The vet saw Kasane today at lunch. The good news is that the way we were treating her foot let her actually heal more. She may have had some thrush, but that appears to be mostly gone.
The vet ended up cutting away a good part of Kasane’s frog on her front left foot. We need to wash the crevasse between her hoof and frog every evening and keep an eye on it. We’ll use an anti-thrust treatment once or twice per week as a preventive. It may take up to 4 months to completely heal and regrow the tissue on the frog.
The foot soreness may have been caused by an abscess that broke through on her heal or it might have been something she stepped on. (The vet leaned towards the idea of an abscess.) The healing process was exacerbated by the shape of her front left hoof: her left leg is offset when it comes into her hoof. This causes the inside wall of her hoof to be more upright. Her conformation may change (or potentially get worse) as she grows. Right now we have to keep her trimmed on a pretty tight schedule and see what happens. The farrier has already said that she’ll need to be shod before I can start riding her.
Kasane's foot after treatment
Here’s an interesting thing: the vet said she thought Kasane was getting ready to have a pretty big growth spurt. Yikes! She’s already taller than Isis!
Vet fee was $125. Ouch.
