Despite all the snow we had, and the longest winter in eight years, we have already become concerned about the lack of spring rain. We only had one appreciable rain so far, and the top inch or two of soil was dry. Of course, the rain arrived on the same day that our farrier, Rich Boyle, came to trim the horses’ hooves. With 33 horses, that’s a full day outside … in the cold rain. Oh, well. So we took turns trading off the task of holding horses for Rich, who powered through the entire day. That’s Alayne holding blind Laddie in the photo.
Laddie has a terribly arthritic left front knee — it’s swollen and he limps when he walks. Our equine vet, Dr. Erin Taylor, gives him regular steroid injections in the knee to reduce the inflammation and make him more comfortable, and we also give him daily anti-inflammatories. But Laddie is a case where every week we assess his quality of life. These amazing animals can be so stoic that it is hard sometimes to tell just how much pain they’re in and whether it’s time to make the ultimate decision. We only get one chance to get it right, and we sure don’t want to make it too soon … or wait too late.
A couple of weeks ago we had begun to ask ourselves again whether we had reached that point with Laddie because of how he was acting. He was walking more stiffly, seemed in more discomfort, and just didn’t seem to be himself. Laddie is not old … still in his late teens. He has good weight on him and is otherwise very healthy. It’s just his leg that is the issue.
Erin wanted to inject his joints again, then give him a week and see how he responded. Thus when Erin was out here last Thursday doing dentals, we did another assessment on Laddie. I walked him around so she could see how he functioned, how his gait was, and how much pain he might be in.
She watched him closely for a few minutes and told me, "It’s not time. But I think we can help him some more." Erin wanted us to put a special shoe on his left foot to help compensate for his knee problem,which causes him to bow his lower leg out. The result is that sometimes he bears too much weight on the outside edge of his hoof.
So Rich is showing off Laddie’s new shoe, which provides more lateral support for his leg. Although Laddie was a bit tentative at first — he’s not used to wearing horseshoes — it definitely seemed to help him keep that leg straighter … and the hoof flatter on the ground … as he walked.
We’re taking this one step at a time. So to speak.
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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