Katherine's Canker
Some information on canker to get you started
http://www.equipodiatry.com/canker1.htm
The authors wrote this article because they have found some big differences between canker as it's
found now, and as it's described in textbooks. I know this because Dr. Madison (2nd author) told me so
during Katherine's surgery. It was very reassuring to have him reiterate that it does not seem to be a
"dirty horse" disease, that he sees it in horses who receive excellent care as well as in poorly
managed horses.
Some information on my Katherine, 1993 TB mare
I've had her since 2001. She's been a wonderful friend. I trust her immensely, and looking forward to
riding Kat again helped me get through my back problems, back surgery and all the depressing recovery.
She was looking forward to it, too. The first time I rode after my surgery (it had been a year), when
I dismounted, she turned and stuck her nose under my arm and just cuddled; she was so happy we were
riding again.
Since 2003, Kat has lived on our minifarm with 24/7 turnout, at least twice daily care, frequent
grooming and cuddling even when I wasn't riding. Since 2004, she's been barefoot and doing well with
it. Her buddies were Duchess, 1990 TB mare (who we bought at the same
time as Kat; they've been together for longer than we've had them) and Fantasy the 1997 Morgan mare.
In June 2006, Kat had a wonderful filly (Firefly the IDSH) and we adopted a nurse mare filly (Serenity
the Thorcheron).
Where things began with Katherine
Looking back, I think it was the feed switch that made her susceptible. Spring 2005 she'd started
doing poorly; she wasn't sick, just not healthy. Coat dull, energy low, rain rot and scratches we just
couldn't eliminate. My vet said "insulin resistance" and we switched her to Nutrena SafeChoice.
Within a month she was back to herself.
Towards the end of her pregnancy (Spring 2006), we switched her to a broodmare pellet to get the best
nutrient
balance for the developing foal; she stayed on the broodmare pellet for a few months after foaling for
milk production. About a month before she foaled, she started acting a little listless and developed
the scratches again. I thought she was just stressed due to being heavily pregnant, but in hindsight,
I think the feed probably had a lot to do with it.
About 2 weeks before she foaled, she stopped wanting to pick up her feet to have them cleaned. I
figured she was just so heavy she was having trouble balancing on 3 feet. I didn't see any problems in
her feet. Again in hindsight, I suspect the canker was already festering and making her frogs tender.
A few days after she foaled, the farrier was due. As he was trimming her frogs, he exclaimed that she
had some bad thrush going on. He cut out a lot of it and suggested that I should use Hoof Freeze
directly on the affected area to clear out the thrush. (I did so, daily--3x daily at first, then
reduced to 1x daily after 3 weeks.) My farrier (David Reid of
"Grumpy's Horseshoeing") was fantastic throughout, so very helpful, at times
coming out as frequently as once a week trying to eliminate all the affected tissue.
Our horses have their feet done about every 6 weeks. The next time the farrier was out, her feet had
not improved. He told me that he suspected canker. He cut more out of her frogs again, again
suggested the
Hoof Freeze, told me it might be pretty serious. I called the vet, who said, "It'd be near impossible
for her to have canker since she isn't a draft," checked her feet, said "Yep, that's bad thrush," and
advised me to use the bovine mastitis cream treatment for thrush.
I went through a case of that stuff and there was no change. That's where the pictures start in
October 2006:
http://lady-of-lothlorien.com/horses/kat/hooves-10-04-2006/
Farrier cut out more affected tissue, but the feet still didn't improve. So he tried to "burn" it
out; cut out the affected tissue then burned the area with iodine crystals:
http://lady-of-lothlorien.com/horses/kat/hooves-10-12-2006/
2 days later:
http://lady-of-lothlorien.com/horses/kat/hooves-10-14-2006/
Continued applying Hoof Freeze, and the area seemed to dry up and harden. We thought we had it beat
at the end of December 2006:
http://lady-of-lothlorien.com/horses/kat/hooves-12-29-2006/
Surgery
Then in late January/early February it came back with a vengeance. Her feet became extremely tender.
Mid-February she became lame and also stopped eating (likely associating mealtimes with having me treat her feet, which
hurt very much).
Tuesday (February 20th 2007), farrier came out and said, "Yes, this has gone beyond
where I can help. I am certain it is canker and I definitely think she needs surgery." I called
Dr. Madison's office (Ocala Equine
Hospital),
arranged to bring her down Wednesday (the next day) and have them look at her
Thursday (February 22nd 2007). They were awesome to me throughout the whole thing. Excellently
communicative, had a qualified vet willing to talk to me every time I had questions (for as long as I
kept coming up with questions!), and they even let me be there for the surgery.
Pictures taken Wednesday (February 21st 2007), just before trailering her down:
http://lady-of-lothlorien.com/horses/kat/hooves-02-21-2006/
Thursday (February 22nd 2007) morning they called to say that she would be going into surgery around
1pm, and they had also told me that Dr. Madison doesn't mind observers. So I was there.
http://lady-of-lothlorien.com/horses/kat/hooves-02-22-2007/
After Surgery
March 4:
She was pretty miserable on her feet when she first got home, but as of today she is feeling more
upbeat, even if she's still annoyed that she's stallbound. Still changing the bandages daily, although
the "Equine Slippers" are helping a lot. (https://www.saddleuptack.com/xcart/product.php?productid=5&cat=0&page=1)
She's still a little wobbly on 3 legs, and my back screams if
I spend too much time leaning over, so it really helps that we can reduce the amount of time needed to
change those hoof bandages. Also helps that they have a leather sole and are more resistant to pawing
than duct tape.
March 9:
Darn. Problems with the slippers.
We started using them on 2-26; as of 2 days ago, one had a hole in the sole and two had
holes in the canvas. Darn. It's such a *good* idea. Too bad it didn't last.
Pics of the holes in the
slippers and my patches here.
March 11:
Darn it, got a hole coming through the sole of the right front.
Hole coming through the toe,
and new sole inserted.
March 12:
Friend of mine bought me a hoof cradle for my birthday. Kat's a good, cooperative horse, so that
makes this whole process SO much easier. She still pulls her hoof off the cradle on occasion just
from reaction ("ooh, that stings") but I know when it's about to sting, and I can catch her and
replace the hoof. For a horse who wasn't cooperative and didn't want you messing with his hooves, I
suspect he'd just keep pulling his hoof out of the cradle deliberately, and make it useless.
For us, the hoof cradle is a huge back-saver. I don't have to stay crouched over and holding her foot
steady, letting my legs cramp up and placing a lot of strain on my back. I can move around and get at
her hoof from different angles as I do different things; I can kneel or just bend over, and even stand
up and stretch for a moment. Poor Kat's still left standing on 3 painful hooves, so I do continue to
change the bandages as quickly as I can.
March 13:
Darn it, got a hole coming through the sole of the LEFT front.
Hole coming through the toe
(no pic, but sole was reinforced also).
March 14:
One of the hind slippers is just destroyed.
This slipper is Deceased.
Called Bluegrass Equine. They're sending me 3 new slippers. If I reinforce them when they arrive,
and reinforce the 4th which still looks reasonably okay, they may last a lot longer. Bluegrass Equine
says that sometimes horses with painful feet "grind" their feet as they walk, and that makes them go
through the slippers faster--but they're being very good about it, and I'm really glad it wasn't more
of a hassle. Nice people.
March 17:
3 slippers arrived as promised on Friday. I reinforced the 3 new ones, as well as the one old one
that still had a sole. As it happens, on Friday, that slipper finally developed a hole in the
leather--but with extra leather on the sole, I think it will be okay. I took some more thorough
measures in working on the slipper for the right hind, the one she totally destroyed.
Reinforcing the slippers.
The hoof cradle and the slippers make it much easier to do any of this. My back is feeling a lot of
relief since the hoof cradle arrived, even though I abused it further last week by going out to work
too many days. (When people call and want me to come help their horses, I find it very hard to turn
them down...)
Kat was starting to get a little nervous and agitated in the stall. One of the side bonuses of having
her stalled was that I could feed her as much as she'd eat, without worrying about the other horses
stealing it. She's finally recovered all the weight she lost while nursing Firefly. Now that she's
at a good weight, she got to the point where she was just getting too much food, so we cut her back
down again yesterday. She's more calm already.
March 19:
Some notes and photos on bandaging procedure and tools. I've developed some ways to make a few things
easier, and a few things more effective.
Bandaging.
March 26:
This is great. For about a week Kat's been able to go out most of the day. The bandages need to stay
absolutely dry, so we have to wait until the
dew burns off in the morning and I have to bring her in before we start
to get dew for the evening. She seems decently comfortable now.
She was getting a little twinge-y on her heels; I think the shape of the "defect" has changed as she
begins to heal, and they just weren't right anymore. On 03-25 our farrier came out and poured
Equi-Pak clear silicon pads for her feet. Usually these are used with shoes; this is an experiment.
We're hoping that these will continue to protect the defect, continue to hold the medication up
against the surface of the defect, but also possibly distribute some of the pressure throughout the
hoof so that she's not taking pressure just on the heel as soon as she puts her foot down.
Pics of the defects and of the pads.
Video of Kat moving around
today.
April 7:
I am seeing a lot more of what I think if tissue growth. I think the rubber inserts were just putting
too much pressure on the area, inhibiting healing.
Now what I think I'm seeing: the hoof tissue grows, then rubs against the top of the pad where it's
just grown. I've been reshaping the pads a little every time I see an area start to look rubbed.
Last night I took out one of my nice sharp leather knives and did some more dramatic trimming off the
top of the pad, trying to cut it down where it seems her feet are growing.
April 26th:
Her frog had grown so much that I'd stopped using the inserts. I'm still nervous all of the time, due
to growing/raw/granulating tissue. As far as I can tell it's healthy, but...
Two days ago her feet started to smell a bit and then her sole just started to fall off. After a
moment of panic I realized that she must be shedding her sole--wearing slippers all of the time, it's
not being abraded by the ground, so the dead sole isn't wearing down naturally. It was disconcerting
that the shed sole went under the frog, leaving parts of the tip of the frog sitting up and out. I
figured that it ws probably grown and simply needed to be trimmed...but I didn't *know*. Fortunately,
the farrier's next visit was already scheduled for today. He said things looked terrific.
http://lady-of-lothlorien.com/horses/kat/04-26-2007/
She's on her 3rd set of slippers. These ones are seriously reinforced; I want them to last until she
doesn't need bandaging anymore. That may be sooner than we thought...after trimming today, she looks
SO much better than I expected. She's still inside any time it's damp, and even when she is
allowed out she only gets out from about 11-8 when it's really dry. She's still having her bandages
changed daily. But I think maybe I can start to relax a tiny bit.
Visit Lorien Stable & Services, saddle fitting/body work/problem
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