# lame donkey



## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

My yearling donkey is lame on one foot. The hoof seems to be cracked up the back, and have large cavities in the bottom. It does not really look infected other than this, but it is hurting her and she is limping. 

What should I do for her? I've been putting iodine on it. It has not been rainy, though she does have access to a pond. She might be mucking along it, I don't know.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

I don't know much of anything about donkeys, but it sounds like she could use a good farrier to take a look, clean it up and help you decide what you can do or if she needs a vet.


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

It kinda sorta sound like abcesses but it's nearly impossible to be certain. How long has it been since she's had her hooves trimmed?


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Sounds like abscesses that have graveled. Poor baby.  A farrier will suit you better than a vet at this point !


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## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

This morning it is looking more like hoof rot to me. Unfortunately she wouldn't even let me close enough to pick it up and put the iodine on it. I don't think she's going to stand for a farrier. I did the whole brushing and picking up hooves thing with her when she was growing up, but she still learned to be skittish from her mama.


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## malinda (May 12, 2002)

U


mary said:


> This morning it is looking more like hoof rot to me. Unfortunately she wouldn't even let me close enough to pick it up and put the iodine on it. I don't think she's going to stand for a farrier. I did the whole brushing and picking up hooves thing with her when she was growing up, but she still learned to be skittish from her mama.


Are you saying she's never been trimmed by a farrier? How old is she?


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Perhaps the vet can give you a mild trank for her? I know my vet gave me a trank to use on Sid when he had to get eye cream twice per day and refused to stand for it (too painful). You definitely need to get to the bottom of this and start treatment if you believe it is hoof rot. 

Can you get pics for our farrier pros here to look at? They might be able to give you some insight.


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

Sounds like she needs some farrier TLC. 

If she is lame, it's time to really take action. If she won't stand readily, you may have to bring a vet in to help sedate her for the farrier(if the farrier can't sedate her).

If you can't pick up the hoof, then it's only guesswork as to what it could be. A nail? An absess? Thrush? Hoof rot?

She definitely needs a farrier(by any means possible).


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## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

I have picked it up and looked. She would not let me do it today. I made two mistakes, one telling my daughter to come over to take pics, and the second having a lead rope tossed over my shoulder. She was suspicious of both.

With goats, we are told to cut out the rot and iodine. Is iodine not the right procedure? She'll come up to the barn again tonight, so I can maybe close her in and try again.

She is still getting around, but she is limping badly.


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

mary said:


> I have picked it up and looked. She would not let me do it today. I made two mistakes, one telling my daughter to come over to take pics, and the second having a lead rope tossed over my shoulder. She was suspicious of both.
> 
> With goats, we are told to cut out the rot and iodine. Is iodine not the right procedure? She'll come up to the barn again tonight, so I can maybe close her in and try again.
> 
> She is still getting around, but she is limping badly.


Iodine is used in soaking an abscessed foot, but equines get hoof ailments that differ from those of goats. Equines don't tend to get the hoof rot that you are referring to.
I would pen her in a tight spot so that you can get a rope/halter on her so you have more control. Then pick up and clean out each of her feet. If she will tolerate it, soak the sore foot in warm water and epsom salts. If it is an abscess, it may take several days of soaking to burst. 

Have you ever had her feet trimmed?


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## Linda J (Oct 13, 2002)

Our donkey is pretty wild, so we don't have our donk's feet trimmed. Our rocky, hard land takes care of the trimming. She got an abscess last spring. We called our son-in-law, he's a farrier. He helped us get her into a small pen, put a halter on her, and then poked on her foot and trimmed as much as she would let him. He said the best way to treat her was to keep her in the clean pen, give her hay and water and we would wait it out until the abscess broke. He checked on her everyday, and within 2 days she was good to go. 

I hope she will let you soak it, Chloe wouldn't.


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## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

Thanks. No, I don't think there's any chance she is going to let me soak it. She's a yearling and has never had her hooves trimmed, either. I have looked at them often, and they've always looked fine to me, until now. 

I bought her mother bred so she was born here. But because her mother was not tame, she picked up a lot of skittishness from her, try as I might to tame her.

She let me brush her this morning while she ate, and was fine until I got all the way around and to that hoof. No, thanks.

DH will be home this evening, so hopefully he can help me with her.

I do know a very patient farrier. Perhaps I could have him out if I can get her penned. So y'all all think that's a better bet than hauling her to the vet?


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## malinda (May 12, 2002)

It is impossible to tell you what is wrong with your donkey's hoof over the internet.

Take her to the vet where they can sedate her and the farrier can properly trim her feet there. A farrier should not have to come to your place, only to chase, corner, catch, and wrestle a feral donkey and spend loads of time with her, just to train her to stand and trying not to be injured in the process - you should have been doing that for the past year. It's not a farrier's job to pick up your slack and risk his/herself trying to trim your donkey.


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## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

malinda said:


> It is impossible to tell you what is wrong with your donkey's hoof over the internet.
> 
> Take her to the vet where they can sedate her and the farrier can properly trim her feet there. A farrier should not have to come to your place, only to chase, corner, catch, and wrestle a feral donkey and spend loads of time with her, just to train her to stand and trying not to be injured in the process - you should have been doing that for the past year. It's not a farrier's job to pick up your slack and risk his/herself trying to trim your donkey.


Thanks. That's why I didn't answer your question the first time.


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

mary said:


> Thanks. That's why I didn't answer your question the first time.


Malinda is a farrier and, I imagine, has gone through the "wild donkey" scenario too many times to count. The situation you are in now is why so many horsepeople stress handling ALL equines from birth.


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## malinda (May 12, 2002)

mary said:


> Thanks. That's why I didn't answer your question the first time.


The first three people who responded to your post all agreed that a farrier should look at your donkey. It wasn't until after that you disclosed that your donkey is feral and (probably) has never seen a farrier in her life.

I've long ago given up trying to help people who won't help themselves.


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

Mary, you may not have liked to hear what Malinda said, and I certainly would not, but she's right. The truth can sometimes be a hard pill to to swallow. Your donk has gone way too long without seeing a farrier. Has she been separated from Momma? Doing that, along with daily handling, would go a long way in solving what will be a long term problem. 

Do you have a trailer? If you do, you need to load baby up and take her to the vet Monday morning. If you don't have trailer access, you need to call the vet out Monday. I'd try to find one that works regularly with a farrier. 

Do you keep antibiotics on-farm? Farm stores carry syringes and antibiotics. When one of our horses became lame last year we had the farrier out that day. He found an abscess. We called the vet who told us to give antibiotics and banamine. We also had to soak in water, bleach, and Epsom salt. 

The lack of foot care for Baby has me wondering. Has Momma had foot care? Have you regularly wormed Baby? Momma? Our trainer lost his best horse because the people who owned her as a foal were afraid of her and never wormed her. She appeared to be healthy but that lack of care killed her as a seven year old. 

Are you working with a trainer? I think that it's vital for you to work with your donks daily and send Momma off to the trainer. There's no way that we could care for a foal as we've only had horses for three years. How long have you had equines? 

Please remember the old adage: No hoof, no horse.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I can't stress how important it is to make sure that horses and donks have at least a minimum amount of training, even if they are intended to be pasture ornaments. Aside from the obvious for potential for injury to humans that have to deal with feral livestock, there is always the chance that because of illness or injury, it will be almost impossible to find someone who will risk injury to treat them. There are certainly ways to handle feral stock in order to treat them but there aren't many people left that know how them and even fewer that know how to use them correctly and effectively.


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## JohnL751 (Aug 28, 2008)

A friend of mine has a donkey, about two years old, that has been handled alot. You have to slap his nose to keep him out of the chainsaw. He trims the hooves himself not only to remove meterial but to keep the right angle.

HE as in my friend, not the donkey.


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

Mary, if you're still reading this I wanted to offer some words of encouragement. Yes, it would be better if the donkey were halter broke and more tame, but she is only a year old. I just rescued 12! donkeys, only 2 of which are tame and halter broke. It'll take some time, but I'll get the ones who stay here at the farm for more than a couple weeks walking well in hand.

All is not lost. Pen her up somewhere and work with her daily and she'll come around. Donkeys are not hard to halter break when they are young and not fully grown. Have your husband help you teach her to lead. You may need someone gently pushing her from behind for the first few walks.

As you have learned, it is very hard to doctor an animal that is not fully tamed. It will be well worth the effort to spend the time teaching her the basics.

Please don't avoid this forum because you feel some of the posters are too harsh. All who have offered comment on this situation want only for your donkey to receive the care she needs without anyone getting hurt in the process.


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## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

Chatted yesterday with the farrier who took care of Tino. He knows all about skittish donkeys, has one himself, and is making time this afternoon to drop by and have a look at her.

I've put her up in a small stall, where she is much easier to manage, and spent some time brushing her. She's let me pick up the hoof and look at it. I actually think, though she is still limping, that it might be improving. Anyway she is not so touchy.

Also I figured out that although she will not have anything to do with me putting the halter on her, I can rub her with it, and I think I might eventually win her over to it that way. Anyway, one can hope.

If anyone is thinking of something mean to say to me, please just bite your tongue. This is a guard animal. I will not be paying a trainer. Still, I've done my best with her. I know everyone thinks I should have acted faster, but DH was out of town until the weekend, and I had no means to pull a trailer should I have been able to load her.

I know that donkeys sometimes bruise a hoof and it is better in a couple of days.

I do not have any other equine. I gave away her dam.


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

How great that your farrier can stop in so quickly 

Good luck!

Even a guard donkey should be trained to lead. She will need periodic hoof care, so halter breaking her is essential. I wouldn't stretch out the haltering by slowly introducing the halter to her. Just put a halter on her when you have her in the pen, squeeze her into a corner with a helper if you have to. This is something that you can do in 15 minutes, not 15 days or weeks.
Once haltered you can begin teaching her to lead. Again, this is something fairly easy for a donkey to learn, so no need to drag it out over a long period of time.
You actually make better progress with training equines if you do the training sessions close together, like every day for 2 weeks.


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## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

Thank you for the advice.

The farrier poked all around on her hoof and said it was fine. He thought the tenderness was in her leg, that maybe she had pulled or twisted a muscle or ligament. DH gave her a shot of penn, just in case there was some infection, since the farrier also thought there was a little swelling in one of her leg joints.

He thinks it should heal up fine without further intervention.

I did ask him if the cracking was normal, and he said that in donkeys, it can be. Her hooves are not overgrown.

He actually thought I should leave the halter off, just something to get her caught up with out in the fields.

I'd still like to halter train her, and am thinking of keeping her in the barn for a couple more days.


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

Mary, one does not have to leave a halter on an equine to be halter trained. We never leave halters on. Halter training is necessary, IMO. Even a guard donk needs shots and farrier work. They also get sick.

Not one of us was being rude. We just disagreed with you. Training is important whether you use an equine as a guard animal, to ride, or as a pasture ornament. Training doesn't necessarily mean breaking.


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## Rogo (Jan 1, 2006)

It's not a crime to not have a shoer do regular trimming! )

I've had horses, mules, and donkeys for over 30 years and rarely have needed a shoer to do any trimming. None of my equine have ever needed shoes.

None of my critters are confined. They roam free on acreage. I live on and ride on rocky land and the land keeps the hooves trimmed beautifully. Nice and smooth. No cracks, no splits, no abscesses.


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## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

Joshie said:


> Not one of us was being rude. We just disagreed with you.


I'm used to being disagreed with. This has felt a little more, not in all posts, but some, like raking over the coals, which to me is rude. Same as when I came for advice a year or two ago about a horse. No offense intended to those who have been nice, but some of y'all don't come across as wanting to help the novice more than beat her up.
Sorry to say this just because I expect now everyone will come back to reiterate their points.
It doesn't matter because I won't be back here for advice.
:runforhills:
My thanks to those who offered advice and best wishes without the judgment.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I don't feel you've been raked over but I do feel that some with more experience have made suggestions that would ultimately make your life easier.


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