Setback!

George can be a real pain in the rear at times.  Dealing with her feet is the prime example of this.  She's a butt-head, there is no other way to explain it.  When I arrived at the barn the Monday after the maggots were removed, I found my horse was missing!  My friend had given her some tranqualizer and turned her out in the catch pen.  After wrapping things up around the barn it was time to change her bandage.  By the end of it she'd have the twitch on.  Standing still was not in her plans. 

Granted it's her own fault it had to be changed, she'd decided to pull off the others.  When changing the bandage on her right fore, she was oh so sweet and kicked her Soft-Ride boot off.  She made me proud though, when I asked her to pick it up so that I could put the boot back on, she obliged in picking her foot up, and did not put any weight on me.  A vast improvement from when the vet had last changed that bandage and his assistant gave him crap about whining about picking the foot up when she didn't want to pick it up. 

Wednesday finally arrived.  I barely beat the vet to the barn and was putting on George's halter when he walked into the stall and remarked how great she was looking.  The plans for the day were to trim the hoof and take x-rays to check on the state of the bone.  His attitude changed immediately after she took her first few steps.  George was no longer putting pressure on her heel.

After he gave her tranq, he went to remove her bandage, and as he did, an abcess popped out her cornet band.  Well, that explained why she wasn't walking so well.  He proceeded to trim her hoof.  Initially planning to leave the old sole that was still attached to the hoof, but in the end taking it off.  Overall, he was very pleased with the growth in her sole, the new frog and the overall quality of the hoof and the way the wound was healing.  Then it came time for x-rays.  He took three and then began to look at them.

The part that disturbed him was centrally located on the front of her coffin bone.  There was a small portion that looked like infection.  He mentioned that there was a slight possibility it was the hoof laying down new bone, but he didn't sound convinced.  He said he'd compare the new x-rays with the previous ones to be sure, but likely she would need to have another surgery the following day. 



5/18/11 - New area of interest is the abnormal spot on the front of the bone, that should be a smooth, straight line.



As he further assessed the situation, he explained that this time, he would not disturb the new tissue growth by going through the original hole he'd created, but would insteadcut latterally through the hoof wall.  He planned to go through and scrape away the infected bone.  Seeing worry in my face, or just sheer determination, I'm not sure which, he proclaimed that "she's not going to die."  He also prescribed that she start on chloramphenocal three times a day, explaining that for whatever reason it was really good at treating bone issues.

 This was all determined after there had been conversation earlier that they never do surgeries by going laterally through the hoof wall.  Although, they'd also done one earlier that day.