Uno's knee - Part III

We have had a bit more information and a bit of progress since the last post, though I'm afraid these little victories will be few and far between in the weeks and months ahead. First and foremost, the knee is still holding and there is no sign of infection. Uno is bearing weight on the leg and seems to be looking after it quite well, doing a lot of lying down which is great.

I have ordered some 'Pink Goop' and some Tuffrock poultice (which I should have gotten straight away, I know!) and am still waiting on the red light. I am not entirely sure how much these things will help, but I reason they can't do any harm and frankly, I need to do something! It's been very hard just sitting back and doing nothing so I thought I would simply stop doing that so much.

I had a good chat with Ian Neilson and Gary Dowling about what to do with Uno's feet. Gary and I had been tentatively looking at glue-on shoes with wings to help straighten those legs, but Ian was adamant the legs would straighten on their own with confinement and healing of the fracture. As Uno wasn't born with valgus deviation of the forelimbs (knock-kneed in the common tongue!) it is unnecessary to interfere too much at this point. The shoes would just put too much pressure on the knee joint and cause deviation the other way over a short time. Not desirable, apparently.

But, in the research into this kind of deviation and its correction in young foals, I came across Babi-Cuffs: http://www.horseshoesandtools.com/ibexbabi-cuff.aspx These are apparently revolutionising the treatment of limb deviations and deformities in young foals and getting rid of the need for surgery in a lot of young horses if used early and correctly. Amazing. Gary Dowling was amazed too, and very keen to try them out at some stage - though not on Uno! Ian Neilson was also very complimentary about them and thought they were changing the face of the treatment of these issues in foals.

Back to Uno.....so, conservative, incremental trimming is the way to go, and Uno got a very little trim to the outside wall of his two front feet yesterday. I caught him when he was napping and he's quite happy for me to handle and rasp his feet when he's lying down. A couple of minutes later and Uno had balanced hooves and heels and a little breakover slightly offset to the inside of the median line. I couldn't get a pic - little bugger decided to get up!

But here's a pic from today:

And here's a pic from Saturday:

I think the difference is noticeable and positive. Fingers crossed for little Uno. He's getting so relaxed around me now that it's getting difficult to take good pics of his legs - he keeps wanting to stick his nose in for a selfie!