Gemmie Update: Dancing Shoes

I wrote this last Monday, but for some reason blogger never posted it. Gem had another vet appointment today, but I want to chronicle the entire experience, so you get last week's update first. 

It is funny how the mind works. With so many bigger problems with Gem's injury, I've been hung up on the fact that she will end up in shoes for some undetermined length of time. I know it is silly. I know its not the end of the world. I know there are bigger issues that can come from all of this, but still. I have always been so proud of her barefoot, rock hard, awesome hooves. Throwing nails through them just seems wrong.

Regardless, I found myself Monday evening awaiting an unknown farrier to do just that. The BO had set the whole thing up. I had asked him the week prior for a recommendation (BO is a retired farrier and extremely picky. If he recommends someone, you know they are darn good at what they do) and he went ahead and made the call. I didn't even know the farrier's name.

Monday was day 32 in the cast. As good as it felt for me to remove it and throw it aside, it had to feel amazing to Gem. Right away I noticed something very interesting. Hooves grow continuously. I had last trimmed her the day before the injury and so she was due for a trim anyway. What caught my eye was how different the two front hooves looked. They looked like they belonged to two different horses.

Look at the difference between her front hooves. I find this fascinating.

With the cast in place, the front right had only one option: grow vertically. The fiberglass was unforgiving and so the hoof grew up and narrow. Now to be honest Gem has the tendency to do this anyway when not kept up, but seeing the difference was eye opening.

With bated breath I then looked closely at the injury site. The body is an amazing thing and can heal the worst wounds. This is about as good as could be right now.

The blood is from a small spot of proud flesh. This is where the stent was left in and grew over. 

Lots of things to be happy with

Wire sutures still in place along the hoof wall

When the hair grows back the scars should hopefully be pretty well concealed

At 6 pm sharp, a pick up pulling a large trailer came into the barn drive. Out popped a very young looking man with a smile and a large belt buckle. Mr Farrier had arrived right smack on time. The cross ties are at the far end of the barn and he walked over to meet her and inquire about our needs and the situation with her front right hoof. Along the way he asked who had been trimming her. When I told him I do I saw him take a deep breath and try to hide rolling his eyes.

He then went back to his truck and trailer and pulled it around back so we didn't have to move Gem. I was already impressed with him and the fact that he had only just graduated farrier school in April only gave me a brief pause.

When he got everything situated he took a close look at her feet. He broke into a relieved smile and let out a sigh. With a chuckle he told me that he was really worried about her feet with me trimming them myself. He has seen some pretty horrific self trim jobs. Instead of having to fix my mistakes he actually complimented my trimming and said she looked perfect. Great angles and nicely even. Yay!! Go me :)

After patting myself on the back a good bit, we got down to the business at hand. She was to be put in a bar shoe front right, regular shoe front left and trim the hinds. He got to work trimming and did his best to lower the front right again without going too over board. We then talked shoes.

He likes two different types and honestly the entire conversation was over my head. European versus American, wide web, rolled edges. I had no clue and told him she wasn't going to be competing in them so do what he thought was best.

He went with the European shoe due to the wider base and we went with it. When he pulled it out and measured it against her I remarked that it needed to be a bar shoe. This one was not. He chuckled but not in a condescending way. More in a "just wait and see" way and then he disappeared into his trailer.

I heard banging. I heard rasping. I heard a welder? Gemmie did too and it completely freaked her out. I think she nearly jumped out of her skin and then began to tremble. Poor girl. I asked what on earth he was doing in there. "Making you a bar shoe"

Fitting the shoe to her hoof shape

Inside his trailer welding and banging away on the shoe

Gem was pretty patient throughout

He was hand welding it. Amazing.

When he finally emerged from the depths of his trailer he had a face splitting grin. It was hard not to return it. He was obviously very proud of his handiwork and the fact that I was surprised by it. I took a close look while he explained to me that a pre made bar shoe is extremely unforgiving. Gem has pretty straight hood walls from toe to heel and he had to do a lot of re shaping of the stock shoe. If it had already had the bar on it, there would have been no ability to do so and it would have been an awkward fit. If I hadn't already liked him, I sure did now.

The finished product

I'll admit that I cringed openly as he pounded the nails into her pristine hoof wall. Gemmie wasn't so thrilled either. Having been barefoot for over five years, she wasn't too sure what on earth he was doing to her. She let him know she wasn't happy but otherwise was very good for it all.

With the hard side done he moved to placing a normal shoe to the front left and trimming the back. Gem was fairly patient through it all but was decidedly hesitant to place full weight on the front right when he shod the left. He hurried as best as he could and was extremely patient with her. Either he always acts that way or he was on best behavior by the BO. Either way he won himself a new fan and a new client if we need to continue with shoes.

Gem was not amused with the application 

What are you doing to me?!

One shoe in place

Shoe on. Nails in place. Ick.

Afterward we wrapped Gem back up and placed her bell boots. They fit kinda odd and I worried they were too small but after I took the pics I adjusted them and they looked much more normal. Gemmie got put back in her stall and I went to settle up with him. I was envisioning a bill in the $200 range given other local farriers bills and all his hard work. He actively worked on her for 2 hours and it wasn't because he was dawdling. The bill came to $80. Holy crap.

To say I was pleased with him is an understatement.

Back into the wrap

Bell boots on. They got re adjusted after the picture

Gem walked stiffly and unhappily back to her stall. When I checked on her late Tuesday night she was not a happy mare. Her back right was stocked up and she was not loading the front right as well as in the past. Was she painful? Was the shoe causing an issue?

I went home in tears. It had been a long day at work and was close to 10 pm before I walked in the door having left that morning at 7:30 am. Did I mention it had been a long day? I broke down a bit and Dusty offered to go look at her. He redressed the leg and put no bows and a standing wrap on her back right.

His report was that she was unhappy with the shoes but would adjust. He took her out and walked her the 5 stall length of the cement barn aisle. The first pass she was stiff, short striding on the right front, and hesitant. The second pass she was game for it and walked out nicely. The third go round she trotted and almost pulled his arm out as she tried to break for her freedom.

He text said along the lines of "she thinks she is healed, shod for a race and ready to go do a 50 this weekend". Oh how I wish that were true :)

He was much happier with her by the time he left and thinks that a) she was bored of stall rest and got stiff and b) she really doesn't like the heavy shoes.

This morning he went back or while I took Wyatt to school and she was doing really well. He removed the wraps from the hind leg and all the swelling was gone. He took her out to graze for a bit and she once again tried to make a flying break for freedom. She did stumble on both fronts but I'm chalking that up to not being used to the shoes.

Her next follow up is Monday which is cutting our weekend trip short a day but there isn't anything to do about it. I'm hoping she gets the clear for hand walks and honestly even if she doesn't I may do it anyway.

Lady Farrier

Funder's comment on my Fit Kit post was like a 2x4 to the head. It was much needed. After reading that I made a plan: find a new farrier, make appointment in near future, order fit kit again to try on during the appointment. Perfect, right?

Well, last night I went out to *gasp* ride my horse and was not happy with her hoofsies at all. They were long, tall and the left front had some separation on the lateral hoof wall from the pressure. I admit to mild panic and a frantic call to my friend's barefoot trimmer.

I left a message and hoped to be able to get in with her soon. She called me back within a half hour and was easy to talk to. Apparently she comes from 2 hours away and informed me that she would be over my way Wednesday morning for a barn of draft horses and then not again until the 23rd. Well, the 23rd would be too long to wait and so she agreed to meet me at 0630 prior to her other appointment. A+ for flexibility!!

Of course this meant my second Fit Kit trial plan was dead. No way could I get a set in 10 hours time.  Oh well.

Poor Gemmie. She was so excited to see me at 0600. The only times I ever go to the barn at dawn are to drag her to an endurance ride and man was she ready to go. She came walking up to me from the back of her pasture and nearly pulled me to the trailer. Then, once tied to the trailer, she began her pre ride stretching routine: sticking her butt in the air and stretching out her front legs with a satisfied grunt. I felt so bad having to tell her we weren't going anywhere. She really isn't enjoying her vacation right now. I also noticed that she is looking extremely pudgy, borderline fat. A month ago I would have rated her a beautiful 5 on BCS and now she is looking like a 6.5. I ran into the BO on my way out and he laughed saying that he noticed it too. She isn't even getting any hay or grain right now. He pulled all the pasture horses off when the grass started growing. I need to ride more!!!

Lady Farrier showed up and was just as easy to talk to in person as on the phone. I have studied barefoot hooves as much as I could without being a professional and I could tell she was a) impressed with my knowledge base and ability to hold an intelligent conversation about hoof form and function and b) very curious as to why I don't trim her myself. I told her I was being a chicken about it and she laughed and promised to get me comfortable.

She looked Gem over and was happy with the health and strength of her feet. She really has awesome feet even when looking a little wonky. She did take quite a bit off and made them a shape I don't think I have ever seen on her before.

She did tell me a few things that I took home with me:

• Her natural medial to lateral balance is very good

• She does have high heels that will need to be kept up on. However this isn't as scary as I thought. She said that as long as you keep the heel and toe relationship the same (ie...you have to take as much toe off as heel) the overall weight bearing surface remains the same and therefore the tendons and ligaments will be used the same. If you take more heel off than toe then you effectively move the weight bearing surface. So....in the process of lowering Gem's heels we are going to be limited in how much toe we can bring back each time, but eventually it can be done safely and allow her to remain sound. She took them down quite a bit, but not to where she would be happy for them to stay permanently. This will take time.

• She has a slight upward flare of the toe on both her fronts causing a mild dish to the hoof wool as it goes from hairline to toe. This is causing a very superficial (2mm in depth) central vertical line which I have been noticing lately. If left uncared for or let to get more severe this can develop a crack. Hers is nowhere near that, but was good to have explained.

• She does not ever touch the plantar surface (is the bottom called that in horses like in people?) with a rasp. Ever. She states that it disrupts the hoof fibers and enhances the anterior dishing. She only uses a hoof knife there and uses the rasp on the toe (which man did she take a ton of toe) and to smooth the sides.

At the end I was happy with how they looked although I will admit they looked pretty different than I have ever seen on her. Much more like a normal hoof. Gem seemed to walk off in the pasture just fine. The true test will come on Saturday.

She recommended 4 weeks which wasn't a surprise at all, but also isn't something I plan to do forever. She is back out on May 23rd, but that is only 2 weeks and way too soon for me to fork over another $50. I mentioned this to her because it then pushes Gem to 6 weeks. She then gave me a rasp to use and told me to maintain her until then and she will come out and take a look. How awesome for her to give me a rasp?!

My plan is to keep using her until I get more comfortable with doing her myself. I need to get a handle for the rasp and maybe even a hoof stand to use as it looked much easier than holding the hoof myself. I'll have Lady Farrier out again in 6 weeks to check my work and perhaps order the Fit kit again for then. I need the boots for September and want to get some conditioning on them before the ride so need to order them by the end of July.

Here are some pics I grabbed afterward. One day I will need to walk her over to the driveway to get her on even ground, but for now these will have to work. Please chime in and let me know what you think of this trim!!!!!

Both fronts. You can kinda sorta see the superficial vertical lines I talked about. Nothing major, but present nonetheless.

Front right sole shot. Sorry for the dirt obscuring most of it. Her frog is looking better already and after this trim I know it will be loading weight.

Front left. Better view of those vertical lines she showed me.

Lateral view of front. You can see the slight dishing from hair line to toe. Heel still high, but a big improvement from pre trim.

Front right from behind. Lower heel height.

Hind foot, I think the right. Heels still high but improved. Toe much, much shorter than I've ever had her.

I'm getting myself confused, but I think this is her front right?



Right hind. Shorter toe, better heel.

Left hind sole view.. Very robust frog.

Left hind lateral view.

Front view of one of the hind hooves. Not sure which.

So....thoughts on this trim? Does it suck as bad as the last?? Continue moving forward? With the help of some great videos from Liz I am more confident in trimming her myself for the next 6 weeks and then having Lady Farrier out again unless something in this post is a major red flag to someone.

Farrier Visit

If you made it through yesterday's post, you may have thought to yourself "why on earth would you schedule the farrier to come to the barn on moving day?" Good question!

Originally we were going to move the previous Saturday, but then W got sick and we lost Hero and I lost interest in that idea. Hubs has Wednesday's off and the farrier really doesn't do weekends, so Wednesday is the only week day that typically works. Someone also might have sort of freaked out a little at the condition of Pete's feet the week before and yelled at the hubs to make an appointment for him ASAP. So Wednesday it was.

Maybe I shouldn't admit to this, but guess when the farrier was out last for the Dynamic Duo? Beginning of February. Yep, almost 16 weeks without a trim.

The farrier comes every 6 weeks and the BO texts everyone the date and asks who needs done. Since they schedule it, they are more than happy to catch and hold for it. You just have to let them know and bring a check at some point. And we kept skipping it. Gem just never needed done.

I admit, I have very little to do with Pete. Most people find this very odd, but he isn't my horse. Yes, he is the hubby's but beyond saying hi to him and bringing him in if the hubs asks, I treat him like any other horse that isn't mine on the property. I have only sat on him twice in 4 years and the last time was our first winter in WI...so roughly winter of 2010...4 years ago! He and the hubby have their own thing going on and I just stay away. But...a couple weeks ago I happened to be out loving on Gem and looked down at Pete's feet. And nearly crapped myself. They looked long, chipped, flared. Horrible. I got mad. I texted the hubby and told him he needed the farrier out ASAP. And so a week or two later, he finally did. And it fell on moving day.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be there and so the hubby was tasked with getting as much information as possible out of the farrier regarding the health of Gem's feet and her lack of being trimmed for the past 16 weeks.

Unfortunately, he missed Gem being trimmed, but showed up in time to chat, take her back out and catch Pete.

Farrier's words about Gem: she has awesomely amazing feet, he barely rasped her at all, and why on earth don't we just buy a stand and a rasp and do it ourselves?  He said that he only touched her because we asked him out and she was there. Otherwise he would have just let her go on without being touched at all. She is self trimming like a barefoot pro!!!

Now, Gemmie hasn't been ridden in almost 2 weeks. Not optimal with our summer rides about to commence, but life gets in the way and so she has had a mini vacation. When the hubby took her back out he said he had a racehorse on the end of the lead rope. She was prancing, snorting and carrying on. He let her loose and she took off snorting, farting and bucking as fast as she could. She ran through the herd of horses (Pete and two mares) trying to create a stir and they all just looked at her like she was stupid. So she snorted, farted and bucked again until she got them all up and they took off to the far side of the pasture. Gotta love that mare!!

The hubs caught Pete eventually and the farrier took a look. He is also barefoot and has been for a while. When he was being ridden every week, his feet were doing super well. Now that he gets ridden maybe once a month, they aren't self trimming so great. But even with that and 16 weeks since last being trimmed, the farrier only had to rasp. No actual trimming at all. He did mention the chips, but they were all superficial. And he does have some weird flares beginning, but they were not all that bad. His opinion: get a rasp and a stand and do it ourselves.

I love our barefoot horses!!!

Bad Footsies :(

“I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!”  

 

- Dr. Seuss

 

I've been scratching my head trying to figure out why on earth Gem is acting out so much under saddle in the arena. Its typical for her to be that way for the first couple weeks in a new place, but not for an entire month. Yes, it is colder out. Yes, she is getting grain. Yes, it is dark out. But still.

 

I'm anal about grooming her before I ride. I figure that she deserves a nice cleaning and once over before I ask her to work. I not only brush her out, pick out the hay and burrs from her mane, but I always pick out her feet and run my hand over her legs to feel for swelling. She was fine Monday. Friday night I noticed this....

 

A big crack in her heel. That's not supposed to be there. It is supposed to be one solid piece. This is her back left. Her back right looked similar. Crap. I panicked like any good person would do and called up the hubs. He suggested I lunge her to see her move and watch for lameness. That would have been a good idea except she broke my lunge line at the beginning of summer. This barn has a lovely round pen though and while I have never used one before, I thought it was as good a time as any to try it out.

We went over to the round pen and I let her loose. She was a very naughty mare. I asked her to walk - she ate the grass around the edges. I asked her to trot - she bolted and kicked out at me. I asked her to go to the right - she spun and went left. I lost my good natured patience (HA!) with her. I got firm and forced her to go the direction I wanted. I stopped asking and started telling. She did a whole lot more work than I had anticipated. All I wanted was for her to walk, but she would canter, so I made her canter until I told her to stop. Around and around she went. Eventually she listened and walked when I said to and then we repeated going to the left. Same thing. Eventually she walked and at the very end she went to spook at some imaginary monster, looked over at me first, and then kept walking calmly. Great mare!!!  The good news was that I didn't see any lameness issues in any gait in either direction. She loaded all 4 feet heel first without short striding at all.

I took her back in and cleaned out the cracks as best I could with the hoof pick and then put her back out. At home I visited the internet and researched heel bulb cracks. Apparently it is a fungal infection. Or it could be yeast. But don't forget about bacteria - it could be that too. If all else fails you can also blame it on contracted heels and poor weightbearing. Sigh. Nothing is ever simple. So...to the endurance forum I went. I posted a question with pictures and got some responses all screaming doomsday and giving me the worst case scenario possible. Sigh. Why are people like that? Well, anyway. I decided to treat her for all the above.

I have been going out and irrigating out the cracks with betadine solution. I figure that we use it for surgical scrubs and I have my patients use it on macerated skin between their toes or on ulcerations. Its gotta be similar in horses. I also ordered a powder product called No Thrush. It seems like a good enough product and I like the science behind it. It should arrive tomorrow and I will start it Friday. I know one of the keys to treatment is keeping the feet as dry as possible until healed. This is the only part I am having trouble with. She is out 24/7. It hasn't been raining (although it is slated to begin now that I am needing dry weather) but the dew is awfully thick in the morning. Does that count as moisture? I will monitor and see how she does.

The good thing out of al of this is my introduction to the round pen. I have decided to use it once a week until she starts behaving better. I used it again Monday night and she was much, much better behaved. It still took a while for her to start to listen, but not as long as the first time. Once she gets to really being good I will stop using it so much and maybe use it once a month as a refresher. I don't want her going in a smallish circle for too many miles. That can't be great for her joints.