soundness

Those of you who have been following me here know that Tonka has had a persistent front left lameness. Over the last few years he’d have a twinge now and then, but it would resolve quickly. Last August when Tonka came up mildly lame on his left front I decided […]

Tonka Has Surgery

by
Happy Birthday to Tonka! He was born 16 years ago in Texas. Both parents were champion ropers, and that would have been his life if he hadn’t been purchased by a Maine woman who happened to be in Hill Country, saw Tonka as a four-year old (where he was living […]

Tonka Turns 16 Today

by
NOTE: This post has been updated since the original review! new comments in italics.) Tonka is stuck in his stall for the foreseeable future. He has a fractured phalanx (a bone deep inside of his hoof) and a bit of that bone is stuck to his collateral ligament. He hurts. […]

Haygain Forager Review

by
Not good news. Back at the end of the summer, Tonka was intermittently lame. Whatever was going on was mild, but it was there, so I went the whole 9 yards. Ultrasounds, x-rays, and finally MRI. The diagnosis wasn’t awful – he had inflammation in his coffin joint, a collateral […]

Affusion Fracture

by
Rehab from an injury rarely goes in a straight line. After our visit last month to Dr. Bubeck at Tufts (New England’s veterinary school has a clinic) we had a clear plan of action for Tonka’s left foot lameness. Rest, rehab (slowly increasing the amount and type of exercise) and […]

Tonka and IRAP

by
Last week I took Tonka to Tufts (Cummings Veterinary Medical Center Hospital for Large Animals) to get a clear diagnosis about what was causing his front left intermittent lameness. This is the fourth time that Dr. Bubeck has seen Tonka. In previous visits, Dr. Bubeck has diagnosed neck arthritis, bursitis in […]

Lameness Diagnosis and Plan

by
Tonka and Dr. Monika Calitri discuss his ultrasound results. For the last four years, Tonka has been consistently inconsistently lame in his left fore. Most of the time there’s nothing amiss, some of the time there’s a slight unevenness to his stride, occasionally he’s head-bobbing lame. It’s hard to diagnose […]

The Next Step

by
For the last four years, Tonka has been intermittently off on the left front. Trotted out on a hard surface and turned sharply to the left, he shows a head bob – a sign that there’s something going on that is ouchy. Most of the time though, that’s it. On […]

Lame in the Front Left

by
In the more than seven years since Tonka and I have been a team, we’ve had niggling issues with soundness. Except for a couple of specific instances, it’s not been dramatic enough to come up with a clear cause or cure. I tell my veterinarian that he’s not 100 percent, […]

Hoof Prints Tell All

by