carol993
Member
Hi there
I thought I would share this story with you as it may help anyone else with similar issues with their horse.
I have an Andalusian stallion, he came from Spain 3 years ago and he came with appalling feet and an intolerance to sugar and glucose. Very long story about his weight, but briefly, he came to me underweight, and very, very quickly put weight on, and then became obese! It was almost impossible to get the weight off again. During May 2011 he suffered a concussion to his foot, pulling off one front shoe and from this moment on, the nightmare began. He went lame in the left fore, no heat, no swelling, no sensitivity in the hoof, nothing. Vet was flumoxed, but we went on a course of Danilon, and he went sound. After we stopped the Danilon, the lameness returned and then his tendons bowed on both legs. We battled to get the swelling to go down and then scanned the tendons. His tendons were absolutley fine, so he was X-rayed. The results showed his entire bone structure had sunk inside the hoof capsule on his left fore. Absolutely devestated. He was immediately hospitalised and was fitted with heart bar shoes and anti concussion padding underneath them. I was instructed to leave him stabled, no movement at all and get as much weight off him as possible to assist with taking weight off the sinking bones. To cut another long story short, the shoes crippled him and I was losing my horse very, very quickly. His affected hoof was 'grooved' by the farrier to try and relieve the pressure and help with the hoof destortion. He was x-rayed weekly and in spite of all the care he had been receiving, the pedle bone began to rotate. I had the most miserable, pain racked horse and it was truly heart breaking. After 2 months of no improvements and many many hours of research, I decided to take the shoes off and start moving him. I had to argue with the vet and the farrier to do this and after I had insisted, I was pretty much on my own. It was a very worrying decision, but I felt I had nothing to lose. I bought a pair of Easiboot therapy boots with gel pads and spent more hours looking for a trimmer who would come and look at my horse. I eventually found Adi Pratt, and she has been the best thing I could have done for my horse. He is now almost sound, the sinking has stopped, the damage on the hoof wall (where the hoof stretches after the bones sank) is now two thirds of the way down the hoof. He has grown a lot of new hoof above the 'sink line' and it is really healthy. His very contracted heels have opened right up and are still improving all the time. His frogs are getting wider and healthier (he had recurring bouts of thrush previously) and his stride is longer. His front feet were pidgeon toed, and I thought would always be that way (he came to me like that), but the new growth on both front feet is straight! My once miserable horse is very, very happy again. I cannot tell you how much better his feet look and how much change there has been since the shoes were taken off (taken off in July 2011). I have read about this happening with other people who raved about bare foot, but I was never a believer until I had the need to try it.....and I only did in desperation! Sure, it has been very hard work and I had to spend many many hours nursing him through everything, hours and hours of walking in hand, treating abcesses and putting on dressings etc. He had a complete diet change and he is now doing very well without any drugs. It hasn't been easy, but I cannot believe how doing less to interfer with what was happeing and trusting in mother nature did the most to save his life! Adi Pratt is a truly fantastic trimmer and would recommed her to anyone looking for a highly knowledgeable and first class trimmer. I am not saying that all horses with founder or chronic laminitis will recover in the same way my boy has, but if all else fails, I would definately take a leaf from this book!!
I thought I would share this story with you as it may help anyone else with similar issues with their horse.
I have an Andalusian stallion, he came from Spain 3 years ago and he came with appalling feet and an intolerance to sugar and glucose. Very long story about his weight, but briefly, he came to me underweight, and very, very quickly put weight on, and then became obese! It was almost impossible to get the weight off again. During May 2011 he suffered a concussion to his foot, pulling off one front shoe and from this moment on, the nightmare began. He went lame in the left fore, no heat, no swelling, no sensitivity in the hoof, nothing. Vet was flumoxed, but we went on a course of Danilon, and he went sound. After we stopped the Danilon, the lameness returned and then his tendons bowed on both legs. We battled to get the swelling to go down and then scanned the tendons. His tendons were absolutley fine, so he was X-rayed. The results showed his entire bone structure had sunk inside the hoof capsule on his left fore. Absolutely devestated. He was immediately hospitalised and was fitted with heart bar shoes and anti concussion padding underneath them. I was instructed to leave him stabled, no movement at all and get as much weight off him as possible to assist with taking weight off the sinking bones. To cut another long story short, the shoes crippled him and I was losing my horse very, very quickly. His affected hoof was 'grooved' by the farrier to try and relieve the pressure and help with the hoof destortion. He was x-rayed weekly and in spite of all the care he had been receiving, the pedle bone began to rotate. I had the most miserable, pain racked horse and it was truly heart breaking. After 2 months of no improvements and many many hours of research, I decided to take the shoes off and start moving him. I had to argue with the vet and the farrier to do this and after I had insisted, I was pretty much on my own. It was a very worrying decision, but I felt I had nothing to lose. I bought a pair of Easiboot therapy boots with gel pads and spent more hours looking for a trimmer who would come and look at my horse. I eventually found Adi Pratt, and she has been the best thing I could have done for my horse. He is now almost sound, the sinking has stopped, the damage on the hoof wall (where the hoof stretches after the bones sank) is now two thirds of the way down the hoof. He has grown a lot of new hoof above the 'sink line' and it is really healthy. His very contracted heels have opened right up and are still improving all the time. His frogs are getting wider and healthier (he had recurring bouts of thrush previously) and his stride is longer. His front feet were pidgeon toed, and I thought would always be that way (he came to me like that), but the new growth on both front feet is straight! My once miserable horse is very, very happy again. I cannot tell you how much better his feet look and how much change there has been since the shoes were taken off (taken off in July 2011). I have read about this happening with other people who raved about bare foot, but I was never a believer until I had the need to try it.....and I only did in desperation! Sure, it has been very hard work and I had to spend many many hours nursing him through everything, hours and hours of walking in hand, treating abcesses and putting on dressings etc. He had a complete diet change and he is now doing very well without any drugs. It hasn't been easy, but I cannot believe how doing less to interfer with what was happeing and trusting in mother nature did the most to save his life! Adi Pratt is a truly fantastic trimmer and would recommed her to anyone looking for a highly knowledgeable and first class trimmer. I am not saying that all horses with founder or chronic laminitis will recover in the same way my boy has, but if all else fails, I would definately take a leaf from this book!!
I too would love to see any photos.
