Trim is often the “missing link” in regaining and maintaining soundness. Because your equine friend deserves the best hoof care possible, the ECIR Group is glad to assist anyone wanting trim evaluations. To do this, we need some specific help from you:

1.  Good Photos: Hooves are a 3-D object that we are evaluating using a 2-D medium. That places us at an immediate disadvantage. Good hoof pictures - of clean feet, taken from the correct angles, with good light and non-cluttered backgrounds - enable us to do this as accurately as we can. It helps the volunteers compensate for not actually "being there" to pick that hoof up or crouch down on the ground and look at it up close. Good photos help eliminate and/or clarify some of the variables that play a part in our ensuing recommendations. We understand that this may be awkward to accomplish but it is essential for providing the necessary info we need to help you help your friend. Although the front feet are where everyone tends to focus, providing pictures of all four hooves is encouraged.  Anything that affects the front feet will also affect the hinds, although often to a lesser degree.  If there are trim issues in front, there will also be trim issues behind as it is usually the same individual caring for both sets of hooves. 

The sooner we get clear and usable photos, the sooner we can assess and make specific, thorough recommendations. Here's the link to instructions for taking good hoof pictures:

http://www.all-natural-horse- care.com/good-hoof-photos.html

2. Proper Identification of your photos: Having to guess whether a hoof is front/hind, left/right makes helping your horse doubly difficult and the Photo Section of the group chooses its own order when loading your shots so you can't count on them being uploaded in any particular order. Identification of individual hooves can be as simple marking LF, RF, LH or RH with a magic marker on the appropriate hoof before snapping the shots.  For dark hooves try a metallic silver marker or use marked masking tape as a “label”. For those with computer savvy, labelling the pictures themselves is fine. Please note that “left” refers to the horse’s left (near side) while “right” refers to the horse’s right (off side).  

3.  X-rays: Radiographs are always a bonus as they clearly reveal what is going on inside the walls where our human, non-superman vision cannot penetrate. With the advent of digital x-rays, however, the cost of a basic set has risen considerably. We understand if this just isn't an option but x-rays are never a waste of money when hoof problems are present and sometimes are an essential ingredient to a good outcome. If you are going to have xrays done, here are some tips on making the most of your investment:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/ groups/ECHoof/files/X-Rays%20% 26%20Radiographs/

Hope this helps with the "why" of your volunteers' repeated requests for good hoof shots.

Owners, Moderators & Primary Response Team of the Equine Cushings List

Why do you have to give a syringe?<<

Hi,

The person who normally balances my hay has been very busy and haven't been able to help me with it. Is there anyone who is willing to help me balance my hay. I had it analyzed by EquiAnalytical about a month ago and can provide you with the analysis.

Thank you in advance,

Cynthia from CA

Tucker 10/10

Hi Sharon,

Though Dr Kellon has answered your question about Winstrol, I feel I must speak up and relate

our experience with it before we found the ECIR list.

In 2003, Winstrol was labeled for use as a treatment for anemia. Our pony was 23 yrs at that time. When blood testing revealed he was anemic, he was prescribed Newcells (B vit plus copper said the vet, but only recently found it also contained iron) and Winstrol injections in May 2003. 

After the second of dose of the steroid, there was swelling not only at the injection site, but also on both sides of his face from the eyes to the nostrils.  The front of his ears became so unbearably itchy that he rubbed the base of both of them completely raw where they attach to his head.  The insides of his ears developed dry, scaly skin that peeled off in rather large patches, somewhat like humans with sunburn.  It was impossible to keep him from rubbing these ears.   He never had any such problems prior to this.

Unfortunately, this treatment seems to have triggered ‘something’, and this condition of itchy, scaly ears persisted for YEARS. 

(We finally found that wiping the insides of the ears with a vinegar solution gave some relief, but this had to be applied several times a day, then daily, or every other day year round, depending on the severity of the itching.  The recipe is Vinegar 45%, Water 45%, 70%-Isopropyl Alcohol 10%.)

From then on, he became hypersensitive to many things, listed in CH. 

    For example, 2 months later in Aug 2003 he had full body hives that came on suddenly for unknown reasons immediately after exercise, and so grotesquely distorted his face and altered his breathing, that I feared for his life from anaphylaxis. 

    Every spring he would rub his face completely raw…I worried he would damage his eyes.  Spirulina and mineral balancing helped to some degree, but the problems persisted.

It was only around 2012 or so, that we saw resolution of this itchy ear problem.  That was when we finally understood what our lab results from Guelph really meant - we converted the results to Cornell units of measure.  By using what was considered at that time, higher doses of pergolide, ACTH was better controlled, although it had not been outrageously high.

One might say that because a few weeks earlier he was starting to pant but not sweat in the sun, that this was the start of Cushings symptoms, and adding this steroid aggravated that.   Or that this reaction was due to the Newcell because of pro-inflammatory iron - but he received several courses of Newcell in later months, and this did not make the ear condition any worse, or cause his face or injection site to swell.   (BTW, this didn’t solve the anemia either.)  Maybe it was the combination of the two drugs. 

     This occurred prior to any hay testing, mineral balancing, and no knowledge of Cushings/PPID or IR.  Anyway, both of us would rather not have had a Winstrol experience.

Eva and Mel

SW Ontario,  March 2005

Early CH,  Nov 2001 to Nov 2006

http://web.archive.org/web/20100119142752/http://www.sportshorses.com/cases/gentpony.Mel;.htm

This direct link does not always work, it depends on Neo’s mood:

newer but incomplete CH  is in ECH 7, Eva and Mel, Ontario

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/echistory7/files/Eva%20and%20Mel%2C%20%20Ontario/

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/echistory7/files