No foot, no horse

After making so many plans to get our 2018 competition season underway, January has ended up being a total write off due to lameness. The old adage, "No foot, no horse" is so very true and always the first place to investigate a lame horse (unless there is an obvious wound/swelling elsewhere). Socks came in lame on the Monday following our jump clinic, I thought maybe she had tweaked something jumping so gave her a few days rest with supportive bandages on and a little bit of pain relief.  When she was still lame on the Friday, I called in my farrier to see if he could find anything going on with her foot. Robin has been my farrier for a very long time and I value his judgement, so he is always my first port of call. On removing Socks' shoe he was firstly shocked at the amount of hoof she had grown in such a short time, having only been shod 2 weeks previous. He used hoof testers to check for soreness and quickly identified a hot spot near her toe. On trimming away some sole, we were faced with a very soft spongy orange area and a stretched looking white line with bruising running around. Not a pretty picture and obviously painful for Socks. I like to take photos of any injuries etc as it helps to keep a record of healing, so here is that first trim.

Robin advised me to poultice her and hope that we could draw some bruising out, or pus if it was an abscess. A couple of days of nothing productive and I was starting to worry there was something more sinister going on. Having Googled the orange bruising, it was suggested that it can be a sign of Low Grade Laminitis; this with the laminae looking compromised had me very worried. I joined a Laminitis group on Facebook and posted the above photo, I won't go too far into it... but safe to say I won't be doing that again. Not only were some of the comments very bluntly put, they were also wrong and ill informed. Not for me, Thank you! 

Both horses were booked into Bell Equine for their annual vaccinations today, so I changed the appointment to include Xrays for Socks fearing the worst. Whilst she is managed in a very Laminitis friendly way, fed low sugar and starch; I am aware she is a very stressy individual and that can trigger an attack. I was thrilled Monday evening to find pus on the poultice, which positively ran out of the hole when I put her foot down. Yesterday Robin popped out to remove Socks' other shoe and trim both her feet. It is easier for Radiographs to be taken without the shoes and again I just wanted to 'check in' with my trusted pair of eyes. This is her two feet for comparison, you can see the hole of the abscess and the pink tinge of bruising over the whole sole of her right foot.

Today couldn't have come around soon enough, and I was very nervous as I boxed up two very excited horses. They are so funny, pooping everywhere as soon as the travel gear comes out. They were probably very disappointed with their party... although Socks did come home drunk! Bell Equine is literally 2 miles down the road from the yard, which is a godsend; especially as it is one of the best Equine hospitals in the country. We saw the lovely Michael de Cozar, he is so calm and gentle with the horses it really puts them at ease. Vaccinations done, it was time to take some Xrays. Socks was given a little bit of sedation and then stood on some wooden blocks, we had to wait outside the room due to radiation; but she kept her little eye on me through the viewing window the whole time. 

I was feeling a bit emotional but my good friend Gemma Green was there (on her lunchbreak bless her) to keep me level headed. The good news is the Xrays showed no signs of Laminitis, just smooth bones and healthy joints.. PHEW. You can see the abscess and another gas pocket higher up which may or may not come out of her coronary band, and she has a fair bit of toe that can come off to help her breakover.

Interestingly, it is more the left foot that needs some adjustment to the balance... something you really can't see from the outside, but is clear from these dorsopalmar views that there is a flare to the medial wall that needs taking down. Then her joints will sit more level and be under less stress. How wonderful to have Xray vision... a super power I would definitely love to have.

Let's hope we can see the soundness at the end of the tunnel now, I have already had to cancel a couple of clinics so looking forward to getting back to the programme.