Luna the wonder goat

Last time I mentioned Luna, she was wearing a cast and a t-shirt, still smiling. Her shoulder wound has healed and she has been through many cast changes since then. Enough time has passed that we were hoping her knee joint had auto-fused or scarred down and stabilized enough that she could walk normally. She is still short-cycling and flirting with the boys - constantly.

At her most recent cast change we noticed that her leg was still a bit unstable, the knee bending a bit in the 'wrong' direction, more so as she walked around.

So I started wracking my brain to come up with a more permanent option. Not that casting is too difficult, but long term its a lot of smells, worries about it getting wet, and come on, she's a goat, its going to get peed on.

I enlisted the help of my colleagues at Leimkuehler Orthotic and Prosthetic to design a more permanent support for Luna. We took a negative cast and they assisted in molding and fabricating a clam-shell type brace that would hopefully help Luna get around long term.

She is happily showing it off. It's going to take a little work, and probably a few adjustments to get her walking on it again. Her hoof is still a bit tender from her previous bout with founder and having not walked on it in quite some time as her foot was enclosed in the cast also.

Thank you Bill Leimkuehler for accepting the challenge! When I visited the lab, the techs were noticeably disappointed that they did not get to meet Luna. I will keep them updated on her progress.