Rosie
This is Rosie.
She is a 15 year old Hanoverian mare. Rosie was suffering from unknown lameness in the right front foot. The right foot had a frog that was atrophied: very small and suffocated by overgrown bar. Her right foot was left too long: the angle of it was much steeper- It might have been left this way as an attempt to make it look more symmetrical with the left. On the right foot, I had to trim about an 3/4 inch of outer wall, on the left, all that was needed was a light rasp. After the trim it was much more obvious that her two feet were very different. Notice the growth lines on the blonde foot? The stretched lines at the heel may indicate founder: Rosie was technically in a state of mechanical founder in this right foot. Her other feet were quite healthy in comparison, showing none of these signs. |
5th Place, 2'6 Hunter over fences Schooling Show July 25, 2015 Lameness issues are resolved. Rosie loves jumping! August, 2015
Shortly after the show, I moved Rosie to pasture with my other horse. Within the first few days they must have been sorting out the pecking order because she cut her cornet band. I was convinced that it would leave a scar on the hoof. to my surprise, it just grew out instead and moved down the capsule as it replaced itself. It has been kind of a happy accident, because it marks the start of Rosie's change in hoof care and diet very clearly. |
Sept, 2015
In late September, Rosie started to get very lame after a period of total soundness... What I at first thought to be a trimming mishap was actually a subsolar abcess, all part of the healing process. When the foot can function properly, infections, bruises, calcium deposits etc are often released after having been trapped via the feet...It is interesting that when I first met Rosie in July, she had a small abcess hole in the outer wall, in the same lateral side of the left front foot...(see top left photo). Rosie was feeling better and back to her old self within two weeks. The abcess was relieved and Rosie had grown a new sole underneath. |
Left Front Abcess Location.
Oct 2015. Rosie had been compensating for many years on the left front, to avoid proper locomotion (heel first landing) on the right (the clubby foot) and what I assume to be a lot of invaded bar tissue. The Left front blew an abcess just under the bar after both feet had been returned to healthy, natural shape. At this time, Rosie had been sore for two weeks, and started to feel better. Even after paring out the abcess hole, Rosie was still comfortable, because the new sole had time to grow underneath. Dec/Jan 2015
The scar on Rosie's right foot (I think probably wire cut) was a fortunate accident: not because she got hurt but because it serves as a very clear marker to the changes happening in her hoof growth.
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Right Front, Oct, 2015
(big change from July, right?? this is the white, "clubby" foot) Abcess Healing Process, late november.
Schooling show Dec 5, 2015.
0.8m Jumpers Bitless & Barefoot. sound, comfortable and happy |