Saving Segan

Segan is a 12-year-old Oldenburg gelding. He is well-bred and was supposedly a former high-level dressage horse. His owner had called several times asking us to take him into the sanctuary but we couldn’t at the time so we put her on the waiting list until a spot was available.  Finally in August of 2022 we had a space and were able to take him. I guess I called just in time as she had been considering euthanasia. The way she tells it, she was misled about his soundness when she bought him.  Then she found out that he had a broken coffin bone in one of his hooves, which can be devastating injury. I had a bit of experience in rehabbing a horse with a broken coffin bone so I thought maybe we could help.

X-rays confirmed he had a broken bone, but it was a small bone in the back of the hoof called the navicular bone, not the coffin bone, and it was on the front foot.  Not the greatest news, but we were all in and determined to do the right thing by him. During the wet rainy months his foot caused him terrible pain just standing around, let alone running and jumping like a normal horse needs to be able to do.

This is how he would stand to eat, with his back feet camped out behind and
his front feet stretched out in front.

After a consult with the vet, we decided to administer steroid injections in both hooves. It was either that or shoes which, in my and my trimmers opinion, would just make it worse in the long run. This steroid procedure can last for several weeks or several months, we’ll have to see and will re-evaluate with more x-rays this year to see if there is any healing or any more damage. I’d say that based on the video below he is doing fantastic!

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