Tuesday, September 4, 2007

The "Contraption"

This is what Maddy's foot looks like these days. Basically there is a plate over top a round shoe that has a mold of her foot inside. I have to take the plate off twice a week and pull out her foot mold. I check for thrush and make sure everything looks and "smells" ok. There are four bolts on the bottom of the plate which seems a bit strange, but she is standing in a matted stall and they don't seem to be a problem. My farrier, Andrew Maris, has fixed 18 broken coffin bone wings with success and this is his method. I have to put a little faith in her healers. Of course, I have my dad contradicting everything I am doing. He thinks I should be taking her for walks and that I should allow her out in her run. He doesn't like the idea of the foot plate and just wants me to keep a bar shoe on her foot. Both ways would probably work, but the route I am going is recommended by the former vet of the US Equestrian Team,
so I can't help but trust him. This last picture is a picture of her foot mold. It is purple from the Thrush Buster. I just pop it out and check her foot and pop it back it. So far, so good. We are almost at one month of stall rest. I better get going on teaching her how to paint!

8 comments:

Kathy C said...

Thanks for sharing the pictures. I can't believe it's nearly a month! Just a little over three to go. You (both) can do it. Just think how good she'll be at having her feet worked on by the end of this!

EquineSpirit said...

Wow...that's a very interesting contraption! I've never seen bolts being used before. It's amazing what farriers come up with and use for different problems. Way cool...thanks for sharing the photos! Good luck and hope it works!! ((HUGS!!)) to you both!

Deanna said...

That is so cool. You are taking such great care of her.

There hasn't been better time in history to have this problem with all the advances in technology.

I can't wait to see her paintings ;)

Deanna

Molly said...

You are doing a wonderful job with her. She'll be just fine in no time. What a good girl...both of you.

Donna said...

Amazing contraption is right. She seems to be on the mend, with all your TLC and the farrier's help, you'll be back to the being the Wonder Duo soon.

learninghorses said...

Wow! I had no idea such a contraption existed!

Rising Rainbow said...

Wow! That's an impressive contraption. I have all the respect in the world for farriers who are inventive like this.

I'm glad that you're sticking to your guns and doing things your way instead of caving to your dad. Dealing with problems like this are hard enough without getting emmeshed in parent/child issues. Trust your instincts.

Good ole bar shoes have fixed a lot of things but just doesn't seem to me they'd take enough pressure off the break location. I can see the logistics of the "cure" you've got going much more than your dads method.

BTW Any chance you'd relocate to the other side of the country for work? I hear Tommy Garland is looking for a full time videographer to shoot him training each day so he has footage for his TV series and for educational videos. Could be a pretty interesting job.

Unknown said...

hope maddy is doing well!!

I had a scare when my horse had an abcess and was extremely LAME... I prayed and prayed for it not to be a coffin bone injury...

best wishes.