Kipper - Shod to Bare and Back Again
Last Updated on Friday, 28 August 2009 22:20 Written by Kim Cassidy Sunday, 19 July 2009 01:29
Kipper is my friend Marta's mare and their story is a long one. I've asked Marta to write their history and here it is:
I met Kip in 1997 when she was abandoned by her owner at the barn where I rode. In an attempt to make her into a school horse the owner of the barn asked Ania to work with Kip to get her ready for a job as a school horse. Lucky for Kip her personality didn't suit that line of work ;)
Initially Kip was kept barefoot but as her work load progressed she was shod on all four. In 2000 I began leasing her. We did mostly flat work in the arena and some hunter paces. In 2001 she went lame on RF. She was eventually diagnosed as navicular and underwent injections, treatment with isoxuprine, various herbal supplements (Hilton Herbs made a fortune off of me), and wedge shoes. Nothing worked. In 2002 I was referred to Jay Mickle who put Kip in NB aluminum shoes. This was the first time in over a year that her comfort level appeared to improve. However, for financial reasons I couldn't continue with Jay's services for more than 2 shoeings. At this point Kip was already mine and we switched barns. She was living out 24/7 and I had her shoes pulled. Since her lameness was pronounced on circles, we gave up on arena work and spent months walking on trails barefoot - trotting and cantering only when she wanted to. In order to get to her pasture we had to walk down a long gravel driveway and she stumbled and tried to avoid walking on that gravel at all cost. Folks told me to make her walk on the gravel and to put venice turpentine on her feet to make her more comfortable. Since she was not improving I began looking at hoof boots as an option. This is when I bought my first pair of hoof boots. They were the original Old Mac's before Easy Care bought them. They rubbed and fell off and were overall clunky. Next came the Boas which also didn't work for us. The old fashioned EZ boots flew off so frequently that I actually spray painted them orange to help me find them in the grass. Next came the Epics. After about 2 + years of boot experiments we settled down for Easy Care Bares which while not perfect, stayed on better than others.
In my continued search for a solution to Kip's discomfort I came across Marjorie Smith who referred me to Kim Cassidy. During her first visit to our barn, Kim took one look at Kip and immediately recognized that she was in a full blown laminitis. In retrospect I realize that Kip had every symptome of an obese laminitc horse, but back then I didn't know enough about this and apparently neither did any of the farriers, vets, and horse folks at the barn where we boarded. We pulled Kip from the pasture, tested her blood, and the diagnosis was IR. Kim trimmed Kip for a while and while she trimmed I learned from her. At some point Kim's visits became more seldom and I took over the basic trim with Kim checking in on us every few months.
At this point Kip's "navicular" issues seemed to resolve and our trail riding spurred me to try distance riding. We entered a few rides in the New Jersey's Pine Barrens and completed them barefoot. We also completed a ride barefoot at Fair Hill. Unfortunately I still struggled with Kip's metabolic problems. I tried turning her out with a muzzle but somehow she'd up laminitc at least one if not twice per year. I felt those laminitc episodes were responsible for our inability to go barefoot on all terrain. We switched barns again and Kip was no longer on 24/7 turnout. But metabolic issues continued to cause problems. It was 2006 and we used the Bares with Comfort pads for for riding on hard or rocky terrain. The gaiters on the boots rubbed. I tried wool socks, ointments, vet wrap but nothing worked. Also, she continued to rip the RF boot off in extended trot and canter. Rides were frustrating and I looked w/ envy at friends whose horses were shod and ran effortlessly over all terrain without worry that the shoes will fall off.
In the 2007 ride season I decided to try foaming the boots on. That was also a miserable failure. Kip still managed to rip the RF boot off and to make matters worse the Comfort Pad inside a foamed on boot shifted bruising her sole. In 2008 I decided, with Kim's blessing, to shoe Kip for competition. Unfortunately instead of trusting my gut instinct I let the farrier talk me into putting shoes only on her front feet for our first ride. Not sure what I was thinking since clearly a horse that needed 4 boots with pads to be comfortable needed more than just front shoes to be comfortable. But the farrier didn't know Kip and felt it was better to start with less and then add protection as needed. At the end of the first 20 mile loop Kip was off and we went home. Couple weeks later she was diagnosed with severe hind suspensory tear and sesmoidean ligament tear. Initial goal - pasture soundness. Our competitive days were over.
Suspensory rehab is not fun but Kip made great progress and 9 months later the vet was nearly read to let us trot under saddle. Being of conservative nature, the vet suggested we give Kip two more months to heal before trotting. I continued walking under saddle on trails using the Bares for protection. One day we were walking on some wet hilly trails and Kip continued loosing her footing on the downhills. To help her I took off her hind boots. As we neared the trail head, the trail went from wet to rocky (common in NJ). As we went on I felt her straining and struggling to get through the rocks. By the time we got back to the barn she was once again off in the left hind. Few weeks later vet confirmed that she strained that LH suspensory again. She told us to take it slow.
This time I KNEW with all certainty what caused that suspensory strain. It was the lack of protection on her hind feet. I was angry and frustrated. She's now been barefoot 7 years and we appeared to have hit a wall. Boots didn't work for us and barefoot evaded us. I called Kim. Incredibly at this point Kim was experimenting with he Eponas on her own horse. She suggested we try the Eponas on Kip. We shod Kip at the end of March 2009. The difference in her appearance was immediate and incredible. Her stance changed, she became more forward moving with ease and comfort, her back loose. The Eponas and Kim gave us a new lease on life and riding.
Four months have now passed since Kip's first Epona shoeing. Her comfort level remains the same. Her feet, for the first time in 7 years have expanded, her heels have opened up. She no longer stays off to the side of the trail to avoid rocks or hard packed ground. Our flat work is progressing nicely and everyone is impressed by the swing in her back. Looking back I realize that Kip was never fully comfortable even when booted with pads. Her stride was never this long, her body never this relaxed. Had I never tried the Eponas I would've never known how my beautiful old mare really moves. We are still rehabbing from suspensory. Increasing the trot time and doing more and more lateral work in the arena. I'm looking forward to our next vet visit optimistic that it'll show significant improvement.
Marta K.
Okay it's Kim again, my picture taking skills were pretty poor back then, so I don't have any good ones of Kippers feet from those days that would make a good comparison to now. In March after watching my Epona tests with Finn, Marta had me shoe Kipper. Before I started I asked Marta to get a full set of x-rays, which she did as a baseline to our shoeing experiment. Kipper as we suspected had thin soles and a weak digital cushion (especially in the LH). Here are the xrays.
Since shoeing Kippers feet have gone up a full shoe size and she moves really well. Here are a few pictures of Kip's feet after today's shoeing. This was the first time I've used the Epona glue since returning from The Epona Institute last week. The glue really makes a big difference. One interesting thing about the glue. I really think it acts as an extension of the hoof wall. Kipper usually HATES the hammering on her fronts, with the glue, she barely notices as I hammer in the nails. I LOVE the glue.
This is todays shoeing
I met Marta at equine clinic yesterday and watched Kipper have another lameness exam. Vet was very impressed and kept telling me how much happier Kipper appeared in her "plastic shoes" Her write up after the exam and xrays included instructions for the continued rehab of the torn suspenory's. Her list included 4 items and # 1 was, keep using the Epona Shoes!
Marta didn't have all the feet xrayed, just the RF (Kipper still exhibits lameness on it at the circle on hard ground) and the LH. I put the March xrays next to the Aug xrays. Really amazing results!
Here is Kipper moving after getting shod in July. I have video of her trotting in a circle 5 weeks ago bare, I have to find it and upload it so you can see the difference. The video is a Quicktime file, you will need that to play the video.