u/Alternative-Egg-7876

My boy 13 yo warmblood, has been on a barefoot journey for the last year and a half because of 12+ years with metal shoes he had 0 heel and wasn't growing his hooves at all so we ran out of nailing space. We saw a great barefoot trimmer who never cuts off sole, got him temporary hoof boots and for the most part, other than gravely roads, was doing great barefoot. Unfortunately, I think because we've had a dry rough summer, he went"non specific "lame again and I had the vet out to do xrays.

Now since the vet hadn't know this horse before hand, said his heels are way underrun and his soles way to thin( other than the ringbone we knew was forming) and wants him back in shoes. I tried to explain that while he was more comfortable in shoes it made both of those problems way worse to the point his wedges were needing to get higher each cycle.

Going forward I'm willing to put him back in shoes for the dry summer and maybe try again barefoot when the weather changes but I'm worried about negating all the progress we made building his feet back up.

Any advice for options- I'd really like to try glue on composites but recieved a crazy high quote of 900$ for 4

-every farrier I show the xrays to wants a different type of corrective shoe, from rockers to pour ins to padding.

- he is turned out 24x7 on pretty steep rocky terrain so anything we try will have to be able to be trail ridden able and stay on through his runs with his friends.

I have some type of connective tissue auto immune disease and have had so much trouble going to dentists. Because I move every few years for work its hard for a dentist to follow the entire life cycle and end up treating me like I'm crazy or dentist adverse.

My problem is my teeth are constantly mineralizing and demineralizing, to the point every few years a dentist will tell me I need a root canal, only for that decay spot to be gone during my next xray cycle. I have never had tooth sensitivity or pain , but have been told I've needed 6 root canals on different teeth over the years ( never the same one)

The only tooth issue I've ever felt has been a dark spot I let convince me to drill, and now that tooth has been sensitive since and that filling has barely lasted more than a year. I'm only 30, so would like to mimize my chance of having no teeth by overworking them....

My latest xray attached is the newest xray that "needs a crown and a root canal" but I stated to my dentist that it looked about the same as one of the top teeth on that side 2 years ago that now looks close to perfect. I even showed him the old xrays and he only said " that seems impossible it's through the enamel to the dentin there's no way it healed but I dont see traces of it".

I've started to be of the opinion that if it doesnt hurt or is not sensitive to not to do anything (I know this is against standard dentist advice ) but I dont have much faith in the xrays as they change so drastically every time. If Id followed each suggestion from various dentists I would've had 15! Root canals by now.

Does anyone have advice on how to handle and what maybe new and innovative non drilling treatments to do to suggest to my dentist for weird coming and going shadows ? Its hard to go for the 6 month cleanings and constantly being chastised for not following their treatment suggestions. Tooth 18 on the xray and I do see the shaded spots, but absolutely no sensitivity or visual clinical signs( which he also found impossible with this level of decay) To note, I do like my current dentist and hes willing to do whatever I ask on the teeth, but is not willing to offer suggestions other than standard practice of drilling and filling for "decay like this"

Opinion: DM is over diagnosed and leads to poor decision making of both vets and owners.

DM is a horrible disease and I've had dogs that have had it and wouldn't wish it on anyone but I've also had dogs with DM " like" diseases that would've resulted me euthanized a dog too soon. Ivdd, arthrits , spinal cord compression all mimic DM but have medications and procedures that can prolong a dogs life by years.

DM vs other spinal cord diseases:

-Dm is fast acting , it will completely paralyze your dog in a year. The outliers of dogs living longer with DM I would argue do not actually have DM but have some other spinal cord degeneration.

-DM has no pain- where this gets confused is later stages of spinal cord compression may have no pain. That's why its important to notice small changes in your dogs gait, feel for pain initially and document it, even before any neurological signs appear. This can be the limiting factor between a DM dismissal or actual diagnostic work

-DM can only be 100%determined post mortem by spinal cord biopsy, or a 100% rule out of other spinal cord problems (MRI,ct, respone to invasive epidural injections) which most owners wont pay for, which means a incorrect statistically higher amount of cases get a DM diagnosis.

My old GSD was diagnosed with DM and was given 6-12 months to live. It was as quick as looking at his knuckling and hind end weakness, and looking at his genetic panel ( where he had only one copy of the dm gene) What didnt sit right with me was in the beginning when he first started slowing down I noticed if I rubbed his back he would twitch and be uncomfortable and by the time the symptoms of hind end weakness were severe , he no longer had much feeling back there so the doc made the diagnosis. When I questioned why he was still alive 1 year later, I was told it'll be any day now. I got a second opinion , a set of xrays, and some heavy duty anti inflammatories. What really confirmed his diagnosis of spinal stenosis/IVDD was a lumbar steroid epidural, he was back to his puppy self in an hour! This was a manageable disease with treatment options that would've been more valuable ( maybe surgery earlier ) if I hadn't been given the DM diagnosis immediately because of his breed. He is well maintained on spinal injections, anti inflammatories, accupunture, and hot laser, and daily exercise . If he was younger when we made the connection surgery could've stopped the progression sooner.

He's lived 6 years longer than his initial DM diagnosis death sentence, with limited but decent mobility.

I ask vets and owners to make sure they look at their animal holistically and with the greatest diagnostics they can afford so that we can stop the bias of DM being the first diagnosis.

Video of my boy doing water treadmill rehab for the first time ! I am a huge supporter of trupanion pet insurance which has made all the extra care my pup has gotten possible.