QUEST EQUINE WELFARE INC.

HOMED

Quest Affiliate Carer - Fiona Findlay ~ 'Bramblewood Sanctuary'

Arrived 15.05.10

*click to enlarge images.

JJ arrived at Bramblewood today, along with her paddock mate Ed after a half day’s journey from Laguna. These aged Appaloosas have been surrendered by their owner who was concerned that Ed had lost a considerable amount of condition recently. JJ was surrendered along with Ed out of concern that one/both of them may fret for the other.

Ed and JJ have been owned by the same family for eleven years. For the last five of those years they have been in the care of someone else. Around Christmas 2009 that situation changed and Ed and JJ were moved to a property at Laguna in the Watagan Mountains where the family visited most weekends.

JJ is looking great – apart from her tail which is typical Appaloosa!
She left the float and immediately noticed the other Bramblewood horses and responded to the calls of a couple of them. She’s very human focused and seems very affectionate.  JJ is 21, and shows no sign of the loss of condition that Ed has suffered. She’s well rounded in the rump and has a bit of a belly on her. She didn't object when a complete stranger (me) checked out her teeth and lifted her tail.

Both horses were obviously tired, and probably sore so they were yarded for the night together and given just  hay for dinner. Edward was rugged, (with absolutely no fuss), to try and ensure the feed he is given doesn’t get wasted on trying to keep warm on Tamworth’s chilly nights.

16.05.10

JJ is a little lame this morning in her fronts. I can’t really tell whether it’s her feet or shoulders but, I’m guessing that it’s probably just soreness from the trip. She has a nasty crack in her near side front hoof but it’s not big enough that it should be causing her a problem.

After breakfast both horses were moved to a small paddock close to the main house where there is plenty of feed and they can be watched closely.

17th  - 20th

JJ has become quite lame in her off side front – not the hoof with the split, but, because she’s bearing more of her weight on the near side hoof ,the split is becoming worse so the farrier has been called. It’s taking her a while to walk up for her feed and she’s obviously feeling tender.

21.05.10

JJ is acutely lame this morning. It’s still dark when I do morning feeds and she wasn’t standing vigil at the fence with Edward like she usually is. But, she’s not feeling so poorly that she’s off her feed. When she heard me coming on the quad bike she started whinnying to let me know where to bring her feed to!The Vet is booked to come and see both horses tomorrow to give them the once over, and I’ve spoken to him today about her lameness.

22.05.10

Vet visit. Both horses get Tetanus/Strangles vaccinations and worming. Ordinarily new arrivals at Bramblewood get wormed on day 1, but I had been worried about Edward’s scouring so left it until the vet had seen him.

JJ’s body is in very good condition. She has no bother getting through her feed, but had her teeth floated just because she’s 21 and we don’t know when they were last done.

Her off-side front hoof though is a problem. The Vet says she has a case of White Line disease "about as bad as it can get", and this, coupled with an abscess which he drains is causing her lameness.
She’s on bute twice a day and we are to bathe the hoof and change the dressing daily.

24.05.10

Farrier visits, and he is pleasantly surprised by the quiet, well behaved horses I have for him to see – not the usual Bramblewood broncs!
Apart from her off-side front, JJ’s hooves aren’t too bad. She has had a trim, and the farrier cut her a leather sole to protect the base of her bad foot. This goes between the cotton swabs and the adhesive bandage to provide her with some extra cushioning.

27.05.10

There hasn’t really been any improvement in JJ’s lameness and she’s run out of bute so I rang the Vet to get some more. The Vet thinks that she really should have responded better, so we’re going to the hospital tomorrow for an x-ray to make sure there is no infection in the pedal bone or something more sinister.

28.05.10

JJ floats like a dream and limps to the yard like a trooper – then starts stuffing her face with the hay the Vet has left for her!
The Vet says he’s not completely unhappy with the results of the x-rays. They are apparently ‘interesting’ and show that JJ has a pretty bad rotation of the pedal bone at the toe. It can be difficult to tell, but he doesn’t think there is an infection of the pedal bone. She has a prolapse of the laminae and this can mean that an abscess can take longer to sort out. Basically, she is walking directly on the sole of her hoof. There is no horny hoof growth over the site of the abscess and the laminae is poking through – a bit like a hernia would. Naturally this can create an entry way for bacteria so she’s being kept bandaged with the dressing being changed daily. We’re going to keep in touch and give it a couple of weeks to see whether there is any improvement. We’ll continue with the bute and the bandaging to see how it pans out.

1.06.10

I've just spoken to the Vet. He's been again this morning to see JJ, and agrees with me that she is not improved.  In fact, he thinks she may be worse.
Given the lack of progress and the 'spectacular' rotation of her pedal bone shown in the x-rays, he thinks this is probably a long standing problem that for some reason has become active again. We are working on an electronic copy of the x-rays and will post those as soon as we can.
When he first saw JJ the discharge her hoof produced was definitely pus, so an abscess was the obvious diagnosis. Now the discharge has changed and is clear, and is probably indicative of acute laminitis. So it means we are dealing with an inflammatory issue rather than an infection. But, it is pretty unusual that only one hoof is affected and affected so badly. So, there are some things that just don't add up and further investigation is needed.  At this stage there are no easy answers.
She's back to the Vet tomorrow, and will be in for a couple of days. The Vet is talking about intravenous pain relief. She'll be having an x-ray of her other hoof for comparison and will be getting a visit from the remedial farrier who will do a strip of the front wall of her hoof and fit a heart-bar shoe to transfer her weight to her heels.
The Vet will also be doing a contrast study to ensure there is actually a blood supply to her hoof. It's really not good news if there isn't.
This has been a really sharp decline for JJ so far as her mobility is concerned. A horse that came off the float a little tender with a history of a 'problem' with this particular hoof is now virtually a three-legged horse with an uncertain future.
The Vet and I have even had the 'quality of life' discussion and he agrees with me that at the moment JJ's quality of life is pretty ordinary :(   She's certainly happy enough to eat and be sooked and interact with the other horses and she is getting about, but only just, and it's pretty obvious that she can't go on as she is forever.
I had imagined that Edward would be the horse that would cause the most anxiety but he's as happy as Larry and putting on condition.

2.06.10

JJ is in at the Veterinary Hospital again today, and I've just heard from the Vet. She's had a nerve block so that they could put a heart bar shoe her and she's had a portion of the hoof wall removed.
She'll be getting some intravenous bute again tonight and she'll be having a sleep over which causes me some concern because she was whinnying away this morning at the top of her lungs calling for some equine companionship - in the middle of Tamworth suburbia!
Once the nerve block wears off we will know a bit more.
I thought this morning that she was moving a little easier and standing a bit squarer but the Vet thinks she was probably just as lame as ever. Wishful thinking on my part I guess.
She did not want to be caught this morning!  Once she realised the float was parked beside the paddock for her she became quite muley and didn't want to lead. I've got some video footage which hopefully will be clear enough so that you can see her movement - such as it is.
There is not a bit of sourness about her despite the obvious pain she is in. She is interested in everything going on about her, and the first thing she did this morning when we left her in the yards at the Vet hospital was stick her head through the fence to munch on the green grass outside the yard.
One of the biggest things she has working in her favour at the moment is the great spirit she has.
I have an appointment with the Vet tomorrow during my lunch break to view the x-ray results and talk about our plan of attack.
No sleep again tonight.

3.06.10

I've just been to see JJ in hospital. She's looking a bit miserable  - more bored than anything I think, but when we let her out of the yard and led her there was very little of the usual 'hopping'.  Yay!  She's bearing weight on 'the hoof' and when we left her to graze in the yard she walked about at ease.
Of course, she's on a decent dose of bute for pain control but, all in all, even the Vet is feeling a bit happier. But he cautions me - we are not out of the woods yet.
We had heavy rain in Tamworth overnight and it is expected to continue for the next couple of days so, for the next couple of nights, JJ will be boarding at a property not too far from Bramblewood where they have a warm, dry box for her to be kept in. It's really important that the hoof be kept clean and dry, and that's just impossible at the moment at my place.
She'll be getting get twice daily changes of her bandaging and injections of bute for pain control.
Hopefully she'll get home on the weekend.

4.06.10

The Vet has just telephoned. Apparently JJ was full of beans this morning and walking a bit better. She'll be home tomorrow - and moving into her new 'accommodation'.  More to come about that!

6.06.10

JJ is finally home. It didn't happen on Saturday as expected, but she was home by lunchtime on Sunday. She's certainly moving more easily than she was but she'll be confined to a small yard for the next few weeks at least. She still has to have her foot bandaged, and that needs to be changed every day. She'll continue to wear her boot for quite a while yet, and she'll be on bute twice a day for the foreseeable future.
In solitary at the Vet. You can see how boggy the yard became because of heavy overnight rain - that's why she ended up boarding at a pretty swanky equine establishment just out of town. Because it has rained on and off for about a week in Tamworth, we had to make special arrangements for her here at Bramblewood. Things are pretty - um - 'rustic' is probably the best word - here and we don't have stables for the residents, so, to keep her foot dry and clean, my brother and I turned my carport into a makeshift stable. Of course, the rain has cleared now, so rather than keep her away from her buddy we've made her a small yard within Edward's paddock.

The trimming done on her hoof looks pretty brutal, but her increased mobility indicates that the special shoe is doing the trick. I'll get some photographs when I change the dressing tomorrow - if there's enough daylight. The Vet told me today  that he thinks she's turned the corner and that he's happy with her progress - much happier than he was just a few days ago when her prognosis was poor. Edward's pretty happy she's home too :)

7.06.10

Some photos taken at the daily dressing change. The first photograph shows the shoe JJ is wearing. You'll see she still has some discharge from the site of the abscess and the laminae is still protruding. Like all of JJ's hoof issues, rectification of the prolapse will be a long term effort. There is also some bulging of the sole on the left side of the frog.

The second photograph shows a front view of the hoof with the pretty graphic stripping of the hoof wall. It's a fuzzy photo on account of the cheap camera, poor photographer, 400kg horse leaning on me and the frost making me shiver! But, I think you'll get the idea. We are looking at about nine months for the hoof to regrow properly but already there is harder tissue forming on the hoof wall. The hoof is bandaged and JJ wears the rubber boot which provides a clean, dry environment and excellent cushioning for her. I'd highly recommend that a set of these boots be added to every equine first aid kit.

9.06.10

Because JJ is confined to a small yard, it's difficult to tell whether she's moving any easier. She's certainly hesitant to pivot on her bad hoof, and she tends to hop rather than bear weight on it while turning. But she will stand squarely on it and this morning we led her out of the yard a short way just so that we could observe her walking in a straight line. It certainly wasn't far - maybe 10 metres at the most - but it seemed to be a more normal movement. But, as was pointed out to me - it was 0 degrees this morning at Bramblewood and my own movement was a little stilted!

3.07.10

JJ is doing nicely. I'm feeling more confident about her future so - new jammies - pink for girls :) Excuse the surly face - Edward is moving in from the left of the shot to check out JJ's news threads.

We are still changing the dressing on her hoof every second day. The prolapse of her laminae seems much improved. When I change the dressing I think to myself 'no ooze is good news' and, I'm happy to report that we've had no ooze now for over a week. JJ will be wearing the rubber boot for a long, long time yet. The sole of her hoof is compromised, and stepping on a rock could cause further damage, and, if there's one thing we have at Bramblewood it's rocks. Her pain management meds have been reduced by 50%, and she's showing no sign of increased pain, so the dose will be coming down again soon.

One thing I have learned about JJ is that she really hates the cold. My farrier, who knows I don't ride anymore, suggested that JJ was so quiet I might want to scramble on board for a ride, (this was before we found out about her hoof issues of course). My response was that since he's a professional horse trainer, he might need to saddle up first and take the initial broncs. 'You won't get many of those I don't think - she's sooooooo quiet'. I can report that JJ has plenty of bronc in her! The next time we have a minus 5 frost I'll try and capture the display on film!

14.10.10