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.