like aspirin, thins the blood (anti-inflammatory). Blood pressure is needed to help "pop" the abscess, or draw it out. I have buted a horse with an abcess, and I haven't buted a horse with an abcess. I, personally, could never really see a huge difference in recovery time.

Last night, I left a message with my farrier and I chose to bute Buttercup and move her to a sandier, drier paddock. If her infection has gotten too out of control, the last thing she needs is to be in damp conditions. And if she is in so much pain, she isn't going to be walking around increasing blood flow. So, I made the decision to give her pain medication.

I'll see what my farrier wants to do about her later. My initial thoughts are abscess since she was already showing signs Monday of discomfort.

Here's an article I found on hoof abscesses and reading it only further convinces me that Buttercup has picked up an abscess due to the wet conditions and recent shoeing. Looks like I'll be replacing my Lysol with epsom salts!

Veterinary Corner 10/00: Hoof Abscesses

by Frosty Franklin, DVM
Edgecliff Equine Hospital
S. 1322 Park Road, Spokane, WA 99212 * 509/924-6069

The horse's hoof is a very durable, tough structure that is constantly renewing. The hoof is always in contact with the environment and, as such, experiences a wide variety of traumatic insults that occasionally damages the hoof and enclosed structures. One of the most common problems occurring to the hoof is the introduction of bacteria and other microorganisms to the sensitive structures within the hoof. A hoof abscess is the result.
A hoof abscess, in my mind, is either a direct hoof abscess caused by penetrating wounds or an indirect hoof abscess caused by the migration of moisture and bacteria into fissures and cracks along the white line.
Almost always when the horse is acutely lame to the point where weight bearing on the affected limb is difficult, the diagnosis is a hoof abscess. Rarely, that non weight-bearing stance is caused by a fractured bone somewhere within that affected limb. By examining the foot for heat and swelling just above the foot in the pastern and fetlock and by evaluating the digital arterial pulses the owner can quickly rule in or rule out a hoof abscess.
In talking with my clients I was amazed to find a large percentage of horse owners that are not aware of the importance of being able to check for the presence of pulses within the digital arteries. In the normal resting horse the digital arterial pulses are not palpable. The digital arteries are present on each side of the pastern. The digital vein is visible on each side of the pastern in most horses, especially if the hair on the pastern is clipped. The digital artery is just slightly posterior to the vein, the vein being a good visual landmark. Whenever inflammation or infection occurs in the foot, the pulses in the digital arteries are obvious to anyone that feels for them. It would be a good idea for horse owners to become familiar with the digital arterial pulses and how to palpate for them. Ask your veterinarian for help if you are confused about the anatomy. Check your horse right after exercise, because then the pulses are palpable.
Penetrating wounds of the hoof can be very serious and should be treated as a potential career ending or life-threatening wound. It is difficult to tell which of the vital structures of the foot have been injured and contaminated with microorganisms. Penetrating wounds of the middle third of the frog are particularly scary because in this region the navicular bone and bursa are present, as well as the deep flexor tendon and the coffin joint. Some of the puncture wounds to the hoof are well hidden by the spongy, elastic frog or the dark dirt-filled sulci and go undetected. In other cases, the nail is simply removed, some iodine squirted in the wound and the incident is not taken seriously and several days may have lapsed before treatment is sought. By then a very serious situation has precipitated requiring surgery, long-term antibiotic therapy, and special hoof care with only a fair chance of returning to full use. In one study, 12 of 38 horses with puncture wound to the navicular bursa or navicular bone returned to satisfactory function.
Fortunately, indirect hoof abscess are much more common. In our practice, they occur when the footing is wet. Defects and fissures in the white line allow the moisture, manure and bacteria access to the sensitive structures to form this type of abscess. These abscesses are relatively easy to treat if the fissure is readily located. These fissures and the structurally comprised white line are common in chronic laminitic (foundered) horses. The "stretched" or widened, pithy white line does not have the integrity of a normal white and allows filth access to the sensitive tissues of the foot. Horses that are recently trimmed and then exposed to muddy/mucky corrals also seemed to be predisposed to a indirect hoof abscess. The infection that gains access to the foot through the white line may travel up the sensitive lamina underneath the hoof wall forming a "gravel" that drains at the coronet. Or much more likely, the infection involves the sole and becomes a sole abscess. This type of hoof abscess is very painful but usually resolves within a few days with proper treatment.
Diagnosing indirect hoof abscess is usually straightforward. Examining the foot for heat, pain, and swelling. Removing the shoe, and proper cleaning of the hoof with a hoof pick and hoof knife is essential. Paying particular attention to the coronet, frog, sulci, and the white line. The hoof testers can be very useful or they can make the horse very defensive because you apply them too forcefully at the beginning. Once the black line or fissure is identified the line is followed with the hoof knife and most of the time grayish exudate will drain the abscess.
Establishing surgical drainage is the most important aspect of therapy. A small loop knife works well. Once a small drainage hole is created the foot may be soaked in hot Epsom salt solution (2 cups per gallon of very warm water). Instead of soaking, I usually apply Magnapaste ointment and bandage the hoof. Magnapaste is an osmotic and "draws" the abscess. Recently, over the bandage I have been applying a new product called the "Equine Slipper." The Equine Slipper has a thick leather bottom and the upper part is breathable cordura nylon with handy Velcro fasteners. It seems to protect the bandage and keeps the hoof clean. Tetanus toxoid should be administered if the horse has not been vaccinated within the last 6 months. I usually prescribe phenylbutazone: 2 grams daily for 6 days.
Penetrating wounds or direct hoof abscess are managed more intensely. The penetrating object is best left in place. The veterinarian is summoned and the hoof radiographed. Even then, evaluating all the structures involved is difficult. Dr. Schneider at Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine is using MRI to evaluate the structures of the foot damaged by puncture wounds. The more information one can delineate the more accurate the diagnosis and prognosis. Treatment of these direct abscesses many times is difficult. Surgical curettage of bone infections to the third phalanx or navicular bone caused by nails puncturing the bone, debriding the deep flexor tendon and drainage of the navicular bursa or joint lavage of the coffin joint are procedures requiring expertise and considerable expense. The prognosis is guarded to unfavorable in many cases. If the penetrating object does not encounter a vital structure as around the periphery of the hoof, most of the time the prognosis for complete recovery is good.
Some hoof abscess can be prevented. Start by keeping the barnyard and stable free of nails and other sharp objects that can penetrate the hoof. They are the number one cause of penetrating injuries to the foot.
Should an acute lameness occur, seek veterinary attention early. Early treatment usually has a higher success rate.

Looks like our plans for a dressage test in two weeks have been put on hold ...

Jinx ... you owe me a new shoeing

2009-05-25T05:18:00.000-07:00

I've never been overly superstitious, though my husband may disagree with me. I do, however, become really superstitious when it comes to horses. There are things that I either won't say (even if a vet directly asks me) or won't say without knocking on wood or crossing my fingers.

These include: s/he has never colicked, never been lame and never refused a fence. (Any absolute statement is a surefire way to test destiny.)

You can bet, as soon as you say these things, they happen. I'm not sure if it is a real "jinxing," since horses are so accident prone that these things are likely to happen despite me saying it or not.

Case and point: Last Tuesday, I was talking to a young girl via the internet with her own hoof issues. We were discussing cadence and setting back the shoe so the horse has adequate heel foundation to travel across.

I think some of you may know by now that I believe that if you fix the cadence, forging shouldn't be an issue. Being the smart alack that I am, I sent the young girl a picture of Buttercup's setback shoe, just asking to get ripped off by the back hooves, and wrote: "Guess how many times she's pulled off her shoe due to forging? Zero."

I'm not going to make excuses as to my blatant jinxing. I know better. You just don't say things like that and expect to come out to the barn later with a perfectly shod horse.

And I didn't.

That very morning as I was bragging about my wonderfully shod horse (wonderful in terms of rehabilitation, not in terms of perfection), Buttercup was busy tearing it up in a muddy pasture with all of her girlfriends. Good-bye, left front shoe and parts of her left front hoof.

Three days of stall rest passed before I could get her over to my farrier. We repaired her hoof with bondo, and decided to put two bell boots per hoof. Luckily, the damage hasn't completely undone all of our rehab work.

If the cadence was fixed, how did this happen?

I can only assume that the combination of her airs above ground and a slick pasture led her to interfere (Buttercup tends to interfere on the backside of fences even when her hooves are healthy) and rip off the shoe.

Also, with the wet conditions, it seems that Buttercup's infection has flared up again. So, I'll be soaking in lysol more regularly. Not sure if the infection made the hoof more crumbly and prone to letting the shoe rip off, but it can't hurt to nip that in the bud.

You'd think I'd learn not to say things that'll jinx me after 20 years around horses.

On heel foundation

2009-05-19T17:14:00.001-07:00

Wow! I just came across two great visuals of what it's like when you have no heel foundation for your horse:

Ouch, huh?

Here are some hoof pics so you can see what it looks like on the horse:

So what happens when you have no hoof foundation on your horse? Besides the horse being in pain from his tendons trying to hold himself up and his muscles straining to keep himself balanced, he will also move with a lack of cadence. In other words, the front feet will move faster than the hind feet, creating opportunity to forge or interfere.

Here's a visual of a horse at the trot. Notice how the inside and rear legs on opposite sides mirror each other. When I say lack of cadence, I mean that those legs don't mirror each other. Also notice how the horse lands heel or flat on his front hooves. That's a good side that his hoof is well balanced (although certainly not the only indicator).

Here's Buttercup actually landing heel/flat first!!!

We're getting there!