Taffy Goes to the Vet

Posted bySusan K. MarlowPosted inHorses

Today, beautiful Taffy went to the vet for her x-rays, to see how her front two feet are coming along after seven months. She’s had two sets of x-rays in order to compare “then” and “”now.” We had high hopes that we would see improvement and the bones rotating back to their correct positions. However . . .

Instead of getting better, the xrays showed that the condition has worsened significantly, which was quite discouragint to hear. There is no easy cure, maybe no cure at all! Kristel may have to make the horrible decision to put her down later this summer. But before she makes any hasty decisions, she will consult with a couple farriers who specialize in treating horses who have foundered. Poor Taffy seems to be in a continual state of foundering/laminitis/etc. So much so that the last time the regular farrier was here (he had been trimming her in a way he hoped would relief this issue, but he did not succeed), when he started trimming, pus came out! It was awful!

Poor Taffy is so sweet and such a good horse that it’s a crying shame to see her like this. She lives on banamine now (horse ibuprofen) so she can at least hobble around and graze a little. The black boots on her front feet help cushion her now-deformed hooves.

The xray is a little hard to make out, but if you look closely, you can see her “toe” points straight down. I think it was described today as the poor horse always “walking on stilettos.” Now, how uncomfortable is that?

Normal Foot – flat
Taffy’s Foot – pointing toe straight down.

I took a short video today so you could see Taffy at her beautiful best. She is walking well because Kristel pumped her full of pain killers in order to load her (and unload her) in the horse trailer.

Click the image to watch the short video

Published by Susan K. Marlow

I'm the author of the Circle C and Goldtown Adventures series. I blog as "Andi Carter," the main character in the Circle C series. She lives on a huge cattle ranch in 1880s California. These are her adventures.

16 thoughts on “Taffy Goes to the Vet”

  1. Ugh, this is so sad!! I’ve seen foundering many times, and it is always so sad. It looks so painful!! I’ll be keeping her in my prayers, and for Kristel for wisdom what to do ❤️

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  2. That’s so unfortunate that this happened. Hopefully someone can find an effective treatment for her 😦

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  3. Poor Taffy! It’s always so sad to have a horse that’s in pain. we will pray that an effective treatment is found for her. She is such a beautiful, sweet young horse that it must be such a hard decision for Kristie to make.

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  6. comment from Naomi B.
    Heartland Horseshoeing school in Missouri might have some suggestions to be of help, they have in the past used a tool called a hoof cinch, that a friend of mine was able to use with a lot of success, but that’s been a while and they may have even more options/info/help by this point. Prayers that something can be found to help her!

    https://www.heartlandhorseshoeing.com/?srsltid=AfmBOopQXGVqcwOdE-TwFDKQs3GRiqF7U-wLt0S1pIrYRC-LXYaIy2KG

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