When the vet and assistant arrived, Mag nickered a rather harsh sounding greeting. Not sure if it was "Hi who are you?" or "Don't you take my donkey!" Unlike Baasha, Mag has a deep voice.
He wasn't happy about being locked out, but he sure didn't want the vet to take notice of him so he casually grazed nearby.
Bellis, her face, when she saw the X ray machine! Donkeys are so stoic and subtle, but her eyes were huge. It is a scary looking thing! When Mara had to have her back xrayed, she was trembling the entire time. Being a donkey, Bellis expressed herself as usual, by complete immobility.
Except she let us put her hooves on the tablet, and cooperated nearly perfectly for pictures of a fore and hind hoof. I couldn't help but observe that Bellis is better about her feet than Mag, even after all this time.
See, the last two trimmers were unsure about her sole depth, and hesitant to take too much off. Myself included, I'm not comfortable cutting into sole, so her hooves have seemed quite long, though the walls are even with the soles.
I got to see the pics and the vet measured her sole depths at 2 cm and 1.79cm. That is really good, and he explained that horses usually have only .7 cm. Yikes!
I was happy to see her pastern joints are perfect - I had to laugh, "These are the joints of an animal who's never worked a day of her 11 year life!": ) He agreed, he said they look like a very young animal's legs.
Then she got her tetanus shot and her teeth checked. He had a new, titanium speculum and told me it cost 2K Euros. Bellis was the first to try it and it was quite different than the normal crank type (it had dials, and the part that separates the incisors was plastic, not metal, so more comfortable perhaps). Poor Bellis, I know it's unpleasant, but she doesn't ever fight, she just stands there pitifully.
Her teeth are still good, so I'm delighted with the results of today's vet visit. The donkey costs us less than our cat, if you can believe that. Why would I not have a donkey!
Healthy bones, wonderful hooves, good teeth....and this is living in a completely wrong environment for a donkey. Donkeys don't usually do well on 5 acres of lush pasture all year long, and unlimited hay. I think we are blessed that she can manage it, and remain healthy.
She might outlive us yet: )
Vorne Rechts RF - I know they look long, but now we know we can take more off safely.
Hinten Rechts RH - She didn't put her weight on this leg as you can see, but we can still judge sole depth.
Good girl Bellis for taking care of your legs, keep it up. Isn't it fun to see good xrays? Usually it's just bad news...
5 comments:
Wow, even her X-rays are pretty. My donkey neighbors will be moving in the next few months. I'm going to miss them.
Wow, even her X-rays are pretty. My donkey neighbors will be moving in the next few months. I'm going to miss them.
does Bellies hee-haw at 11pm? Our neighbor's donkey does, we don't know why. They are hideous animal keepers, it's entirely possible that she is. hungry at 11pm..or has hopes that they will feed her then? Poor donkey. I don't dare go near, they are the only crazy neighbors on our entire road.
I struggled for the longest time trying to figure out how much sole I could take off the donkeys. Their hoof walls will wear back, but the soles don't and they just keep getting taller and taller, obscuring all the "landmarks". Even when I took Ramsey to the Pete Ramey clinic last year, the first thing he said was that his soles were too thin. I had to disagree with him and then the xrays showed almost 2 cm of sole. I've gotten much braver about cutting into the sole, but it still makes me nervous. I've found the only way to stay on top of their feet is to have a clear idea of what they should look like and trim them on faith. I put a really strong bevel all the way around now too. I find that it helps them wear their sole and prevent white line issues.
I wish I could figure out how you manage to keep Bellis healthy on all that grass. Mine are eating late cut hay and a bit of oat straw and I am worried about Emma's weight (Tessa too).
Those are cool X-ray's! I'm glad she is so healthy and did so well. Isn't the immobility thing so interesting? I can tell my donkey's stress level entirely on how still he is.
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