@walkinthewalk - I have printed your post and will ask the vet about these shoes. I will also share this information to my farrier.
I had a lovely float and reading time and then set the book aside and took a nap on the float! It was so nice!
SCM1959
Good luck! FWIW, my mare wore Easyboot Gloves with foam insulation cut to size AND shoes during her recovery. That combination gave her enough relief to be able to do her short walks on soft footing each day. So, if your boots are plenty large, you might still get use out of them when the shoes are on.
The (new) vet came out again on Tuesday and did more x-rays. She said the rotation has not worsened and neither has the sinking. In fact, when she measured, she said Rocky had gained about one half millimeter of sole (it has been 3 weeks since she x-rayed him). He has been very comfortable and moving around really well, especially after the very aggressive trim on September 6th.
She said it is now time for shoes and she and my farrier will discuss and he is coming on Tuesday at 11:30.
I was so happy!
And just now, when I went out to give him his mid-day hay and his Thyro-L ⌠he couldnât move again. This time he lifts his left foot and waves it in the air before putting it down. I immediately removed his Soft Ride boots, checking for a rock. I got the left one off easily ⌠and got it replaced as well. The bottom of his foot looked fine. It was scary trying to remove the right boot. He was in too much pain to lean on the left foot for me to inspect the right foot or to replace the boot. So now he is out there, one boot off, one boot on.
He was wonderful this morning, all pleased to see me and happy with his morning hay. Now this! Ugh!
The vet is coming out in about 90 minutes. She says she feels he has an abscess and she reminded me that she showed me two gas pockets in the x-rays that were more than likely going to come out as abscesses. I have never experienced an abscess with Rocky or any other horse.
I think the best thing for me to do while waiting for the vet is to go float in my pool with my library book. I can see his shady pen very clearly from the pool. A wonderful thing about this new vet is she brings a veterinary assistant with her. I donât have to assist at all â I am terrible at that if it is something scary to me. This is very scary.
SCM1959
:eek::no:
All-in-all, things are going well :).
Absecesses are nasty painful things that seem to bring lameness on in the blink of and eye and, once they pop, the lameness disappears equally as fast:)
Your job will be to keep the abscess hole as clean as possible â more work but at least temporary. Follow the vetâs instructions and Rocky will be better in no time:)
You are doing a great job with him:)
@walkinthewalk - thank you! He is such a good horse. He has been so patient and so accepting of everything.
So the good news is that his soles and feet are amazingly hard. I felt sorry for the vet. She had to keep taking breaks from trying to dig out the abscess. Rockyâs reaction while she was totally bent in half, working so hard in 95 degree heat? He was eating his lunch hay! The veterinary assistant began feeding it to him and he thought that was the bomb. If she did not have a new handful ready, he nudged her.
It was pricey having the vet out vs. my farrier. I did call him but had to leave a message. He called just as the vet was finishing, saying he had been to the mountains with his wife and was out of cell range. He was ready to come to me right away, but the vet was all done by then. Bill will still come on Tuesday whether or not he is able to do shoes. He will be able to trim the hind feet at least. He can also check on the hole and work on it again if necessary.
Rocky was in a wonderful mood at supper time. He nickered for his apple stuffed with his pergolide pill, was very happy to eat his Triple Crown Senior mixed with Remission (finally he likes it!), and was tucking into his supper hay as I left. He was gimping around his pen and seemed very bright in spite of it all. I gave him another gram of Bute, per instructions. He just loves this stuff. He may need a 12 step program.
SCM1959
PS On Tuesday when the vet came out to do the xrays and his teeth, she told me he looked fantastic weight-wise. She says he has lost about 100 pounds and that the fat pads on his rump and shoulder are pretty much gone. Yay! She says we will back off on the Thyro-L in a couple of weeks.
What wonderful news!!! :):). Really terrific heâs lost enough weight to come off the Thyro-L:)
Watch Rocky for signs of girthiness, tail swishing or just being a little crabby with his stomach. He might develop ulcers from extended use of Bute. Some horses tolerate it better than others.
Rocky my sounds like my Joker â very patient & tolerant, and a big suck up around all his care givers :)
Good news! Rocky has shoes!!! The farrier came today and trimmed up Rockyâs back feet and in spite of the abscess last week, he was able to put shoes on! Rocky was a perfect gentleman the entire time. Once the right shoe was on, I walked him so Bill could watch and he walked out very nicely. Then Bill put the left shoe on and that was a bit more uncomfortable for Rocky (this is the worse founder foot and the one that had the abscess), but still Rocky used his best manners and of course Bill is fast, fast, fast, so it all worked well. When I walked him after the left shoe was on, he limped quite a lot, which Bill expected because of that foot being the worse one. He decided to remove that shoe and put a bigger one on and once again, Rocky was perfect. I was so proud of him! Leading him around after the larger shoe was on was much better. He still limped a little, but not too much. When I put him back into his pen the first thing he did was check that his lunch hay had been served. He went to the other side of the pen and had a long drink and then back to the hay and he tucked right in.
I was a wreck, worrying that he would be in all kinds of pain, and he was all ho-hum, let me eat my lunch.
The (new) vet changed her mind about the type of shoes she wanted for Rocky due to the gas pockets which were likely to abscess (and of course one did, on Friday). He is in a type of shoe that is attached only at the sides, leaving the toe area protected, but no nails because on the left foot, the abscess hole is there and on the right foot, the abscess is likely to pop. There is good support for his frog and his heels. He walks so nicely in them and itâs almost like he feels all light footed and fancy-free. Obviously they are easier to walk in than the clunky SoftRide boots. Bill says at the next shoeing time, he may change him out or leave them on, depending on how Rocky is doing.
Bill told me he can still add pads to these shoes if Rocky needs them as obviously he is not all cushy without the SoftRide boots. I put more bedding in his pen, thinking that will help a little. The bedding has worked down enough that the only place that it was sort of deep was the place where he sleeps. It has been so dry and hot here that the upper part of the pen was getting firm. I put more bedding in the sleeping area and tapered the new bedding and more depth toward the other part of the pen. Now the upper part is still firm, but there is a thin layer of new bedding on top, so a bit more cushion for him.
I may not have needed to do that, but it made me feel better to do something. Sort of like giving an extra fluffy pillow and a nice mattress topper to a beloved friend, ha, ha.
When I went out at 7 PM, he was all bright eyed, so happy to see me since he knew I had his apple chunk (hiding the Prascend) and his Triple Crown Senior mixed with the supplement. I gave him one gram of bute, as has been the protocol since last Friday because of the abscess. He moved around his pen very easily and was all kinds of interested in fresh water in his trough.
I am to drop the morning bute to one gram starting tomorrow and keep the night-time at one gram. Then one gram AM and 1/2 PM and then 1/2 AM & PM, and then just 1/2 gram AM, with the goal of being off the bute by next week.
I really feel like there is light at the end of this tunnel! Hooray!! Keeping my fingers crossed for a happy Rocky in the morning.
SCM1959
More good news! :).
Hereâs to brighter days ahead!
I just read through this thread. First - I commend you on all that you are doing !!!
Thereâs a horse at my barn that recently foundered.
Itâs so difficult to see.
I cringe when I see what the vet and farrier are and are not doing.
I have gone through this twice - PPID and IR - laminitis to founder.
I cringe when I look back at how the first one was managed.
I followed what the vet and farrier said to do. Shoes with pour-in pads etc.
I look back at all the things that were done incorrectly.
I just didnât know much at the time.
But I learned.
My next horse never wore shoes and was trimmed âthe barefoot trim wayâ.
I watched his diet, trim and exercise carefully.
I had to take him off Pergolide and at age 31 he had his first laminitis episode.
His hooves were nice and tight.
He was given Bute for a few days.
Within days and with no more Bute he was as good as ever.
ButâŚunbeknownst to me - but suspected - he had an enterolith.
The Bute irritated his insides and with the stone rolling around - he started bleeding rectally.
Thatâs how I lost him.
Anyway - point: I remember the mantra for the trim: âBack up the toe and lower and back up the heelâ.
Above I think two of the pics show Rocky after a trim. Perhaps photo angles not good - but IMHO it looks like the toes were backed up but the heels were not backed up and lowered - giving âthe nub lookâ that you mentioned.
Yes the ECIR site can be overwhelming.
Perhaps just go there and read about the realignment trim.
You could of course join / make a case history / post his x-rays and hoof photos and get excellent help.
Again - IMHO and I think others would agree - those heels seriously need to be lowered and backed up.
âŚ(and the shoes taken off to allow for frequent trims)âŚ
Well, I think I have made the decision to let Rocky go. After that one good day in shoes, he was limping very badly and could barely put his right foot down. The vet came out and found blood on the sole of his right foot. The coffin bone has cracked the surface of his sole. She cleaned his foot and packed it with sugardyne and wrapped it for the night. As a precaution, she did the same with the left foot.
As luck would have it, my farrier is out of town for 3 days so the next day, on Friday, the vet came back with a farrier and a farrierâs assistant. The shoes he got on Tuesday were pulled and there was evidence of further sole damage. He is now in what this farrier called a âmock clogâ shoe to get his sole off the ground and to support his weight with the hoof wall. These lightweight aluminum shoes were attached with two tiny nails, and then fiberglass casting material was applied to hold the shoes on. The back of the shoes were packed with dental putty and the fronts were filled with sugardyne. Then the diapers and the duct tape âbootâ and then both hooves wrapped in elastikon.
His pain meds have been increased to 2 grams bute AM/PM and 8 Gabapentin (sp?) tablets, crushed and mixed with applesauce and molasses, 3 times per day.
He needs every single bit of these pain meds. Despite all of this horror, he eats well sometimes, when the meds have really kicked in. Other times, he just stands there and cannot move to where he wants to go.
I really cannot keep going with this. He is not improving, he is getting worse and it is fairly evident to me that I need to stop. He is 26 years old and everything I have read about recovery from sole penetration indicates a very, very lengthy rehab with lots of backsliding and frequent pain for the horse. And, at the end of it all, the rehab often fails.
My thoughts now are that if we can get him comfortable enough to get out of that pen and walk to the nice grassy area just outside the paddock, that I will do let him graze and then put him down right there. The vet blocked his feet the other night so the farrier could work and the blocking gave him pain relief. He walked funny since he could not feel his feet, but he did not lurch about because of intense pain.
SCM1959
So sorry you are going through this. Your compassion for your horse and courage in putting his quality of life ahead of every other concern are admirable.
I am sorry to hear that your horse is not doing well. You have been an exceptional advocate for your horse. I am sure you will make the best decision for him. I am learning that even under the best circumstances, laminitis recovery can be a long road. Hugs to you and pets for your pony.
I am sorry you are going through this. Laminitis is awful. I have been through it once, and am facing it with my 2 older guys. If you canât make them comfortable, the humane path is to put them down. Some horses recover quickly and fully after a bout of laminitis. Many others donât recover. You have fought the good fight.
Oh no. (((((HUGS))))) So sorry for you and Rocky. I went through the same thing a few years ago with my horse of 20 years. He did better for a while, like 18 months, with very minor rotation and eventually basically sound â then slid downhill in a week. When I saw the new X-rays and the coffin bone right at the sole I made the same decision you are making now.
Nothing in the management was different to cause the relapse. We had a big weather change and I think that must have been enough to cause him to cycle downward. Be kind to yourself, you did everything you could for Rocky and are making the humane decision now.
I stacked Bute and Banamine for my horseâs last day so he felt great for 24 hours. And right before the vet got there I gave him a big meal of all his favorite sugary stuff. Didnât matter any more at that point and it made me feel better to spoil him rotten. ((MORE HUGS))
So sorry to hear. {{{hugs}}} to you. 
Hugs to you!!
Laminitis is a misery to cope with.
I am so very sorry:(.
I echo the words of the above posters.
You both fought the good fight, Godspeed.
Hugs!!! I have been there and it is heartbreaking. You can do all the right things and it isnât enough. I gave my boy a bottle of banamine and took him out to eat grass on his last day. I still grieve that loss.
Aww I am so sorry. â¤ï¸Â
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