Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Game Plan

All four of Tiff's hooves have been set firmly on the road to recovery. She is looking brighter and more feisty with each day and is even starting to get a bit of her bitchy alpha-mare personality back. When Salem stopped by her stall to visit the other night, Tiff pinned her ears back and nipped at him--a great sign! And in order to fully restore Tiff to her former alpha self, Candy has laid out a thorough plan for Tiff's rehab. It goes as follows:
  • X-rays: During the consultation, Candy asked Judy to see all previous rads in order to establish where Tiff's rotation had been and where it was currently. When Judy replied that no rads had been pulled, Candy and I both had to pick our jaws up off the floor! Candy told her,"We need X-rays of this horse's front hooves. ASAP." Luckily, Judy was able to get ahold of Dr. F immediately and he came out the next day to shoot the films; we reviewed them last week (I will get them up as soon as I can figure out a way to scan them). In a few months, we'll pull another set to reevaluate.
  • White Lightning soaks every other day--this is to kill all the fungus/bacteria/etc. in Tiff's hooves, tighten the laminae/wall connection, and soften all the retained sole/bar that needs to come off 

Tiff enjoying her WL soak (we put Cavallo gel pads in the dry sacks
to give her a bit more comfort during her soaks)
  • Oral arnica & calendula three times per day--this will promote healing from the inside
  • Cavallo boots and gel pads worn 24/7 to provide cushioning and keep Tiff as comfy as possible while her hooves are being rehabilitated
  • Hoof trims once a week--there is a LOT of extra hoof that needs to come off, but taking it all at once would cause Tiff to be in a great deal of pain; making small, frequent changes will help her heal both quickly and comfortably. We've got three trims out of the way already and Tiff has improved exponentially each time. (I can NOT say enough good things about Cheryl Henderson's HoofPrint Trim; or my trimmer Candy Giordano, who applies it to perfection!)
  • Diluted Lysol sprays every other day (on non-White Lightning days) in order to keep hoof funk at bay. We also use this solution to clean out Tiff's Cavallo boots every day
  • Arnica Gel applied to the soles every day--this helps alleviate some of Tiff's discomfort and promotes healing of  bruising
  • Icthamol applied to the large area of separation on the RF hoof (where live laminae is exposed) every day to pull out any infection and close up the wound
  • Gold Bond Medicated Powder dusted into the boots every day to absorb excess moisture and discourage hoof rot
Simple enough, right? ;-) I swear, Tiffany now has more "product" than the most snotty, self-obsessed prima donna. Just getting everything set up for her daily spa treatments takes at least 15 minutes of schleping armfuls of stuff out to the washrack. No joke, EVERYTHING in the following pic is for Tiff:


On the far rack: freshly laundered fly sheet and fly mask
On the near rack: Alushield, bandage scissors, rolled cotton, Lanacaine wound spray, fly spray,
brush, hoofpick, Ace bandages, Vetrap, dry sacks, bath towel
On the ground: vinegar, White Lightning, icthamol, Gold Bond, arnica gel, gel heel inserts, plastic Rubbermaid containers

The other essential ingredients to Tiff's recovery: lots of love/TLC, positive attitudes, movement, movement, and more movement. They're all free, and they're all absolute musts. And with all the positive energy being showered on Tiff from near and far, I *know* that we will restore her to all her former alpha-bitch mare glory. :-) 

6 comments:

eventer79 said...

Oh, yay for happier pony! And that is a lot of stuff!

smazourek said...

Isn't it amazing what a good trim and getting those GD shoes off can make?

I've never thought of applying arnica to hoof soles for the bruising, but it makes sense. I use arnica on myself all the time, it's good stuff.

Kudos to the owner for doing the right thing for her horse. She's got a lot of work to do but she's finally on the right path!

Frizzle said...

Judy sent me an e-mail today and asked me to copy/paste a note from her to my blog. I figured the comments section was the most appropriate place. Yes, I will tell her how to sign up for a Google account so she can post comments in the future, but for now, this should work just fine. :-D

"I had no idea Tiffany's hooves looked this bad..... when the Ferrier would come do her feet, I was never there....He's very busy and would schedule her when he could get out to the Ranch, but it seems I was
always at my Dad's when he worked on them or I would have been there to watch what was happening......he tried real hard to help her be more comfortable, but she needed more than a Ferrier is able
to provide to heal her Laminitis because of her Cushing's Disease....... all I ever saw was her feet already wrapped up.....I had no clue they looked like they did under those bandages. And I never understood Laminitis until Candy and Meghan Educated me on what she really needed now that she has one of the killers that comes with Cushing's Disease....

Had I seen what her hooves really looked like under the wraps then Candy and Meghan would have been taking care of them LONG. LONG AGO to help her...I watched her when she started laying down everyday constantly, My heart was breaking.........I finally had to look for another avenue to take to help her, or put her down.........Thank God Meghan who had mentioned numerous times about bare foot trimming, was there to talk to me about her Trimmer Candy who always looked at Tiff when she came out to the Ranch, and always said.... "I can help that Horse"...She told me Candy was coming out on Monday, would I consider consulting with her.....I immediately said YES... Candy saved her horse Salem's feet and many, many others horses that have Foundered.......she is a Certified Professional who owns The Healing Touch Equine Bare Foot Trims and Massage Svc. ....so now with Candy and Meghan's Expertise, Qualified Knowledge, and Daily Quality of Care and procedure control being giving to Tiffany.......she is progressing and doing just awesome..........Hell...Tiffany felt better and was more comfortable after her ......VERY 1st TRIM and TREATMENT........then she has been for months...and she continues to feel better everyday I can see the relief in her eyes.........with that and...with Dr. F's good care and complete control of her Cushing's Disease ( which is what caused her to founder in the first place).......I have no doubt that she will be back to being a bitchy mare again....it will take a while but it's happening.........
The sparkle is already back in her eyes and you can tell she feels so much better....also she is back to being "Miss Piggy" again.....She eats and eats.....like she use too...

Thank U Thank U, Everybody
Judy"

Kristen Eleni Shellenbarger said...

Oh that is so great from Judy :) You are great for educating her and not reserving your knowledge and trying/trying/trying to show her! Im glad Judy is seeing the positive change in Tiff :)
So-re WL. The soaks DO soften the sole?? I'm wondering if indeed I should stop that on Laz for a while b/c of that..being his sole is so tiny thin.

Achieve1dream said...

That's awesome what you did for her and I'm glad the owner agreed to all of this and is seeing positive changes in Tiff. :) There is a lot of great information in these posts to go along with such a heartwarming story so thank you for sharing.

Herryponting said...
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