The Vet Comes to Mountain Breeze Acres
by Embrace Country Life on 09/02/12
By, Alicia
Last week, our horse, Lizzy, was having difficulty walking down to the barn to get grain. She could not put any weight on her left, rear hoof. My first instinct was to lift the hoof and check to see if there were any stones in it that could be causing pain. I found a quarter-sized rock lodged between her hoof wall and frog. We thought this was causing her to limp but little did we know there were other complications.
After a day went by she was still having trouble putting weight on it so we called our farrier. We knew to call the farrier because when we checked for heat in the leg, there wasn't any so that meant the source of pain was her hoof.
The farrier came out at 7:00 am and found an abscess at the tip of her hoof. He dug into the hoof so the build up of pressure could be released. We cleaned it and put ichthammol in the abscess hole and then wrapped it with vet wrap and duct tape to secure it. She seemed to be getting better.
She continued to improve so we figured we could let her out with the other horses in the pasture since she had been locked in her stall to prevent any more damage to her hoof for several days. She was fine the first night but when Julia went to bring her to the barn to brush her, she wouldn't come in. So, Sarah went and got her and she was walking fine. After Julia was done grooming her, we let her back out into the pasture and went back to the spot where Sarah found her. That night, Lizzy refused to come down to the barn again and Patches was chasing her. We tried to get her down but couldn't so we let her stay out.
The next morning we woke to find her lying on the ground. "Emergency alarms" went off in my head because I knew if horses lie on the ground too long, they could hurt their internal organs. My dad, my mom, and I raced outside to see if she was ok. We got her halter and lead rope and marched up to the pasture. We put it on and rocked her gently to get her to stand up. We knew she didn't have colic because she started eating grass and passing gas!!! That meant her digestive system was working properly! We noticed that she was limping on her left, rear leg again. We knew there must be more to the story but when we tried to lead her to the barn, she didn't move. We locked the other horses in the barn so they couldn't pester her and figured she would come down to the barn if she wanted shade or water later. She eventually did.
My dad the farrier again and my mom called the vet. The farrier came up again and worked on her hooves a little more. He suggested we have the vet take a look to see what was wrong.
The vet who came later that day was Dr. Amy from the Northeastern PA Equine Clinic. She went down to the barn with all her equipment and examined Lizzy's hooves. She agreed with the farrier that both hind legs probably had laminitis because they were both very sore. She suggested that we took a radiograph of both hind, hooves to see if there was anything else going on. After the radiograph, she gave Lizzy a shot of painkiller to help the pain go away so she wasn't so stressed out. Then, she cleaned and wrapped both hind hooves. She used baby diapers that Julia had for her dolls for extra padding on her hooves. She gave us one tube of bute that we could administer 1 gram twice a day to help with her pain. I have been giving it her since the vet left. She takes it pretty well considering it is not apple flavored. She also gave us cotton so we could rewrap the hooves. We already had the vet wrap, salve, diaper, and duct tape.
She told us to buy epsom salts to soak Lizzy's hooves in to soothe them. Dr. Amy taught us a lot including how to check to see if a horse's hoof is hurting by checking her pulse. If the pulse was higher than normal then the hoof was hurting. She also taught us how to make duct tape squares to keep the bandages on the hoof from falling off.
We helped Dr. Amy carry her supplies down in the mule because it was a very hot day and a far walk to carry everything. She advised us to keep Lizzy away from the other horses until there was significant improvement. Before she left, we gave her a dozen farm fresh eggs which she kept in her cooler with her medicines.
Early this morning, we noticed Lizzy walking a lot better after we gave her bute and soaked her hooves. We also received an email from Dr. Amy who confirmed that Lizzy has lamititis. She said that it could be cured but there is always a chance it will come back. She also suggested to tell the farrier to trim the toes so she is leaning more on her heels. She also sent us a link to a website that sells horse orthodics. Dr. Amy said to keep Lizzy locked in her stall so the other horses don't pester her but we can let her out on the lawn for short periods of time.
The farrier comes back on Tuesday but time will tell. We will continue to take care of her with all of Dr. Amy's instructions. So far, Lizzie is looking good.
