We are confident that Buckeye does not share this persons comment. They commented on the last blog about Buckeye's surgery:
"This whole surgery was un necessary. He is in more pain now than he was before and I feel worse for him now than I did before. Look at his body posture bofore and after. He is not walking better at all. All he needed is correct hoof care and physical therapy. There was no need to sever his tendons. Tendons cannot contract to the extent it would "pull" his foot backwards. Tendons attach bone to muscle. If anything is contracted it would be his shoulder muscles. Tendons cannot contract to that extent. The whole problem came about because the back of his foot hurt and to avoid that he began walking on his toe until his heel got so high he "knuckled over". Then his toe wall grew backwards and under his entire hoof capsule. Now he has to try to recover his mutilated foot, his sore body and from his tendon being severd, which will take years, as they are a fiborus tissue that receives little blood flow so healing will be a very long and painful process. And, a special shoe is not going to help him. But, good luck with all that. I feel very bad for the pony. He would have been better off being euthanized like the little Marylegs white pony you recently put down. That pony could have also been fine if she had correct hoof care and rehabilitation. I wish people were more correctly informed on the functions of a horses body and the effects we have on them, especially if one is going to run a horse "rescue". I wish you luck"
After reading this, we felt that we need to explain the surgery a little bit better. The contracted tendon pulls the toe of the hoof back, causing a clubbed hoof. In Buckeye's situation it was extremely clubbed, so clubbed that the hoof was growing back into the back of his leg, if left in this state it could cause bone deterioration along with sores and ultimately end in euthanasia being the only option.
This is the 3rd contracted tendon surgery we have done, Macho Man was the first, followed by Baby. Both made 100% recoveries and are now living pain free thanks to this surgery. Looking into Buckeye's face, we can tell he is thankful for what you made possible for him. He has a great prognosis for 100% recovery and we look forward to the day when he can go to his forever home.
Wednesday morning, the farrier made a special trip to the vet just to get Buckeye fixed up.
The vet and farrier had a discussion on how the special shoe was to be made, and exactly what its functions needed to be.
The farrier got to work and started shaping a normal shoe into a custom therapeutic shoe.
Buckeye watched on with amazement and wonder.
The farrier kept putting the shoe in the forge to heat it up so it could be shaped just perfect. Buckeye just couldn't believe how hot that thing looked in the back of his truck.
Then it was down to shaping it again.
Finally the shoe was shaped and fitted just perfect. It was then attached to Buckeye's hoof.
The shoe sticks out about 2 inches past his hoof to help position his hoof for proper healing. Buckeye is on pain medication throughout this rehab. We are all looking forward to the day when he will be pain free on his own!
The incision is healing beautifully and doing very well with no sign of infection. 
A new wrap was put on his leg to protect the incision and help the healing process.
Then he was led back to his stall.
Buckeye would like to say a huge "Thank you!" to everyone for their thoughts and prayers, and for making this life changing operation possible.
Many thanks to Cindy M. for her generous monthly support for hay and to Jennifer L. for her generous donation.
13 comments:
Don't ever worry about people who send in nasty comments. They will always be around. They have lots of motives and lots of issues and you just have to keep on doing what you can do and what you and the vet think is right.
I would like to know what expertise this person has to judge what is going on for Buckeye. I believe that Norcal has the VERY BEST interest, love and compassion for all living breathing things. And if for some reason (witch I highly doubt) they accidentally made the wrong choice, they are doing the best they can to give each life a chance, haveing their well being a high priority. Maybe this person should step forward and offer some free volunteer help with her expertise to help out in the future and give advice to the situation????? Hmm, what do you say to that?????
To anonymous who made that speculative comment yesterday:
If you are a veterinarian and think that you know better than the veterinarian who treated this horse, why don’t you donate your time and “expertise” to treat him? I did not see your name listed as “DVM.” Oh that’s right you didn’t list your name at all. The folks at this rescue are doing their absolute best to help as many horses as they possibly can. They helped this horse as recommended by their veterinarian. If you felt there was a better way to do it you should have volunteered your time, money, and efforts to help them help this horse.
Sincerely,
Carolyn (NOT a Veterinarian!)
My mare had this same exact surgery over 9 years ago. She was only 6 months old at the time and had both check ligaments cut (one on each front leg). She required a short period of rehab and a special shoe for the leg with the most serious of the contracted tendons. Today she is perfectly sound and happy, living a very productive life as a show horse. She wasn't as severe as Buckeye, but we took care of her issue promptly. Poor Buckeye had to suffer with his for quite some time.
What was done for Buckeye is exactly what needed to be done. Once his rehab is over he'll be a happy pony.
Its amazing how some people speak with such authority and expertise! When in reality, they are wrong. Of course not all horses are candidates for this surgury but many do just fine. Experienced horse people know this.This person was not a Veterinarian. I suggest that he/she go have a talk with Dr. Weaver or if that is to challenging to their opinion, call Davis where you can be anonymous! (still) Most disturbing was the no room for discussion!
I know I might get my butt kicked for this, heck I know this comment will probably not make it past moderation. However, I have to ask since the question is so far out there. How many more slaughter horses could have been saved from this money that was spent on Buckeye? How many more bales of hay could have been bought? Posts and hotwire? Instead of using the money where it was most needed now you will have to ask for MORE next time the KB brings another load in or the next time you need hay and that may eventually come to be something people cannot afford to help out with anymore. Maybe a step back to look at the bigger picture is needed.
Awesome Andi.. exactly what evearyone at work said too..
Withen a week they will be begging for more money for hay
People sent money specifcally for this surgury to give him a chance! You can specify what your donation is used for; Hay, Last act of kindness, gelding, general fund etc.. And of course there is Dano's fund....
ou can see the thanks and hope that you have given buckeye in his eyes! I would like to know how he got that name? It just happens to be my very first horse's (mustang) name and i taught all my children how to ride on him .
To all the commenters: I do not know this pony, nor would I ever discredit anyone for trying to help another. To NorCal Equine "Rescue", My comment was simply this: Surgery was un necessary. If the biomechanics of a horses limb and foot were truly understood, then the correction of this problem would have been done much differently and much less invasively. There was no need to sever tendons, like I stated before. Tendons are not the problem. The problem is in the foot. Yes I understand that the pony had a "club foot", but club feet are much more easily corrected with proper hoof care and appropriate rehabililtation. Also, it is no longer considered a "club foot" when it has gone to the extent that the pony is walking on the dorsal wall of the hoof and it has grown under the rest of the hoof capsule. It is also very apparent that the pony walks with much more discomfort now than it did before this was done to him. I looked at the rads you posted, as well as all the photos. His long and short pastern bons are still in near proper position, his coffin bone is not. The palmer process' of his coffin bone are pointing at his belly when they should be parallel with the ground. There is also a quite a bit of dimineralization of the frontal surface of the coffin bone, and some ossification on the bottom of the short pastern. It's also hard to tell but it looks like the nevicular bone may be fused to the pastern joint. I understand the vets reason for this happening, as the flexor tendon is attatched to the coffin bone and it would look like the tendon would "pull" the toe back, however, this is not physically possible. Tendons do not have the ability to do so. The problem is the foot itself and due to improper hoof care and as the foot got further and further distorted, the rest of the limb has to compensate for that. The body has to take the "slack" out of the tendon somehow if the coffin bone is not in a physiologically proper position, so it does this via the shoulder muscles. Also, healing cannot correctly take place if the horse is in a stall.
CONTINUED:
I took the time to say all this is because I do care about horses, more so than many other things. I only wish that if people are going to claim to "save" the horses, they were more educated on proper care and the functions of a horses body. Also what the effects what we do them has on their bodies. Such as shoes, bits, riding, etc. I understand that people think horses are "for riding". I have 7 horses that were all someone elses throw aways because of one reason or another. I do not ride any of them. Not that I am affraid, or any other reason one might conjure up as an excuse, it's simply because it hurts them. No matter how big or small a person is, no matter how well their saddle fits, no matter how slow you go. It hurts. I have done the research on what happens to their back, their muscles, and their nervous system. Also, I feel it is disrespectful to them as a being to force myself upon them and then "control" them through means of pain just because it's fun for me. No matter how nice one thinks a bit is, or how nice one thinks a hackamore is, no matter how soft you kick them, it's still control through means of pain. If one is going to claim to have a rescue where they want horses to live a pain free life, then maybe they should look into what causes pain. Most of what we do to them in conventional treatment and care causes pain. I am not saying this because I think I'm better than anyone else or I am a "rescue hater". I just feel like if one is going to call themselves a rescue, then it should be that. These horses are being rescued from death, yes, but is the situation they are being put into next any better? To be "used" as this or that? I don't think it's always better, and these horses have no say. They are completely at our disposal. Like I said, I am not being mean or a "hater" and I don't think all people are bad or mean. I just said this to maybe open a door to explore new thoughts or ideas. I admire you passion. If you chose to post this or not, it doesn't matter to me.
I think that whenever you can, you need to do ALL you can for the horse you currently have, that's what "rescuing" is all about to my mind. Not only helping those that are in perfect health, Andi and Sandy could use the same argument on spending a lot of money to nurse a horse back to health that has been starved, or to spend money and time on a horse re-gaining its trust. I sincerely believe that Norcal always tries to do what’s best for the horses and to give every horse the best chance possible, they don’t seem to waste money when they know for sure it won’t help but I admire their perseverance when the odds are down and their track record certainly seems to show that they make fine judgment calls. Buckeye deserves every chance he can get to lead a normal and happy life too. Please keep up the good work, my money is given with Love for the horses you manage to save and I (and it seems many, many others), have full confidence in your judgment. I thank God each and every night for people like you. Sincerely Colleen
Just a note from someone who *did* donate for Buckeye's surgery... I regularly donate to other NorCal programs, and to some other reputable rescues. I specifically donated what I could for Buckeye so that resources would not be diverted from regular horse care in order for him to have surgery. Glad to hear he's recovering well so far.
Pretty frequently I see things and say "hmmm.... that's not the way I'd probably do it." But if I'm not there with the horse and the people, and the horses are in the care of qualified veterinarians and farriers, I try not to second-guess or interfere -- especially if nobody asked for my opinion!
:-). Keep up the good work, NorCal!
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