No Hoof, No Horse

Do you remember the bullet we dodged? Well, as it turns out, the wound was deeper than first thought.

We made it through the clinic just fine. Sydney never took a lame step, although he was on 2 grams of bute a day. By Tuesday, he was as lame as he had been before we pulled out the offending nail.

In case you missed the first part of this story, Sydney got a "hot nail" last Tuesday. My farrier found the "hot nail," pulled the shoe, and then replaced an older shoe to avoid using the same nail holes. Sydney was nearly sound by that afternoon and looked great on Saturday morning as I loaded up for the clinic.

By Tuesday, he was quite lame again. I called my vet and asked for his advice. Pull the shoe ASAP came the reply. All sorts of terrible things can happen to the delicate tissues of the hoof if left untreated. He didn't need to say more. I told him I'd be down at the vet hospital within 30 minutes.

I have a great vet hospital. Dr. Tolley was waiting for me with his team, and they got to work as soon as I had Sydney unloaded. Caution, for the very squeamish, there is a photo with some blood down below.

Dr. Tolley is pulling the shoe.

Dr. Tolley has found where he thinks the hot nail erupted. You can see the hole just above the tip of his paring knife.

Yep. This is definitely the spot.

Dr. Tolley used the hoof testers to apply a squeezing pressure to the edges of the hole in an effort to gently squeeze out any blood, pus, or foreign material.

No pus, just blood.

A closer look at Sydney's new hole.

Poulticing with Numotizine.

First of many wraps.

The plan is to rewrap every other day and try to put a shoe back on this coming Wednesday. We'll have to wait and see how the hole heals up. 

Very big sigh ...