Love, bubs and life on our little farm

So here goes... this is what occupied me for a good week and has burnt a hole in the credit card

Spech has always had a rotten front near hoof - its crumbly and shallow. My farrier had been getting on top of it until good old Equine Influenza hit. Whilst EI was occurring we were not allowed to have horse related visitors on the property and we were effectively under a lockdown trying to prevent our horses catching it. Ironically - we got EI anyway just from the slow creep of the virus from property to property over fences. But in the meanwhile and after EI whilst our property was quarantined, Spech did not get a farrier seeing to his feet. We are now paying for that as the hoof has grown down (like a fingernail does) and that neglected area is now that main part of the hoof..

So recently it crumbled and he threw the shoe. It was a nasty loss and he threw a lot of his hoof wall with it. This left the soft sole exposed. My farrier came and reshod Spech and when he did the shoe was left pressing on this soft sole. As a result Spech went instantly lame. Despite repeated visits from the farrier, he couldnt quite pin point what was causing the lameness (sounds obvious in hindsite but it wasn't at the time). He eventually removed the shoe and suggested it was a stone bruise causing an abcess in the toe. So... at this stage Spech could not walk at all, poor baby. So I called the horse vet out - an after hours call out by the time they got here. Katy - a new scottish vet that had just started with the practice, looked for an abcess and decided it needed extensive poulticing to draw it out. So.. poulticing is not cheap - I had to buy lots of vet wrap and poultices and duct tape etc but I got the hang of it! Spech was much happier both from the cushioning the poultice was offering and from the bute, Katy had left him ;)

However, after lots of poulticing and no appearance of the abcess, Katy returned and took a good look at the foot, sighed, turned and looked at me and asked if Spech was by any chance insured! Not a good sign!

So next step was X-rays to determine the cause of the pain.. so the next day David was out X-raying Spech. A fairly tricky process that fortunately did not require sedation since Spech is a lovely gentle horse.. The diagnosis was prolapsed sole, irritated pedal bone, too long in the toe and the lack of protection was causing extreme pain and bruising..

So no longer a vets issue (well not for another 3 months or so when they do follow up X-rays). So Brad conferences with my new farrier - Jon a theraputic farrier with a 3 month waiting list (yes he is that damn good but whew is he expensive!) and Jon arrives with an entourage of apprentices and visiting farriers to work on Spech. Spech starts the visit barely able to walk and by the time Jon is done shoeing, Spech walked off without a visible limp. Wow! Jesus like healing - makes the price-tag a lot easier to deal with ;)

Now - its follow up shoeing with Jon and just generally working on getting the hoof to grow out into decent condition.. Needless to say, on top of Spech's teeth issues, he is not our cheapest pet at the moment. thank god he is such a beautiful natured boy and damn good at his dressage.. so he is on rest but I did give him a gentle lunge yesterday and he is moving freely and happily..

In the meanwhile, Sam is being educated. But that will be another post ;)

It was a long horrible week, all of this stress and visiting horse people was done whilst I juggled Elka and her 4 month shots and it was hard work. I came the closest to being overwhelmed as a new mum as I have yet... that said - it was only welling up eyes when I asked my mum to come up and help hold Elka and she couldnt come.. I sucked it up and got over it and moved on. Life is like that!

The nail-less shoe, glued on to his hoof



The pad protecting the sole and keeping him off his toe


The padding used to keep the hoof cushioned