Second Opinion

My farrier thinks we need to get a second opinion on Walker's x-rays.  He has all the faith in the world in my vet and said over and over again on the phone that he was not a vet, but having looked at the copy of the x-rays I provided him, he is of the opinion that Walker's coffin bone is not ok as my vet told me it was.  He's afraid that Walker's lameness has nothing to do with his back feet.  Having not looked at him yet, his over-the-phone guess is that he may be having residual lameness in his front feet, which I'll admit, I never considered.  I didn't walk Walker far enough down the hall to pinpoint his lameness.  I simply assumed because of the horrible state of his back feet that they were at least giving him some discomfort.

He has asked for my permission to show the x-rays to another vet, and I have consented of course.  In the meantime, he's out to the barn today to check on Walker's feet and see what kind of damage has been done.  While I agree with him that feet that have been on stall rest are obviously not going to be hard enough to withstand all that dry ground, I just find the damage so much more significant than what I've ever witnessed with Walker's feet in any past transitions to barefoot.  He doesn't really want to put shoes on his back feet unless he has to, which I understand, because he's afraid that his feet will just never harden.  He is going to assess that too.

In the meantime, I feel like a horrible horse mom.  This whole time while I was being mad at my pony, little did I know that he may still have serious issues with his feet - and not the kind of issues you can slap shoes on and be done with.  Perhaps that was just wishful thinking on my behalf.

I feel conflicted.  I'm still a little angry with Walker.  It's not about the physical pain (although my face is definitely bruised).  I can take that.  I'm pretty durable.  It's the emotional pain, like whatever happened that day was just the straw that broke the camel's back.  It's so hard to explain because if you ask me if I'm this upset because he hit me in the face, I'd tell you that's not it at all.  It's the summation of a bunch of things that have been just weighing me down.  It's not just Walker.  I feel like I don't want to be around any horses.  I've never felt this way before.

On the other hand, I love him so much, and this new information is devastating.  It has put me back in a state of worry for him because I of course want the best for him.  Last night I forced myself to go out to the barn to check on him.  I wanted to pick out his feet and generally check him over.  He rested his head on my shoulder like he does sometimes, and for a moment there, I remembered why I put up with it all.

Now I'm just waiting to hear what the farrier says.  Even if he decides it's a problem with the back feet, he's still going to get the second opinion about the front feet just in case.  So I'm back to the waiting game.

My other man living the dream