At the end of July 2021 Star was diagnosed with impaction colic. He came through fine, but when he was well enough to begin some serious exercise again, we started to see some sole bruising. We called the professionals, and they did not think there was anything worth checking and just to monitor.
Early September 2021 he came down with laminitis. The vet checked Star and thought that he would be fine, and said it was only minor. He did not feel the need to x-ray but to give him 2 weeks in boots and a small yard and if he is not better, he will come back out and x-ray. Star improved quickly but unfortunately the boots began to rub and eventually he could not be booted because of the rubbing. It was fine we thought though because he seemed to have recovered well.
Late October 2021 Star’s trimmer came to trim, and she took all the wall off his feet. He could not even make it back to the yard without showing lameness. As he was still recovering from the boot rubbing, we could not boot him. That evening he began bleeding at the toes and we could see he was very sore. The vet was called, the trimmer was called and a farrier from interstate was also called. The advice from the vet and the farrier (on viewing pictures) was that the trim caused the issue and that he was walking on sole, and this was causing the pain. We needed to wait it out they said.
Star began to get worse but then seemed to recover quiet well, with a few tweaks in the diet. He was still sore but did not seem to be as bad, although it did feel that he had a digital pulse.
At this time though, Star was only laying down once during the day (which is always normal for him) and apart from looking sore he was striding well, but he was developing pressure sores on the hocks. He soon went off all his feed and this is when I knew something was wrong, so my quest was to get another vet.
In November a different vet came. We had x-ray’s but it was interesting as the decision to x-ray was an afterthought as he also felt that it was pressure from bruising because of walking on sole, but things had taken a turn for the worse and there was rotation and very little sole thickness. He was then locked up and had DJM sole supports on and he was more comfortable immediately. He was also on a small amount of Bute.
The vet was unable to offer any referrals for farriers or trimmers, he did not offer any other suggestions except to keep him locked up in the small yard, use the DJM sole supports (and purchase more) and his written report provided the prognosis as ‘guarded’.
So, I was not prepared to sit and wait and wanted to do all I could to ensure Star had the best possible chance of living through this. The DJM’s were flat within 48 hours and although we ordered more, it was going to take some time for them to arrive in the post. I then went to social media and searched through groups for farrier recommendations in my area and narrowed it down to two. The first farrier I contacted came out within 2 days and he has been a godsend.
Then came the nutrition; I wanted to see what I need to tweak to give him the best chance possible to live through this. At the time he was on, minerals, Metabolic-S, Mag a -GG, Equigesta Pre and rosehips, and I had been giving him cleavers for week prior to the first x-rays. So, I then put him on the Founder and Laminitis diet from the website.
Below are the X-rays from November.
The farrier put shoes and pads on (as there was no option) and Star was immediately so much more comfortable. So much so he was off Bute the next day. From then on there was improvement every day - so the trick now was to try and keep him quiet to allow for as much healing and sole growth as possible.
The decision was made to x-ray a couple of days before the farrier came (every 5 weeks).
Below are the X-rays from December.
I am so glad that I decided to do the full laminitis diet you have on your site: this is from the report from the vet below and this is 4 weeks since last X-ray:
"Solar depth has improved to approx. 15mm on both feet (from 7mm), and rotation has improved to approx. 10 degrees (from 12 degrees) however a completely accurate measurement is not possible due to the distortion/bulging of the dorsal hoof wall. There is still some evidence of gas lucency indicating hoof wall separation, and there is excessive toe".
Here are the latest X-rays from January 2022. These are badly exposed as the machine was giving them problems.
We now feel the laminitis diet can have a little rest, but we are still using the Tendon and Bone mix and the Hoof oil and some of the other products and they seem to be balanced in Feed XL. This is never going to change I suspect.
After the last x-rays we began to exercise (just walking in hand), and the farrier did not use pads for the January trim, but still backward shoes. He will still be in the yard for a while. There has been a great change so far, especially as the vet had written him off with his prognosis of ‘guarded’ and no real support to me or him.
Your support has been first class and I would not have been able to do this without you. The farrier said to me last week that horses are put down for less than Star showed, and he is over the moon with the results so far!
The sole growth is remarkable for this period, and this is what he needs for the farrier to help re-align his feet. Fingers crossed next month’s x-rays won’t let us down!
