Thalia Rehab Project: Examination of the Laminitic Hoof

This is the 3rd trim since Thalia joined my barn around the first of the year.  An improved connection of her hoof capsule to the coffin bone (P3), which you can see in the “Right Front” photo,  has grown down from the coronary band enough for me to feel comfortable with REALLY backing her toe up.  I used my nippers laying flat on the barn floor to clip away dead hoof.  This is the rough cut before rasping smooth.  Saves me lots of rasping!  What you see in the picture is all dead hoof, called the Lamellar Wedge .   The lamellar wedge is what forms in between the live structures of the inner hoof  and the hoof capsule.  In other words the “white line”.  That thin yellow/whitish line between the hoof wall and the sole.  This is what happens to the white line  when the coffin bone loses its connection to the hoof capsule.  The white line in the area where separation has occurred stretches. And the more it stretches the more severe the rotation. The more severe the rotation the larger the lamellar wedge will be. The “Left Front” picture shows how Thalia’s coffin bones have become “sinkers”. “Sinkers” are…

Thalia Rehab Project Update March 21, 2016

The top picture is Thalia in early January right after I brought her to my place from Virginia for Edouard.  The bottom picture was taken yesterday, March 20, 2016.  I want you to notice how the fat pat from her croup to her tail head has evaporated.  She no long has a rear-end that looks like a Percheron.  She has been shedding her excessively thick and long haired coat since January.  As of now she is down to a normal winter coat.  The crest of her neck has slimmed down.  We had blood work done, glucose and insulin from the same draw, and ACTH to test for PPID (Pituitary Pars Intermedia Disfunction aka Cushings).  Thalia came back positive for both conditions though fortunately only slightly high in both. (See note below) This is the best scenario we could have hoped for given what her external symptoms were telling us. Getting her metabolic system back under control is obviously much easier and bodes better in terms of breeding her for a preservation foal.  The physical changes that have occurred  include appropriate supplementation to balance the major and trace mineral content of the hay she consumes.  She gets almost no concentrated feed…

Mayassah nearing 3

This is my 2013 Kuhaylat al-Krush filly, Mayassah Al Arab (Clarion CF x Cinnabar Myst by ASF David). Three years old this summer. I am very proud of this filly I bred for several reasons. She embodies my preservation efforts. The antiquity of her bloodlines is an obvious reason: for instance, Abu Zeyd (Mesaoud x Rose Diamond), b. 1904, is just five generations away. For comparison, he is thirteen generations away in a stallion like Marwan Al Shaqab. The extreme rarity of her lines, too: the stallions Gharis (Abu Zeyd x Guemura by Segario), Fartak (*El Bulad x *Farha), Abu Selim (*Azra x Domow), Tabab (*Deyr x Domow), Royal Amber (Ribal x Babe Azab), and Oriental (Letan x Adouba), were all popular stallions in early Arabian breeding in America, with thousands of descendants in general list Arabians, and she is very much the last Al Khamsa horse that traces to them — and pretty closely too. The effort I went through to make that breeding happen is a third reason. I leased, then acquired her dam and her dam’s sister from Trish Stockhecke in Canada. They were 19 and 20 years old, and had never been bred before. The older…

Nutrition: Dental Visit #3 Case Study Elegance CF 2001gm

Elegance had her  third dental visit and second power tool dental procedure on March 1, 2016.  She was ready for another adjustment as I saw her starting to avoid the long stem hay and searching for the fine stuff that falls out during their selecting what hay to eat.  Also, washing her mouth out every 3 or 4 days showed more packing between her left upper dental arcade and her cheek.  My equine dentist sent me a mouth washing tool, bless his heart. What is used is called a “drencher” for sheep and cattle if  you care to look up what those look like. Here is what her mouth looks like after he finished. Please note how “short” her right side lower molars are.  This is from years of over grinding on the right side. What he told both myself and my veterinarian, who was present for the special sedation she needs for this type of dentistry, is he isn’t trying to make both sides of her mouth look the same.  He is balancing each side to itself.  The two sides will never look “equal”.  He said if this problem had been caught when she was young it could have…

King Ali ibn Husayn of the Hijaz on an Arabian steed

Oh how much I would give to know the strain and the breeding of this handsome desert stallion. I have a fascination for the mounts of Arab kings, sheykhs and other leaders, and I pay particular attention to the photos featuring them — this one by Gerald de Gaury of King Ali of Hijaz, the last Grand Sherif of Mecca, was featured on Rehanuddin Baber’s facebook page. That’s because I feel that there are specific reasons these horses have been selected to be ridden on official occasions, when photos were taken. I believe that these horses of kings embody a certain ideal Arabian horse at the time, and can be looked at the equivalent of today’s show champions. This ideal may even influence the tastes of the spectators. Notice the broad chest, the deep jaws, the short ears, the strong muscular neck, and the big bone. This is what I hope my Jamr (Vice Regent CF x Jadiba) will look like in a few years.