When Circe came up lame a week and a half ago and i saw the bruise, I put her on rest and waited it out to see if it would manifest into an abscess or get better. A week went by and it didn’t get better. The lameness did get a little more pronounced but she didn’t do the abscess turn and ever come up three legged lame. My farrier was due to come out and i figured she would let me know if i was in abscess world or not. Circe still had no pulses, heat or swelling but she was defiantly off at the trot on the right front and over the week she was off she was on lame at the walk as well, though not every step.
When my farrier (the best farrier in Maryland FYI) came out she looked at her at the walk and trot (still off) and put the hoof testers on her. Circe was all over sole sore on both feet. she also had a pulse in the left front which is indicative of horses favoring the right. It didn’t appear to be an abscess brewing my farrier found no indication of an abscess. The decision was made to put front shoes on The Circe Effect. A few things weighed into this decision. The current assessment of Circe’s feet and comfort. Her current workload which is only going to get heavier and the fact that i pretty much knew at some point that Circe might need shoes. Unlike Jezebel Circe’s feet are thinner and more typically thoroughbred like. Lastly I asked my farrier (who is also my friend) if she were her horse what would she do. Shoes and pads with magic cushion.
I spent almost exactly a year trying to get and keep Miss Circe barefoot but Circe told me it was time for her to have shoes. As much as id like to keep both my horses barefoot the horse will tell you what they need if you listen. I always try to listen. We decided on steel shoes with clips and leather pads. Circe was to be hot shod and we had no idea if that was something she’d ever experienced before. When she came to me with really terrible farrier work she had aluminum shoes on so who knows what she’d been exposed to before. Shes a very good girl for the farrier in general so when it came time for the hot shoe i took her off the cross ties, lightly held her lead and gave her a treat right before my farrier fitted the shoe. She was great until the noise sizzled and then she started to pull back a little. She didn’t totally freak out just a little and we both told her she was good and it was okay. Theres some room for improvement here and i’m always at my farrier appointments so between the two of us i’m sure after a few cycles Circe will hot shoe like a champ.
Hopefully this will fix her lameness issue. I’m giving her bute for a few days for any inflammation and if shes not sound as my farrier expects by Tuesday then i’ll call the vet out for a lameness exam and rads and take it from there. Theres always a chance that its something more serious but in this case i strongly believe this will remedy the situation and Circe can go back into work very soon.