Regent's Hoof Surgery

One of our finest horses, Regent, began showing signs of lameness in his front feet last year.  After a trip to Arizona Equine and an MRI, it was determined that Regent had keratomas in both hooves.  A keratoma is a rare, benign tumor that grows in the hooves of horses.  Regent, somehow, managed to get them in both hooves. 

 

We schedule the surgery to have the tumors removed in early December, but due to a very complex and confusing government contracting process, we weren't able to get it done until after Christmas.  The surgery was very successful and Regent did extremely well considering that both hooves were operated on simultaneously.  The veterinarian, Dr. Howard, took a large strip out of the front of both hooves and pulled the tumors through the gaps.  We were told the recovery would take at least nine months.

 

We brought Regent home with instructions to replace the bandages on his hooves every two days.  As you can imagine, Regent didn't much care for this process, but because he trusts both me and Debbie, we were able to get the job done without too much trouble.

 

Regent's hooves in February--about 6 weeks after surgery

 

 

The bandage consisted of sticking a betadine-soaked piece of gauze into the hoof gap and then putting, I kid you not, diapers over his hooves.  The diapers helped absorb the drainage from the wounds.  Next, we wrapped the hooves with vet wrap and, finally, covered the whole thing with a duct tape boot.  Because Regent was missing a significant amount of his hoof wall, the farrier bolted a couple of steel plates to the bottom of his feet to provide support. 

 

Of course, the worst part of bandage changing was removing the gauze from the holes in his hooves.  Regent hated this part and it was only the fact that we had formed a solid relationship with this horse over a period of ten years that we were able to perform this task at all. 

Eventually, we were able to stretch the bandage changes to every three days and then, not at all.  His hooves are still growing in and he is only about three months into his recovery.  We let him out to walk around now, and he seems to be recovering quicker than we expected.  We hope to begin the process of reconditioning him sometime in July. 

Regent's feet now--3 1/2 months after surgery

He is an excellent horse and has become a much more affectionate horse since coming to live at our house during his recovery (that is mostly Debbie's influence, I'm guessing).  We expect a full recovery and look forward to the day when Regent can charge up Brown parade field again.