Navicular Syndrome.
I don't know much of anything about horses, but Pamela does. One of the first things she noticed about the herd on the ranch was that Snuggles was lame. He wasn't walking right. His head was down and he was dragging his right front foot.
"Snuggles is lame," she said. "I think he has Navicular Syndrome."
"Whut?" said I.
"He has problems with his front hooves."
"Oh. What do we do about that?"
Pam called Bob Poland, a local farrier. He's good. He's really good. Like I said, I don't know much about horses, but I know people, and Bob is good people. He arrived at 9:30 AM yesterday, right on time. The first thing he did was to have Pam walk Snuggles around so he could observe him.
"That horse is in a lot of pain," he said. "Because his front hooves hurt, he's compensating with the rest of his body."
Bob touched Snuggles' withers. Snuggles flinched. Bob touched his hind end. Snuggles flinched.
Navicular Syndrome can be treated by proper hoof trim and corrective shoes.
Pam was hoping there would be some chili left since she didn't have time for dinner. There was not.
I don't know much of anything about horses, but Pamela does. One of the first things she noticed about the herd on the ranch was that Snuggles was lame. He wasn't walking right. His head was down and he was dragging his right front foot.
"Snuggles is lame," she said. "I think he has Navicular Syndrome."
"Whut?" said I.
"He has problems with his front hooves."
"Oh. What do we do about that?"
Pam called Bob Poland, a local farrier. He's good. He's really good. Like I said, I don't know much about horses, but I know people, and Bob is good people. He arrived at 9:30 AM yesterday, right on time. The first thing he did was to have Pam walk Snuggles around so he could observe him.
"That horse is in a lot of pain," he said. "Because his front hooves hurt, he's compensating with the rest of his body."
Bob touched Snuggles' withers. Snuggles flinched. Bob touched his hind end. Snuggles flinched.
Navicular Syndrome can be treated by proper hoof trim and corrective shoes.
Bob was great. He was patient with Snuggles...
who wasn't a model patient. It took an hour to get the two front shoes on. Snuggles reared up several times, not wanting Bob to hit his hooves with his hammer.
"It's OK. He's in a lot of pain," said Bob compassionately.
When Bob finished, we could see an immediate improvement. Snuggles walked with his head up and was no longer dragging his right foot.
"He's still in pain. Don't work him for a couple of days. Give him a chance to recover."
We could see a difference even at his food bucket, where he had weight on both front hooves.
Nope. I still don't understand what difference a couple of little metal horseshoes can make, or what navicular syndrome is, but because Pam saw the problem and Bob knew how to treat it, Snuggles is much better.
You can read more about Navicular Syndrome here.
Poor Pam had a long day yesterday. She was up at 5 AM to hie herself to the ranch to make breakfast for a group of fishermen staying there, and then had to deal with Snuggles. She had to make dinner for the guys too, so I offered to help by making my "man chili". I'm pretty proud of my chili, to which I add my secret ingredient. Horseradish. We had it in the crockpot waiting for the guys to return from fishing, and then Pam left at 7:30 to drive to Jacksonville to pick up another fisherman whose plane arrived at 9:30 PM. She didn't get home until well after midnight.
That Manly Chili looks GOOOOD!!! I can see why there wasn't any left over for Pam! Fishin and Chili sounds like a good time to me!
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