We are confident that Buckeye does not share this persons comment. They commented on the last blog about Buckeye’s surgery:
“This whole surgery was un necessary. He is in more pain now than he was before and I feel worse for him now than I did before. Look at his body posture bofore and after. He is not walking better at all. All he needed is correct hoof care and physical therapy. There was no need to sever his tendons. Tendons cannot contract to the extent it would “pull” his foot backwards. Tendons attach bone to muscle. If anything is contracted it would be his shoulder muscles. Tendons cannot contract to that extent. The whole problem came about because the back of his foot hurt and to avoid that he began walking on his toe until his heel got so high he “knuckled over”. Then his toe wall grew backwards and under his entire hoof capsule. Now he has to try to recover his mutilated foot, his sore body and from his tendon being severd, which will take years, as they are a fiborus tissue that receives little blood flow so healing will be a very long and painful process. And, a special shoe is not going to help him. But, good luck with all that. I feel very bad for the pony. He would have been better off being euthanized like the little Marylegs white pony you recently put down. That pony could have also been fine if she had correct hoof care and rehabilitation. I wish people were more correctly informed on the functions of a horses body and the effects we have on them, especially if one is going to run a horse “rescue”. I wish you luck”
After reading this, we felt that we need to explain the surgery a little bit better. The contracted tendon pulls the toe of the hoof back, causing a clubbed hoof. In Buckeye’s situation it was extremely clubbed, so clubbed that the hoof was growing back into the back of his leg, if left in this state it could cause bone deterioration along with sores and ultimately end in euthanasia being the only option.
This is the 3rd contracted tendon surgery we have done, Macho Man was the first, followed by Baby. Both made 100% recoveries and are now living pain free thanks to this surgery. Looking into Buckeye’s face, we can tell he is thankful for what you made possible for him. He has a great prognosis for 100% recovery and we look forward to the day when he can go to his forever home.
Wednesday morning, the farrier made a special trip to the vet just to get Buckeye fixed up.
The vet and farrier had a discussion on how the special shoe was to be made, and exactly what its functions needed to be.
The farrier got to work and started shaping a normal shoe into a custom therapeutic shoe.
Buckeye watched on with amazement and wonder.
The farrier kept putting the shoe in the forge to heat it up so it could be shaped just perfect. Buckeye just couldn’t believe how hot that thing looked in the back of his truck.
Then it was down to shaping it again.
Finally the shoe was shaped and fitted just perfect. It was then attached to Buckeye’s hoof.
The shoe sticks out about 2 inches past his hoof to help position his hoof for proper healing. Buckeye is on pain medication throughout this rehab. We are all looking forward to the day when he will be pain free on his own!
The incision is healing beautifully and doing very well with no sign of infection.
A new wrap was put on his leg to protect the incision and help the healing process.
Then he was led back to his stall.
Buckeye would like to say a huge “Thank you!” to everyone for their thoughts and prayers, and for making this life changing operation possible.
Many thanks to Cindy M. for her generous monthly support for hay and to Jennifer L. for her generous donation.
