By: Aprylsnow
My Story
My beloved childhood horse, Snow struggled with Laminitis for many years. When he was about 15 years old he had his first bout of Laminitis. To this day I am not sure exactly what brought it on in the beginning, but I do know first hand it was a tough road to go down with a horse.
Once Snow matured he started to develop fatty deposits on his rump and the crest of his neck started to thicken beyond normal. The crest of his neck reached about 5 inches higher than it should have been. I could pull the crest of his neck back and forth, it was almost like a thick gel pad. This was all fat build up. Other than the two areas mentioned previously he did not look really heavy. There were several events in his life that may have contributed to the Laminitis and founder he repeatedly came down with, but I will never know for sure.
The first time Snow was down with Laminitis, he got cast and kicked his way through a cement block wall, which did not help matters. The vet was out and checked him, x rayed his hooves and provided bute for pain starting at a very high loading dose and then after two weeks backed it off to a maintenance dose. He had some rotation, but I cannot remember how much at that time. The vet did tell me that it had appeared that his hooves were not being trimmed properly since the sole of his hooves was not being cupped, only the walls of his hooves were being trimmed and this could be a possibility for the Laminits. The vet provided a new farrier's contact information. We were on our way to a better life, even though we had no idea what caused that first very painful case. The Laminitis affected all four hooves, however, the hind were much better than the front.
Snow became very difficult to work with. Lifting he hooves was a real chore and took a lot of convincing and muscle. When the new farrier came Snow would not lift his hooves off the ground no matter what the farrier tried. The farrier had given up and I offered to lift Snow's feet for him and he said sure with a smirk thinking that Snow would not lift for me either. I went to the first hoof and after a little convincing Snow lifted his foot and I handed it to the farrier, then the next and so on. We were all very happy that this worked and for several years this was how we trimmed Snow's hooves.
During the next few years Snow seemed have another case at least once a year. If it had been every spring I would have suspected grass or some other environment related cause, but Snow was kept in a paddock with almost no grass. I tried desperately to make him lose the weight in his rump and crest, but I almost starved him doing so. His ribs started to show and I knew that it was not just regular weight problem, but something else. I did not know what to do with Snow. His farrier came and went and then just never came back. So, I was in search of a new farrier. I heard of a new farrier fresh out of schooling and who was highly recommended. I called him immediately and explained Snow's problem, apparently I did not explain it well enough, because he took a look at Snow's hooves and the most recent x rays and refused to work on Snow, but he managed to still charge me for a full visit. Basically he felt that Snow should be put to sleep and have his hooves donated to a farrier or veterinary school. There I was without a farrier again and I had recently acquired a new veterinarian. Snow was was approaching 20 years at this point with no way to stop his recurring bouts of founder. He managed to get through his worse cases earlier on and now the mild cases were much more manageable with bute and cold water baths. For the most part Snow was happy to walk around and was not excruciatingly painful. He managed to buck and squeal when he was excited. On really good days he was able to run in the pasture with his pasture mate.
I called my new veterinarian to check on Snow's foundering issues and she took x rays and a blood sample to check his thyroid, something no one else had done. In about two weeks she called me to tell me that his Thyroid level was at the low end of normal and suggested that he be started on medication to treat a thyroid issue with the possibility that this may have been causing the problem. I had new hope and started him right away. As time went on the crest of Snow's neck and the fatty deposits on his rump lessened and for the next couple of years he had no new bouts with founder. Who would have thought that this slightly abnormal range for his Thyroid would have such an impact. Finally an end to the battle in a sense, at least now we had some control. It was sad that it took so long, because at this point Snow had about 75% rotation of the pedal bone in one front hoof and not much less in the other. The hind hooves never really rotated much and did not seem painful. Over the years I was able to take him off of bute and only use it as a back up for his arthritis and if he seemed to bruise his hooves. Many vets and farriers came and went with not much real hope. I even read about natural cures and wished some kind of miracle would happen. There is no way to explain all the things that were suggested to me and I tried in order to help him. I stood him in a cool stream and also in mud, then I tried ice packs, all of which worked to some extent to cool his feet when needed. He easily got hoof abscesses, which was another painful situation that we both handled with as much grace as we could muster.
As time passed and Snow aged he remained reasonably sound to living comfortably with the exception that he did become very arthritic. Throughout all his problems it had crossed my mind many times to have him put down, but I could never bring myself to do it. Even with all the pain he was happy, he was happy to walk around the pasture and graze with his life long companion, Apryl. Snow did struggle with laying down and getting up, but still had a strong desire to live. When he decided to lay down it was earth shattering, he barely tucked his legs and then collapsed. I cringed every time I saw him do it. When he rose he sat for a long period and then struggled to his feet from the sitting position. I am sure many people would have differing opinions about Snow's condition and when enough was enough, but having raised him from a 6 month old and me being only 12 years old myself at that time, I could not consider it until every option was exhausted. He was a life long best friend I grew up with, trained and confided in. I sacrificed many years of not riding just to keep him as a companion.
About 6 months ago I was called from work, because Snow was acting very strange. I knew immediately he had colic. I imagine from the disarray in his bedding he had a particularly difficult time rising from sleep that morning and this was likely the cause of his colic. The founder and arthritis finally won. Snow's life had been in my hands his entire life and until he came down with this severe case of colic at the age of 27 I was never fully prepared to make the choice to end his pain even though I thought I was. It was not simple or easy, but it had to be done, all viable options were exhausted and he was in excruciating pain. The only right thing to do was to end his agony. We did not have much time due to the pain, so I said my good byes and stroked his head as we stared into each others eyes while the medication was administered. My veterinarian was very thoughtful, but when Snow was still fighting to breathe his last breath she asked me to leave for a few minutes so he would finally give in to his fight for life. Even though I know in his heart he was not ready to leave me it was in his best interest. Thirteen days after his death a homeless filly was born on a PMU ranch in Canada. At the time I really thought it would be quite a while before I would consider another horse, but when I saw her photo I just knew she was the one. Six months later I adopted her. It is funny how I see so much of him in her. She has Snow's personality, one of a kind! I can't help but think some part of him is in her and knowing him so well I already know what a wonderful horse she will grow up to be.
