Progress!

Over the weekend, I continued icing Lily's fronts in the tall ice boots for 20-30 minutes once a day. I'd stand her in the cross ties on the rubber mats and wait for her feet to dry. I'd apply Magic Cushion with a thin sheet of brown paper over it to keep it in place, and on would go the EasyBoot Gloves over that. Except by Saturday afternoon she had managed to chafe her pasterns and one heel bulb raw with her pacing during the day. :( I applied Durasole to all 4 feet then moved Lily to her stall, where I applied Magic Cushion, sprinkling some of her sawdust over the Magic Cushion to keep it from sticking to the dirt outside in the dry lot. I didn't put anything else on her feet to allow her pasterns to heal. Even duct taping booties to her feet would have made that sensitive skin chafe.

This worked beautifully: the Magic Cushion stayed in place until I would remove it and re-apply it the next day. She was not walking normally yet - she wasn't head bobbing anymore, but her gait had that walking-on-eggshells appearance.

By Sunday, she had finally settled in the dry lot and had stopped pacing. She has figured out that she can see all of the other horses in the neighboring fields just fine if she just stands at the fence. On this day I touched up her trim, bringing back her toes to her white lines to take pressure off the hoof wall and thus off the laminae.

Post trim

There was a LOT of licking and chewing each time a hoof was set down after trimming.  After the trim she was standing almost square, the best she has stood since this was discovered on Wednesday of last week. Her walking on concrete was also improved - she had been very sensitive to the concrete before.

On Monday her chafed pasterns were much better. I re-applied Magic Cushion to her soles and put duct tape booties on over that. They stayed on until Tuesday.

Tuesday evening it was supposed to rain. Lily was walking without a hitch barefoot, but I wanted her feet to stay dry. I iced her front hooves for the last time, then applied Durasole only, and put her back out in her Vipers.

On Wednesday she was walking fabulously in the Vipers. Flicking her toes up and everything like she normally does. I took her out to the arena and set her free to see what she would do:

Video of Lily taken Wednesday 4/23/14. I let her trot one lap in each direction to watch her move, then immediately called her back to me.

This mare has one of the greatest senses of self-preservation I have ever seen in a horse of my own. She is not an idiot: she will not do something if it hurts or if it's going to put her in danger. The fact that she wanted to trot around at all says something. She even had a bit of spring in her step. The only hint that she's not quite 100% yet is the fact that she's not extending her gait and flicking up her toes (landing heel first). But the head bob is completely gone and she is striding out evenly.

I chose not to ice, re-applied Durasole, put her back out in her Vipers (I want to keep her in those a couple more days until she is moving around 100% normally without them), and called the vet to schedule the insulin: glucose ratio test. She is coming out next Friday - it has to be an early morning test and she is booked every morning this week and the next until then! We are to decrease her bute dose from 1 gram once a day to half a gram once a day. Between my job and her appointments, we didn't get to talk about anything else, but she is supposed to call me back today to discuss the program for starting Lily back into work. We'll tackle the diet stuff after the test. For now, she is still on the strict low starch/low sugar diet in her dry lot.