First look at Riley's hoof (icky wound alert!)

If you're squeamish, turn off images in your browser or stop reading. The pix are purposefully far down on the page.

Saturday Bob and I went to see Riley and meet with the vet. We had a Saturday appointment for her to show us how to wrap the hoof. It was also my first opportunity to see the surgical wound. Frankly I felt anxious. I'm responsible for protecting that traumatized hoof for the next four months.

Just as we arrived for the appointment, we saw a teenage girl being carried out of the barn by her mom and dad, with the attending vet trailing after. She had fainted at seeing her horse for the first time after surgery. Call it empathy, call it the power of suggestion--I started to feel light-headed. Bob saw me pause and take a few deep breaths. He grabbed my by the shoulders and propelled me into the barn. "Everything will be fine."

The unveiling
Riley looked bright and at ease, much more like his old self. They sedated him so they could take their time showing me the bandaging process. Riley isn't very patient, they told me. "When you're home you'll have to work faster than this." As they started to remove the bandage, Riley was dozing and I was hyperventilating. The last of the bandage finally came off. When I saw the extent of the wound, I actually knelt down to make sure I was seeing it correctly.

So what's it look like?
Sometimes it is good to be wrong. The vet's description was accurate, but my mental image (and the illustration I posted earlier, shown right) were wrong, wrong wrong. And this is a good thing. When the vet told me they had gone up to the coronet band, I thought they meant they took hoof wall up to top of the hoof. And I'd seen plenty of surgical pix that did just that.

But that ain't what happened here. If you've ever hollowed out a Halloween pumpkin, you did pretty much what the surgeon did. He scraped out the bad tissue and bone, but without removing the dorsal hoof wall. When I saw his hoof was intact, I wanted to jump up and down with glee. Instead, I stood there and blandly commented that it looked better than I expected. You can't imagine my happiness and relief. More hoof, more protection. Here are still shots from the video...

Icky wound alert.

If you aren't grossed out by the first picture, here is a better view to the hollow interior. All of the tissue you see there is new growth.

It's funny what odd things make horse people happy. When a horse is colicky, we do a happy dance when they finally poop. When they abscess, we're elated to see the disgusting exudate spew out. And now, I'm feeling positively giddy from the knowledge that Riley's hoof is as hollow as a dried gourd. Oh. Well.