Jay Needs Jingles!

I know I must be getting a reputation for long posts...sorry! I hope you will read, though, and I did include pictures! Jay needs some jingles!

A lot has been happening with Jay. After a little over two weeks this is what Jay's glue-on shoe looked like:

The new farrier came out 6-9-09, and removed that shoe. It was about to "remove" itself, LOL! She and I decided to try the Hoof-It composite shoes that I mentioned in my last post. I didn't get a picture of them on him, but this is what one looks like on another horse she has done:

She spent about three hours (!) working with Jay, who was not entirely cooperative at times, mainly because he hurt. Because we were trying the Hoof-It shoes, Jay's LF aluminum shoe had to come off too. There still wasn't anything to nail to, so both shoes were glued on.

Jay stayed overnight at my friend's place, where I had met the farrier, to let the glue dry. The next day I was getting reports that sounded like Jay was virtually crippled! So the farrier was super to meet me out there again that night to try to get Jay into a better situation ASAP. He was about 3 out of 5 lame which is still not good, but better than crippled! She began by removing the bar in the shoes with her nippers, and that helped Jay some, but he was still clearly uncomfortable. So off the Hoof-It shoes came! Between the shoes, glue, and overnight stay, there went about $60 down the drain! Ouch! The farrier has been great about helping me out with cost as best she can, though. She has really been great, and our next attempt was trying some hoof boots...and she let me borrow her own personal boots. So these are the Cavallo hoof boots with Happy Hoof pads inside them:

I have to add that this farrier's trim virtually eliminated the characteristic "twist" that Jay has had in his LH leg as he moves off. As we were watching Jay move, watching for it, I noticed some steps that I didn't like. So I did some neurological tests like circling and the tail pull, with not very encouraging results. I knew Jay was hurting from all the foot soreness and changes though, so I tried not to panic and took him home to see how he would settle in. The neuro tests steadily improved, so I think it was just from soreness.

Jay looked relatively good in the boots after 24 hours, and there were no signs of rubs. He had increased digital pulses which worried me, but TPR were OK, so I gave him bute. The next morning Jay looked good and seemed pretty happy, no increased pulses, and so with some more bute I made the decision, with some trepidation, to take Jay to pick up the new saddle. He looked good on arrival there, and was such a trooper and let me sit on him in the saddle for about 15 minutes to check the fit and make sure it was adjusted correctly. Not a very good shot, but here it is:

When we got home I removed Jay's boots to check everything over, and there were some rubs. Aargh! They weren't really bad, and I didn't want them to get worse, so I decided to not continue using the boots. I didn't feel comfortable trying them with vet-wrap, which is supposed to help with rubbing. I called Davie County Large Animal Hospital (DCLAH) to get an appointment with Dr. Meeker. Jay is scheduled for the farrier meeting July 14th (YAY!), but I wanted him to be checked before then. The soonest I could get an appointment with Dr. Meeker was this past Monday. The farrier met us there, too, which was really nice. She was VERY instrumental in getting Jay into the farrier meeting, too!

Dr. Meeker did a low block that blocked just the heels, and Jay went relatively sound. His coronary bands are still so inflamed from the boots that they are contributing some. He also did x-rays, and I was really nervous at this point as laminitis thoughts were being floated about. I was also worried about navicular, etc., because Jay was SO painful and lame.

Thankfully the x-rays were actually pretty good. There were no signs of laminitis and no navicular changes...YAY! However, Jay's sole depth is less than 1cm, which is about the minimum "acceptable" thickness. There is just still nothing to nail to in order to get a shoe on to protect him! Dr. Meeker said that Jay is excellent for the farrier's meeting, we just have to keep him comfortable until then. So I have found a better place to keep Jay for at least the next three weeks so that he can have good stall rest with limited turnout. The farrier also let me borrow her own Easyboot Gloves, with thicker Happy Hoof pads, for turnout.

Jay is so lame and uncomfortable that we did not get into evaluating his LH "twist," whether that is a contributing factor to the shoe pulling, and the effect that this most recent trim has had on it. Things are complicated right now!