Lameness Due To Chronic Abscesses - 2200lb Draft Horse Diesel

 

John D.:            Hello, and welcome to another Equinety podcast. This is your host John Dowdy, and this month we're in for a real special treat because we've got Roberta on out of Florida. Roberta, welcome to the show.

Roberta:           Thank you.

John D.:            Well, when you first reached out to us, you've got a 2100 pound draft horse. 19 years old I believe?

Roberta:           Yes, sir.

John D.:            Yup. And one of your initial questions, you were quite a bit skeptical because you've tried lots of things, and I believe in your message you said, "Well, one more try couldn't hurt with something else."

Roberta:           That's true.

John D.:            Yup. And I hear you're glad you did.

Roberta:           Yes, very much so.

John D.:            Awesome.

Roberta:           It's made a wonderful difference in him.

John D.:            Good. So tell us a little bit about what was going on with Diesel, which is by the way a perfect name for a 2100 pound draft horse.

Roberta:           Yeah, he's jet black too, so it fits.

John D.:            So what was going on with Diesel?

Roberta:           Well, he started out on pulling competition in '07, and he pulled numerous competitions here in Florida and up in New Hampshire and New York.

Roberta:           Somewhere along the line he stepped on himself at the coronet band, or his partner stepped on him, and injured right at the coronet hairline, and ever since then he chronically abscessed about every three to four months it seemed like. He would blow abscess right at the hairline, it would separate ... Oh, it was awful.

Roberta:           Of course with that, he would be lame for anywhere from a week to two weeks until it would clear up and go away. And then he would be okay for a little while, and then he would continue to abscess again. This went years. For the past four years I've been battling abscesses with him.

Roberta:           I had the vet come out. We x-rayed him. He shows signs of deterioration of the coffin bone. So, my goal at this point now, I know there's no healing that coffin bone, but to make him comfortable.

John D.:            Right.

Roberta:           At this point it's to make him comfortable so he can live out the rest of his days in retirement.

John D.:            Sure.

Roberta:           So like I've said before, I tried all kinds of stuff and nothing seemed to work. I didn't see no difference. So I saw your ad on Facebook and I said, "Well, what's one more thing? Let's try this," and I'm so glad that I did.

John D.:            Yeah. So you made your first order I believe right around January 1st of this year, 2019, so as of this recording we are close to the middle of March. What kinds of things have you seen since you started and now being almost two and a half months in?

Roberta:           Well, within two days after I started the product, he was walking and taking normal steps. He wasn't limping, which was amazing to me because this poor horse has been so sore. Bute about every other day I was giving him prior. I stopped the bute. I'm not giving him any bute.

John D.:            And he's doing perfectly fine without it?

Roberta:           Yeah, he's good. Yes. He's been great.

Roberta:           The last couple of days here recently, probably a combination with the warm weather that we have here, has really got him shedding really good. I mean I just pulled gobs of hair off of him. Last summer he did not shed it all the way out. He had long spots,