I went to the yard yesterday with the intention of quickly giving Filly an apple and then playing with Billy. As I approached Filly's field it became apparent that something was very wrong. She was standing with her rear right hoof off the ground, but grazing. She did not come over to the fence, but stayed where she was with hoof hovering. I rolled and apple towards her, not wanting to get to close because of the ring worm, she looked at the apple, stretched her neck towards it, looked at me and gave a pained plaintiff whinny. She was clearly in pain, but then confused me by briefly changing leg. Sod ring worm she needed help !
I quickly ran to the yard to get more experienced help. The head girl came down to look her over, but could find nothing wrong with her legs and decided to call in the yard owner, Rick.
Whilst waiting for him to arrive I had a longer look at her and noticed a line running up the front of her hoof. Initially it looked like a bit of old grass, but when I ran my finger over it it became obvious that the hoof had a nasty split. Rick arrived and with a stick we picked out her hoof and to my horror found that the split when across the bottom of her hoof most of the way to the frog. This has to be sore.
Rick set off to the yard to disinfect and prepare a stable for her (we are pretty sure the ring worm is dead, but are taking no chances). He asked me and my wife to get her to the yard.
We could not get her to move. She would not put that hoof on the ground. Eventually with wife on the lead rope pulling and me at the back pushing we got her most of the way to the gate. Rick reappeared and with his help we started to get her walking.
Having got her through the gate she seemed to get the idea that she was going to a stable, and the walking became easier. You could see the effort this required in her face, tight lips, unblinking eyes and general tenseness.
I could not believe how brave she was on that walk. By the time we got to the yard small amounts of blood were coming out of the split. She looked so relieved to be in the box and immediately started eating hay.
In the meantime that vet had been called. She examined the wound and said it was particularly nasty, and hopes that it has not caused and fracture of the bones. She found the hoof to be very unstable, able to move the bits independently. After many injections which she just accepted with barely a movement the vet pared away some of the hoof to allow the injury to drain properly, and also to see how far the split went. The result was indeterminate. The hoof has now been poulticed and we will wait until Monday for another examination.
Throughout all this she was very calm, to the extent that the vet commented on how good she was for a 2 year old. I feel very pleased that she must really see humans as partners trying to help her, not as predators trying to harm her. Even when the humans are causing her pain, she seems to understand that we are trying to help.
I will keep you all posted on her progress, but feel positive that the outcome will be good in the long term. In the meantime there are all sorts of bits of Parelli trianing that can be done within her stable to keep her mind occupied and not waste the time as mere "box rest"
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