Horses came in yesterday evening just fine, but at night check I noticed the fat man kicking his leg awkwardly. Panicked at first because I thought maybe neurological, but when I picked up the hoof, found a rather large roofing nail buried right at the tip of the frog. So a midnight vet call, and consult with the local veterinary program at the teaching University near me, and now we have a stall resting very sore horse.
It missed his coffin bone by like a mm. The vet said she couldn’t be sure that it didn’t penetrate the DDFT, which obviously would be less than ideal.
Thankfully he is eating his meds so far (knock on wood) and that the nail had a rubber donut right below the head that kept it from penetrating further. Also, it went in at a pretty good angle, considering.
The weird shadows on the X-ray are the styrofoam and duct tape we made to help keep him from pushing it in any further.
Prognosis is good, but of course guarded given the proximity to all the structures. I’m exhausted. Trying to hold him still for 3 hours in the middle of the night waiting for the vet, waiting for her equipment to work, and waiting for the consult so that the nail didn’t go any further was miserable.
I’m glad I caught it. But we could use some good thoughts for non-damage, no infection and a return to soundness.
