Hock Eyes

I am an inveterate M*A*S*H fan, and have been known to ask "what would Alan Alda do?" in tricky situations. About three weeks ago Raven was finally beginning to look comfortable again after the great hock puncture of 2008. She was getting leaner and stronger, and the SmartFlex Repair seemed to be helping -- I was planning to be back on her in early April. Then we got another snap of cold, wet weather and everything went downhill. The joint looks stiff, the problematic suspensory tendons look painful, and the whole horse looks uncomfortable. She is dead lame on the hind right for a couple of minutes after getting up. She prefers to be on the dirt part of the paddock instead of the crusher dust. She is standing in the corner with her nostrils slightly wrinkled instead of joining Tonka at the feeders -- it is like we have reverted to December.

Now that the weather is warmer and drier she looks a little better again, but still very stiff and jilted on the hinds. Christina was here to trim today, and Raven was dead lame for a few strides after having the hind right on the stand for long enough to get her mustang roll (Christina trimmed the hoof with it resting on her boot). It is time for Kerstin to come out for teeth and vaccinations, and it is time to reassess the long-term plan. I think we have to give Adequan a try. It's what Alan Alda would do.

Il Pleut dans son Coeur

We had to cancel last week's appointment with Christina Cline because of the snow, but Little Miss Sunshine managed to squeeze Tonka and Raven into today's busy schedule. Sure enough, the weather was picture perfect (and downright chilly at -8 °C), but it was raining in Christina's heart. Two weeks ago she lost her young horse Leo to a complete veterinary mystery. She was there when he was born, she raised him, trained him, broke him and generally molded him into a dream horse that she planned to spend the next twenty years enjoying. It all started with a kick in the shoulder that he barely noticed. Christina was able to ride him the day after it happened, but when she returned from a short road trip she found him dead lame. Vets chocked it up to an infection in the tissue and started antibiotics, but he was also having trouble breathing. An autopsy revealed that his heart was grossly enlarged when he died.

I don't want to capitalize on Christina's misery here. I only want to share her story because it is such a potent reminder that our time with loved ones can be too suddenly curtailed. It cannot be an accident that the French verbs "pleurer" (to cry) and "pleuvoir" (to rain) are so similar, can it?

Renegades

There are many different kinds of hoof boots available, but Renegades are relative newcomers. Christina Cline tried them on her trail riding vacation this summer and she was very impressed. As a barefoot hoof care professional she has some clout in securing orders of this popular product (I believe that production is several weeks behind demand right now) and has offered to get me a pair for Raven. So far I have been holding off due to the expense (well over $200 CDN) but now that the vet bills are almost paid off I have been considering them more seriously.

Until her injury I had been riding Raven in EasyBoot Epics, but not without hitches like buckles popping open on trails and gators ripping off at a gallop. She is a challenging enough horse to ride without having to worry about her boots, and something more secure would ease my mind in the saddle. The Renegades have a unique design with a rigid, heel-cupping section instead of a soft gator. They look easy to use and they come in colours like "Arizona copper" and "dragon fire red" -- what else is there to know?

Feet for Funder

The last time that Christina Cline came to trim the horses I promised Funder that I would post some pictures. I finally got around to snapping them today while Christina was working away. The angles aren't ideal (I didn't want to neglect my horse-holding duties entirely) but the pictures below show (left) Tonka's front right in January of last year just after being trimmed by a local farrier and (right) the same hoof just after Christina finished trimming it today (click on it to see a larger version). This foot was more affected by the founder, with greater rotation and more remodeling of the coffin bone.

Sure his toes are shorter and his heels (naturally a bit high on this side) are under, but what I like most is the quality of the new growth. The ridges on the left indicate periods of disrupted growth, probably due to acute laminitic episodes, but the smoothness on the right is indicative of a more metabolically balanced horse. Now the front left:

Here you can clearly see how the plane of hoof growth used to break about halfway down with the angle (as measured with respect to the ground) getting smaller. This occurs due to weak laminar connection between the hoof and coffin bone, and you can see how stretched the white line (connection between hoof and sole) was in this picture:

Unfortunately I didn't take the matching pictures for this today, but the white lines on both fronts had tightened completely after six months of care. Also unfortunately I cannot find the pictures I took of Raven's hooves after Christina pulled her shoes, but the two pictures below show them today (you can see how a scar on her right coronet causes a seam to grow down the quarter).

Being a thoroughbred Raven doesn't have the toughest hooves, but we are very pleased by how much they have improved in shape and substance. All four used to flare like crazy between 4-week trims and the soles were like pancakes, but now they stay compact and there is real concavity around the frogs. She will probably never ride out comfortably without boots (assuming that she will be sound enough to ride out at all) but overall I feel that she is a much healthier horse without shoes.

Coon Foot and Fancy Free

Three posts back I mentioned that Raven is moderately affected by DSLD (degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis). This anecdotal diagnoses was independently made by both Christina and Kerstin not long after Raven arrived. To be absolutely sure we would need to have a tissue test done to assess the degree to which collagen has been replaced with cartilage in her ligaments. The results of a veterinary flex test and ultrasound have been inconclusive.

From my perspective Raven has three symptoms of DSLD -- she (1) is coon-footed on the hinds, (2) is uncomfortable holding them up to be picked/trimmed, and (3) will sometimes dig holes so that she can stand with her toes pointed into them. Raven does not:

• have a particularly post-legged conformation
• trip or stumble with any regularity
• spend an unusual amount of time lying down
• have lumpy wind-puffy "sweet potato" fetlock joints
• lean on fences or rock when standing
• drop weight quickly or have unusually loose skin
• refuse to canter (this is her preferred gait)
  
• come up lame after riding or refuse any gait under saddle

It's possible that Raven merely suffers from poor conformation -- coon-footed thoroughbreds are not uncommon. I believe that she probably does have DSLD (because of the hole-digging) but I do not believe that it is serious or degenerative at this time. So far we have seen nothing but improvement in symptoms (2) and (3), and it was almost a non-issue until the hock injury. Assuming that she recovers to her pre-injury condition it will continue to be a non-issue until I see further evidence of symptoms or a real deterioration in the quality of her joints.

Little Miss Sunshine

Christina Cline has been trimming the horses every month for nine months and it has never rained while she was at Farcical Farm. On a couple of occasions I have cleared out the garage just in case, but it appears (to me) as though she travels in a pocket of dry weather (she assures me that she does not). Today it was chilly and sunny when she arrived (not in a goat van VW, but it seemed like a good excuse to promote one of my favourite movies).

Both horses are getting better about being trimmed. Tonka used to fuss and pull and sink and wriggle, but now he prefers to nap. Raven used to kick out randomly with her hinds but today she stood like a statue. In both cases I think that their improved behaviour follows from their improved health and circumstances. Poor Raven was stiff on the right hock when Christina put it down, and strained to hold herself up for work on the hind left, but she did it like a trooper. After a conversation with Kerstin this morning I will hold off riding her for another week at least, but we are supposed to start trotting sets up and down the pasture on Wednesday. I think this means I have to trot too.

U-8-O or 0 or D-1-5

That's what Tonka's tattoo says. It took David, Christina and I to wrangle that lip up for long enough to read it. What do I do now?

The Hip Bone's Connected to the Hurt Bone

Christina Cline came by last night to trim both horses and she likes what she sees. The laminitic rings in Tonka's hooves are about 50% grown out and both white lines are nice and tight. Now the the weather has dried out Raven's little feet are really starting to toughen up, and the frogs on her pancaked hind soles are becoming more defined by the day.

Christina did confirm my observation that Tonka's current discomfort stems from his stifle or hip. She notes that he hikes the right hip higher than the left when he walks, and that his back muscles are sensitive on the left hand side. Several people have suggested that I have him evaluated by an equine chiropractor, and I am getting closer to biting that bullet. As a highly skeptical scientist I am leery of human chiropractors based on several published findings, but as a worried horse owner I want to do whatever I can to make Tonka more comfortable. Is it ironic that science will pay the bill?

A Big Day

Christina Cline came out for her first visit this morning, and Tonka's hooves were trimmed for the second time in three weeks. Christina described him as "very cooperative" despite his desire to sniff her, her apron, her boots, her stand, her tools and her pen. Overall she seemed positive about his prognosis, but found him guarded around his hind end -- possibly due to pain from keeping his weight rocked backwards during laminitic episodes. We'll see if she senses any difference in another four weeks. My sense is that I can learn an awful lot from this talented and experienced lady.

The sun came out later this morning, so I walked Tonka down to the tracks to test his reaction to the sight and the noise of a train blowing through Deroche. He took it fairly well, dancing around a bit, but maintaining most self control. I plan to do this every few days, and to edge him closer as he gets more comfortable. Given that trains run near to many of the places I would like to ride it only seems prudent and fair to sensitize him as thoroughly as possible.

After that I zipped out to Agassiz to help three burly men load 150 bales of low NSC (non-structural carbohydrates) hay onto a flatbed trailer. Tonka was very excited by the hay truck, and serenaded his new food with genuine enthusiasm. We unloaded it into the garage with the help of Russell, who's headed back to his more urban life in sunny California tomorrow. I ended the frenzy with a cracking headache and put myself to bed for three hours, leaving the hay cleanup for the morning. Let's hope it's sunny again!