I think she’s a grade blue roan paint. It’s her ears that make me think that.
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Three items of news.
First, she’s showing definitive signs of heat today. Frequent urination and white residue. Whew, not pregnant. The holiday pushed the test results back to next week, but I’m sure she’s in heat. No squatting and nickering, but we don’t have the type of horse that could inspire that behavior. I’ll feel better when the vet confirms this, but right now, I’m taking a big sigh of relief.
Secondly, her feet are soft and that seems to be why she’s showing sporadic, mild limping. I also treated her for thrush today. She hadn’t shown signs prior, but today, definitely. We just had some rain. Her hooves are a mess. We’ll get there, but it’s going to take time.
Thirdly, her skin tests came back showing mild reactivity to bug bites (we’ll put her back on the hydroxyzine). Plus, a bacterial infection (doxy will probably clear that), and sunburn. No fungus, so we can stop those baths. The vet mentioned the same thing as was mentioned here (but she had a fancy name for it) and that is the loss of hair sometimes associated with prolonged starvation. She should grow her winter coat in nicely this fall and next spring should be much better.
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Definitely possible, the pattern along her back has me confused. Possibly Sabino (SB1) combined with who knows how many white patterns.
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Yes, and several people pointed out the possibility of lethal white genes. Thank goodness she doesn’t seem to be pregnant. It’ll be much easier to put 200 pounds on her before the snow flies.
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Hey, moonlight, how about starting a new thread just about Matlilda’s journey? These threads get cumbersome when people keep tacking updates on the end of the original title- which no longer reflects whats currently going on.
Sometimes readers want to search for a thread but hit the wall because the title it started with has nothing to do with the current content. Just a thought.
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Now that she’s getting good nutrition and plain ol’ love, a nice, fuzzy winter coat will do her skin a world of good. 
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How’s the new title?
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Save both threads as they are both Matilda’s journey to a new and happy life🤠
Was it today the farrier was coming or tomorrow (Thursday)? I can’t wait to hear what he has to say. Her poor hooves have really taken the brunt. I can see the story from above, I can only imagine what you see underneath 
I’ll just keep this one thread because of all the pictures.
Farrier is coming out tomorrow morning.
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Wow. Those are two drastically different feet. 
for farrier visit.
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Good Morning Matilda ! I think your farrier will help her immensely just pulling those shoes. I hate seeing a horse “eight nailed”. Screams poor shoe job without even seeing the specifics. She definitely has ridges but that could be horrible nutrition and fever. Were you able to image her feet? She’s lovely. Thank you for sharing her.
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In that second picture (get ready to roll your eyes, everyone) she looks like she’s thinking about where she was born and grew up and now knows she’s back in a place where she’ll be loved and taken care of.
Just like Black Beauty at the end of the story. Sorry for being foolish, but that picture just hits me. I’m crying. 
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I can’t wait to see her filled out. She’s looking sooo much better already.
Hope the farrier can get her more comfortable.
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Great. Its all about Matilda.
On the feet, when I started those were called “ fever rings”. Numerous, anecdotal and proven, causes. They may or may not grow out, may or may not indicate chronic problems, may or may not ever bother her…
Whatever, takes time. Don’t make any rash decisions, proper nutrition, correct trimming with or without shoes and time, time and more time.
Personally, based on my experiences, shoes might be a good idea right now. Least for a few cycles. Lean on your team of experts who know and work with Matilda and your local horsekeeping environment.
BTW, that head shot? Don’t see typical QH there (short nose, heavy cheek, shallow mouth).
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Farrier update: Matilda was very sore on her front feet. It took him several short sessions to get her old shoes off. The left front may or may not have mild rotation, but she was able to stand on it with the shoe off. Her sole seems to be thick enough. The right front has a large horizontal crack near the coronet band where an abscess blew out. The wall is hollow from there all the way down to her toe. She’s also slightly club footed. That hoof was worse and her likely source of the limp I have been seeing. Again, it took several short sessions to get the shoe off. She was tap sensitive and thin soled, so new shoes were really not a good option without bute prior. Even then, her poor nutrition for so long means her feet are in terrible shape. Might not hold a shoe well, especially with that old abscess. She did tolerate the trim, but she was too sore for him to shape the front of her hooves. She just wouldn’t let him pull those feet forward at all. She was very well behaved and tolerated all she could. She really is a sweet girl. He was more optimistic after she walked out barefoot. We’re going to try keeping her that way and add more shavings to the paddock to soften it. If she gets more sore, he’ll put shoes on after we bite her for a few days. She’s going to need lots of time. He asked what our goals are and I told him it would be nice if we could do some light riding on the farm after her winter coat comes in. Maybe more riding next year. There’s hope that we’ll get there.
So what happened? Best he can tell, an old case of laminitis where she foundered. Neglect? Unknown. Anaplasmosis was probably more recent, so another high fever this past spring and she likely had zero care.
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Can you get your vet to x-ray her hooves so you know exactly what you are dealing with? I have had success improving weak, thin soled hooves by using a methionine, lysine and biotin supplement along with a copper and zinc supplement. I used Mad Barn products. This combination helped improve hoof regrowth with the added bonus of helping general muscle, tendon and ligament and skin repair. Matilda is very fortunate to have found you and your son as her new guardians. She is lovely.
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You can also get her padded hoof boots, people use Easy Boot Clouds for turnout. You do need to take them off daily and let the feet dry out but might be just the thing she needs.
If she’s more comfortable moving, that helps the hoof grow out better. Standing around or weighting unevenly is less beneficial.
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^ This. I am no expert on hooves, but I’ve done a lot of research and reading and watched Pete Ramey’s hoof rehabilitation clinic DVDs. He highly recommends using boots for cases like this, to help keep the horse comfortable enough to distribute weight evenly and allow the horse to use the hoof in a way where it is stimulated enough to encourage growth. Glue-ons might be another thing to look into! The cool thing about hoof care these days is that there’s a fairly wide range of tools and options out there that are definitely worth checking out! If your ground is relatively soft and giving, she might be okay barefoot, but if it’s hard and compact or if there are any rocks, she would probably benefit from more protection if she is tender on the feet.
I’ve enjoyed keeping up with your journey with miss Matilda, and I’m cheering y’all on! You’ve done great things so far for that sweet mare.
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Durasole worked great on a thin-soled horse of ours, proven by before and after radiographs.
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