Sharing a secret!

Update - Had the Vet out to Tom on Monday, I must say excellent service that did not cost the earth. Rung the Vet at 8.00am who is located in Featherston and he was at my paddock by 9.15. He came down to Tom, who was very reluctant to move and inspected his fett. They were not as bad as he was expecting so advised that with careful feet management there is a good chance Tom will recover, but I have to move he away from the boggy soil, that in summer is ok, but in winter is just too wet.

Tom is on a course of bute which has helped a great deal. He is even trying to have mini hoons now, on Thursday morning he was so anxious to get back into the paddock, he stood there nudging the gate, so I let him go and what a show! Front hooves in the air, prancing around and attempting a canter, much to my horror. I told him off for being so silly and told him he shouldn't be doing that, should be taking things easy.

Then yesterday morning again the same sort of thing but only at a trot.

Well here is a photo I took to Tom and my daughter Shannan, who is 5, sharing a secret. Also, some other random photos as well.

My beautiful Tom Kat's future does not look to good at the moment. His front feet are extremely sore. Have the vet coming ASAP and he along with my Farrier will help me make the decision. I am praying that is will be treatable as he is only 17, although after doing lots of reading tonight and listening to what different people say, I'm not so sure.

He has a history of bad feet. I think that this has been there all along and what triggered it was getting is feet done yesterday. His front left has separation and there was a lot of "rot" in between the hoof wall and the Laminae, Farrier showed me and it was gross. His front right looked worse before he had his shoes taken off.

My wonderful riding buddy Sarah has offered use of her stables if needed. Hubby has also been great as Farrier stopped him today when driving past to tell him what was happening.

At the moment we are leaving him in his paddock, as he is still moving around. I just wish he would lie down at times, especially when he has his two front feet way out front and then he tries to rest the back one.

Mandy the Donkey was due to have her feet done today, but Farrier did not turn up - I was going to ask his opinion, although do not want to offend my farrier who has dealt with Tom for many years.

Well, TomKat is look so stunning this year, but his feet are a mess. Had my Farrier out to him today and front left is just rotten, he shoved the knive up in between the sole and hoof wall and scraped out all the crap. Looked so gross, my heart sank, as his feet looked liked they might be getting better. His advice was to keep him out of the mud and not get them wet so raced home and got my little bit of tape and taped off an area to confine him in. Thoughts are this wont hurt as he and Mandy are very round. So hand filled his container with water and left him for the night.

Myfarrier Bram is just wonderful, came back down to check Tom and made him some rubber pads to ease the pressure on his soles, and will be back down tomorrow to check on him again. I so wish I had my own paddock close by so I could keep an eye on him better.

Am in tears tonight over the future of my beautiful TB called TomKat whom I just adore,