Rio is a 14-yr. QH.  He wore shoes all his life and developed laminitis in October 2010.  He was diagnosed as Cushings and IR and battled EPM in the summer of 2011 due to his compromised immune system.  Initially, he was treated the traditional way with orthopedic shoes, frog support pads, casts and lots of pain meds, antibiotics and 24/7 stall rest.  In August 2011, after 10 months, numerous abscesses and no improvement, I decided to go the barefoot route and fired the farrier.  Rio has been barefoot with the help of boots and pads since that time and was moved to my barn where he is turned out on a paddock paradise track for 14 hours every day.  Although he had periods of being totally sound he is still not rideable and presently wears boots during turnout to be comfortable.

I know Rio should be out 24/7 to help his hooves heal.  Truman is out all the time since I moved to my barn and he enjoys it.  The only reason I have Rio in throughout the day is because he really has a tough time with the heat due to his EPM.  He shows signs like toe-dragging when he gets too hot.  The paddock paradise track is across the drive from the barn and has no run-in shed and only minimal shade.  So, he is inside with 3(!) fans going full speed and mane blowing during the hottest hours of the day.  :-)  He has a Dutch door that opens to a large paddock, but there is too much grass in there still.  I keep mowing it down to 1", but we've had enough rain for it to grow back like crazy.  And if I put on a grazing muzzle he cannot eat his hay when he is in his stall.  So, I'm waiting for the GA heat to finally kill the grass in there and then will keep the door open and he'll have access to his paddock.  

Anyway, I have come a long way from the 4-6 hours turnout and 2 blankets over a full head slinky in the winter months.  I cannot believe I did this to my horses!  I have learned so much since Rio's laminitis!

And another snippet regarding blanketing. Gretchen is very right about dangers when turning out blanketed horses. A few years back Rio was turned out with his slinky covering his head except for ear and eye holes, a thick blanket over it and a neck cover over the slinky connected to the blanket and closed under his neck with 3 snaps. Mind you, that was in Georgia where it seldom drops below freezing. He managed to snap himself to the pasture fence and stood there all day. He never tore his neck cover, but dug a big hole in the ground with his foot out of frustration. The neighbor was working in his field next to Rio and drove by him with a large tractor several times. He later told me he was wondering why Rio stood there all day (would have been nice if he had checked on him). 

November 17, 2010--includes venograms

These are the initial x-rays and venograms taken showing the rotation and some compromised blood flow in his RF dorsal wall.

May 20, 2011

The farrier applied shoes with frog supports.  LF was sealed in with Equipak.  RF was put in a cast which remained on until August 17 (see photo below.)  Rio's stance and expression shows that he is in pain.

August 17, 2011

Rio's shoes and cast were taken off and the farrier fired.  His RF shows abscess channels which destroyed his hoof wall.  The farrier's last trim left Rio's heels high, walls unbalanced (see hind feet!), soles rasped flat and bars untouched.  You can see lots of excess bar, but thinned out soles.  He was extremely uncomfortable at that time.  I purchased Easyboot RX for him and used different pads to help him.

September 7, 2011

September 26, 2011

September 28, 2011

This is Rio's first barefoot trim by a local Pete Ramey trimmer.  She shortened his toes and beveled his heels leaving points (see his RF) on which he walked and was very uncomfortable.  The bars were not touched at all.

October 7, 2011

My feeble attempt to take off some high bar points after soaking his LH.

October 10, 2011

Again, soaked all four feet and finally got my courage together to remove some bar (my first trim).  And yes, I needed some help (see comment)  :-)

Comments:
RF Sole 101011
ewertkarina Tue Oct 11 07:49:06 UTC 2011
The trimmer needs some help to determine where the bars are and how to trim them so that they end up where they can function properly again.

October 29, 2011

My second trim.  Still soaking and trying to remove more (hard as rock) bar.

Comments:
LH Heel 102911
rider4seasons Sun Nov 13 14:39:5 1 UTC 2011
I would roll off those heels at the back, that will certainly help those bulbs relax more as well. Barb Fenwick

November 9, 2011

November 11, 2011

I finally got some help from Anne Coley who was gracious enough to make the trip to Atlanta to trim Rio.

Comments:
LH Heel 111111
tinkerbell30350 Sun Nov 13 12:58:58 UTC 2011
I’m glad you pointed that out. I will make sure that I include the heel bulb and hairline from now on when I take the pictures!

barefoottree Sat Nov 12 14:08:53 UTC 2011
This camera angle allows us to see the changes to the sheared inside heel. Looking back at the earliest photo taken from the same angle, the inside bulb hairline was jammed more (sheared). In the next photo (of the same), taken later, you’d not centered the hoof in the frame so the hairline of both bulbs was cut from view so it’s hard to know how much the inside bulb had been able to relax down at that time but there’s clearly a difference between the earliest photo and this one. I just won’t assume the change didn’t occur sooner or have continued since the first trim you, yourself, did for Rio . :-)

March 13, 2012

Radiographs show that Rio's feet are improving, but toes are too long.

March 22, 2012

Anne Coley trimmed Rio again and the bar slivers went flying!  His feet are starting to look much better.

March 27, 2012

After trim radiographs.  Toes were shortened, but soles are still extremely thin.

May 12, 2012

My own trim again.  I am getting more confident, but those thin soles scare me.  The hairline angle on his fronts is too low, heels too high.  There is no concavity.

May 29, 2012

I trimmed Rio's fronts again trying to bring his heels down to get the hairline angle a bit steeper.  Rio's feet are hard and dry and his soles are flat.  He wears boots 14 hours for turnout and then no boots when stalled in shavings.  Need to soak more!

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