Aunt Bea - 27-year-old registered Appaloosa Mare

[Sunny Acres Ranch]

Aunt Bea is a sweet, older girl that was rescued by Rodeo City Equine Rescue in Ellensburg, WA. She will be rehabilitating here at Sunny Acres Ranch until the point she is ready for a new home.

As you can tell, Aunt Bea was not receiving the best of care at her last home. She was living in a pasture full of big rocks and tumbleweeds, and being fed straight oat hay. (Oat hay is a grain hay, not a forage, and not appropriate for horse feed.)

Aunt Bea has very sore feet right now. I am hoping it is due to the fact it has been a long time since she had proper hoof care and the improper diet. I am working on cleaning up her diet, and she is scheduled for her first farrier appointment this week.

Aunt Bea is great with children and is about as bombproof as a horse can ever be. She loves attention and is very friendly and easy to catch. Here are some pictures from her first week at Sunny Acres:





Aunt Bea is quite a bit underweight. Her winter hair makes her look better than she really is.


This picture shows the lack of weight over her spine and withers.


The spine and hip bones are protruding.


Long toes!


This little girl had never brushed a horse, or even been near one. Aunt Bea was happy to volunteer!


Looking pretty content!

[Sunny Acres Ranch]

Aunt Bea got her feet trimmed on Saturday. She was very sweet and tried her best to help us, even though it was difficult for her. Here are some pictures:

Front feet prior to trimming


Front feet prior to trimming


She wanted her right front trimmed first, because it was the one she was having the most trouble with.




Her front feet were really congested with lots of bar material.


Once the farrier removed all the excess bar material, we could see bruising present.


Getting those long toes rasped back!




She had a hard time balancing on those sore front feet, so we had a support team help her.




Looking more like what a hoof should look like!


Front feet after the trim.

[Sunny Acres Ranch]

Aunt Bea was really sore after her hoof trim. In order to relieve the pain, she had taken to laying down quite a bit. I decided that we better give the hoof boots a try, or we might not be able to let her continue much longer. The hoof boots made an IMMEDIATE difference for her! ;D

Soon after getting them on, she was scooting all around her pasture. She has not been laying down much since. I am pulling them off about every 3 days and letting her go 24-48 hours without them, then putting them back on again. She is scheduled for digital X-rays of her front feet on Monday. We will definitely know more then!





I think she has put on some weight too!

[Sunny Acres Ranch]

Aunt Bea had both front feet X-rayed this week. The good news is that she does not have navicular disease. The not so good news is that she has foundered and has substantial coffin bone rotation. The plan for now is to keep the hoof boots on, watch her diet carefully, and have the farrier evaluate putting shoes/pads on her when he comes out on April 21st.

[Sunny Acres Ranch]

Here are the radiographs (X-rays) of Aunt Bea's front feet. In a healthy hoof, the coffin bone would be a mirror image of the hoof wall. On Aunt Bea's hooves, you can see that the gap between the top of the coffin bone and the hoof wall is smaller than the gap between the bottom of the coffin bone and hoof wall. This is due to the coffin bone tearing away from the lamina and rotating downward towards the sole of the foot from founder. It is very painful for the horse, but completely fixable over time.

[Sunny Acres Ranch]

Aunt Bea had her 2nd hoof trim this past week. I showed the X-rays to the farrier, and he said he has seen worse. He thinks the chances are very good that she will return to complete soundness again though! ;D

After reviewing the X-rays, he formulated a plan for trimming her that would hopefully make her more comfortable, so she would be able to get around easier without the hoof boots. Her feet are soft right now, and they need to toughen up but keeping them in the hoof boots will not let that happen.

Vets will typically tell you to put wedge pads under the heels on a foundered horse. It relieves the pain temporarily, but it stands the coffin bone at an even steeper angle towards the ground. This buys the horse some time, and may even make them sound for a little while because their immediate pain is relieved. The problem with this practice though is that the coffin bone is not encouraged to go back to its correct horizontal state in the hoof capsule. As a result, the coffin bone angle gets steeper, hoof wall lamina connection is not re-established, and eventually the coffin bone will penetrate through the sole of the foot.

Thankfully, my farrier understands all this and has treated many foundered horses successfully. He decided to lower the heels, shorten the toes even more based on the X-rays, but did not touch the sole callous underneath the coffin bone. This prevented the coffin bone from getting any closer to the sole of the foot, and lowering the heels prevented the coffin bone from continuing at the downward angle.

Aunt Bea was able to stand with no help this time!


The support team! Aunt Bea loves the attention and always try to help if she can.


Before and after picture of the front feet


Rasping the toe way back to encourage the hoof wall and lamina to form a strong connection with the coffin bone again.


Happy girl!

[syndi]

Aunt Bea tucking herself into bed. She is scooting around really well. Click on the photo to see a video of her trotting

[Sunny Acres Ranch]

Aunt Bea has a pending adoption! ;D

She is due to see the dentist tomorrow to see what kind of shape her mouth is in. Then, if her transport person can make it, she will be picked up on Thursday and head to her new home. Congrats Aunt Bea!

[Sunny Acres Ranch]

Aunt Bea got a full dental yesterday. She still has most of her teeth, but they are pretty worn out. There was one very sharp fragment of a molar left that was pulled. She should be much more comfy when she eats now.

[Sunny Acres Ranch]

Aunt Bea left last night for Ellensburg. She will be staying with Rodeo City Equine Rescue a couple of weeks until her new family can travel from Orcas Island to pick her up. Aunt Bea was a complete joy the entire time she was here. Such a sweet girl who just wants love and attention, and gives kisses in return. Her new family plans to spoil her rotten, and they have had two horses live to be 38 years old, so they know how to care for an older horse. I will miss her.