Goodbye Girl

Sometimes I don't blog because to I have nothing in particular to write about, other times I'm too dang busy even think about it.  Then there are those times that I put off blogging because I have something unpleasant that needs saying.  This is one of those times.

Almost a year ago I started posting about the foot issues with my homebred Pinky.  The trouble started almost 3 years ago now. 

A quick recap:
Early spring 2010- a horrid abscess/soaking fiasco that ended up blowing out the coronet (over an inch wide).

Late spring- repeated abscess in about the same spot that was drained out the sole and would blow up again and come out the coronet.

Summer 2010- A trip to the vet for X-rays of her foot. This vet ended up cutting a golf ball sized hole in the middle of the front of her hoof and cleaning out much damaged tissue.
Months of wrapping the foot ended with Pinky crushing my big toe during one of the re-wrap sessions. 
Note: Don't tie your horse and attempt to do this involved wrap, even if your helper and horse holder is very sick and trying to sleep in the house.

Summer 2011- The foot has almost completely grown out, finally!

Fall 2011- the abscesses start up again.

Oct 2011- I haul Pinky to Gresham to a good lameness vet- at Columbia Equine.
Pink is diagnosed with a hoof Keratoma.   There is a good chance it can be removed and she will be sound.

0ct 26- Pink's foot is operated on, the tumor was larger than expected, and the hoof had to be completely cut from coronet to sole to get the tumor out.

Nov 2011 to Setp 2012- Months of casts, to glue on shoes, to bar shoes.  The crack had set but was stubbornly splitting up towards the coronet.  She kept ripping off the bar shoe and shredding her hoof, so in July I took her back to Columbia (our 5th trip since surgery) and a glue on Sigafoos shoe was put on.

Sept 22- Todd and I flew to Ark. to visit my parents, Pink seemed a little sore before we left, I soaked her foot and made a vet appt. for the Wednesday after our return to have the glue-on reset.

While we were in Ark. my good friend who was horse/dog sitting called to let me know Pink was sore.

We returned home and I went to work Monday.  When I got home Pink was extremely lame (she didn't even want to put weight on her foot)  Todd took her up to the barn while I fed the other horses and I went up and soaked her foot with the warm water and epsom salts in a Davis boot.  I noticed she was actually feverish, so called down to the vet.  He determined that the shoe needed to come off asap, so I made arrangements to leave work for a while Tuesday and make the trip a day early.

When I was leading Pinky from the pasture to the horse trailer she would just let out this huge blow of air every time she had to step on that foot.

She was equally lame coming off the trailer at the clinic.

I had assumed that she had gotten some dirt packed down into the crack in her hoof and that it had formed an abscess at the spot where her hoof was split.

I think the vet thought so too, as he was equally surprised when he cut off that fiberglass cuff/shoe and we saw a huge black tarry abscess on the inside of her hoof.  It had no relation to the original injury.

As he worked trying to clean out the site it quickly became apparent the her hoof was extremely damaged.  Despite having the glue-on the foot was not really growing back and there was still nothing to nail a shoe to.

I guess that wasn't really a quick recap, but I know some day I'll want to remember the chronologial order of things and this will be there for me.

I think the vet and I were thinking the same thing at this point- he suggested we take another X-ray of her hoof as the shape of her foot didn't really look "right".  Surprisingly, the film showed no rotation and adequate sole. 

Nonetheless, it seems that this horse was never going to be sound with a good hoof.  We had discussed putting her down during the original appointment, before I opted to try surgery. and this time I decided it was time.  He agreed.

Pink was fat, shiny, beautiful, and in a lot of pain.  She got a huge dinner of Orchard/alfalfa hay and a fluffy bedded stall and left us on a sunny fall day, Oct 3.