Saving Bucky...

From Jim: Bucky is a black Welsh pony. He's full of personality, likes the members of the herd, plays knees and necks with Frankie and Teddy, who tower over him, and generally enjoys his life. Bucky has terribly clubbed front feet. His left front is mostly deformed bone and misshapen hoof. He walks on the face this foot. His right front is not as malformed, but turns out, almost 45 degrees, is clubbed to the inside and wings out severely when he's underway. These issues don't stop him from getting around, even from cantering and occasionally full-on running. A attempt to improve his left front surgically failed. There's just too much bony mass. I'm pretty sure every joint from the lower pastern down is fused or maybe never even formed. Bucky is quite unaware of his "misfortune" and for him all is as it should be. For us, trying to figure out how to correctly trim him and make the best of what he's got has been a real challenge. Early on, we tried to fashion a shoe for his left front to try and give him some suspension. That also failed. The answer seems to be to keep the hoof horn away from his pastern bone, get the sole cleaned up and free of excess growth and call it good. His right front is trimmed without any attempt to turn it back to in line. The joints are misaligned with bony material and torque from corrective trimming is just plain painful. So he stumps along on the left and paddles along on the right and gets on down the road and gets on with life. Bucky is a beautiful pony. His head is gorgeous, his color bright and shiny. He's a chunk and holds his weight well. He's not real friendly, but not mean or hard to be around. I guess he's alot of what this sanctuary is about. He was worth saving. He's a vibrant member of the backyard bunch. We love little Bucky for his spirit and personality. He's a good example of why just getting on with it is a good way to go at life. We can all learn something from that. Take the time to love on your critters! They'll pay you back the very best they can.