Fudge’s EPM Rehabilitation

The blizzard of 2010 kept us busy clearing the driveway and cars this morning.  We are lucky to still have power after the high winds and heavy snow.  The horses are rarely stalled, but we put them in last night due to the possibility of branches coming down.  They were very happy to get out. 

Fudge (star) plays with Drifter (star and stripe) in the 28″ of snow.  Fudge has come a long way in his recuperation.  He is still not ride-able at more than a walk or trot.  We will continue to work on this rehab with ground exercises, and walking the trails.  It’s a very long way to the hunter pace this May.  I don’t know if Fudge will ever come back far enough to ride at a canter.  Time will tell.

The Mustang mare is obviously bored with the play of the geldings.  She is eating from one of the slow feeders.  It’s made from a small mesh hay net over a muck bucket.  It closes with a double ended dog snap.  These slow feeders are easy to fill and drag over the snow.

It has been one year since we purchased Fudge from Paula Derby of Lazy D Acres.  She has relocated to Ocala , FL.  She still obtains horses from the infamous New Holland Auction in Lancaster, PA. 

One of the things that stresses horses is trailering.  Long distance trailering suppresses the immune system.  When researchers want to infect horses with EPM, they use the trailering stress model.  Somehow, I can’t see the auction process, followed by long distance trailering as beneficial to the health of a horse.

I’m about as late with this post as I usually am with the Christmas cards each year.

The quick update is that Fudge is slowly getting better, but is not ready for prime time yet.  When ridden on dry level ground, he doesn’t have any mis-steps.  Taken out in a slick mud farm field, his rear end is all over the place.  He has learned to compensate for the loss of feeling and proprioception in his rear feet - to some degree.  When you add in terrain that is tougher than usual, he can’t compensate for it.  We are riding him for short walks to try to build up his muscles.

I just trimmed Fudge today, and his feet are looking better.  The shape is getting round, the sole is becoming concave, and the thrush is better. 

We have added another type of slow feeder to the paddock, and the three horses really seem to like these.  I’ll get pictures up soon.

Horses evolved to eat full stem, sparse grasses, while on the move.  A few stems here, a few steps, a bite there, a 1/4 mile, then another few stems.  The grasses on the Steppe of Asia were dry, sparse, and mixed with broad-leaf plants.  The near constant walking aided the digestive tract.  The near constant, slow-intake grazing matched the slow, but steady output of gastric acid in the stomach.

Fast forward to domestication, and current stable practices.  Horses are often stationary in stalls 12 to 24 hours per day, with large amounts of food placed in the stall twice per day.  They eat the available food quickly, in large mouthfuls.  Then they wait… and wait… and get impatient for the next feeding.  Their stomachs are on fire with gastric acid, and no fiber to digest.

Field board often solves some of these problems, with the ability to move and steady intake of forage.  It can also create other health problems with unlimited access to lush grass.  The slow food movement has entered the equine world.

Slow Feeders involve limiting the rate at which the horse can consume the available hay.  Spreading the consumption out over time means fewer problems with stomach acid upset.  Feeding grass hay means fewer problems with insulin resistance and laminitis.  Feeding near the ground means less choke.

We recently built a slow feeder for Fudge.  It is based on a pallet design, and was built with left-over scraps from other projects.  Yes, we have more left-overs in the barn than we do in the ‘fridge.  We did have to purchase (2) 2″x6″x10′ boards to complete the project.  It took three hours to cut and screw the pieces together, and three hours to coat it with opaque stain.  (Note to wives:  the 3-hour trip to shop in Home Depot for 2×6’s is not included in the time estimate for the project.)

The design is a box the size of a pallet, 48″x40″, and 36″ high.  The top is a grid made from 2 layers of hog-panel.  The layers are adjusted to produce the smallest holes possible.  We have used wire ties to temporarily connect the hog-panels together, while we see how fast the horses can consume the hay.  After some observations, we will tack-weld the layers together.  This design will easily hold two square bales, and can hold three if the bales are inserted on their side.

The bottom line:  the horses consume the hay slower, they are entertained for longer during the day, and I am making fewer trips to the paddock to put out hay.  The downfall is that the horses stand in one place to consume the hay.  Stay tuned for the next farm improvement - Paddock Paradise, and it’s use for an EPM recovery.  I highly recommend the book, “Paddock Paradise,” by Jamie Jackson.

Best site for more information on Slow Feeders and Paddock Paradise:  http://paddockparadise.wetpaint.com/

Pallet base, small wood strips to limit bottom holes added later.

2 sides on, (2) 2x6 uprights on each corner

uprights are screwed together and to pallet base

On side, ready for stain. 2x4 top rail added for stability of sides.

Hog-panel grid, 2 layers adjusted for small holes. Will connect with chain and snap inside box

If I had to do this again, I would try to find a liquid goods wire pallet, or a liquid goods plastic pallet (both have sides), and modify it for use.  Make sure that any feeder has sides high enough to prevent the horses from getting their feet inside.  Make it heavy enough so they can’t tip it over, and strong enough to resist kicking.

Fudge’s first natural Hoof Care Trim was performed by Dawn Willoughby, and he has had two maintenance trims by me in the first month.  Scroll down to the last post to compare the pictures.  It has been a very wet summer in the East, and like many, I’ve had my share of problems with thrush.  We are working on this. 

Note the stretched white line on the outside of his hoof, near the 100% quarter crack.  Fudge has an old injury above the hoof and may always have problems here.  When his hooves got long using a pasture trim, the crack opened.  I have rasped a Mustang roll to the white line to try to take presure of the hoof wall on both sides of the crack.

Fudge’s heels are long due to the thrush around the frog and contracted heels.  It is a work in progress.  I have not lowered the heels.  The picture of the sole shows the new concavity forming.  The rasp was used across the wall and sole, but only touched the wall.  The toe has been backed up by vertical trimming to the white line, and the hoof is taking on a more rounded shape.

Fudge's right front hoof after 3 trims

Right Front note injury and quarter crack

Right Front sole, stretched white line

Fudge came to us with a set of front shoes on.  It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that one shoe was 1/4″ too long, and the other was 3/4″ too long.  The right front was rasped at a different angle across the sole.  His left front heels were contracted, and all soles were flat.

Paula Derby had told me that she took her horses to a farrier service that pulls, rasps, and reshoes all four in about 20 minutes.  The person making the shoes is not the same person that nails them on.  They must take the attitude that if the shoe doesn’t quite fit, it’s OK, they’ll get new ones the next time.

My farrier was out shortly after we brought Fudge home.  He had a few choice words to describe drive-in, assembly line farrier services.  I’d had two rides on Fudge by that time, and knew there were problems with his stability, but did not yet know he had EPM.  I had the farrier pull the shoes, and leave him barefoot.  This accidental decision - some might say gut feeling - was the best thing I could have done for Fudge.  It took me 8 months to learn this.

As some of you may have guessed from the last blog entry, Fudge was tripping - in part - from toes that were too long.  Before you jump on my case or my farrier’s about the pre-trim photos, consider the problems associated with trimming a horse that is unstable on three legs. 

Fudge didn’t have a leg to stand on, at least one that he could feel.  He is still somewhat unstable when one foot is lifted.  He places his rear feet at odd angles, and is sometimes parked out.  He does not know where his rear feet are, or how they are positioned.  I asked the farrier to skip a trim on him once, and only trim the front once, because he was so unstable.  The farrier was also scheduling trims at intervals for shod feet - every 8 weeks.

Fudge's Front Feet before trim. Note stance

Front right. Note toe drag, contracted heels, and broken thumb.

 After viewing the videos of a test ride, I read up on natural hoof care, and called in Dawn Willoughby to teach me and my farrier how to trim for the ‘Wild Horse Model’.  Because all three horses have been barefoot for some time (Fudge 9 months, TWH 1.5 years, and Mustang her whole life), we did not need to boot the horses after the trim.  It is a work in progress, moving from a pasture trim to the wild horse model.

If you are not familiar with the work of Jamie Jackson or Pete Ramey, please start here:  http://www.hoofrehab.com/