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| Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. |
She was up and on her feet at least from seven-ish this morning until just before eleven: moving around, eating, walking across the pen to the water trough. A little before 11:00, she lay down in the small stall . . . and promptly lost her clog, natch. It came off all in one piece, bandage in it and tape around it, so we didn't have to hunt for it in the snow, at least.
Yeah, about that . . . in some places here on the land, we're already at two feet+; a couple of times, I had to hop out into snow up almost to my hips (and I'm TALL). Most places here are about 18". And counting. Most of that just since five this morning. We had to go to the post office and the feed store to pick up her meds, and the truck got stuck before we got around the first curve of our drive. While he plowed the drive and the space around the truck, I shoveled the damn thing out. Yes, me. By hand. We made it before it got too bad too see again.
Back to Cree. We were not going to change the dressing and refit the clog until tomorrow, but she obviously had other ideas. So . . . clean the hoof, rinse it, dry it, add the SMZ paste and gauze dressing, bandage it, hold the clog in place, tape it. That's what's on her left forefoot in the photo above. The vet recommended to me last night that we tape her other three legs to provide better support for the redistribution of weight that goes with this sort of thing, especially because she's rotated somewhat on the right front, too. So, Cree now has leggings. Equine couture.
This weather is an absolute bitch for her condition, so that's going to complicate matters. If this were summer, it would still be bad, but managing it would be a hell of a lot easier. In this stuff? It takes a LOT of extra work, because this is now suddenly, once again, colic season, and she's on a whole pharmacy of meds right now. [Oh, and the major one for the hoof infection? Both the paste and the orals? I'm horribly allergic to it. Can't even touch the pills with bare hands. Just lovely.]
So. It's been a long, hard, tiring day. Tomorrow will be more of the same. A huge amount of heavy physical labor for both of us; I can't remember the last time I shoveled so much snow. And the temps are about to go skating down below zero again at night, so that's always fun. Cree is, in a word, miserable when it comes to dealing with the weather and her foot, BUT . . . she is fully engaged in her own healing, so there's that. She still wants to be here, wants to hang with us, so that's what we're gonna do.
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
aji - contact me, please! my farrier had a shoe that worked wonders - just as a clog does - sani still is in his "pradas" - and they have made a HUGE difference in how he moves! grand circuit T shoes for laminitis - the same principle - put the balance on the inner sole, not the outer wall.
ReplyDeletei have pics and more - you know how to reach me. <3 to cree and you and here's to hope! sani recovered fully - when he had full separation, my vet and farrier used casting material (broken arm) to cast his feet with a soft rubber insole - kept those on for six months - replacing every other - and held those tootsies together for him.
call me - text me - email me - cree will get through this!
here is the website...http://www.grandcircuitinc.com/products/grand-circuit-t-shoe-open-therapy-0
ReplyDeleteEdrie, please, I need you not to do this. Listen to me, PLEASE: We have already done EVERY SINGLE ONE of these things over the years, and much more. You're not understanding the situation here, so I'm going to make it very blunt: Sani has laminitis. Cree has FOUNDER. They are NOT the same; the latter is the consequence of the former, even though people mistakenly use the terms interchangeably. Cree has been well past the mere "laminitis" label for many years now, and has now rotated on the left to the point that she is coming through the sole.
DeleteAlso, had you read the post, you would know we're clogging her. but we cannot use the commercial clogs because we cannot screw them into her hoof right now; that's an absolute no-go, both with the placement of the abscesses/bruising and the need to remove the clog to treat them every 1-2 days, hence Wings making one of lightweight wood sized precisely to her.
I know you mean well, but we're talking about two different things here, and I have done literally every single option in the book for this girl, including what you've now discovered - a treatment protocol I first tried to get put in use on her way back in *2008*. I'm up on all the literature, and there is literally nothing I haven't tried.
She had too many years of too much damage, especially in the formative years before she came to Wings. We're dealing with the fallout from that now. And we will continue to deal with it as long as she wants to be here. At the moment that she lets us know it's too much and she can't do it anymore, it's not about us; it's about her. We're taking our cues from her at this point, and she will get the absolute best, most effective treatment protocols GIVEN HER CONDITION. If and when she tells us she's done, we put aside what WE want, and do what SHE wants. There will be no departure form any of that.
But please: I need EVERYONE to step back. I know you al mean well, but whatever you think we don't know about? [Bitter laughter] Trust me; WE KNOW. WE'VE ALREADY DONE IT. Horses are as individual as people as people, and what works in one situation won't necessarily in another; Cree's case has proven especially intractable to treatment. Yes, including everyone else's favored treatment, the one you swear by - we've tried it. We're past all that now. And my heart hurts enough as it is/