Marg and Rod Horne,
NSW Australia
NSW Australia
Paws’ Story
I knew, as I stood looking at the amount of blood pouring from
my horse’s heel, that this was a serious injury that would take a
long time to heal. What I didn’t realise was that incorrect
trimming over the next decade would compound the problem
to the point where the horse was lame more often than not and
therefore unrideable.
My horse’s story isn’t that unusual. I bred a beautiful first-cross
quarter horse foal with perfectly normal confirmation and a
lovely temperament. In 1993 she was broken in and was
being brought into regular work. Unfortunately, she has a
terrible habit of pawing the ground when food is due (hence
her nickname “Paws”). One day, she stuck her right front hoof
through the fence, pulled back, and partially sliced off her
heel. Blood everywhere. Agony for both horse and rider. The
vet suggested that the best thing to do was to stick the flap of
heel down and hope (because heel regenerates so slowly, if
the flap of skin had reattached then months of healing and
pain would be avoided).
Unfortunately, all that sticking the flap of heel down did was
create the perfect environment for an abscess. The abscess
formed between the sole of the hoof and the pedal bone and
almost pushed the hoof off. It was incredibly painful but she
was very brave and put up with the vet draining it on at least
six occasions, together with the agony of flushing the wound
with hydrogen peroxide and endless courses of antibiotics.
Finally after about nine months we had the infection beaten.
She was left with no fleshy heel and a hole through the fleshy
part at the back of the hoof that you could (literally) stick the
length of your finger into. Needless to say, that all took a long
time to heal.
The vet had warned me that she could be lame for life as a
result of the abscesses. However, I kept taking her for walks
and started riding her again. I had her shod and blow me
down if she didn’t do exactly the same thing with her other
hoof. Fortunately we managed to avoid the abscesses by
removing the flap of skin but clearly there was still some
damage.
Over time, she became less and less sound. I stopped
jumping her. Then I stopped riding on hard ground. Then I
stopped cantering. Then I stopped regularly riding. By last
year I was only riding her when she was sound, which wasn’t
very often, and only at the walk and trot (thank goodness she’s
quiet!). The vet said it was inevitable that she would have
some arthritis in her joints and I gave her “bute” if it was too
bad.
Her front hooves became “clubbed”. The heel of the hoof grew
longer and longer and she had constant thrush in her front
hooves (strangely, none at all in the back ones – does that tell
you anything?). Her right front frog almost disappeared – it
just became a narrow, crumbling, smelly mess that I used to
scrape off. I kept asking her farriers what I could do to treat
the thrush and I tried treating it with everything (she’s the only
horse in the world that comes to the smell of vinegar). She’s
been shod and also left unshod. I’ve tried all different types of
shoes. I’ve tried several different farriers. I started wondering
whether she had any quality of life and whether I should have
her put down when the pain became too bad.
Then Paul Chapman came and looked at her. And cut back
the heels. And scraped down the soles. He’s been working
on her October last year. The difference is remarkable (I think
Paul has some photos that he’s taken that he’ll put on the
web). She could pass for a normal horse! The thrush has
disappeared and her hooves have assumed a “normal”
shape. She’s no longer standing on her toes and it’s clear that
this has relieved the strain on her legs. She’s walking, trotting
and cantering without pain. Instead of standing around
watching the other horses, she’s in there with them. I rode one
of my other horses this morning and Paws trotted back and
forth along the fence, whinnying and carrying on about being
left behind. Previously she just used to stand and watch us
go. She’s clearly moving so much better and is so much
happier as a result of her barefoot trimming. It’s the best
recommendation that Paul could get. I only wish that he’d
been around when she was first injured and we could have
avoided all those years of pain.
I knew, as I stood looking at the amount of blood pouring from
my horse’s heel, that this was a serious injury that would take a
long time to heal. What I didn’t realise was that incorrect
trimming over the next decade would compound the problem
to the point where the horse was lame more often than not and
therefore unrideable.
My horse’s story isn’t that unusual. I bred a beautiful first-cross
quarter horse foal with perfectly normal confirmation and a
lovely temperament. In 1993 she was broken in and was
being brought into regular work. Unfortunately, she has a
terrible habit of pawing the ground when food is due (hence
her nickname “Paws”). One day, she stuck her right front hoof
through the fence, pulled back, and partially sliced off her
heel. Blood everywhere. Agony for both horse and rider. The
vet suggested that the best thing to do was to stick the flap of
heel down and hope (because heel regenerates so slowly, if
the flap of skin had reattached then months of healing and
pain would be avoided).
Unfortunately, all that sticking the flap of heel down did was
create the perfect environment for an abscess. The abscess
formed between the sole of the hoof and the pedal bone and
almost pushed the hoof off. It was incredibly painful but she
was very brave and put up with the vet draining it on at least
six occasions, together with the agony of flushing the wound
with hydrogen peroxide and endless courses of antibiotics.
Finally after about nine months we had the infection beaten.
She was left with no fleshy heel and a hole through the fleshy
part at the back of the hoof that you could (literally) stick the
length of your finger into. Needless to say, that all took a long
time to heal.
The vet had warned me that she could be lame for life as a
result of the abscesses. However, I kept taking her for walks
and started riding her again. I had her shod and blow me
down if she didn’t do exactly the same thing with her other
hoof. Fortunately we managed to avoid the abscesses by
removing the flap of skin but clearly there was still some
damage.
Over time, she became less and less sound. I stopped
jumping her. Then I stopped riding on hard ground. Then I
stopped cantering. Then I stopped regularly riding. By last
year I was only riding her when she was sound, which wasn’t
very often, and only at the walk and trot (thank goodness she’s
quiet!). The vet said it was inevitable that she would have
some arthritis in her joints and I gave her “bute” if it was too
bad.
Her front hooves became “clubbed”. The heel of the hoof grew
longer and longer and she had constant thrush in her front
hooves (strangely, none at all in the back ones – does that tell
you anything?). Her right front frog almost disappeared – it
just became a narrow, crumbling, smelly mess that I used to
scrape off. I kept asking her farriers what I could do to treat
the thrush and I tried treating it with everything (she’s the only
horse in the world that comes to the smell of vinegar). She’s
been shod and also left unshod. I’ve tried all different types of
shoes. I’ve tried several different farriers. I started wondering
whether she had any quality of life and whether I should have
her put down when the pain became too bad.
Then Paul Chapman came and looked at her. And cut back
the heels. And scraped down the soles. He’s been working
on her October last year. The difference is remarkable (I think
Paul has some photos that he’s taken that he’ll put on the
web). She could pass for a normal horse! The thrush has
disappeared and her hooves have assumed a “normal”
shape. She’s no longer standing on her toes and it’s clear that
this has relieved the strain on her legs. She’s walking, trotting
and cantering without pain. Instead of standing around
watching the other horses, she’s in there with them. I rode one
of my other horses this morning and Paws trotted back and
forth along the fence, whinnying and carrying on about being
left behind. Previously she just used to stand and watch us
go. She’s clearly moving so much better and is so much
happier as a result of her barefoot trimming. It’s the best
recommendation that Paul could get. I only wish that he’d
been around when she was first injured and we could have
avoided all those years of pain.
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