I cropped it and lightened it some, and adjusted the color some.
I wish that piece of equipment wasn't right behind his nose. Sort of ruins the shot.
Here is the original again
Today Simon and I discussed the reality that Sassy may never be sound again, and the fact that I am going to have to put some sort of time limit on her recovery time. I had told him six more months, but the longer I think about it, I think a year is more accurate. I assured him that I would do everything in my power to help her get sound, but if she doesn't, then we will have to sell her to some one looking for a nice brood mare. I assured him that she would only go to a good home. It was a hard conversation to have with him, and of course tears followed, but when I take into consideration that he doesn't even do much of anything at all to help care for her, it seems like a logical option. He wants the horse, but he doesn't want to do any of the work to take care of her, and it is not fair to her or me. On the other hand I look at this little mare and I see a horse with a ton of potential, whether it be for him, or for me. She is beautiful, well balanced, soft, eager to please, very cowy, athletic, a smooth ride...all the things most people look for in a horse.
I've been looking at her front feet lately and trying to apply some of the knowledge I have learned from other blogs. Are her toes too long? Does she really have a broken coffin bone? The xrays were only mildly conclusive. Did the corrective shoes help her or hurt her more? I think the first set helped, but after that we couldn't seem to get back to that same design. The second and third set seemed to cause more discomfort than anything. Is the problem really something different? Is it just a matter of time...lots and lots of time? I just don't know. I wish I had a little more faith in the veterinary community in Casper. Even more, I wish there was a vet and farrier that worked in conjunction with each other in Casper. Sadly we are still in the dark ages in WY.
I guess none of these are questions I have to answer today. For now I just need to keep forward with my commitment to help return her to soundness, whether it be with a new vet, more stall rest, or just more time. I'm going back to having Jay do all my trimmings, all of my horses seem to better under his care. (Its pretty bad when the best barefoot trimmer in town isn't even a farrier.) He said he will come next weekend and take care of the ones who are in need. When he comes I can discuss with him what he thinks my next step should be.
Omg I wrote a ridiculously long comment and then accidentally clicked away from the page and erased it before I could submit!!!!! The point of the comment was that I'm sure no matter what you'll make sure she has a good life wherever she goes!! And I do think that if your vet/farrier business was better that it would be easier to find the culprit.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think you should be looking into what else could be the problem...a lot of times what looks like the culprit is not the culprit! Maybe it could be her hip, not her foot. Or she could possibly even be out of alignment near the end of her vertabrae? That seems like a long shot haha. Could she have thin soles? I follow http://rlilbitofcash.blogspot.com/?m=1 and her horse has a thin sole that hoof boots corrected...you should read about what the problem looked like at first and see if it sounds like the same symptoms!
Oh I hate it when that happens. :)
DeleteWe are reasonably sure it is not thin soles, as she has never had that problem before. This was a sudden injury with no heat or swelling, only intermitent limping. Sometimes it is slight sometimes very pronounced. Oh and it is her right front foot.
I think my biggest frustration is the fact that the vet says, "You need this, but I cannot do it, you need a farrier." And then trying to get a farrier to do what he says is pretty close to impossible. Getting the two together....well thats never gonna happen.
I do read that blog too, and yes I am pretty intrigued by those boots!
Sounds frustrating. A friend of mine has a horse with intermittent lameness and after numerous vets and farriers it was determined that nothing could be found. Hope something will work for her cause she sounds nice.
ReplyDeleteIn other words can you edit the pic to color that machinery green to match the grass? I am not very good at it but might be worth a try.
I rode a horse named chrome for a while, and I never saw it, but they said he came up lame every once in a while, they said it was just being stiff. So him being worked was actually better for it. It also helped to stretch his legs, if you just wrap your hands around the knee and pull backwards and up, it helped him to loosen up some. But since it was sudden, it makes me think that may not be the case.
ReplyDeleteAre there any odd habits she has? One horse at the ranch keeps coming up foot sore, and then they realized that it wasn't foot sore at all, but he kept putting his head in his feeder and moving it around with his neck, they think it got caught once and he pulled a muscle in his shoulder. Could she be doing something like that? Possibly pawing at a fence or doing something that you never notice that she does that could be causing it every once in a while?