Rudy’s Recovery

Hi, my name is Hayley Teal & I’m starting this go fund me on behalf of my gelding Rudy. For those of you who don’t know, Rudy is my 17 year old horse, my bestfriend & my soulmate who I have spent every day with since I was 13 years old.

On Sunday 8/6 Rudy was down in his pasture unable to get up on his own. I had 2 emergency vets out as well as a trip to MSU to figure out this issue he had going on in his feet. On 8/7, radiographs revealed that Rudy had acute laminitis in his back feet and euthanasia was recommended.

Rudy has a severe case of laminitis that carries a grave prognosis. Rudy’s lamina has about 1/3 of separation from the hoof which puts him at a high risk of experiencing infection of the distal phalanx. & it was only a matter of days that he could step completely out of his hoof capsules.

I decided to take him home from MSU & give him one last chance. When getting back to the farm, Rudy was very uncomfortable and in pain. Spending most of his days laying down & not eating regularly. I tried to do everything I could to make him comfortable and see if I could help him on my own. I was struggling with this so I decided to get another opinion.

On Sunday 8/13, I took Rudy to a podiatry specialist. Upon arrival, it was discovered that Rudy had laminitis in the front feet as well as severe abscessing in both back feet. Rudy was placed in frog pads on all 4 feet and stood more comfortably right away. He is currently on stall rest & on medication. He is staying at the clinic now with professionals that evaluate the situation every day.

3/26

Rudy had an ultrasound done on his LF which revealed he had some fluid in the navicular bursa. That was treated with a hyvisc injection. He was watched throughout the week to see if it made any changes & is still on bute.

4/19

Rudy has been walking a little bit better each day but he is still sore. He is now shod on all 4 feet in regular shoes & his hooves have changed a ton from where we were in the beginning. He’s still eating, drinking & willingly moving around. He’s been able to go on walks and supervised turnout for a few hours. Fingers crossed that his “good days” continue and we don’t go backwards in this healing process.

Even if you don't donate I really do appreciate all the support and prayers to save my special guy!

The funds will help cover Rudy’s medical bills, medication, farrier, operation and rehabilitation. Thank you to everyone who has helped us so far! #rudysrecovery

Update: Rudy is still at the podiatry specialist & they are seeing improvements each day. He is still on medication and his feet are being monitored daily for growth. He has hoof casts on both of his back feet and pads on his fronts to keep him stable, comfortable, and to allow for growth to continue. However, we still do not know what caused these issues, but we are moving in the right direction.

Update 11/3/23

We have continued heel growth as well as sole growth. We are still working on getting his feet solid so we’re continuing with bandage changes and monitoring these closely for any issues that may occur during this process.

Tuesday we have a vet coming out to run a full metabolic panel to rule everything out we possibly can or to get a better idea as to what’s could be going on.

Fingers crossed we can get some more answers and keep everything moving in the right direction

At this time, I am still asking for donations & no amount is too small. Thank you to everyone for the continued love & support for this special guy.

Photos are of Rudy’s back feet.