Venus’ New Shoes

Last month we noticed that Venus was beginning to look a little tender-footed. We noticed an indication of an old abscess that had burst and some bruising on her feet. We assumed this was due to walking on the new gravel driveway, so we made sure not to let her walk on it. We also put some boots on her feet and gave her some medicine to help her feel more comfortable.

After a few weeks with no improvement (when theoretically the bruising would have subsided a bit)m we asked our farrier, Antonio Lopez, to come out to see her.

He did see the bruising, but it seemed after a trim that Venus had foundered, so we had the vet out to confirm. We did radiographs the next day and the vets at OCEVS determined that Venus had foundered slightly, and there was some indication of bruising. The vet also did some blood work, which showed that Venus is insulin resistant, which means that she is more at risk of laminitis, which can also lead to founder.

Antonio was able to put shoes on Venus to help with the rotation, and we also put Venus on some medication to help keep her comfortable and to counter the insulin resistance. We are very thankful that the vets at OCEVS were able to come out quickly identify the issue, and to Antonio for rearranging his schedule to accommodate Venus so she could get new shoes so quickly.

Venus is 28+ years old (the vet thinks closer to 30), so her diagnosis of being insulin resistant and prone to founder is consistent with an older horse, although we are hopeful that in a few months Venus will be back to her silly self!