Maark-Hooves Uncast

After Maark had has his Equicasts on for 4 weeks, they started to come off. This was helped along by the rain & Maark moving around the pasture with the other horses. His best friend is a 2 year old filly who keeps him hustling. On 10/25 Sally, James, & a student trimmer came out to work on Lady & Maark. Maark was quite the pest as Lady was getting her hoof makeover. He wanted to see what everyone was doing, probably just to be sure Lady wasn't getting any treats.

For the two weeks that Maark's casts had been off he'd been running around sound so didn't need casts back on his feet. His hooves had grown a lot & needed a trim. It's amazing how fast his hooves are growing & I'm sure some of that can be attributed to the minerals my horses get. CA Trace has increased the hoof growth in all my horses, as well as giving them shiny & dappled coats. Although on second thought the hoof growth might not be such a good thing because they need trimming more often. I might have to reconsider giving the minerals. NOT! They really have helped grow Maark a healthy hoof faster than I could have expected. I hadn't thought of it as Maark was being trimmed, but I'm sure the CA Trace had a part in making Maark feel good enough to misbehave. He was quite wiggly & stubborn, not wanting to stand still. A behavior he hadn't exhibited before Sun. While this is a down side to a horse feeling well, I'll take the fractious horse over the "not quite right" horse any day.

Maark did settle down & it was decided that he would get new casts so the student could practice. It's nice having horses that behave well enough for students to work on them. Not only does it benefit my horses, it benefits all the other horses the student will one day trim & possibly cast. Maark sure does look spiffy in his pretty purple & black hoof casts. I wonder if they're the reason he now runs like the wind?

Lady-Hooves Unveiled

On Sept 7th I began my education in equine founder when Lady arrived from Minnesota. This is a picture of her hoof that day. I had called my trimmer on the Labor Day holiday because it was obvious to my inexperienced eyes that Lady was in crisis. Sally came out & did an emergency trim in the hopes of elevating the pain & pressure Lady was experiencing. We scheduled an appointment for the following weekend & I got on the phone to the vet for x-rays. Sally wanted x-rays before she started trimming to rehabilitate Lady's hooves. X-rays are a crucial tool in rehabbing foundered horses. Without x-rays the trimmer has no idea what can be trimmed away & what must be left. There's no way to know the condition, location, or degree of rotation of the coffin bone without x-rays.

On Sept 13th Sally came out with James, another natural hoof care practitioner. It was amazing & scary watching them cut away layers & layers of Lady's hoof. There was so much dead tissue & without the x-rays to guide their way, it would have been impossible to do as beneficial a trim as Lady got that day. Once Sally was satisfied that they'd trimmed as much as they could without causing harm, Equicasts were applied to Lady's front feet. There was an instant improvement in her quality of movement. Within a couple weeks she was trotting sound across the pasture. It was uplifting to watch her emerge as a spunky, loving life mare. I really couldn't wait to see what her hooves would be like when the casts were removed.

Oct 25th was the day of revealing. Sally came with a student who was hoping to learn not only about founder, but how to use Equicasts to help foundered horses. James also came to see the changes. He had spent a lot of time "fixing" Lady 6 weeks earlier & it was going to be fun to see the results of his handiwork. When everyone had arrived, I was asked if someone else could be called to come to see the success of the Equicasts. This person had a foundered horse & the student was trying to convince her that the casts would help her horse. Of course I would let someone else come. I hope Lady, & her son Maark, can be used as models for people wanting to help & save their foundered & laminitic horses.

It was fun to see the casts taken off so that Lady's hooves were exposed. There was close to an inch of wonderful, healthy, tight growth from the coronet band. Her hooves had grown a lot & there was a lot of dead tissue to be removed.

You can see in the above picture that there's quite a bit of toe that needs to be removed. In the next picture you can see where Sally has lowered the heels & taken back the toe on one of Lady's hooves. The thickness of dead tissue is visible at the toe. This was such an amazing transformation to watch. Once this hoof was trimmed, note the really nice angle that is finally being reached, the student put on a new Equicast. It was then on to the other hoof.

In between trimming hooves, Sally discussed the anatomical effects of founder & explained how the coffin bones rotates. While she was talking Lady was walking around uncast, just as sound as she could be. I'm sure my grin was quite wide.

It's been such an amazing journey in such a short time. Less than 2 months ago I never would have believed Lady could survive her condition, let alone progress to soundness. I'm so glad I've had this chance to learn that founder is NOT a death sentence. I hope that other people & their horses are as fortunate as I've been in having a great trimmer to support me through what can sometimes seem like insurmountable odds. Lady is proof that life can be good.

Founders I Have Known

As I'm dealing with a foundered & a laminitic horse, I've been reflecting on the horses in my past. Looking back it's pretty amazing that I never saw a foundered horse as the stable of my youth. In fact, I'd had horses for 20 years before I saw my first founder. Knowing what I know today, I find that unbelievably amazing. Our horses were kept in stalls & fed high quality, dairy alfalfa with large quantities of grain. Maybe part of the reason for no founders was that a number of the horses had young girls who rode them constantly. But what of the idle horses standing around in stalls with bins of feed? Why did these horses not founder?

Rick was the first horse I knew who foundered. He was an early teen, chestnut gelding of unknown heritage. i occasionally rod Rick when his owner was out of town. He was a nice horse, one that I enjoyed riding. One day his owner noticed he was slightly lame. Thinking it probably a stone bruise, he let Rick have a couple days stall rest. Rick didn't get better, in fact he got worse. Finally, after about a week, the vet was called. The horrifying diagnosis was road founder. Rick's founder wasn't caused by feed, it was caused by being over ridden (his owner liked to run for miles in the deep riverbed sand & it took it's toll) into exhaustion. Back then it was common practice to euthanize horses when diagnosed with founder. Rick's owner wanted to save his horse so he did as the vet prescribed. Rick was put on anti-inflammatories & the shoer was called. Eggbar shoes were put on to keep the sole off the ground. When Rick continued to worsen, he was reshod with shoes put on backwards. This was to relieve any pressure at the toes & to give him a better breakover. Still he worsened. Finally the day came when his coffin bones pushed through his soles. The decision was finally made to lay Rick to rest. I personally would have opted for euthanasia sooner. Rick was in a lot of pain, he refused to move, he had lost massive amounts of weight from the pain (causing lack of eating), & he battled numerous hoof abscesses. It was a relief to finally see he didn't have to suffer any longer.

VM April Dawn was a gorgeous bay, arabian mare. She belonged to an elderly friend who loved her horses to death. Each spring Dawn & her companions were allowed free access to the lush grass during the day. At night they were brought into the barn & fed alfalfa. Each received a scoop of grain (or sometimes chicken scratch) as a treat. Dawn & her companions were obese. Every spring the four horses would become foot sore. I don't know when Misty Foundered but it's evident today by the structure of her hooves that she did founder at some point. While she's sound today, Dawn wasn't so lucky. A couple of years ago Dawn foundered. The original x-rays showed 26 & 28% rotation in her front feet. She was given Bute & put on stall rest (12 x 12 box stall). She stopped eating because she couldn't move. By the time I was called, Dawn was emaciated & dehydrated. Her coffin bones were through her soles. I had her owner start feeding her beet pulp & rice bran, we moved her water trough closer to her, & we put her in a roundpen instead of the box stall. When I called a few days later, i was told Dawn was doing better & the farrier was upbeat on her outcome. It was a couple more months before I got a phone call that Dawn was worse again. It took some doing but I convinced her owner to let me take them to UCDavis. New x-rays showed that Dawn had no coffin bones left. The bones had de-mineralized to nothing. It was a sad trip. Dawn did not come home.

Cougars' Charmer was a palomino, quarab mare who belonged to one of my best friends. While she didn't belong to me, I loved riding her. She was very forward, bold, & covered a lot of ground with little effort. She was a very successful endurance horse. One day while my friends & I were out riding, Charmer stepped on a pine cone. She was sod with pads so we didn't think much of the small hole the pine cone put in her pad. Little did we know what had really happened. A few days later Charmer was lame. When the shoe & pad were removed, there was an abscess brewing from where the sharp point of the pine cone had not only gone through the pad, but into her sole. Laminitis set in, as well as a mild case of founder. Over the next few years Charmer continued to be ridden endurance but she had to have pads to protect her tender soles. Anytime she got early spring grass she would become foot sore. It was finally decided to retire her because it was difficult to keep her feet sound under the stress of competition. For a few years she was occasionally ridden by friend's grandkids. The day came when she was no longer ridden & she became a "pasture puff". As Charmer aged she would have laminitic bouts that always resolved. Then one day while my friends were on vacation, Charmer foundered again. When my friends got home, Charmer was in extreme pain & it was decided her time had come & she was laid to rest.

Laminitis & founder are horrible & devastating conditions. Their causes are many & not often understood. There are various treatments & no guarantees of success. Once a horse has foundered, it's always at risk for another episode. While we can do everything to control diet & exercise, we have no guarantee that we can keep founder at bay. It is my hope that someday we'll beat these conditions that can take our horses' lives.

Joining The Herd

Six weeks ago I doubted I'd ever see my beautiful Minnesota horses trot, let alone trot sound. I know that Sally, my trimmer, said they'd heal & be okay, but I was so very skeptical. It just seemed they both were fighting losing odds, combining morbid obesity with founder & laminitis.

As their lifestyle & diet changed, so did the problems facing Maark & Lady. Slowly they began loosing weight & moving more sound. Maark was the first to trot freely across their pasture, with Lady following a few days later. It's been great watching them improve & seeing the changes that will give them new futures.

Finally Lady & Maark were healed enough to join other horses. Lady was put in with the older, quite mares. It was fun watching her interact with new horses. For so long it was just her & Maark. Now she has a chance to make new friends & to hang out with other quiet, sedate horses. At first she was unsure of her herd status but she quickly found her place in the middle.

It was an exciting day when I moved Maark into the pasture with my working horses. He's become a "working boy". 4 to 5 days a week the members of the "working herd" are free lunged through the 4-5 acre pasture for about 10 minutes. They gallop, trot, snort, & challenge each other to be in the lead. Often Maark leads the way. It's breath taking to watch him as he does a booming trot across the field. I really must get photos of this trot because it's quite spectacular to watch. He's toning & gaining some muscles. As his weight drops his energy level increases & he often does an easy trot to wherever he's going. In the recent rain his Equicasts came off & I was happily surprised to see that his feet are no longer sore. Even trotting across the hard, rocky ground he's sound. As he looses more weight & gain some conditioning, it will soon be time to start ponying him on trails. What a wonderful day that will be!

We Are Not Alone

MissThunderStruck
(Ibn Kontiki x Katsie Kitten)
Registered, bay, arab mare, born 2-9-95

In May 2008, I was given an arabian stallion & mare. Both were very well bred & I was excited to get them. I made arrangements to meet the hauler 1/2 way to pick them up. While we were unloading from the hauler's trailer & reloading into mine, she told me about some of the other arabs needing homes. They were all from the same couple who was looking for good homes for their horses. The hauler had taken some pictures with her phone & she showed me some really nice horses. One mare was big, bay & very nice looking. I could see that she was rolly polly fat in the picture, but I could also see that she was nice. If she'd been on the trailer instead of still in NV, I would have brought her home.

Fast forward to 2009. I was again thinking about that big, bay mare. I kept debating whether I should see if she was still available & whether I should bring her home. Then a friend mentioned that she'd like to find a mare of Kontiki breeding to breed to her stallion. I told her about "my" mare & arranged for her to get the mare. I was excited for my friend & glad she was getting the mare because at least now I'd get to see the mare who'd never left my thoughts. Two weeks ago my friend brought MissThunderStruck, aka "T", home. She told me "T's" feet were in horrible shape so we checked to see if my trimmer, Sally, would be willing to trim "T". As luck would have it, Sally was due at my place on Sunday the 4th.

My friend arrived with "T" & she wasn't exaggerating when she said "T's" feet were horrible. I was skeptical as to what Sally could do to help those feet. She looked, making faces & noises that just added to my skepticism. Then she went to work with nippers, knife & rasp. It was amazing to watch the layers of dead & diseased hoof fall away. It was very apparent that "T" was an old, chronic founder case. Her bars were huge & laying over; her toes were long with a significant lamellar wedge; her heels were high; flares sprawled in all directions; & it was no wonder poor "T" had trouble walking around her own feet. With every step she had to lift & swing her feet so she wouldn't bang her own legs. She moved somewhat like a wooden puppet with exaggerated movement. Sally uncovered a diseased track of what might have been an old abscess or gravel track or...??
It took a while to get "T's" front feet trimmed. She needed rests in between & Sally switched back & forth often between feet. It was obvious that "T" was uncomfortable on her feet. But what a really nice mare. Even in her discomfort, she was a doll to handle. She tried hard to behave & do what was asked of her. Finally Sally determined that she'd trimmed as much as she could in a first trim. What an amazing difference. It was funny at first to see "T" try to walk on her new feet. She lifted them really high until she found that she could walk normal. She was so much more comfortable on her feet. Sally didn't trim her hind feet because she thought "T" had endured enough for one day. On the gravel drive "T" was fairly ouchy, but in the sandy roundpen she was fine. Each day she improves & fortunately she'll soon be sound.

MissThunderStruck is another example of what happens when a horse is allowed to become obese. While she's thinner than in the pictures I first saw, she still has the classic cresty neck & fat pads of a horse with IR. A good part of her life has been spent on rich, irrigated pasture. This past year she'd been moved into a stall but still fed the baled alfalfa from the irrigated pasture. It's probably a miracle that her founder didn't send her coffin bones through her soles considering her obesity was never addressed. Luckily for "T" she's now in the care of someone who will manage her obesity. She'll also get the routine hoofcare that's so important to foundered horses. "T" will now have the chance at a long, healthy life.
For me this has confirmed that those of us dealing with foundered & IR horses are not alone. Together we can save horses who once would have been lost.

Looking Good

Lady & Maark are doing wonderful on the big pasture. Both are moving completely sound & Lady has been seen galloping with her head & tail held high. They share the pasture with 5 other horses, one of which is a 2 year old filly. The filly has become the third member of their little herd. It's cute to see Maark following the filly, although at times she gets tired of his shadowing her every step & she'll pin her ears to warn him off. But let Maark & Lady move to another area of the pasture & their new little friend hurries to join them. Maark also has an affinity for the 2009 fillies in the next pasture over. Anytime they're by the fence he can be found standing next to them. He's so huge next them but they don't seem to notice.

On Saturday, Sally & one of her student trimmers were out to trim a few horses. The student had seen pictures of Lady & Maark taken a few days after they arrived because their pictures & story had been posted on a barefoot practitioner's' list. The student could hardly believe that the horses standing in front of her were the same horses in those pictures. Maark is no longer bloated & has lost some weight. While he hasn't lost much, every pound lost smooths out his bulges. The abnormal fat pads on Lady's rump are receding & smoothing away. She's actually gained weight over her ribcage while redistributing the abnormal fat. Both have come so far that it's hard to believe they're the same horses. And most amazing is that they're sound.

Quite a few people told me there was no saving Maark & Lady. They all thought that Lady's founder was her death sentence. Even I had thoughts of losing her in that first week. The same people thought that Maark was also foundered but his x-rays proved otherwise. I had people tell me to put shoes on both horses (how can you nail something on to already excruciatingly painful feet?); Lady needed her heels elevated so her toes would be forced down (I still have no idea at the logic of this); both needed egg-bar shoes & pads; cut the sole away to force concavity; some said don't trim the toe & others advised cutting the toe back to live tissue; some said feed only alfalfa & others said no alfalfa; never feed grain hays; never feed grass hay; alfalfa cubes are safe because they're not hay (this one still confuses me); lock them in 12 x 12 stalls filled with shavings; turn them out on hard ground to keep the bones aligned (huh?); force them to move; limit their movement. There was all manner of advise coming from all directions.

Common sense told me they needed movement to improve their compromised circulation. This same common sense told me their feet needed support & padding to ease the pain so they'd want to move about. I had read about people taping foam to their horses' feet & others who kept their horses in boots. I tried to get boots on Maark & Lady but their feet were considerably too big for the boots I had. If it hadn't have been for Sally I would have given up on these beautiful horses.

The best advise that I can give to anyone going through this same painful journey is to get a very good trimmer who KNOWS feet; someone who has been successful in helping foundered horses; someone who understands that founder is so much more than just a hoof disease. Do your own research to find all available options. There's so much more to this condition than I had ever heard. Without the support & help from someone who understands how the entire body is effected by founder & its causes, I would not have been able to save Maark & Lady. Most importantly, recognize the early signs so you can begin treatment before severe & irreparable damage is done. And never forget that you are not alone.