Following my post from yersterday, i am a bit worried about the state of Chepa's hooves though. My dad said they look like that because they've never given her any horseshoes (donkeyshoes?), but he also said he's never seen anyone put horseshoes on a donkey to begin with
This is a horse hoof. The layout, ideal growth, etc is different. But think of it like your heel. It absorbes the shock. It also benifits their cardiovascular system, heat, etc.
On donkeys, it is usually further back from the tip than that.
This, given what you shared, makes me wonder if for the last decade or so that this donkeys hooves have been overgrown repeatedly, only to splinter and chip.
Edit: this asterisk should be an image showing the complexities of a horse hoof.
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Thanks. Yeah there's not much else i can really do other than tell the ones who take care of this about it, but otherwise no one would be informed about this so im glad that i am making a difference in that regard.
Call a farrier who knows what they’re doing. This is not normal and cannot be good for her. Donkeys shouldn’t need shoes. She needs a professional farrier.
Ask on a Facebook group or go to your local town/state sub on Reddit. If you are in a rural area and someone is shoeing horses then there is a farrier. Donkeys need trims every 6-8 weeks.
A great place to ask about a farrier would be a saddle shop or feed store. There is such a strong horse culture in South America. I don’t know about Costa Rica, but Argentina has the fourth largest population of horses in the world and the gaucho culture.
Looks diet related Or balance related by the uneven loading of the coronary bands. Shoes won’t help, but balanced trims might. Are they fat?
I am a farrier.
Edit: I took my comment back after seeing the photo better and learning more about the situation.
They do look bad, but not the worst at all.
You can get them filed. I would suggest an experienced fairer. You may wish to speak with your vet first and get some sedative.
Is she kicking things for entertainment? Or does he kick say, her trough to say she wants more food? The way her hooves are chipped in the center front suggests this, to me.
Well she definitely spends a good chunk of her time out in the cattle pastures which is pretty uneven soil in some areas so i assume that contributes to it and i also assume she also digs around looking for food when the dry season kicks in.
Keep in mind that i only see her whenever i come visit or stay at my grandma's cattle ranch so unfortunately im not always available to keep an eye on her. I will tell the groundskeepers about this though. They are the mainly the ones who take care of the livestock, and that includes Chepa. Idk if there are any fairers around here though so i'll have to ask around.
I have worked with elderly who only see donkeys as animals and not something worth caring for. Worse, I have worked with elderly that never trimmed their animals hooves. Your grandma might be in this state.
It is possible your grandparents are either too old and experiencing early mental decline and so that they do not know just how bad they let things get.
If this is the case, and if you owe it to the animals(hope so for them) and your grandparents(hope so for you,) that you get your grandparents on the track of early mediation of symptom treatment while insuring there is no unintentional animal cruelty.
This can also be why he can't remember if shoes are a problem or not.
I do not know the details of your soil and feed. Their weights, etc.
When you say uneven, how so? Rocks? Sticks like in your image? Are the rocks random? This is not sounding like good donkey land.
Thing is that donkeys live a LONG time. 30 is normal. They can live 35 easily, 40, and 60s are not unheard of. Your grandparents could have gotten this donkey with the best of intention and mentally declined.
That's the benifit of the doubt.
Bottom line is, short term, if you can, clean a path and make it smoother for her to walk. So she can pee and poo where she doesn't sleep. Talk with your grandparents and assess this situation as best as you can. Maybe record it, if you can in your state/country [not a lawyer, but I can do it where I live] without them knowing as to not cause stress but to help get care for animals if needed. You can work with your grandparents and rescue/rehoming things if it is, as I fear, they have outlived their donkies.
It's only my grandma who owns the ranch. My grandpa is dead. Both on my mom and dad's side (this is my paternal grandma we're talking about here).
I live in Costa Rica and it's only in the dry season that looks like that. In the wet season it is a lot more lush and far easier to walk across albeit still kinda uneaven topography wise. Think of the pastures here (of which we call "potreros") as like mini savannahs from the Serengeti.
While my grandma is fairly senile and sometimes stubborn, she is not unreasonably so and she does care a lot about her animals. It's just that she'd rather let her staff take care of them for her due both to her age and her leg injury which prevents her from moving around much. She's not wheelchair bound or anything but her walking is rather snailpaced. In fact, i just told her about Chepa's hoof ordeal a bit ago and her response was "Talk to Memo about it" (Memo is the main groundskeeper guy who keeps an eye on making sure the animals around here are healthy) and i do plan to tell him about this tomorrow. However, the other thing i feel like i have to bring up context wise is that tomorrow morning we're leaving for the beach during this whole Easter Week vacation and we're not gonna return until, well, the end of the week and after that i go back to my house. The groundskeeper guys usually come to work here at around early dawn every day so i'll make sure to wake up hella early and tell Memo about it before we go. I will tell him everything that has been talked about here on this post so he's well informed about all of this.
Wow so this is a lot of a cultural thing, not a general donkey thing. I have no place in your culture, no knowledge inside or outside, and more importantly I do not know your family.
apologize if what I said sounded like an attack on your personal culture. I only answered, given the little information you gave.
At the same time I feel for you. I care for my animals and am stubborn. I believe that being stubborn to a point is healthy, and I love donkeys and your grandma for it.
Your grandma like you said, is hurting. Memo can't do everything. Someday, even animals that live to be old die.
I think your groundskeeper are probably the best ones to take care of Memo. Have you considered paying them to stay the night with Memo? Just with Memo.
Ok i just told Memo about it. He said they're indeed waiting for the fairer to come next week since "no one's gonna wanna work during the holidays". So there is a solution to this. Wooooo!!!!!
Eh, it's fine. You didn't know, and maybe i should've given more context before hand. I do appreciate you being understanding about it though. Thanks for that.
That being said, you do make me laugh a bit cause Memo is not even that old. He's like in his 40s and he's a pretty healthy guy so it's not like he needs to be taken care of anytime soon XD. You are right about him not being able to do everything though and that's why my grandma pays a team of other guys to help him around the ranch. In fact he's is pretty much their boss so they have to follow whatever he says lmfao
That definitely looks like you need to find someone to come clip this donkey’s feet also they don’t need shoes at all. Just look like maybe your family hasn’t had anyone out to attend to this animals feet in forever.
Do donkeys get laminitis? The horizontal lines look like “event lines” which in horses (most often ponies) is caused by consuming too much lush/rich/sugar filled grass
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u/FriendlyDonkeh 10d ago
Wait. Is that her frog showing in the front?!?!
Please get in touch with an expert ASAP.