Foundering Arabian on hind foot

Q: I just found your website after looking for alternatives to keep my Arabian alive.  Back in July my horse was at a training facility and some how punctured his left hock, which turned into a septic infection.  I was not notified of his condition until it was to late and extremely infected.  He was not expected to live through that ordeal after spending two weeks in the hospital.  I have been nursing him back to health at home now for two months and Wednesday I found out during a trim that he rotated his right hind hoof due to excess weight bearing.  I called the vet and had him come on Thursday and x-ray him.  The x-ray revealed a severe rotation in that hoof and my vet says his outcome is very bad to say the least.  I love this horse more than anything and although I would  never make him suffer unnecessarily, I dreamed of living a long life partnership with him. 

I was told by my trainer that Viagra might work to stimulate the circulation in the hoof.  300mg twice a day for 5 days and 100mg each day there after.  Do you know of any methods that might help my horse?  I have a pad on his right hoof and his 12x12 stall is heavily padded with shavings.  He is twisting his left hind leg like a pigeon toed horse to compensate for the pain and body weight.  I am giving him twice a day bute, equinesaver, jointsaver, inflammasaver, Rapid Response once a day and now Banamine once a day.  He is still on his feed and eyes are clear, ears are forward.  We never saw this coming, the only sign was that he was drawing up his right hind leg but I thought it was due to the over use of the leg during his left leg recovery period.

I would really appreciate any help you might be able to give us.

A: I had a mare recently that did a similar thing due to a nail puncture in one hind hoof.  She foundered severely on the opposite hind hoof.

She is completely sound with a new hoof and no evidence of previous founder.

Forget about the Viagra.

Depending where you live, you desperately need to get hold of someone to trim your horse properly and remove any steel shoes that are on the hooves.  Your horse should be turned out free to go to and from the stall at all times.  Being confined will drastically reduce your chances for success.  Have you looked at sites like www.naturalhorsetrim.com or www.barefoothorse.com or www.equethy.com or www.equinextion.com?  There is lots of reading you could do and you will discover that you and your horse can get back on the road and heal.

All the bute and banamine wouldn't be necessary if a proper trim and a nice form-fitting pair of boots could be used instead of steel shoes.  Click here to visit EasyCare's website and order a pair of Boa Boots for your horse and use these for protection.  You can even cut padding and place it inside the boots.  Horses love this because it is super protective.  They begin to move more, and as you'll discover, the more your horse moves the more blood that flows to the injured area and the faster they heal.

If you'd like me to consult in depth on this case, look at x-rays, look at pic's of the horse and pic's of the hooves, recommend specific trimming guidelines, nutritional and management guidelines, I can do that for a fee, but I think if you read up on the 'net' about this stuff and find someone that can help you do a proper trim, your horse will do fine.  Founder in a hind hoof is not difficult to heal.

Note:  EasyCare has recently added a  Natural Hoof Care Practitioner Lookup where you can search for a  hoofcare provder near you.  

Your horse will not self destruct out of the stall...above all get him out of confinement, feed him only a grass based diet and seek out a professional trimmer....not a farrier.....to help you get him going.

Let me know how it goes...keep positive, Dr. Tom T.