Farrier Godmother 808-937-0843
Video of Susanella Casting Workshop From ILPC
Guidelines For Safely Feeding Horses in Hawaii
Susanella Noble, CNBBT
Hoof Care Practitioner
Case Studies 3
The Comeback Champ
October '09
I was waiting for a client and saw a horse in a pasture across the driveway that appeared to have something caught on his left front hoof. I climbed through the fence and couldn't believe my eyes! Somebody had actually glued and screwed that mess to his hoof which went against all the principles of hoof function and anatomy! When my client showed up I asked about that horse and she told me that Champ had foundered 10 years ago and been in the very expensive care of a vet and his farrier.
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Little did I know that Champ's owner saw me from her home up on the hill. No farrier had been able to approach him for the past 10 years without having him sedated by the vet and yet she'd seen me picking up his feet without even putting a halter on him. She knew right then that I was her last hope for him.
To compound the situation, Champ's RF had a negative palmar rotation and was also in a shoe with pad! His heels were crushed, long and forward, the frog full of thrush and the bars grown forward with the soles scooped out...... I could barely keep that foot up long enough to work on it let alone take a photo of the solar surface!
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I still hadn't learned about healing with casting tape so my only option was to put the RF in a Steward clog for a month until he had enough heel platform to get that foot functioning properly. I tricked the heels into growing straight down by backing off the toe and allowed them to be the correct height to reposition the coffin bone.
Treatment of LF
October 21 '09: I derotated the LF heels and began to excavate 10 years of stretched bars, frog and irregular sole buildup. When I put on the EDSS cuff shoe he moved more comfortably. For several months Champ threw that LF leg out unnaturally heel-first until the tendons and ligaments remodeled.
After the next reset I could tell there hadn't been ANY improvement in the structures of the hoof. The big lesson: you can't heal a horse with shoes.
December '09: Set LF in Steward clog. After the next reset there still wasn't any progress. Had to relearn the "big lesson" again....
May '10: Started setting LF in casting tape and by July was seeing measurable progress! The huge wedge of dorsal laminae is coming off slowly..
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I was trying to take a break but Champ was impatient for me to get back to work!
Every three to four weeks I excavate the abnormal bars, sole and frog gradually creating the hoof I visualize within the pathologies. By October I was able to peel the excess frog away from the front of his hoof and find the true apex where it changes color.
Sept '10
_Oct'10_
October '10: Champ and I celebrated our first year anniversary! He gallops up the hill for breakfast with gusto and is still in a cast on the LF. He walks with a normal heel-first landing without bobbing his head and prances with studly delight for the girls in the next pasture. Even if he doesn't improve one iota from this point, Champ's quality of life is outstanding for a 38 year-old horse. I am confident that he'll be barefoot in his rocky pasture one year from now with a healthy LF hoof. In this photo taken several months ago, he didn't seem to mind where he was stepping even though I hadn't yet cast that hoof!
"If it wasn't for Susanella, Champ would be pushing up daisies right now!"
-- Judy Roberts
None of this could have happened without the love of Champ's earthly angels Judy and Leilani. A LOT of credit for this success is thanks to the advice of those I hold in greatest esteem, Dr. Robert Bowker, Pat Thorpe and Gretchen Cardoso.
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