Monday, June 22, 2015
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Friday, June 19, 2015
Thursday, June 18, 2015
You should have been there
If you weren't at the donkey conference last week, you sure should have been. It was really amazing.
Donkeys somehow manage to inspire tremendous passion in the people who love them. Combine that with a very high level of professionalism, knowledge and sense of humor and you get an idea of what the presenters were like. If you didn't manage to attend this year, make sure to mark your calenders for next year. And make sure to tell your veterinarians and farriers about it as well.
The complete agenda can still be found by clicking here and, as you can see, there was a LOT of info. Much more than I can cover in a blog post. In addition to about 10 solid hours of information on subjects ranging from feeding to infectious disease, there were several fun demonstrations with some very sweet and beautiful donkeys.
Believe it or not, I didn't take many pictures, but here are just a few of the sweet and lovely donkeys who were there. They were all so good.
The complete agenda can still be found by clicking here and, as you can see, there was a LOT of info. Much more than I can cover in a blog post. In addition to about 10 solid hours of information on subjects ranging from feeding to infectious disease, there were several fun demonstrations with some very sweet and beautiful donkeys.
Believe it or not, I didn't take many pictures, but here are just a few of the sweet and lovely donkeys who were there. They were all so good.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
I finally got the copies of the radiographs of Ramsey's foot that were taken at the hoof clinic. I haven't had time to finish my next post yet so I am posting these for anyone who is interested.
As you can see in this first film, Ramsey has more than 1/2 an inch of sole under that coffin bone, which is very good. The front of the hoof wall lines up very nicely with the front of the bone, indicating nice, tight lamina connection. The hoof looks good. He does have some sesamoiditis (that is the big knobbly thing at the back of his ankle in the upper portion of the film). That should be round and smooth, rather than bumpy looking.
In this next film you can see that the bones are aligned pretty well, one atop the other and that the coffin bone is parallel to the ground, indicating good medial/lateral balance. Looking at the lower left side of the bone, it does appear shorter than the lower right. That is missing bone from the surgery and gives it a slight appearance of unevenness, but looking at the top of the bone where it joins p2, you can see that it is straight.
And the last film...it still looks like something came along and took a bite out of the bone.
As you can see in this first film, Ramsey has more than 1/2 an inch of sole under that coffin bone, which is very good. The front of the hoof wall lines up very nicely with the front of the bone, indicating nice, tight lamina connection. The hoof looks good. He does have some sesamoiditis (that is the big knobbly thing at the back of his ankle in the upper portion of the film). That should be round and smooth, rather than bumpy looking.
In this next film you can see that the bones are aligned pretty well, one atop the other and that the coffin bone is parallel to the ground, indicating good medial/lateral balance. Looking at the lower left side of the bone, it does appear shorter than the lower right. That is missing bone from the surgery and gives it a slight appearance of unevenness, but looking at the top of the bone where it joins p2, you can see that it is straight.
And the last film...it still looks like something came along and took a bite out of the bone.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Hoof Clinic - Ramsey Triumphs
We finally got to Ramsey about mid afternoon. At first, Pete looked a bit disappointed about Ramsey as he was itching to get to that poor jenny in yesterday's post. He wasn't so sure that there would be much to talk about with Ramsey, but I told him that he might just have a surprise for him. That seemed to cheer Pete up.
(For anyone who is new to the blog, here is one of Ramsey's previous radiographs showing what his coffin bone looked like after having surgery at four months old for septic pedal osteitis (an infection of the coffin bone, also known as p3).)
After describing Ramsey's history, diet and environment, Pete immediately wanted to see a new set of radiographs. Luckily, there was a vet able to do digital films right there for just that purpose. While we were waiting for them to set up, he took a look at Ramsey's feet and his first impression was that the sole was too thin and he was unhappy that someone had "rasped' his toe off at an angle.
I am not sure that Pete actually believed me, but NO, I do not trim his foot this way and I did not rasp the toe off. Ramsey manages it all on his own by digging craters in the pasture. It is one of his favorite summertime pursuits. If anyone has any idea about how to stop him doing this, I would certainly like to hear about it. He never does it when I am around, but I see him doing it from the house.
Ramsey digs holes, almost exclusively, with his bad foot. I often wonder if it is a sign of pain or odd feelings in the foot as a result of his surgery. There are a lot of nerves in the foot and many of them had to have been disrupted when Cornell removed a third of his coffin bone. Ramsey often acts like there is an itch in the top of his foot and will bite at his hoof occasionally. Then again, maybe he is just right handed and he likes being an excavator. Only Ramsey knows.
Finally, we got the new films (which I don't have unfortunately. I am trying to get copies and will post them if I do) and these told a rather different story.
One of the things I struggle with the most in trimming this foot is that the external guides that would normally show how much sole there is just don't exist here. It ALWAYS appears that Ramsey's sole is paper thin, and I ALWAYS have to take a deep breath and commend my soul to God before taking a knife to it. It was one of the things I was hoping to get out of this clinic - some secret that my near obsessive study of hooves has not yet revealed to me.
The x-ray showed that, despite what it may look like on the outside, Ramsey has a full 1/2 inch of sole depth and his medial/lateral balance was near perfect. In the end, Pete did not trim Ramsey's feet at all. What he finally had to say about Ramsey was this:
"It is really amazing just how normal the foot looks, I wouldn't have thought it would be possible."
and:
"This donkey needs a lot, but there is not a single thing that I can do for him that you aren't already doing."
So there you have it, I guess all that obsessing really did pay off.
In the end, the one thing that I got out of this clinic more than anything, is a sense of validation. I am not ever going to even try to figure out how many hours I have spent studying feet and trying to talk to farriers.
For a very long time I really felt like I was out in the hinterlands trying to reinvent the wheel. My attempts at getting local help were generally an exercise in frustration. The farrier at Cornell told me I could bring Ramsey in for trimming every 3 weeks (not possible), but he couldn't help me and he didn't think that Ramsey would ever have anything like a normal foot.
A year ago, I had a saddle for sale and a professional farrier, who graduated from the top farrier school in the country and who also had 7 years of experience, called me up about it. I told him I'd trade him the saddle in exchange for trimming lessons. He came down, we talked about Ramsey and all the other feet I was working on at the time and he got real quiet for a long time, just staring at Ramsey's foot. Finally, he shook his head and told me:
"I guess I didn't really hear what you were telling me on the phone. I thought I was going to come down here and say 'this is a nipper and this is a hoof knife and this is how to hold a rasp.' Instead, I am totally out of my depth here and I don't have a clue what to do for your donkey or the other horses you're working on."
I still gave the guy a good deal on the saddle because he'd lost all his equipment in a barn fire and I felt bad for him, but I quit trying to find help after that. In fact, that was about the time that I made a conscious effort to stop studying books and videos or look for external guidance of any kind. I put all the books away and I took all that stuff swirling around in my mind and stuffed it into an imaginary box inside my mind and closed the lid.
It's all still there of course. That box is now a building block that is an integral part of my hood care foundation, but on it's own, it can never be more than a house of cards. It is each and every individual hoof that have been the real teachers. I couldn't have done it without that solid foundation, without Pete Ramey's DVD's, but in the end, it was Ramsey himself who taught me how to trim his foot.
People kept coming up to me after the clinic and saying things like, "wow, you must be really happy" and, being the socially inept nerd that I am, I wasn't sure how to answer this. Yes, I am very happy. It's a bit like acing the hardest exam I've ever taken. But, it took a while to sink in and there was this little part of me that that kept wanting to say, ' but wait, we haven't found the secret yet!'.
There is no secret of course, except the secret that every hoof is waiting to tell.
I am very glad that I took Ramsey to the clinic, although I am sorry that it stressed him out. If I hadn't taken him though, I would have always wondered and regretted not doing it. I feel good about where we are and about the feedback I got from Pete. At the end of the day though, this is the thing that makes me feel the most triumphant....
(For anyone who is new to the blog, here is one of Ramsey's previous radiographs showing what his coffin bone looked like after having surgery at four months old for septic pedal osteitis (an infection of the coffin bone, also known as p3).)
After describing Ramsey's history, diet and environment, Pete immediately wanted to see a new set of radiographs. Luckily, there was a vet able to do digital films right there for just that purpose. While we were waiting for them to set up, he took a look at Ramsey's feet and his first impression was that the sole was too thin and he was unhappy that someone had "rasped' his toe off at an angle.
I am not sure that Pete actually believed me, but NO, I do not trim his foot this way and I did not rasp the toe off. Ramsey manages it all on his own by digging craters in the pasture. It is one of his favorite summertime pursuits. If anyone has any idea about how to stop him doing this, I would certainly like to hear about it. He never does it when I am around, but I see him doing it from the house.
Ramsey digs holes, almost exclusively, with his bad foot. I often wonder if it is a sign of pain or odd feelings in the foot as a result of his surgery. There are a lot of nerves in the foot and many of them had to have been disrupted when Cornell removed a third of his coffin bone. Ramsey often acts like there is an itch in the top of his foot and will bite at his hoof occasionally. Then again, maybe he is just right handed and he likes being an excavator. Only Ramsey knows.
Finally, we got the new films (which I don't have unfortunately. I am trying to get copies and will post them if I do) and these told a rather different story.
One of the things I struggle with the most in trimming this foot is that the external guides that would normally show how much sole there is just don't exist here. It ALWAYS appears that Ramsey's sole is paper thin, and I ALWAYS have to take a deep breath and commend my soul to God before taking a knife to it. It was one of the things I was hoping to get out of this clinic - some secret that my near obsessive study of hooves has not yet revealed to me.
The x-ray showed that, despite what it may look like on the outside, Ramsey has a full 1/2 inch of sole depth and his medial/lateral balance was near perfect. In the end, Pete did not trim Ramsey's feet at all. What he finally had to say about Ramsey was this:
"It is really amazing just how normal the foot looks, I wouldn't have thought it would be possible."
and:
"This donkey needs a lot, but there is not a single thing that I can do for him that you aren't already doing."
So there you have it, I guess all that obsessing really did pay off.
In the end, the one thing that I got out of this clinic more than anything, is a sense of validation. I am not ever going to even try to figure out how many hours I have spent studying feet and trying to talk to farriers.
For a very long time I really felt like I was out in the hinterlands trying to reinvent the wheel. My attempts at getting local help were generally an exercise in frustration. The farrier at Cornell told me I could bring Ramsey in for trimming every 3 weeks (not possible), but he couldn't help me and he didn't think that Ramsey would ever have anything like a normal foot.
"I guess I didn't really hear what you were telling me on the phone. I thought I was going to come down here and say 'this is a nipper and this is a hoof knife and this is how to hold a rasp.' Instead, I am totally out of my depth here and I don't have a clue what to do for your donkey or the other horses you're working on."
I still gave the guy a good deal on the saddle because he'd lost all his equipment in a barn fire and I felt bad for him, but I quit trying to find help after that. In fact, that was about the time that I made a conscious effort to stop studying books and videos or look for external guidance of any kind. I put all the books away and I took all that stuff swirling around in my mind and stuffed it into an imaginary box inside my mind and closed the lid.
It's all still there of course. That box is now a building block that is an integral part of my hood care foundation, but on it's own, it can never be more than a house of cards. It is each and every individual hoof that have been the real teachers. I couldn't have done it without that solid foundation, without Pete Ramey's DVD's, but in the end, it was Ramsey himself who taught me how to trim his foot.
People kept coming up to me after the clinic and saying things like, "wow, you must be really happy" and, being the socially inept nerd that I am, I wasn't sure how to answer this. Yes, I am very happy. It's a bit like acing the hardest exam I've ever taken. But, it took a while to sink in and there was this little part of me that that kept wanting to say, ' but wait, we haven't found the secret yet!'.
There is no secret of course, except the secret that every hoof is waiting to tell.
I am very glad that I took Ramsey to the clinic, although I am sorry that it stressed him out. If I hadn't taken him though, I would have always wondered and regretted not doing it. I feel good about where we are and about the feedback I got from Pete. At the end of the day though, this is the thing that makes me feel the most triumphant....
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Hoof Clinic - part one
Tuesday morning, we loaded Ramsey into a trailer at an ungodly hour for the three hour trip to the Pete Ramey donkey hoof clinic. For anyone who does not know who Pete Ramey is, he is one of the foremost experts in hoof care in the world. You can learn more about him at his website. I have studied nearly all of his DVD's and books along with that of many other hoof care practitioners. His work has been, by far, the most useful to me and has helped give me the fundamental understanding of hooves that has let me keep Ramsey alive, happy and sound. I feel like Ramsey's foot is finally in a good place, but I know that I would always regret it if I had not taken this rare opportunity to have Pete see Ramsey.
I am sorry to say that the trip was a rough one for my little brown donkey. He was much more stressed by it than I had thought he would be and things were not helped by the fact that the route to New Paltz was three hours of twisty, windy, hilly driving that went straight through the heart of the Catskills. If I had known ahead of time what the drive would be like, I don't think I would have taken him. It was a beautiful drive and I would like to revisit some of those mountains, but NOT with a loaded horse trailer.
Once we got there and Ramsey was off the trailer, he took in everything with this normal aplomb and started to settle down.
He had his own stall in the barn with a friendly donkey gelding next to him for company. He was not happy about it. Ramsey hates, HATES(!!!) being locked up away from the action. It is the one thing he just is not good at and even though I was only a few feet away from him, he was not happy. He wanted OUT.
And, he missed his mom.
Emma seemed to do just fine without him, but Ramsey was not a happy camper. He did finally settle in a bit. He charmed everyone he met (as usual) and garnered much sympathy with his sad warbling.
He really did very well given the circumstances, his history and his age. The one thing that really surprised me was just how uninterested he was in meeting the other donkeys. He just wanted to be with me, out of his stall and away from all the other donkeys. It just goes to show, yet again, how different donkeys are from horses.
There is no way that I can encapsulate the entire clinic for you. What I would recommend if you own a donkey or have any interest in how to care for them is that you get a copy of Pete Ramey's DVD set, Donkey Hooves Inside and Out. Even if you are not interested in trimming yourself, the DVD is an excellent resource for all donkey owners. Most of what was covered in the clinic can be found there. I've watched just about every donkey hoof care video that I have ever come by and this is by far the best.
The one common theme that came up over and over in both the clinic and the conference that followed was nutrition, nutrition, nutrition. No amount of trimming will ever grow a healthy foot without the right nutrition.
This is something that I know very well and can attest to personally. Trying to trim an unhealthy, poorly nourished hoof is an exercise in profound frustration. You will never fix a hoof problem without first fixing the underlying nutrition and/or metabolic issues.
I actually have several blog posts on this subject that I wrote over a year ago and never published. I am not sure why exactly, except that I got discouraged by how much active resistance I kept running up against. People just did not want to hear about it. No one wants to believe that the way they are feeding their animals may be the cause of all their problems nor will they believes there even IS a problem until the horse or donkey comes up dead lame. I think I will try to dig those posts up and brush them off. I know there are at least few people out there who may appreciate them.
Below are some preserved cadaver hooves from a donkey who certainly could have used a change in his diet. This is by no means the worst foot I've seen, but you can clearly see how the hoof wall is separated from the bone at the toe. This is very common and the primary cause is too much sugar in the diet.
On the other hand (or hoof) this is a very nice little hoof on a mini donkey that Pete had just trimmed.
Aren't they just the cutest little feet?
There were ten minis at the clinic and they made Ramsey look huge. The tallest was around 32 inches and the smallest was barley knee high. I think I could have picked her right up and carried her off. They were all very sweet and adorable, but I think I like my standard size donkeys - they are just the perfect size for hugging, no bending or kneeling required:).
Then there was this poor creature. Not cute at all.
You can see from her radiographs that her coffin bone has sunk down into the hoof capsule quite a lot so, even after her trim, her feet will still look long. With regular care that should improve.
Her hind feet have gotten so long that she is tipped backward with the hair line pointing nearly straight up. There is no way to know before trimming if she will be able to stand correctly once her feet are fixed.
After trimming the heels and giving her a stable base, it is time to whack off those crazy toes.
This is the same donkey after her trim.
It was very encouraging to see her legs pop back up and allow her to stand more normally. She will need time for her tendons and ligaments to readjust themselves. As she begins to move normally again, her feet will improve even more.
With regular care, she will be able to live a comfortable, happy life.
If anyone has specific questions, I will try to answer them. In my next post, I'll tell you all about what you really want know - how Ramsey's feet measured up.
I am sorry to say that the trip was a rough one for my little brown donkey. He was much more stressed by it than I had thought he would be and things were not helped by the fact that the route to New Paltz was three hours of twisty, windy, hilly driving that went straight through the heart of the Catskills. If I had known ahead of time what the drive would be like, I don't think I would have taken him. It was a beautiful drive and I would like to revisit some of those mountains, but NOT with a loaded horse trailer.
Once we got there and Ramsey was off the trailer, he took in everything with this normal aplomb and started to settle down.
He had his own stall in the barn with a friendly donkey gelding next to him for company. He was not happy about it. Ramsey hates, HATES(!!!) being locked up away from the action. It is the one thing he just is not good at and even though I was only a few feet away from him, he was not happy. He wanted OUT.
And, he missed his mom.
Emma seemed to do just fine without him, but Ramsey was not a happy camper. He did finally settle in a bit. He charmed everyone he met (as usual) and garnered much sympathy with his sad warbling.
He really did very well given the circumstances, his history and his age. The one thing that really surprised me was just how uninterested he was in meeting the other donkeys. He just wanted to be with me, out of his stall and away from all the other donkeys. It just goes to show, yet again, how different donkeys are from horses.
There is no way that I can encapsulate the entire clinic for you. What I would recommend if you own a donkey or have any interest in how to care for them is that you get a copy of Pete Ramey's DVD set, Donkey Hooves Inside and Out. Even if you are not interested in trimming yourself, the DVD is an excellent resource for all donkey owners. Most of what was covered in the clinic can be found there. I've watched just about every donkey hoof care video that I have ever come by and this is by far the best.
The one common theme that came up over and over in both the clinic and the conference that followed was nutrition, nutrition, nutrition. No amount of trimming will ever grow a healthy foot without the right nutrition.
This is something that I know very well and can attest to personally. Trying to trim an unhealthy, poorly nourished hoof is an exercise in profound frustration. You will never fix a hoof problem without first fixing the underlying nutrition and/or metabolic issues.
I actually have several blog posts on this subject that I wrote over a year ago and never published. I am not sure why exactly, except that I got discouraged by how much active resistance I kept running up against. People just did not want to hear about it. No one wants to believe that the way they are feeding their animals may be the cause of all their problems nor will they believes there even IS a problem until the horse or donkey comes up dead lame. I think I will try to dig those posts up and brush them off. I know there are at least few people out there who may appreciate them.
Below are some preserved cadaver hooves from a donkey who certainly could have used a change in his diet. This is by no means the worst foot I've seen, but you can clearly see how the hoof wall is separated from the bone at the toe. This is very common and the primary cause is too much sugar in the diet.
On the other hand (or hoof) this is a very nice little hoof on a mini donkey that Pete had just trimmed.
Aren't they just the cutest little feet?
There were ten minis at the clinic and they made Ramsey look huge. The tallest was around 32 inches and the smallest was barley knee high. I think I could have picked her right up and carried her off. They were all very sweet and adorable, but I think I like my standard size donkeys - they are just the perfect size for hugging, no bending or kneeling required:).
Then there was this poor creature. Not cute at all.
You can see from her radiographs that her coffin bone has sunk down into the hoof capsule quite a lot so, even after her trim, her feet will still look long. With regular care that should improve.
After trimming the heels and giving her a stable base, it is time to whack off those crazy toes.
It was very encouraging to see her legs pop back up and allow her to stand more normally. She will need time for her tendons and ligaments to readjust themselves. As she begins to move normally again, her feet will improve even more.
With regular care, she will be able to live a comfortable, happy life.
If anyone has specific questions, I will try to answer them. In my next post, I'll tell you all about what you really want know - how Ramsey's feet measured up.
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