What type of shoe should I use on Chance’s back feet?
I am looking for something that is glue-on, provides support and comfort, that has good grip, while providing protection for his hoof from the rocky terrain.
After some research, I found GluShus- a company out of England. Their shoes sound fantastic. They have an aluminum shoe set in rubber that glues onto the hoof. Read more about these shoes by clicking the link below.
I’ll let you know how it goes!
A while ago, one of my good girlfriends, sent me an article about perseverance; why some are able to withstand tremendous adversity while others can’t? The article referred to this concept of an individual’s strength to endure life’s obstacles, to succeed in the face of adversity, to remain positive and continue to move forward despite what is thrown ones way, as Grit. Those who are able to endure the obstacles-have it- and those who are unable to endure- don’t.
I can’t help but wonder if the concept of Grit may also apply to our four-legged friends? Because I am pretty sure that Chance has it. What makes living things able to remain positive and enthusiastic and continue to persevere despite being in tremendous pain?
I am truly humbled every time I look at Chance and I see a 25+ year old horse who has lived for years with painful flare-ups without a known cause…yet even at his absolute worse, he was still engaged in life…eating, whinnying, trying to run and play, giving kisses for treats…and now, after a year of ups and downs, triumphs and tribulations, stumbles and falls, medications and supplements, pokings and probings, needles and adjustments, samples and tests, and changes in just about every aspect of his life, he is finally in a healthy place! (He is no longer on pain medications daily. He maybe gets a dose a month or so. And does not have bouts of lameness or swelling).
What enables him to remain his calm and happy self despite all of the above? How was he not biting and kicking with every prick of a needle? How is his soul still gentle? How was he determined to walk up a small hill a year ago and now is able to run up that very same hill? He loves every second of his life. This may sound odd, but my old guy revels in every single second of his day.
He whinnies the moment I pull up into the driveway and greets me. He devours every ounce of grass he can. He often follows his friend and co-caretaker, John, to feed the chickens in the morning. He yells for his buddy, Lucky, when he can’t find him. He runs every where he is able to including back and forth from the house to the barn- racing with Lucky. He rolls around in the grass, the snow, or mud. He will lay in the green grass basking in the sunshine. He investigates everything around him. And each and every time he stumbles, or even falls, he gets right back up and tries again.
To me, that is the essence of Grit…to keep on trucking through life with a soft heart and grateful and determined soul.
Duckworth, A. Peterson, C. Matthews, M., Kelly, D. (2007) “Grit: Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term Goals”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 92(6), 1087-1101.
Today was not the greatest of days….but I will say that we had the luckiest unlucky day ever! And, of course, it was a full moon tonight which means I should just stay inside.
Today we met with a new farrier. I have been doing some research on shoes that provide comfort, support, and do not mess up Chance’s hooves like nails tend to especially when a horse is on rockier terrain. I spoke with my vet who suggested to, “put shoes on all 4 hooves with a 1 degree wedge pad on both hind shoes. Set all 4 shoes back from the toe of the foot by at least a 1/4th an inch.”
I went to the farm a bit early and gave Chance a bath, some Equinox for pain, and got ready for the farrier. The farrier arrived and Chance was great! He stood on the cross ties and ate hay like a champ. For some reason I decided to lengthen the cross ties. I am not sure why exactly but thank God I did.
My dad and the farrier were with Chance while I went to feed Lucky his dinner. Well, after I fed Luck, I turned the corner and saw that Chance was on the ground! Yes, you read correctly, he was on the freaking ground…all 17.1 hands of him! The moment I saw him our eyes met- I know it sounds like the beginning of a love story- and he immediately took a deep breath and calmed down. I walked up to him and he slowly got up and stood there right in front of me with his head resting under my arm- breathing heavily and he had the beginnings of sweat covering his body.
I stood there and just spoke to him- calmly- telling him he was okay. Once a few minutes had passed, and he was calm, I walked him forward to make sure he was okay. Sure enough, he was fine…aside from some surface scrapes. I cleaned his scrapes up and walked him outside to eat some grass. After about ten minutes, I walked him back into the aisle for the farrier to finish up.
According to both my dad and the farrier, Chance was having his back left shoe nailed in when the nail hit a nerve and he flinched. I guess the farrier didn’t realize this because he hit the nail once more. That was when Chance reacted and went down. Thankfully, the farrier got out of the way & removed the nail midair (so that Chance wouldn’t go down on the foot with the nail and drive it deeper). Think of a splinter going under your nail…and then hitting it again, deeper under your nail….ouch!
However, he landed somewhat gracefully, but due to the cross ties not being break away and the concrete not allowing Chance to gain any “grip” with his newly shod feet, he began to panic. Upon seeing me, he calmed down, and he was able to get back up. I can’t help but thank my lucky stars that I had lengthened the cross ties so that he had some slack, and that I came back inside when I did…had I not, he would have kept flailing. Had I been in there when the nail hit the nerve it may not have happened because I would have said something to the farrier. However, had I been in there when it occurred, things may have also been far worse…since my dog, Sadie, is always right by Chance’s or my side at all times.
We ended up deciding to forgo putting hind shoes on until later (a few weeks) and the farrier removed the one evil hind shoe and trimmed up the other hoof. Chance stood quietly and allowed him to complete his job. I was so impressed with my old guy!
I have emailed my vet to see if she is able to come check on Chance tomorrow just in case…hopefully, Chance will just be a bit sore in the morning and nothing worse….:(
Over the last couple weeks the rain has been unrelenting. And with rain comes scratches (Pastern Dermatitis). In a previous entry I spoke about an amazing treatment for scratches that actually worked…however, when it rains like it has recently, once again the scratches got out of control.
A handful of months ago I got a skin scrape on Chance’s hind legs to determine the bacteria that was causing the scratches. Sure enough there were three types of bacteria growing which was why I was having so much difficulty getting them under control.
Below are the results:
As you can see above, the bacteria shows resistance or no interpretation to all but 7 antibiotics. I spoke to my vet and she suggested beginning with Gentamicin and go from there if he does not respond to the medication. Chance has been receiving an injection of 30 mls of Gentamicin in his muscle once a day for about a week now. He obviously does not enjoy this, nor do I for that matter, but his scratches are showing improvements! He is also on the topical cream, Silver Sulfadiazine, once a day.
Fingers crossed that I will get ahead of the scratches and they will go away forever!
I was able to throw on a saddle and get on Chance! He is finally strong enough for me to “ride”….and by “ride” I am referring to walking around in a ring. We walked in circles and figure eights and over some ground poles for about 15 minutes. It was absolute bliss!
Sadie followed us around the ring the entire time…
and Lucky stood by and watched!
Where is Lucky?
My favorite marking on Chance
Lucky got a bubble bath
Chance is gaining muscle on his hind end!
Chance has always loved to follow me around. Usually he just walks behind me or next to me around the barn or in the field, and other times he prefers doing this….(the bandage on his hind leg is a treatment to get rid of pastern dermatitis or “scratches” which you can read more about in my previous posts).
It is amazing to me that it is coming up on a year from the day that I received a phone call about Chance’s health! As I think back over the many months of diagnostics, research, hyper vigilance, wishes, decisions, stressors, and connection- I am truly amazed.
I am amazed at Chance’s strength. He never gave up; he kept on fighting. No matter how sore, tired, or sick Chance was there was ONE thing that remained- his gentle and determined soul. He never seemed deterred by the obstacles in front of him whether the obstacle was a hill, walking a straight line, or walking in general; he just kept trying each and every day. He showed kindness to the numerous vets who poked and prodded him; never once trying to bite or kick at them. Chance did not give up throughout this tiresome and seemingly, never ending journey. He persevered. We persevered.
Every single day I am grateful that I have been able to spend this time by Chance’s side; to reconnect and go through this journey together. We have made up for the time lost while he was in Forest, VA. If today was Chance’s last day, I can honestly say that I would be at peace. I wouldn’t have been able to say this a year ago.
Over the last year, while the journey was overwhelming, sad, tiresome, and at times, heart wrenching, I was able to witness Chance become a horse. That may sound strange, but after enduring the many years of pain medications and intermittent bouts of lameness and Lymphangitis, I saw a horse that was not able to 100% enjoy his life.
And for the first time, I have seen him doing the very opposite, I have seen him enjoying life. Life as a horse. I’ve seen him running in the pastures, laying in the sunshine, & rolling in the snow. I’ve seen him make friends, eat warm bran mash, and devour his hay. I’ve heard him whinny and I’ve seen the light come back into his eyes.
For that, I am truly grateful. I can say without a shed of a doubt, I have no regrets about the decision I made a year ago, no matter how difficult it may have been.
Chance is now on 6 quarts of Nutria Senior Feed with 2 quarts of Hay Stretcher and 2 cups of Rice Bran TWICE A DAY! That is 12 quarts of feed a day and 4 quarts of Hay Stretcher plus his alfalfa mixed hay!
At night he also receives his SmartPak (Senior Flex, Immune Boost, and Vitamin C) & DuraLactin (for inflammation and swelling). He is no longer skin and bones or on daily pain medication!
4:30am is clipping time! Chance has never been clipped but due to his unrelenting shedding and the allergic skin response, there’s no better time to try.
Chance was awesome! He stood quietly as I clipped him for over an hour and I decided to stop when I noticed he had fallen asleep. I guess not everyone is a night owl.
The other day the vet gave me a way to treat and get rid of my horse’s treatment- resistant, stubborn, and seemingly IMPOSSIBLE to get rid of scratches or Pastern Dermatitis.
She suggested mixing Betadine and Vaseline and applying it to the infected area, then wrapping it with Seren wrap and a standing wrap. Leave it on for 12 hours, remove, clean, and redo if necessary for up to 3 days.
Well, it worked! The scabs just fell off! No more trying to pick off the scabs resulting in the discomfort of my horse or struggling to get him to let me pick at him!
I have been fighting my horse’s scratches for about 15 years- antibiotics, ointments, MTG, baby oil to soften them, Zinc Oxide, wraps, immune boosters, etc- and nothing has worked until now!
Chance had a chiropractic adjustment, acupuncture, and electro stimulation on his cervical spine. He actually fell asleep resting his head on someone’s shoulder while receiving the stim for 20 minutes.
I also spoke to the vet about Chance’s unrelenting scratches on his hind legs. She suggested mixing Vaseline and Betadine and applying it to the affected area, wrapping seren wrap around it, and then wrapping it with a standing wrap. After 12 hours, remove the wraps and clean area. – scratches not improving. Once scabs have all fallen off then he can begin an Antibiotic like Baytril.
Chance is still stiff on both sides of neck, although he can bend with better balance (when vet holds one of Chance’s front legs up while he bends to the opposite side). He also shows Improved lateral flexibility on right side. Right base dorsal secrum and d-v flexion improved.
Chance’s skin is having a “typical chestnut reaction” and the vet advices to discontinue transfer factor due to his immune system working too hard, and then use 1/2 of current dose. Start Tellurium 1 teaspoon a day for 5 days and then 1x a week to help with his skin.
Chance in heaven while receiving stim
Chance being lunged after many years of not being lunged due to a DDFT injury and possible EPM treatments. He is still stiff and needs to build up the muscle in his hind end thus why he is being lunged. In addition to his chiropractic adjustments, acupuncture, stretches and massages, and all natural pain medication (MicroLactin), he is also doing physical therapy- walking over poles, walking serpentines, and walking up and down hills.
Chance greeting me as I drive up
Chance is continuing to gain weight, although as I said in the previous post, he still needs to put on a good 50-75 lbs. As the days continue to get warmer, Chance’s arthritis seems to become more manageable for him; his stride is longer and he runs around (mostly after Lucky) more frequently.
Unfortunately, when the farrier came out about two weeks ago Chance was too stiff to get his back right shoe on. The farrier decided to come back out to try and re-shoe him and, during that time in between, Chance must have tweaked it…AGAIN!
While Chance did not have a shoe on his back right I kept it wrapped to provide some protection and also even out all of his hooves. However, when I arrived I noticed that Chance was significantly twisting his back right leg inward at the walk & it had some swelling. The swelling was not horrible but it was noticeable. I cold hosed his leg for about 45 minutes while I groomed him & gave him a dose of Equinox (pain medication) and Ulcer Guard. I put on his back leg wrap to help with reducing the swelling and provide some extra support. Chance did his neck stretches effortlessly and was baring weight on his back hind.
But as I was grooming him I noticed, on the left side his chest, he had patches of hair loss and dandruff. The area did not look red or inflamed, nor did it seem itchy or painful. So I continued grooming him and decided to put a call into the vet to come and check his leg and the hair loss.
Of course, I turned to Google to try and find out what exactly could be the cause of the patches of hair loss.
According to a handful of sources, there are a few possibilities for hair loss- mites or Lice, a vitamin deficiency, rain rot or crud, or even just his natural shedding tendency. A skin scrape would help to confirm what may be the cause.
As for the swelling of Chance’s back right leg, I decided to call our previous vet who collected and injected Chance’s DDFT with stem cells to heal the hole in his tendon. We have some stem cells left over and I wanted to see if injecting his leg again would be of any benefit. I also would like to get an ultrasound recheck to ensure that there is not another injury to his DDFT tendon sheath again.
The twisting of his back hind leg is worrisome as well.
Everything I have read about EPM states that horses can have a relapse in symptoms after treatment is complete. My concern is that the twisting are due to the neurological symptoms coming back since Chance’s EPM treatment has been finished for a little over two weeks….
Our current vet believes that Chance’s ataxia and twisting is not due to EPM but his cervical spine instead. Could the twisting be worse due to the swelling of his hind leg? Or is the swelling and the twisting two separate issues all together?
Two days ago Chance’s vet came out to do a follow up and to give him and Luck their Spring shots.
Chance got some chiropractic adjustments and acupuncture as well. The vet stated that Chance was showing improvements in his Cervical (neck) flexibility and still had some tightness on his hind-end. She did one new stretch with him which entailed her lifting his front leg while her assistant had him bend his neck to the opposite side. He was able to do it on both sides while remaining balanced!!!! Where as before he could barely do cervical stretch with all four legs on the ground!
The vet said that Chance has gained weight and could use another 50-75lbs. She asked if he is finishing his dinner (4q twice a day) to which I answered yes. She suggested upping his feed to another quart twice a day totaling 5 quarts twice a day.
Chance’s feed schedule now includes the following:
AM: 5 q of Safe Choice Senior Feed by Nutrina, Transfer Factor (immune system booster), MicroLactin (for pain and inflammation). Hay Alfalfa mix, and 2q of Hay Stretcher
PM: 5 q of SCSF, SmartPak (Senior Flex supplement, immune system enhancer), Hay/alfalfa mix, and 2 q of Hay Stretcher.
Lucky got his first round of shots today and he was so well behaved! He stood there calmly and put his head under my arm while he got his shots.
The vet also took a look at Luck’s teeth.
There are four ways to age an equine by his teeth:
Well, Luck still has two baby teeth which do not seem to have adult teeth behind them that would ordinarily push out the baby teeth. So there goes option 1.
His teeth no longer have cups on them and are completely smooth which indicates he is around age 10/11.
I, along with Luck’s most recent owner, thought he was about 5 years old. However, his teeth seem to tell a different story. I’m wondering if the fact that Luck still has two of his baby teeth could be the reason for the cups prematurely disappearing? Or if he really is 10/11 years old….guess it’s time for a dental appointment.
The Chances We Take 
