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Case Study - Lily |
Before - October 2002 |
After - Janurary 2004 |
Lily is a 21-month-old Quarterhorse filly who was rescued from certain euthanasia nearly 10 months ago. The sole survivor of a twin birth, Lily was confined to a small wet paddock early on in life when she appeared to be developing some sort of problem in her limbs. However, this only accentuated the issue and the owner pursued other methods of treatment including homeopathics, traditional veterinary medicine and orthopedic shoes. When the problem did not begin to resolve, it seemed that euthanasia was soon to be the only option left. However, when a client told me about this young filly, we quickly contacted the owners and presented them with and option to save little Lily. On October 25th 2002, Lily arrived at an arranged half-way point where she would spend the night before continuing her journey to my property a further 3.5 hours away. Lily was forced to stand as a cat might while stretching. Her front limbs were placed far in front of her. Due to joint adaptation in her limbs, Lily's hooves rolled forward onto the face of the hoof wall and the heels did not bear any weight at all. Due to the problems in her limbs, Lily was also found to have almost no back muscles to assist in correcting her posture. Dr. Strasser, who was present at the initial treatment, advised a great deal of body treatment and movement, in addition to the twice weekly trimming. The first trim required approximately 4-5 hours of work where numerous ways of getting Lily's hooves to lower the heels were tried. In the end, a vast improvement was made on the original condition and Lily was returned to her paddock with several other equines for the night. Now 7 months down the track, Lily has come a long way and is far better off than she might have been without the Strasser method. Her, right front hoof now sits completely on the ground and the left front is well on the way to proper weightbearing. Lily now stands quite comfortably in the paddock with her equine friends and is very much the active young horse. While still a long way from optimal hoof form and body condition, Lily has proven to many people that there are few situations when it is all too much and that the Strasser method really does work. |
Story by Reshad Oberlander SHP |
Left front - May 03 |
Right front - May 03 |
Lily can now stand on her own feet |
Right front - January 04 |
Left front - January 04 |
Yes, these are the same feet. The left front still cannot weight the heels fully yet but the changes have been dramatic |
This is Lily - July 2005 with Gail Bateman, AEBM president |
Side view of hind feet |
Left front - July 05 |
Right front - July 05 |
Lily is truelly an amazing case. She is happy and friendly although sometimes she thinks she is a human! At no stage during the time that I have looked after Lily (since Jan 04) have I thought that Lily was not comfortable and happy. Due to the problems that Lily suffered with her hooves, they simply have not grown and developed to be of a correct size or shape. Lily is sound and runs around with her herd but I am not sure that she will ever be useful as a riding horse or for breeding. That being said, we are happy to have her and she certainly seems happy enough to be alive. Julie Leitl |
Left front |
Right front You can't see it in these pics but the x-rays show these coffin bone tips curl under with the bend in the toe wall. |
