The Good & The Scary

I haven't heard back from the vets at Cornell yet.  They are usually very prompt at returning emails and calls, but a friend mentioned that it may be Spring break for the school.  If that is the case, I doubt I'll get anywhere till break is over.

Reddunappy asked if Ramsey had foundered on this foot.  The answer to that is a qualified no.  There was a massive infection in the foot which can be very similar to founder/laminitis.  Also, about 1/4 of his coffin bone was removed during surgery because it was infected.  I really don't know if removing that much bone can cause it to rotate, I suspect it is very possible.  I also don't know how that kind of infection might affect the rest of the internal hoof structures and how they grow in the future.  The effects could be similar to laminits.  I hope to discus all this with the vet some more.

I know it will take at least a year to grow a new hoof.  At this point, I am just trying to keep everything stable and healing so that healthy growth has a chance to occur.  I don't know if this foot will ever be "normal" again.  Sound and functional is what I am looking for.

Ian asked for comparison photos so I took some this afternoon.  You can get an idea of just how goofy this foot looks at the moment.  That cute little foot on the right is a much more normal baby-donkey foot.

I believe that the odd texture of his bad foot was caused by the constant bandaging.  It is a perfect example of how anything that effects the coronet band effects the hoof.  The bandage had a nubby texture, so now the foot has a nubby texture.  That shouldn't hurt anything though.

The normal hoof.