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Three years ago, after
just receiving the final score I needed to obtain my USDF Bronze Medal, my Third Level horse Artist came up lame. Actually, it started over the course of several months, with a training session here and there that he
felt the all-too-familiar “not quite right”. Sometimes he felt lame
in the hind end; then after getting re-shod, he felt lame in the front. Finally
one day he got in the wrong paddock, which made him go wee wee wee all over the place, to then come up obviously lame the
next day in the left hind. This time the lameness persisted. I then called out the vet. My regular vet was out of town
so her temporary replacement came out who specialized in lamenesses. He did a
full workup and watched him lunge. In watching the horse go, he confirmed the
L hind lameness, but also commented that the horse appeared short on his L front also.
But we focused on the hind end since it was a more pronounced lameness. After
several nerve blocks, we narrowed the problem (we thought) down in the fetlock area.
A sonogram presented an area in the deep digital flexor tendon that looked like a tear.
He said this can be a career-ending injury (to which I sobbed). He recommended
surgery at Morven Park.
So I took the horse to
Morven Park; they re-sonogrammed the leg, and the spot that the other vet had seen was also evident on the other leg, so that
was apparently a normal “spot” for this horse. They did however say
that the annular ligament was thickened and that it needed to be split to allow more flexibility in the joint. They said THAT was causing the lameness. So the horse was
left at Morven for surgery. They went in and split the ligament and said that
while they were in there, they found a tear in the superficial flexor tendon and they repaired that as well. That tear did not show up on the sonogram. Rehab of course
included lots of stall rest and hand-walking until follow-up appt. w/ vet several weeks later.
On re-examination, horse was sound. So I was off to my slow riding build
up ( walking, to one min. trot, 2 min, etc) Horse stayed sound for a couple of
weeks, then went lame. Took him back to Morven.
Then I was told that the horse had been lame from the tear in the tendon, not the thickened annular ligament (reverse
of what I was told before) On examination again, they then went up the leg and
determined that he was lame in the hock. I couldn’t buy that, but let them
Xray and inject his hock. A couple of rides later, horse lame again. Took him back up to Morven at which point they said the lameness was in FRONT and to put shoes on him. Took him home, put shoes on. Still lame…
Now we are into almost a year of this nonsense, and I still have no diagnosis.
My vet came out and recommended
putting degree pads on the left hind, to shorten the tendon and offer it some relief, then slowly lower the pads until they
were not needed. I was skeptical, but thought I had nothing to lose and put them
on. One week later, I realized that was a huge mistake and pulled all the shoes
and threw Artie outside 24/7.
Totally frustrated and out of money,
I posted a notice on Ultimate Dressage website about donating my horse. I got
a response from a girl in South Carolina who said she has
had a lot of success w/ rehabbing horses just like Artie. Please send her a tape
so she could take a look at his movement (I had videos of him from shows.) She
was instantly interested and commented that he should take several months but that he should go sound and she would see how
far he was willing/able to go in dressage. I replied that apparently she should
have been a VET because how did SHE think she would make my horse sound. Once
she found a trailer to borrow, she would be on her way to pick up Artie. She
had told me what the rehab would consist of. She does a high performance barefoot
trim, none of which any farrier I had ever met had done. She left the horses
out 24/7 to provide constant movement, particularly for the rehab horses, as more movement/more blood flow means quicker healing. This apparently had worked for horses she took that had foundered, who had “navicular”,
extremely contracted, etc. Meantime, I started corresponding with a woman in
Canada who was telling me the same things
this other girl was. I visited the Canada
website (www.equinextion.com) and studied all the articles and case stories. Two days before the SC
girl was to pick up Artie, I cancelled on her!!!! I wanted to try this different approach; what did I have to lose?????
This new barefoot approach takes into
consideration the whole horse, the mechanics of the foot and how to trim the foot to allow the foot to function properly. When the foot is allowed to work properly and WITHOUT SHOES, virtually every undesirable
problem with the horse DISAPPEARS!!! The biggest example is the “NQR”- not quite right “syndrome”;
then navicular, founder, laminitis, contracted heels, white line disease, thrush, heaves, hives, other skin problems, girthiness,
head tossing, training “issues”; the list goes on: DISAPPEARS.
So many times vets go everywhere but
the foot to diagnose lameness issues. But over 90% of lamenesses occur in the
foot! NOW I had an explanation as to why the vets could not diagnose my horse’s
lameness. I do believe that it started out as a soft tissue problem behind, caused
by compensating for pain. Then the front foot lameness obviously from the front
feet.
As I think back over the past several
years of working w/ Artie when I could NOT get a light canter even though he was BORN uphill; his movement had been deteriorating,
but he was such a big scopey mover that the change was overlooked/not really noticed.
I now have a whole barn full of barefoot
horses who move better than they EVER have and are as healthy as can be. I also
have had (Lisa Huhn) the woman down from Canada
twice who got us started on the high performance barefoot trim, and I am now trimming my own horses as well as a few outside
horses.
Three years later, and we just competed
in a show at Morven Park
that was the three year anniversary
of the last show I had done with Artie. He was brilliant, sounder than ever and
got a 65% on Second Level Test 2!!!! His movement as a two year old is back and here to stay!
I beg anyone who is struggling with soundness issues to pursue
this new barefoot approach!! Even if your horse is “sound”, please consider barefoot and be amazed at the improvement
to your horse’s performance and behavior.
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