Daisy & Gina
Two ponies walk towards the sun
Daisy comes from Austria and is twenty years old. Completely neglected, with extremely grown hooves, ignored by everyone, overlooked by everyone, she was standing on a meadow next to a children's playground.
An animal-loving woman discovered Daisy. Her horror was followed by a matter-of-fact conversation with the previous owners. They had meant well with Daisy but had no idea about horse keeping. They left Daisy without shelter in a grazed meadow. How much must she have suffered from pain due to the extremely grown hooves? She could hardly walk.
On the neighboring meadow, the children were playing and romping. Daisy herself had no one to play with and no reason to neigh happily.
"The farrier was probably last there a year and a half ago..."
To maintain a horse's healthy hooves, they must be scraped out and groomed daily. They need to be brushed after scraping, while outer and inner frog furrows should be cleaned gently.
The perfect hoof has a smooth surface, without cracks or furrows. The horn at the coronet band is ideally soft, smooth and elastic.
Daisy's hooves, unfortunately, did not show an ideal case, but a catastrophic condition that meant terrible pain for the twenty-year-old Shetland pony.
"I will give Daisy back with one eye laughing and one eye crying..."
Daisy's rescuer got the pony as a gift from the previous owners. However, she was concerned about the "repair" of the health problems. Cushing's was also suspected. The veterinary costs would have been beyond the personal, financial scope, and so the prudent woman turned to Gut Aiderbichl. Daisy was to be allowed to live and perhaps it would be possible to take away her pain as far as possible and enable her to enjoy life again.
There is always a solution - Happy ending for Daisy
Everyone helped: the animal keepers, the veterinarians and also the farrier did a sensationally great job. Daisy's health was not the best, but she fought against her pain, accepted the therapies well and let the farrier work on her hooves.
Then only time helped. How would the various therapies be accepted by Daisy's diseased hooves? Improvement took time and worry. No amount of help is too much, no amount of worried sighing and hoping is too much, because we are talking about a wonderful pony.
Everyone hoped and wished that Daisy's hooves would want to continue. It took patience and a lot of love in dealing with Daisy. Gina, the pony in the neighboring stable, tried to establish contact with the sickly Daisy.
Daisy has been walking around the yard with her friend Gina for a few days now. Still slowly, with hoof shoes, but she likes to move again. All the worries and efforts have paid off - Daisy has left her dark valley of pain behind her.
Hopefully, further therapies, proper feed and care of the affected hooves will reduce painful episodes. Regarding the Cushing's syndrome, further examinations and possibly treatments will be necessary.
Dear Daisy - enjoy your friendship with Gina. Enjoy your walks around the farm. Be sure that we will do everything possible to make sure you have a long, good time in your pony's life.
Daisy's and Gina's story is very similar:
A ray of sunlight is enough to illuminate much darkness
~ Francis of Assisi