I had an email from Lea, who has been keeping me up to date with Taz's progress. Taz had an annoyingly persistent abscess/infection in his RH and Lea took him to the veterinary hospital where they dosed him with a serious course of antibiotics. Fair enough, but what they didn't tell her (or her vet, or her farrier) was that they thought putting these on would be a good idea...
This was, according to the hospital, done "to take the loading off that wall"(!). Both Lea, Russ (the farrier), her vet and I were gobsmacked and would love them to explain to us why they think that sticking shoes on takes the load off the wall in a horse who is already barefoot.
To my eye, far from taking strain off the wall its actually tipped the load laterally and completely isolated it to the hoof wall - which is why they put in the filler, to get sole and frog stimulus - but wait - he already had that barefoot. In addition, the last thing you want in a limb which has had infection is to reduce circulation but - guess what - the shoe is doing that as well.
Its so bonkers its actually laughable but - as the saying goes - if all you have is a hammer...Sad, though, that a leading veterinary hospital simply put shoes and fillers on without bothering to think about what they were doing and what physiological effect it would have.
Luckily, the shoes were only on for a matter of days and Russ has now whipped them off. Taz is barefoot again and, to quote her farrier: "Russ is pleased with his feet and has said the shoes and gel have done no harm in that short time" [and yes, Lea is very fortunate in her superb farrier :-)].
Lea also sent pics yesterday as Taz has a new mate...is it a dog? Is it a sheep?
No - its stumpy Jake!
Clearly Taz isn't going to have things all his own way.
There is also news of Flynn E, and that's where the plea for good vibes comes in. He went home at the end of January and had been doing really well but over the last 4 weeks he and Stacy have had terrible luck. First he started suddenly losing weight and was eventually diagnosed with an inability to process glucose. Bizarrely his next door neighbour was also diagnosed with the same thing and Stacy suspects some sort of toxin affected them both.
Poor Flynn lost over 100kg in weight but is now starting to recover, but as if that wasn't enough 2 weeks ago he came in with swelling on his face and its transpired that he has a fractured skull, probably a really unfortunate kick injury but its the last thing that he or Stacy needed.
So, LOTS of blog good vibes for them please - you guys pulled it out of the bag for Paddy so now we need the same for Flynn :-)
10 comments:
Wow how cute is stumpy Jake!! :)
Poor poor Flynn and Stacy - thinking of them and really hope he recovers quickly
Shock at the equine hospital and loads of goodvibes for Flynn
If a human hospital did something equivalent there would be a huge investigation and heads rolling... absolutely shocked.. how unethical!
And all the best wishes to Flynn E .. what a rotten run of luck.. I hope his recovery is as swift and painless as possible.
Loads of healing and strength being sent to Flynn E. x
What an astounding story about Taz and the specialist hospital! It just shows to me the depth of the ingrained thinking and teaching for vets. These are intelligent people, I am only average but I can see that shoeing isn't going to help the hoof be stimulated to aid healing. Surely you need good circulation especially with an abscess? It would be interesting to know their rationale, perhaps they wanted to clamp the hooves?
Hope all goes well with the recovery for Jaz too.
firstly - i am beyond shocked at the vet hospital for doing that without the owners permission! i would in fact be reporting them to the RCVS over it - no one should 'treat' a horse without the owners permission unless in an emergency situation surely?! fingers crossed those nail holes grow out quickly!
secondly, poor old flynn! more fingers crossed that he is now healing and on the mend again, and back to being a cheeky lad!
I hope Flynn recovers soon, what a rotten run of luck! Best wishes Stacy.
I cannot believe the vets have treated Taz in this way without Leighs approval, I would be livid, thank god she has a good farrier :-/
I cannot believe the vets would do something like put shoes on without the owner's permission! I certainly hope that Taz isn't adversely affected because of it, and I sure hope that the "specialty" hospital gets an earful about their "treatment"! I would be livid!
I also hope that Flynn E gains back his lost pounds (where would we be without beet pulp!) and that his poor skull heals quickly and cleanly. Hugs to Stacy too - I'm sure she's worried sick about him. If they ever figure out what sort of toxin triggered the inability to process glucose, PLEASE let us know. Just so the rest of us can keep an eye out...
Thanks all for the vibes I have passed them all Flynns way. It really has been a set back not only because he can't be worked but also because he is on a large amount of steroids which of course have their dangers. Fingers crossed though that his feet don't seem to be suffering from the steroids but I am watching for laminitis like a hawk. I hope to be able to start working him again soon as he is already happier , think that headache is easing,so hopefully shouldn't take to long for his feet to get back to normal.
Thanks again for the vibes and I'll keep you all updated with his progress xxxx
Loads of good vibes to Flynn from Paddy and me (Debbie). We are thinking of you both Stacy xx
It doesn't unfortunately surprise me one bit that the hospital put those shoes on, but I hope she refuses to pay for them.
C
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