Seedy toe treatment 6 weeks after removal

Peter from Hoofworks visted Archie today for another appointment. He was happy with my trimming except for a couple of pillars I hadn't rasped back. Now I know how to do it correctly I should be able to take them off easily. 

The gouge in Archie's front hoof has now completely grown out. His hoof looks great! I do need to keep the pillars rasped down so that the hoof doesn't crack again.

Today Peter removed the last bit of seedy toe from the rear hoof. Yay! Although there is still a gouge there is no bug present.

Pastern Leukocytoclastic Vasculitis treatment with oral medication - 1 week later

Below is a link to a vet article on Equine Pastern Dermatitis. It includes information about Pastern Leukocytoclastic Vasculitis. My vet supplied me with print outs of these pages. It's interesting to compare some of Archie's recent photos with the image on page 4 (218) in this article.
http://www.vetlearn.com/Portals/0/Media/PublicationsArticle/PVE_02_07_214.pdf

Here are some photos taken one week after I started Archie on Trental 400 tablets. This area is not sore to touch at all. The inflammation has gone and the hair is growing back. I am covering the area with just the mesh leg wraps now.

And here is a photo of Archie's bottom. I had been applying Potties White Ointment to the area for 4 days. The morning this photo was taken these scabs just wiped off.

Last week the elastic on one of Archie's leg wraps ripped and I had to think of a way to cover his hocks while I repaired the wrap. So I put a nappies on both legs and duct taped them to his rug leg straps (if I had only put one nappy on his rug would have slipped over to one side). When I visited two days later the nappies had not moved.

Nappies used as hock bandages

Pastern Leukocytoclastic Vasculitis treatment with oral medication

The vet and I have just learned that the Trental 400 tablets we gave Archie were not meant to be crushed. They are tablets designed for people and have a protective coating. The tablets are effective when they are absorbed into the intestine. This coating stops the tablet being absorbed into the stomach so that it makes it to the intestine and/or protects the stomach. Also, the patient is not supposed to stop taking the medication abruptly.


Archie is fine and the treatment was successful. He looks healthy and happy and is hock is healing well and is not sore to touch. However, we are not going to give Archie this medication again until we find out more information. It would be near impossible to give these tablets to a horse without crushing them first. We need to find another way.

Seedy toe treatment 4 weeks after removal

Here are photos of Archie's front hoof 4 weeks after the seedy toe was removed. I trimmed his front hooves today and treated them with Bug Buster.

Pastern Leukocytoclastic Vasculitis treatment with oral medication

My vet has supplied me with Trental 400 (oxpentifylline 400mg). This medication is used for treating Pastern Leukocytoclastic Vasculitis. 


Action of Trental 400 ...
Reduce blood viscosity, thus improving blood flow in the microcirculation and increasing tissue oxygenation.-Reduced blood viscosity may be due to improved red blood cell flexibility, decreased plasma fibrinogen and improved platelet deaggregation.


Archie weighs 540kg and we have had to give him 10 tablets in the morning and 10 tablets in the evening with his feed. We crush these tablets into a powder and mix it with molasses, barley flakes, chaff and a little bit of water. Archie will eat it this with no problems at all. He takes his medication for 3 days.

Day 1 of treatment after I removed the white ointment.

Day 3 of treatment. A big improvement

I have also been covering the area to protect the bare skin from UV light throughout Archie's treatment. I did not want the mesh wraps I made to rub the inflamed area so I used a disposable nappy as padding. I like this idea because the nappy wicks any moisture away from the sores and keeps the area dry. The outer plastic stops the rain from entering. I have secured the nappy on the hock with duct tape.

I then rugged Archie and put his mesh wraps over the top. The mesh boots are suspended from the leg straps of his rug. I have also duct taped the nappy to these leg straps. This stops the nappy from slipping down.

It's important to leave an opening at the back. So that the hock has room to move. This is easy to achieve because this is where the nappy's waistband is.

The mesh leg wraps strap over the top, hold everything together and shelter the rest of the leg from harmful UV light.

These mesh boots used to pull down on Archie's beige coloured rug. It made it hard for him to go to the toilet because he couldn't easily lift his tail. I would find him with a dirty mess of manure over his bottom and down his legs. Archie's new blue rug gives him more room to lift his tail. When I checked his bottom it was clean.

Unfortunately I found orange sores. There are about seven of them (pictured below). I'm not sure if these sores are side effect of the medication. I hope they heal easily.

Day 3, I noticed some unusual orange sores under Archie's tail.
I wonder if this may be a side effect of the medication.
The hair on his tail is a bit messed up so he has been rubbing.

Pastern Dermatitis - November 2010

Here is a photo of the Pastern Dermatits on Archie's inside right hock. It has never been this high up his leg before. I need to purchase or sew something that fits around is hock but does not rub as the area is extremely sore. For now I am just using Potties White Ointment to cover the area. This will not cure his condition but it will keep things under control for now.


(I need to get some hock wraps like these, but I'm having problems ordering them at the moment)...

Cool Medics hock wraps

This time the scabs seem to be growing outwards like a ring. The original sore in the centre has healed and hair is growing back. Today it looked very inflamed.

Below is a photo of what I thought was an ant Archie had a few weeks ago.

Here is how it all started...

Seedy toe treatment 4 weeks after removal

Here are photos of Archie's rear hoof 4 weeks after the seedy toe was cut out of his hoof. I'm only going to file two hooves in one session for a while. Because I'm still slow at bare foot trimming, Archie loses patience with me when I try to do all four in one day. Today it was the rear hooves that were done.

Seedy toe treatment 2 weeks after removal

I have been trimming Archie's feet weekly and applying Bug Buster twice weekly.
In wet weather I wrap up his hooves in vet wrap to stop the Bug Buster from washing off.


Here are some photos 

The following photos are of Archie's rear left hoof 2 weeks after seedy toe removal...

The following photos are of Archie's front left hoof 2 weeks after seedy toe removal...

Seedy toe removal - left rear hoof

Seedy toe removal - front left hoof

Bites

Insect bite on Archie's leg. Probably an ant bite.

Archie bit me. Now we both have painful bites.

Sensitive hooves - after trim - week 1

On the Saturday 18/09/10 Archie was a demonstration horse at a hoof trimming workshop. Archie had his shoes removed from his front hooves and a correct trim performed by Peter from Hoofworks. 

Archie is sensitive without shoes on his front hooves. This has been my main reason for shoes in the past.

This time we are working on strengthening Archie's hooves.

I am keeping notes on his progress.

Saturday 18 September 2010 

Barefoot trim

Sunday 19 September 2010

Archie is extremely sensitive and limping in both front hooves on grass and on hard gravel driveway. We walked very slow.

Monday 20 September 2010

Archie was cantering on the grass and showed no signs of sensitivity. However when walking on the hard driveway he was limping again but not as severe as Sunday.

Tuesday 21 September 2010

The sensitivity only appears to be on the right fore now when walking on the hard driveway. Today I took Archie up to the round yard and chased him around so he would trot freely. I noticed on this course sand surface he was limping slightly on his right fore.


Wednesday 22 September 2010

Got my file and Bug Buster liquid today. I practised my filing Archie's back hooves. I was surprised how much I remembered from the course. I was on my own and was able to work with no one holding his head. Very happy with this and keen to learn more.
Today I cleaned Archie's front hooves with metho and applied Bug Buster to the seedy to affected areas. I then wrapped his hooves in Vet wrap. It has been raining and the wrap will help the Bug Buster stay on long enough to be effective.


Archie was still sensitive walking on the driveway. Even when his feet were wrapped up.

Thursday 22 September 2010

Only the right foot had the vet wrap still on.

Archie is still sensitive on the driveway. We were walking on it with a long lead rope and I noticed he chose to step up on the grass.

I tried him in the round yard and I did not notice any sensitivity.

Saturday 24 September 2010

Today there was no limping on the driveway but he still chose to step up on the grass a couple of times. I'm guessing he still feels a bit sensitive on this surface.