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Winnie

January, April 2002

Winsome Star foundered in July/August of 2000, after being "shot up" at a show by 2 strangers. Vet speculated on any number of tranquilizers, and I myself suspect corticosteriods because of the rapid and severe laminitis that resulted. "Winnie" rotated 15 degrees in both fronts, and was also a "sinker," where the coffin bone actually sinks downward in the hoof capsule. All advice at that point was to put him down, in spite of the fact that he came trotting off the trailer at the vet hospital to be x-rayed. We called in a leading specialist at that point, and worked with him for about 1-1/2 years, using fairly conventional methods, though he did try to lower heels, etc., when he thought the horse was beginning to recover. The specialist pretty much gave up when Winnie did not respond, and we called in Rachael Coggins, then a CSHS student (after Gretchen recommended her to me) to help. Before Rachael could even make it out to see Winnie, he had sole penetration. All vets but one said to put him down. The one actually saw him, and said "hey, he's still walking and trying, can't hurt to try." Rachael began trimming Winnie and teaching me in December of 2001, and Winnie had progressed greatly since then. He is still recovering, but is now chasing the 3 year old gelding around the pasture, neck wrestling and rearing to box with him, and walking/trotting to pace the fence line when we move his mare (almost ready to foal) up for the night. He is resting his hind feet more (like a normal horse relaxing), and can even buck (uh, oh). I've ridden him a few times, and will do more, I hope, this summer as the days get longer. The lack of riding is not due to any problems of Winnie's, but a lack of time on my part. He is again going through some bad abscessing on his right front (originally clubby anyway from an old trailering accident), but does not seem bothered by it. The addition of LaminaSaver to his feed seems to also be helping, though from what I've seen on their site, they indirectly support the Strasser method, or something similar, to make this product actually work.

Anyway, Winnie would not even be here today if it weren't for the Strasser method, and Gretchen's site!!! Thank you!!!!!!

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