Maribel Updates

May 21, 2026 Maribel Update: 

Maribel’s Journey Continues

If you are not familiar with Maribel’s journey, she came to us in February with extremely long and curled up hooves. She was very fearful, but with the help of ECLAP and our farrier, Ray, we were able to trim her front hooves right away.

You may have seen us with Joe Little on NBC 7 San Diego, where Ray literally sawed-off Maribel’s overgrowth. View his story here.

We were told that she had chronic laminitis. We were able to test her for insulin residence and Cushing’s Disease. The tests offered the best possible outcome. She is not considered insulin resistant right now. We were also able to take X-rays and her feet also look good, especially considering the neglect she endured.

On Friday, Maribel was able to get another trimming. Unfortunately, even under heavy sedation, we were not able to trim Maribel’s back feet. So, after careful consideration the decision was made to lay her down. This carries with it risks, but our great team was able to get her back feet trimmed.

A HUGE thank you to our ECLAP team, Dr. Rivett and Annabel for helping us with this procedure. Thank you as well to Christine for her help throughout the process. Thank you so much to Cody for giving her hooves a great shaping. We are so grateful for your determination. It really was a team effort. We gave her a full spa treatment including pedicure and haircut.

Maribel’s feet have had a crazy “before and after ” from February to today. Horse’s hooves should be trimmed every eight weeks. Hers were far overdue. She arrived in our care with difficulty walking due to her curled up and overgrown hooves. Now she has trimmed, healthy hooves.

Farrier care is SO important! Keeping up with trimming hooves helps us ensure that our horses are healthy and comfortable.

Our sanctuary cares for horses who come from neglect. We know that Maribel has felt so much relief. She is still a nervous horse, but with love and patience we know she will continue to blossom. Special thanks to her sponsor, Patty Ducey-Brooks for your support of such a special mare.

You are such a brave girl Maribel!

 

May 5 Maribel Update:

Maribel is the mare that arrived on February 27 with extremely long feet. Thanks to Dr. Rivett and Ray, our farrier, we were able to start working on her front feet right away. We were also able to test her for insulin residence and Cushing’s Disease. The tests offered good news. According to Dr. Rivett, “Her ACTH was equivocal, so we will recheck it in a couple months to see what it is doing. The insulin was very mildly elevated, but I would not consider her insulin resistant right now.” This was really good news. The next challenge was to x-ray her front feet.

We anticipated finding some rotation in her coffin bone. From what we were told from the rescue she came from, she had “chronic laminitis.” However, we are so happy to share that her feet look really good.

We recognize that in these images, her right foot is at angle, but you evaluate rotation by the position of the coffin bone to the bottom of the hoof, regardless of the angle of the hoof. There is some rotation, but it is very mild. It is also good news that she has plenty of sole. These images will help Ray as he continues to shape her feet in the coming weeks and months.

We don’t know what caused her past laminitis. Dr. Rivett explained, “It is possible that previously with her diet etc., she did have insulin resistance and this caused the laminitis, but now on her current diet she’s doing better. It is also very possible those changes in her hooves are due to the length she had.”

Thanks to your support and our wonderful veterinary-farrier team, we will be able to keep her on the best diet, monitor her insulin resistance and of course keep her feet properly trimmed.

We owe a special thank you to her sponsor Patty Ducey-Brooks, who was willing to take a chance to support this special mare in spite of the scary diagnosis we had been given. Thank you for making this new chapter possible for Maribel!