Unrideable Founder for Life?

In September of 2003 I purchased a 10 year old quarter horse broodmare from a private seller in southern New England. I knew at the time that she had foundered severely as a 3 year old, and her right front coffin bone had rotated 6 or more degrees. She had been badly abused during her 2 and 3 year old years and had chronic laminitis as well. She had then been turned out to pasture without undergoing any treatments for her condition, and had never (since the age of 2) been without front shoes.

After being put out to pasture for 2 years she was sold and then bred 3 years in a row, still without receiving any care for her condition. She was listed as unridable but breeding sound. She managed to carry all her foals to term and deliver healthy babies. During the period of time whe was in foal the 3rd time her feet started to decline to the point where in her 8th month of pregnancy she suffered a severe case of laminitis, and had to be put on stall rest and be put under observation until the baby was delivered. At this time the farrier suggested placing plates over her regular shoes to evenly distribute the weight over her soles.  Even after the baby was delivered nothing else was done to relieve the stress on her front coffin bones (i.e. egg bars, pads, changing her angles, etc.) or to stop the inflammation of her lamina when she had bouts with laminitis.

She was then sold again as a companion horse and possible breeding sound. Her next owner kept the plates on her feet for a year, and had her on 2 grams of bute per day as well.  She had her feet done regularly every 6 weeks. After the year was up she decided she would breed her to her stud, deciding she would never be sound again, and dropped the levels of bute to 1 gram per day. She managed to make it through to the end of the 6th month of pregnancy with the plates on her feet showing limited discomfort. She was kept in a large paddock 2 hours per day and lived her life in her stall the rest of the time. Her old owner tells me that by her 7th month in foal she began to show major signs of distress, would look angered and scared and "stood like a morgan" she was referring to her standing parked out. She began standing on 3 legs and elevating her right front much of the time when she was just standing around. By the 8th month they realized her feet were bothering her in amajor way, so
they confined her to her stall and added extra bedding. The farrier also added silicone under the steel plates that were bolted to her shoes for a cushion on her sole.

In April of 2003 she delivered a healthy filly, no complications during birth. 2 days after the baby was born they were turned out into a large paddock with grass. That night the mare came in non-weight baring on her right front, hobbling on 3 legs. Immediately the farrier and vet were called and it was determined she was foundering again. For the next 3 months she went through several episodes of laminitis and by the time I went to look at her in August she could barely walk out of her stall. I had been at the barn at the time looking at a baby that was for sale when I fell in love with the looks this mare had. I asked about her they told me her story and I bought her for a VERY minimal amount of money to try and rescue her. She told me she didnt want to put the money into her for corrective shoes and that the mare wasnt worth it to try and save since her vet said she would always be lame.
She was weaned from her baby on September 10th and I brought her home on the 12th.

That day she could barely walk off the trailer, she literally reared up and came off walking on her hind feet. I immediately made an appointment with my farrier. When my farrier saw her shoes he was appalled. She was wearing regular shoes with a steel plate cut to fit the shape of her hoof bolted to the bottom. She was literally walking on 3 bolts on each front foot, one at the toe and one on each side of her heel. We pulled the shoes only to find that most of her hoof was glue, her toe was barely 2 inches long. Each shoe weighed in at almost 3.5 pounds with the plates attached. And what was left of her front hooves were literally crumbling and falling apart. We decided it would be best to put her on Farriers Formula and limited turnout, and move her into a 12x16 foaling stall with 12 inches of shavings until her feet grew out enough to do anything with them. He wanted to put eggbars on her but she unfortunately had no hoof wall to nail the shoes to, so we left her barefoot and I
began wrapping her feet with foam and vetwrap every day so she could walk.

This is when I began researching barefoot trimming. I had heard of it and was curious if it would work for Val. In the meantime my farrier came out 4 weeks later to "tweak" her feet a little and start to create a shape to them.
I researched for weeks on barefoot trimming and finally decided to give it a try.

I got in touch with Gwen Santagate via a bulletin board and then by email and spoke with her a few times regarding what the mare had been through. She desperately needed to be trimmed again at this point and my farrier refused to work on her again due to the severity in the rotation of the coffin bone which he was sure was about to break through her sole.
Gwen began coming out to my house in January of 2004. At this point the mare could barely move, she was agitated and noticably in pain. She was dead lame on her right front and was still undergoing small rounds of acute laminitis here and there, not as bad as before since I took her off the 4 quarts of sweet feed she had been recieving at her old owners. Since the day I brought her home I had had her on bute about 5 or 6 times in a 3.5 month period, and I knew her stomach must have been a mess from the medications. I had managed to wean her off her daily bute dose which made me happy.

When Gwen came out she immediately went to work on making the mare more balanced by trimming her so she would have less pressure on the tip of her coffin bone.  She didnt do much this trim so that she wouldnt be to sore, and when she walked away after Gwen finished you could see the relief in her way of moving. She was much more free in her front legs, not as stiff, still lame but it was a little easier for her to walk back to the barn. She also told me to start turning her out 24 hours a day to keep her circulation going in her feet, and let her decide when she wanted to come in and out of her stall (she has a run-in). Within a week she was walking around more often and would even walk to the far end of the paddock to watch our neighbors cows, which she had never really done before she was always too sore.

Gwen came back three times after that at 4 week intervals and kept in touch with me almost every day to see how the mare was doing. She also helped me to wean her off the bute and get her on White Willow Bark so I could stop worrying about the long term effects of the bute.
By Spring my mare was walking around on her own nearly 90% sound and willingly following me around the paddock and on trails behind the barn, she would even get frisky here and there and throw some small bucks. She began to jog to her hay in the morning, and up and down the length of the fence without me making her. She was still slightly lame but not nearly as bad. And the best part is that in April I took her off all of her meds, no more white willow or corta flex, which she had been on since the day I brought her home.

Once June hit she was walking and jogging sound and had gained most of the concavity back to the sole of her hoof. She no longer had a dip in the outer wall of her hoof and to look at her you never would have known that she was a severe founder case, or had foundered at all.
Her slipper toe was almost gone on her front feet and her feet were looking healthy.

After Gwen came out in July I began working her more often, we started jogging on a lunge line in large circles and going for walks on the trails in the woods to toughen up her feet some more, and up and down my stonedust driveway once a day (which she was slightly still tender on). At the end of July I sat on her for the first time, she had not been ridden since 1996, and was listed as unridable. I walked her around under saddle and she remained sound. I then began to work her from the ground at a jog and lope to build up her stamina again, and would cool her out at a walk with me on her. She still remained sound. The last time Gwen came out was at the end of August, she trimmed her then I showed her what the mare could do. I put her on a lunge line and let Gwen see how well she moved out at a jog, trot and lope. She was amazed.

All this from a horse that was termed unridable by past owners and vets. Her feet are incredible, they are more healthy now then they were with the shoes, they are hard and beautiful, she stands square on her own and loves kicking up her heels in the paddock. She's a new horse. Even her demeanor has changed, she was a crabby mare until late winter when she began to trust a little more and to enjoy being loved. She whinnies to me every morning now and always has her ears forward waiting for someone to come see her. She loves to be scratched and played with now, and before she would pin her ears and try to nip.

I honestly never thought this horse would have a second chance at being sound and happy, I was willing to just make her as comfortable as I could by keeping her on bute and masking the pain until I found Gwen. Without her help my mare would probably still be lame and in heavy uncomfortable egg bar shoes.

I cant wait to see what the new xrays will show when we get them done!

Katie A. Lagasse
Groton, MA
September 3, 2004