Babe Update + Other News

I thought Babe was overdue an update on the blog...and many thanks again to Paul who came over today to help us out.

Babe on arrival in February

Babe, for those who don't already know, arrived in February and came to us because she had pedal bone rotation in all four feet and was within days of being put to sleep.  She had laminitis induced by veterinary treatment for an abscess - the drugs caused a catastrophic chain of events.  She was at serious risk of not recovering.  Laminitis was occurring in a vicious cycle and every time her feet were trimmed she was sore - I distinctly remember the description I was given over the phone of how Babe was sitting on a fence after a trim trying to take the weight off of her feet because they were so painful.

Babe in June

Babe arrived a very poorly girl, and, although we couldn't promise a successful rehab, we would do our best with the knowledge and experience we have gained.  What we were really determined about was that we would be providing different surfaces but not trimming as a set course of action.  No trimming is not the traditional veterinary and farrier approach.  We have seen horses in long periods of pain from having been trimmed and just as they are recovering they are trimmed again and can't move...we have never seen this action result in a successful rehab.

We wanted Babe to be comfortable as quickly as possible, to be moving about and trimming her feet herself on the different surfaces.  We were quickly able to keep her comfortable with our different supportive surfaces, herbal and essential oil pain relief, and her hoof boots which helped her on hard and non-supportive surfaces.  To start with she was in a yard on her own with different surfaces so she could move wherever and whenever she wanted - the others were just over the gate to keep her company but could not hassle her into moving more than she wanted.  There was a lot of focus on Babe with detoxing and getting her body better...which took A LOT of herbs...for which we are so thankful to the ladies at Naturally Animals who helped us by donating herbs for Babe..

Babe hoof late February

 We witnessed her self trimming her feet, her hoof structures getting better and better.  A couple of abscesses were treated very quickly and successfully using soaking, essential oils and homeopathy, showing us that abscesses are part of the rehab process - the necrotic, damaged tissue in the foot has to come out and this is how the body deals with it.   We have seen her hooves becoming sounder and sounder - she can walk confidently over cobbles and stones...and be part of the herd routine, back to grazing with the ponies on a normal routine, even in the height of summer...we couldn't wish for more....

The same Babe hoof today after her toe tidy up (7 months on from the hoof above)

This photo of a back hoof before the"tidy up" today shows how the heels have
self trimmed but the toe has remained because of the harder hoof structure

Babe is now very close to having a full new hoof capsule.  What we have discovered is that as Babe came into the laminar wedge section of her self-trimming she has needed some assistance...The Easy Care website describes the laminar wedge as "Horn that fills in the space created when the coffin bone rotates or displaces in the hoof capsule during laminitis...some experts say to remove the laminar wedge, others recommend leaving it".  Up until now she has had no intervention...but this part of hoof now at the bottom of the toe has been so hard that Babe hasn't been able to self trim it.  Her heels and back half of the foot have continued to be self trimming, but the very hard outer part at the toes hasn't been shifting.  We didn't want a hoof trim, just a toe tidy up, which Paul has been helping us with...  Babe has fantastic white lines and no seedy toe.  We think when she gets past the last part of the laminitic wedge she will be back to self maintaining/trimming again...we just have to wait it out.  There is a big horizontal line nearly at the bottom of the hoof - this is the beginning of her new capsule hoof and the end of the damaged tissue from those laminitic periods...so close, but probably about another 3-4 weeks before we see what happens...


In other P4P news...

Angela has been making good progress and had been past Stonehenge, Silverstone, Duxford and the last we heard was on her way to Thirsk on her big quadbike adventure....

Thea's course is now full with 18 participants - thank you so much everyone!

Thank you to Margaret who has bought us some new yard equipment today - poo scraper tools are a very essential part of our operation!

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