Thursday, April 4, 2013

Dollar Bill

Sheez...I finally got internet back...

It's burning season here...the time of year when everyone burns off their fields, ditches and along fence lines. I guess someone down the road wasn't paying attention and let their fire burn up a telephone box. Oops!

So anyway...One of the things that happened while we was in Arizona, was Megan picked herself up a project horse. :-)...

One morning I got a text from one of my new AZ neighbor's...The Carroll Family...Josh asked if I could come up the road with a trailer and pick up a horse that had been abandoned in the desert. Josh is the guy everyone in the neighborhood calls when these things happen because everyone knows he will go out and get the poor abandoned animal and make sure it is taken care of, the brand board is contacted and then if necessary, re-homed.

The second I saw his oldest daughter standing there holding the leadline to this horse, I was intrigued. He had such a beautiful head and eye. The fact that he popped right into my trailer didn't hurt my opinion of him at all. ;-)

Josh took care of notifying the brand board and setting up an auction date for the horse if he was not claimed. Considering the shape the horse was in...the chances of him being claimed was pretty slim. A week later, Megan owned herself a new horse and in honor of his purchase price, we are calling him Dollar Bill. Although, I'm kinda doubting the name will stick...Meg generally calls him Buddy.

I didn't get pictures of the horse when we first picked him up, but as you can see, even though he has been gaining steadily since the day he was actually provided food, he's still thin...

Sorry, it's hard to get a good picture of this guy. It may have been a few years since he was on the track (Yes, he is an OTT TB...I'm waiting until we get to the dentist to get his teeth done to use a black light to get enough of his tattoo to show up to hopefully be able to identify him!!), but he still has a lot of the mannerisms of a horse directly off of the track.

Lack of food wasn't the only thing lacking in this guy's life. Have a gander at these feet...

I waited until we got back to Colorado before having his feet done. There was more going on here than I was willing to tackle if I didn't absolutely have too. This is what the soles looked like...

If your unsure about the amount of sole packed in there, here's a single chunk of sole that was removed from one foot...

And boy, oh boy...am I glad I wasn't the one that had to tie into this horse's feet. The instant my farrier got through the masses of impacted sole, this is what he started running into...
 Bloody, pussy abcesses. Gakkk!!

If you look carefully in this picture...look at the kind of yellowish strip between the nippers and the farrier's arm...
That's the lamina!! It was stretched over 2 inches. 

Before he started, the farrier asked me what we wanted to do if he got going on this guy and we found that his coffin bone was popped out...I told him in that case we would just put the poor guy out of his misery. But I didn't really believe we would find that had happened and while the sole is tremendously compromised, the coffin bone is still where it belongs. :-)

So the farrier cut, trimmed and whittled until the feet were down to where they needed to be...
Not bad huh??

To protect the horse's sensitive sole, the farrier applied a hard pad with a 3 degree heel wedge to bring the heels up and allow the pasterns to return to their correct position to a shoe and then nailed the whole thing to Dollar's feet. 

More rasping to take the rest of the dead toe off, the final nails set and Ta-Daaaa!!!...


Here's a little better indication of the transformation. One foot done and one that hasn't been touched yet...


 The very next day, Megan took Dollar out for his first spin under saddle...

He's broke...But definitely needs riding and some training. Megan plans on taking him back to Arizona with her to use at her ranch job. He'll be a broke sonavagun when she gets done with him. ;-)

12 comments:

in2paints said...

Those feet!! Gakkk is right!! Poor guy... so glad he's in your hands now with happier tootsies. He's definitely a handsome boy!

Sherry Sikstrom said...

goodness ! what a mess, lucky pony to have found Meg,I am sure he will do well with her

Louisa Valentina; said...

Ow Ow Owwww... those abscess photos made me absolutely cringe from head to toe - how lucky is Dollar to find you guys!! Hope you keep us updated on his progress!

Carroll Farm said...

Thanks for posting the update on those feet they made me loose sleep at night when he was staying at my place. He is looking great Lacy has more pictures of him from the day after we found him if you want any just let us know. Tell Megan to keep us posted on his progress, she will do good with him.

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

That farrier did a really nice job. Is he walking well in the shoes? I can only imagine what it would be like to have to readjust one's balance and leg mechanics when the feet change that drastically. When my horses get abscesses, they start hopping around on three legs. I admire you two for taking an interest in and caring for an abandoned and neglected horse, especially while being in the middle of moving.

Unknown said...

That was a wunnerful thing you folks did for that horse. I am looking forward to the on going story.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Nuz-He stayed with the Carroll's until we brought him to Colorado with us, so actually they get the credit for caring for him.

When he had his long feet, he walked by popping his knees really high, but even with those long toes, he had the most beautiful floaty trot. It took a couple days after having his feet done for him to start to realize he didn't have to pop those knees up to move his front legs. Now he is starting to walk more normal.

Will do Josh. We have a lot of slow, steady work ahead of us. It is obvious this horse was rode after he came off the track, but not well...He doesn't really know how to just w.a.l.k. and he gets nervous really quickly. Some of that is probably due to the ulcers, but if his appetite is any indication...those are healing well. Every since I put him on a little bit of Moon's ulcer meds and some Aloe Vera Gel, he has just been scarfing everything in sight. And oohhhh...how he does LOVE his evening grain.

Cut-N-Jump said...

Bill is a good name and if it is any help- John Wayne had a horse named Dollar, so there ya go. But if it changes, it will be to something that really fits him.

It will be interesting to hear what his 'real' name is/was from the track. You will also find out how young/old he is too.

Once the angles are brought back to normal it's amazing how quickly they pick up the nice movement that was seemingly lost. Glad for the horse that all those abcesses are opened up to drain. He's a nice looking horse. Meg did good with that one.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Haha-MOMMA did good picking that one. ;-).

I had originally thought he was 12-14 y/o, although he looks older because he is so thin...but as I have been able to inspect his teeth more...I'm thinking he's more like 16-18. But he is very structurally correct and his legs are super clean. No dings, lumps or bumps. He has plenty of energy as well.

Meg had a good ride on him today. It's hard to tell if he has ever had any good training on him because all he wants to do is prance and dance sideways...but Meg is already getting him to relax and walk a few steps at a time. He's coming around fast...so maybe there was some good training on him somewhere in his history. :-)

Vaquerogirl said...

Good story! Happy Ending so far! Every body, and evrey thing is turning up winners! So glad! Can't wait to see more pictures of this guy as well as your others~

GunDiva said...

Oh, his poor feetsies. That makes me so sad that they were in that condition (as well as his overall body condition). Glad he's now got you and Meg.

Crystal said...

Oh I'm glad to see those feet look so much better. He must be a lot happier with them. Às must Moon be with his new feet, hard to be the best when your feet are hurting.