Recheck time

Blah. I was in such a funk today I couldn't stand it. I think the three weeks of twice-a-day barn duty are catching up with me; I feel like I'm not giving anything 100 percent.

I decided to keep Dude in because his field is super muddy due to all the rain and with our farrier traveling I didn't want to risk him losing a shoe. I walked out to doublecheck the field this morning and nearly slipped myself, a sure omen that keeping him in would be good for his physical well being (if not for his mental state!). So I had two horses demanding my attention. I fed them both hay to settle them a bit and went to change my shoes before taking them out. Decided to graze Bestie first, after all, she's the one who has been in for THREE WEEKS. Grazed her and hosed her legs, then got Dude and grazed him. Stalls hadn't been done yet so I did their stalls. Was 9:15 by the time I got out of there, meaning a late arrival to work again.

In the afternoon I left work a little early in order to graze them and take the edge off before the vet's arrival. Of course it started raining right as I got to the barn, but I got them both out for about 20 minutes apiece. The vet checked Bestie over and was pretty happy with what he saw, but still sounded a note of caution about the slow-healing wound above her stifle, saying it was possible there could be a small bone chip in there. It has gotten a lot smaller, and he told me basically to leave it alone and let it crust over. If the healing process seems to stall, I need to call him for an x-ray to see if there is a small chip in there aggravating the wound.

Then out to the indoor arena to trot her and check for lameness. I hate that. I'm always running alongside them thinking, "Please oh please oh please..." The good news is that he said she is sound! I suspected as much having seen her trot next to me several times as we headed out to graze, but it was definitely nice to get an official "all good." Even after he did a flexion test, holding her leg up along her belly, setting it down, and then having me trot her out, she was sound. Huge HUGE sigh of relief. After that, back in for her Potomac and flu/rhino injections. She was really good. Poor thing, having to deal with the needle twice after the flexion.

Then it was Dude's turn. He was fine for the first shot, but when he saw the second needle coming, he surged down the aisle, basically pushing me along in front of him and the vet alongside. Aaaaaaaaack. The Dude tidal wave. Somehow the vet got the needle in and the deed was done. Wish I had a video montage of some of our "warm and fuzzy" (*not*) moments with the vet. They earn their pay, that's for sure.

So the bottom line is that Bestie can go back into turnout once we figure out a field situation and the weather clears. This weekend someone will be gone, so there will be an open field. I'm totally gun shy about putting her back with another horse and am contemplating paying for solo turnout. I'm supposed to take it slow with getting her back into work, starting with easy lunging and then light riding. Love it, a "prescription" for what I do as general practice!

It is absolutely pouring as I type this so looks like another day inside for Mr. Dude. At least their stalls are right across from each other so they're not staring at empty stalls. The other horses went out late today, except for the gelding next to Bestie who has had hives recently and seemed a little off. The back fields, where Dude usually is, will be pretty soupy tomorrow. The week's weather is not looking good at all, and with fall's cooler temperatures the fields will take a while to dry up. It's gonna be a l-o-n-g week.

Bestie's leg looking better; vet to come on Monday

Today I thought Bestie's leg looked a lot better, except the little stinker keeps tearing off the scab on the skin break. Every day I wipe it clean of shavings and put this horsey antibacterial creme on it, and every day at some point I look at it again and from its extremely clean and ointment-free appearance quickly realize she's been licking at it. Guess she's acquiring a taste for the Farnham's 3 in 1 ointment, yuck. The vet is coming Monday for the recheck. I've got to call in tomorrow to talk about tacking on Potomac and flu/rhino shots, and to reorder the big (and big $$$) bag of daily wormer.

Not much new today. Dude and his buddies got switched to a different field, right in the front facing the cow field. When I left this morning he was happily wandering/grazing. When I arrived back at the barn this afternoon he and the two other geldings in the field were lined up watching CowTV. Pretty unconcernedly; they each had a rear leg cocked and resting. But their ears and eyes were definitely on the cow creatures grazing right across the fenceline. It appears that Herefords, which many of these are, do not bother Dude as much as the Holsteins at the old barn. Being a Quarter Horse, perhaps he feels that the Herefords are more of a manly round-up breed of cow. He's a horse with cow prejudices.

Catching up on a couple of photos I took earlier this week. This is the view I get when I walk Bestie out the path to graze her in the morning. The outdoor ring is a bit further along the path. Pretty nice surroundings!





This shot was taken the next morning, not at the barn but at our house. It was a double rainbow in an early morning pink sky and the picture definitely does not do it justice (I'm blaming both old camera and operator (me) ineffectiveness!). The pink sky really brought out the color of the changing leaves on the hill across from our house. You can just barely see the lighter rainbow to the left of the bright one. Again, the photo does not do it justice!

Update on Bestie

I'm in the stage of horse injury care when each day brings wild swings of hope and despair and I don't know what to say when nice people ask me how the horse is doing because I'm afraid I might burst into tears. I remember feeling this way when Dude had his hip injury. After a while it became really hard to remain positive because nothing seemed to be going well. I had to keep talking myself into being positive and keeping the faith that he would get better. And he did.

With Bestie, the first week after the kicking injury was ok; I was bummed she was hurt, of course, but I was really caught up in doing everything right as instructed by the vet. The second week was also ok; I felt like I was seeing a bit of a change each day and that the end was in sight. Now, at the beginning of the third week, I'm having the wild swings. Saturday I thought she looked pretty good. There seemed to be a detectable difference with the swelling. Then Sunday I got to the barn and unwrapped her, and I thought her legs looked puffy again. Just to tempt fate, I left her unwrapped last night, and when I got to the barn this morning, I thought she looked pretty good. When I returned to the barn after work, she still looked pretty good. The lump on her inside left leg has decreased in size, and the slight puffiness in her legs seems to be at about the same levels as in the past when she's had to stand in her stall for a while. I'm thinking about putting her out all by herself in a field adjoining other horses on Wednesday, to see if walking around all day will help.

My mantra is "The vet said it could take a while." I repeat it to myself often and mutter it as I'm cold hosing.

I took a couple of photos this morning while I had her out grazing. In this one, you can see the wound site where she definitely got a kick up on the inside left leg. The vet said it could take weeks to heal, and gee, it HAS. It looks better, like it's drying up a bit, but is still ugly. The photo was taken before I wiped it and greased it up with a wound care cream. Lovely dirty shavings and other crud stuck to it.




In this photo, the lump on her inside lower leg is visible. Again, the vet didn't seem too concerned about it. I have not noticed any lameness as she trots enthusiastically beside me when we head out to graze. It has gone down quite a bit but is clearly still noticeable. I see loads more cold hosing and Sore No More in my future.





The vet said it could take a while. The vet said it could take a while.

Boulder found in Dude's hoof

Ok, maybe not a boulder, but definitely a REALLY BIG rock. I went up to get Dude out of his field and he walked out fine; that was the funny thing. I didn't notice the giant rock sticking out of the back of his right front hoof until I bent down to brush his leg. Even then, at close range, I kind of looked at it in disbelief. The thing was probably about 1 1/2 inches (the end wedged in between the ends of his shoe) by 4 inches by 2 1/2 inches. And about an inch thick. The poor guy looked like he had on some sort of Flintstones modern stone age family wedge heel.

I picked up his foot and tried to pry it out, all the while nervous that his shoe would pop off. Which would be BAD because I believe our farrier is out of town. It took a bit, but I finally managed to rock the rock out--no pun intended--by lifting and pushing and lifting and pushing at the fat end. Dude was pretty unconcerned about the whole episode. He just kept grazing. He seemed to put equal weight on both front feet, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's a little sore tomorrow.

I was bummed that I didn't have my camera; it was in the tack room, and I certainly wasn't going to walk him down to the barn with the rock fully lodged in order to get a photo. Would've been a great photo though. One of those "Huh. How did THAT happen?" shots.

I'm feeling like I need a couple really good guardian angels for my horses right about now. Applications being accepted.

Over the hump but still a lump

Day 10 of twice daily hosing. I'm happy to say that Bestie's right leg is looking great. Her left leg is looking better but still not great. The hock swelling has gone down a lot, but there's still a soft swollen lump on the inside of her cannon bone and the ugly gouge up inside her stifle is still seepy. It's in a tough spot to do anything with. I dab it quickly each day with some antibiotic creme, but it's hard to get a second crack at it because she gets a little angry. Tonight was the last day for her oral antibiotic. Last night Emma gave it to her and then, as we were standing there talking, Bestie stuck her head out and started licking and sucking at the plastic syringe like it was the best thing she'd ever had. Crazy horse.

When I got to the barn this morning to graze and hose her she was raring to go and trotted out to the grass. I turned and watched her trot and she did not look lame at all. No excitement during grazing time today. Yesterday morning the turkeys were in the outdoor ring, which didn't really perturb Bestie, but she did keep checking them out until they moved away. I need to bring my camera; there have been a couple gorgeous mornings with mist in the valley and the sun on the hills.

I have to schedule Bestie's recheck for next week and the vet wants to see her lunged. Hopefully everything will check out ok.

I feel like poor Dude hasn't gotten much of my time. The good news is that he's been coming in unscathed from turnout with his new buddies. Today I did graze him and I'm hoping to get some riding time this weekend. It would be great to time it for when someone else is going out on the roads; I'd really like to take him out but would prefer to do the first road outing with another rider.

Hose, hose, hose the horse

Still on the twice daily hose the horse routine. I was worried after watching Bestie's hock swell up over Wednesday and Thursday, but when the vet came on Friday he was pretty reassuring. Basically, given the site of the kick, there's not a lot there to cushion the blow, so what she's got is kind of a bruise on bone and resulting swelling that will take a long time (perhaps several weeks, aaaaaaaaarghhhhh) to heal. He decided to keep her on the antibiotics for several more days, since the wound is still open and also will take a long time to heal (another aaaaaaaarggggh). She's still getting wrapped at night, and part of the hock swelling is the fluid from the kick site not having anywhere to go because of the wraps.

I would say that her right hind leg, the one where the cellulitis originated, looks to be at about 95 percent healed. Still a bit of swelling, but not much.

Her lower left leg is looking pretty good also with not much swelling except for a localized lump inside the leg about halfway down the cannon bone, plus the swelling around the hock.

Got another bottle of Sore No More on Friday. Am bathing her legs in the stuff. :)

We've got our routine going. I arrive, she whinnies madly, I get her out and graze her for about 20 minutes, then we either take a walk in the indoor or down the road, then I hose her for 20 minutes. Then it's back into the stall. Repeat in the late afternoon. She does have her stallguard up quite a bit and is fed hay pretty much on demand. She's going to be a real porker by the time this all done with.

Today she was very prancy; clearly she has HAD IT it with being stallbound. But she's under dr.'s orders: no turnout until the swelling has gone down and he can recheck her at the trot for soundness. He felt she looked pretty good when he saw her Friday, although we didn't trot her out. She doesn't look lame to me as she prances around me as we head to the grass! I do have to say that she has been a real trooper about standing in the wash stall quietly, getting wrapped at night, and taking her pasty/icky medicine (with a sugar cube chaser).

I rode Dude down the path on Friday and again today. Today we went with another boarder. All was good. I don't want to go with someone every single time because I don't want him to get used to the companionship and then throw a fit when it's just us. The two times we've headed out alone he's been really well behaved, remarkably accepting of being out in the field with no barn in sight. Is Dudie becoming a trail pony?

On Friday he was switched into a new field after he got his fourth bite in four days. His new pasturemates are more laid back and Dude seems happier. It had to have been a bummer getting chased around periodically and bitten. His pasture is in the back right now, so after getting done this morning I drove down the back road and spied on him. They were all sort of dozing in the middle of the field, the fabulous foursome: Dude, Lugnut, Sparky and Chopper. :)

Playing well with others is a hard thing to learn in the equine world

The phrase "ups and downs" pretty much characterizes the time period since we moved into the new barn. After Bestie's diagnosis with cellulitis, things seemed to moving quietly along, until Labor Day, when I arrived at the barn to find BOTH of her legs swollen. Although she and Molly had seemed to be on the way to becoming bestest of friends, they apparently had a super huge falling out on Monday during which both of them took a few well-placed kicks to the legs, resulting in chunks out of both mares. While the chunks weren't huge, the newly developed swelling really concerned me. Call to the vet on a holiday, yay!

Bestie got an injection of bute and an antibiotic, and ended up on ramped-up antibiotics, stall rest, and hosing 2x per day. Today was my second day of driving to the barn in the a.m. and p.m. It's not too bad except that when I get to the barn I tend to fall into the black hole of barn puttering, resulting in late arrival at work on both days. I just have to BE STRONG and cease and desist on the puttering. The routine is to arrive in crappy clothes, graze Bestie for 15 minutes, hose her for 20, muck her stall, change her water, change myself into work clothes, leave. That all takes about an hour.

Her new antibiotics are in thick paste form and have to be squirted into her mouth. First dose was given last night, me holding, Julie squirting. Bestie was not cooperative at all and then suddenly gave in and swallowed the stuff. Hopefully she'll be good tonight. Thank goodness that occurs only one a day.

She'll be in through Saturday most likely, and then we'll need to come up with Plan B regarding mare turnout; clearly the Battling Alpha Mares cannot go out together any longer.

On the same day the vet came out, Dude had a bite on his chest, but not bad (it's all becoming very relative). Yesterday he only ended up with a toothy scraping of hair off his rib cage. When we went to bring his field of geldings in, he came and camped out at the gate. His pasture master Maverick tried to get him to move, but Dude wouldn't budge. He was pretty clearly saying in horsey body language I AM NOT GOING TO MOVE FROM THIS GATE AND I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO. Maverick backed off and did a little halfhearted teeth baring at one of the other geldings; to save face, perhaps?!

At someone in the barn's suggestion, I bought a bottle of Vitamin E to rub on the teeth scrapes to encourage hair growth.

On the positive side, enjoyed a really nice barn picnic on Sunday and met more boarders. Have used the wrapping skills of several boarders and the barn manager since I don't trust my own. Horses are eating well and basically seem happy, despite the battle wounds. Can't even remember if I documented my nice ride on Dude through the field ... this week has been so full of Florence Nightingale activity my brain is mush. It WAS a nice ride, with no spooking, no panic over being separated/away from the barn, his little ears up, happy to be exploring the countryside. Hope to do it again this weekend, perhaps a bit further through the field.

Ewwwwwwwww!

I've been kind of looking forward to getting on Dude again, once he got his shoe tacked back on, but the big event was stalled by the fact that his saddle was mildewed. I mean REALLY mildewed. I hadn't really even looked at it after Katie went back to school, and when I went to carry it out to the car for the change of barns, it was pretty gross. So it's been sitting in the garage since last Saturday. I finally got around to cleaning it yesterday. At least, yesterday was when Scrubbing Number 1 occurred. The whole process actually took place over two days. Here's the "before" picture (all the light powdery looking areas are mildew):





Scrubbing Number 2 followed, then conditioning, then a final coat with this "saddle food" that I had bought last year from the tack store down the road from the old barn. It's a beeswax base that is supposed to be good for your hands too, so I figured why not throw it on as the final coat. There wasn't much I could do with the light suede seat -- a lot of that discoloration is good ol' sweat. Here's the finished product:





Looks pretty good. There's just something about a Western saddle. Yee-ha!

Settling in, continued

All week I've been hoping to take some pictures to post but haven't gotten around to it. Overall, things are going pretty well. I think the gorgeous weather this week has been great since the horses have had a very set schedule each day and have gotten the daily drill down pretty quickly. Yesterday the farrier came to tack Dude's shoe back on. He'll actually be back a week from tomorrow for their regular appointment, and then we are hoping to get on the same schedule as another horse in the barn that he shoes since it will only require a week's adjustment to the schedule. I drove like a maniac to make it to the barn, then drove like a maniac to get back to work. It is nice having the barn 30 minutes rather than 50 minutes away from work.

I'm still incredulous that Dude has made the transition from half day to all day turnout (6:30 am to 4 pm) without any meltdowns. He comes in and naps, I guess exhausted from the strain of holding himself together all day. They get their hay as soon as they come in, grain around 5 pm and a later flake around 7:30/8 pm.

Bestie and her gang are doing great. She has gotten very attached, mainly to alpha mare Molly and to Lexie, who arrived the same day Bestie did. Today while we were out handgrazing for a bit she whinnied back and forth with Molly who was still in the field. Even though they're out all day I still try and hand graze them every so often since the grass in the fields is getting pretty low.

The news with Bestie is that she has a mild case of cellulitis. Tuesday night I noticed that her right hind was a little swollen. I checked her over, doused it with Sore No More and helpful barn manager Emma wrapped her. The next day it was the same; not better, not worse. Today I called the vet early after hearing that it was still the same. We've never had to deal with cellulitis before and now both horses have had it this summer. Per Dr. Phil it's a mild case. He gave her a shot of penicillin, put her on pills and said to keep her wrapped at night until the swelling goes down. She's able to get turned out, which is good. She would be UNHAPPY (an understatement) if she had to stay in; she is totally into this all-day turnout thing. She seemed to eat her grain just fine with the pills broken down by some warm water.

Last night I cold-hosed her. The bath stall is at the other end of the barn, adjacent to the barn. We had to walk by two giant fans (like four feet high) that are kept in the barn aisle for circulation when it's hot. They were both running, whirring away. Bestie gave them the hairy eyeball but walked right by and into the wash stall. Sometimes she is just so REASONABLE. Other times ... !

Am hoping to ride Dude either tomorrow or Saturday now that he has his shoe back on. First thing to do is clean Katie's saddle, which mildewed in the tack room during those two hot weeks we had. It's pretty ugly; I should take "before" and "after" photos, it's THAT bad. That's my project for tomorrow morning.