Fern's Somers (Aries)
Shortly after Pepper and Triumph had found new homes, I was down to one horse. I knew I wanted to take on another rehab case. While scrolling the advertised horses on Kijiji I came across an ad for a companion horse.
You just know with feet like that I was hooked.
Aries' owner, who had also trained her from a filly told me that Aries had failed her first vet check, and it was at that time the vets had told her that euthanasia would be the only option for this horse. They told her Aries would never become a performance horse, despite all of the jump training she had worked at. Unable to euthanize a seemingly healthy youthful 4 year old thoroughbred, her owner listed her on Kijiji as a companion horse.
In sale videos, there is a phantom lameness about her that you really had to slow down the video speed to even notice. It wasn't until I reviewed the video, years later that I really saw it.
Her diagnosis was founder and pre-navicular in the front right foot only.
When you have only pathology in one foot it is usually caused or worsened by improper trimming. Many people jump right to the diagnosis of a "club foot" but true club feet are increasingly rare. They are caused by a shortening of tendons. A true club-footed horse will be unable to weight the heel after it has been trimmed. I took a chance and went to see Aries anyways.
Having just lost Rosie in the Spring of 2017, my heart ached and here was this second firey red mare knocking at my door.
Aries' owner, who had also trained her from a filly told me that Aries had failed her first vet check, and it was at that time the vets had told her that euthanasia would be the only option for this horse. They told her Aries would never become a performance horse, despite all of the jump training she had worked at. Unable to euthanize a seemingly healthy youthful 4 year old thoroughbred, her owner listed her on Kijiji as a companion horse.
In sale videos, there is a phantom lameness about her that you really had to slow down the video speed to even notice. It wasn't until I reviewed the video, years later that I really saw it.
Her diagnosis was founder and pre-navicular in the front right foot only.
When you have only pathology in one foot it is usually caused or worsened by improper trimming. Many people jump right to the diagnosis of a "club foot" but true club feet are increasingly rare. They are caused by a shortening of tendons. A true club-footed horse will be unable to weight the heel after it has been trimmed. I took a chance and went to see Aries anyways.
Having just lost Rosie in the Spring of 2017, my heart ached and here was this second firey red mare knocking at my door.
Aries did not have a club foot on the right, but like most thoroughbreds she has long slender legs and a pretty short neck. This means, to reach the grass she really has to spread her front feet. She always stands to graze with the left foot forward and the right foot behind. Consequently, the front left wants to be flatter and more underrun and the front right is always creeping higher in the heel. I'm not really sure what kind of hoof care she had as a foal, and this problem which I consider confirmational in origin has likely been with her her whole life. Her two front feet will never be 100% symmetrical, and she has rotation in the front right, likely caused by a toe left too long. When I first got Rosie, she had a similar but milder form of this. Often farriers leave one hoof too long in order to make the two front feet appear more symmetrical. Aries was the worst case of High-Low syndrome I had ever seen.
Elapsed time since purchase, shoe removal and initial trim: One week.
I was absolutely floored by how fast and hard changes in her feet happened. This is the front right foot, the one with the pathology.
I knew that the diagnosis of pre-navicular meant that she was destined for unsoundness, but it was something that I could definitley reverse, especially in a young horse. The pinched heels and contracted frog on that right front were just begging to be remedied. I contiued to trim and take her on adventures, including a few mountain trips and even her first show.
Aries was never really visibly lame through the winter and into the summer. By late summer, her feet continued to grow out and recover. although she was always quite tender over gravel when not booted. I let her go on lease, in the fall, where she would be ridden in lessons by a young girl.
Of course, the day I loaded her in the trailer, something was wrong and she was so lame after almost an entire year of soundness and recovery.
For the next few months, she was intermittently sound. I treated for abcesses, and nothing came. I had her at the vet's and she passed all of her flexion and lameness exams, only to come home again to be once again intermittently sound. I was seriously doubting my skills as a barefoot trimmer by this time. and wondering if this horse needed to be euthanized after all. "Who do you think you are, katie. You can't fix every horse you know." She came home from the lease, and I dedicated my time to developing her and my riding skills.
Finally, she blew a huge abcess on the dorsal wall of her right front foot, which in time also grew out.
As I write this in 2022, and am going through photos I can't help but feel how fast time has flown by.
Of course, the day I loaded her in the trailer, something was wrong and she was so lame after almost an entire year of soundness and recovery.
For the next few months, she was intermittently sound. I treated for abcesses, and nothing came. I had her at the vet's and she passed all of her flexion and lameness exams, only to come home again to be once again intermittently sound. I was seriously doubting my skills as a barefoot trimmer by this time. and wondering if this horse needed to be euthanized after all. "Who do you think you are, katie. You can't fix every horse you know." She came home from the lease, and I dedicated my time to developing her and my riding skills.
Finally, she blew a huge abcess on the dorsal wall of her right front foot, which in time also grew out.
As I write this in 2022, and am going through photos I can't help but feel how fast time has flown by.
Her two front feet will never be symmetrical, and her rads will likely always have rotation with a slight bit of damage to the coffin bone on the front right.
But it hasn't slowed her down. She is on a regular 4-5 week trim cycle, sometimes as often as 3 weeks during competition season. What a cool little mare. |
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