Heel quarters WLD, and reverse shoe

[Donald Ruff]

Last Friday I had a little arab mare(trail pony) at the shop and she had small little bacteria pockets in the M/L heel quarters. Got to diggin them out and they went down to about 1/2 inch from her coronary band, this was on both hind feet.

Sorry no pics.

Here's what i did, after digging down to clean horn(thought I was going to China), I toook half round and cut it open. So as no bad material could build up in the pocket. Went back to the truck and forged out a reverse shoe for her from an sx-7. Figuered that it would be a cheaper way(for the owner) than a bar shoe, and still get the desired result for the little mare. As the mare has a good anterior sole to handle the reverse shoe. She walked off just like she walked in no issues. There was p;lenty of space to run a small wire brush to exfoliate and material that could bulid up in there, so I adivsed the owner to keep it cleaned out and treat with a product that is used for treating white line.

I thought the owner was going to start crying when i showed her what was in there and told her what was going to have to take place to help get her on a track for healing.

Any thoughts or sugestions??

Don

[Gary Hill]

Sounds like ya done good!

[Donald Ruff]

Thanks Gary

[Rick Burten]

Went back to the truck and forged out a reverse shoe for her from an sx-7. Figuered that it would be a cheaper way(for the owner) than a bar shoe,
Any thoughts or sugestions??
What you call a reverse shoe, is, in actuality, an open-toe bar shoe. As such, it gets billed to the client as a bar shoe. Further, unless you also billed for the extra time it took you to clean up those feet, and the skill and knowledge it took to see the problem, understand its consequences, formulate and execute a protocol, then you lost money.

Also, I try to never use the term "cheaper". "less expensive" is a much better alternative because it accurately defines your desire to help the client save money, rather than potentially causing the client to think that you are doing inferior work. Its a small thing, but we all know how some clients think and/or react to certain stimuli.

The only other thing I would have done is to support the caudal part of the hoof, either with a heart bar or some other form of mechanical support(Impression material, HoofPak, or the like).

[THamilton]

Great Job Donald!

I have run into many of these. I have also worked with several vets. What I have been told to do when working on these horses with the vets is this: To not cut the foot away. But rather to pack it in gauze and betadine/iodine solutions and wrap the foot. Do this for a week and change it every two days. They have told me this ensures that there is no more bacteria lurking that may have been missed. Then when you shoe the horse I put medicated packing in the pocket and apply a hospital plate to the shoe.

I cut away the foot after I have sustantial growth and new tissue devekopment . Then I use Vettec to rebuild the foot and am able to nail on what I would normally nailon the horse.

Just food for thought.

Tony

[Donald Ruff]

Rick,

I see were you are coming from on the time, knowledge and skills required to formulate a protocol, then take it to the forge and produce it. All in all it took about 20-30 minutes more to produce the end result. Which was billed accordingly.

The way to word things is paramount, as you stated. I actually used the extremely economical with the client when discussing this protocol. Thanks for the heads up though, I am always looking for better ways to do anything.

The idea about loading the caudal portion of the hoof had entered my mind, due to the enviorment that this horse lives, nice soggy, muddy and wet ground. I decided against Impression material, and thought strongly about shotting some equi pack in there, but then there was the economical issue that arises. My thought on it was the enviorment will provide caudal support in the back of the foot with the "ope toe bar shoe" collecting dirt in the posterior portion of the foot acting like equi pak or impression material.

Tony,

Thanks for the thoughts, I will keep it in mind.

Don