Ice, Ice, Baby

Good answer, good answer!!!

Hooray, my horse got turned out and he's behaving himself. After helicopter parenting everyday for 15 straight days (twice a day) I decided to take a day off to give us both a break. He's not longer on meds or needing any hand-holding so he such be fine right? Word from the farm was that he behaved himself without my supervision and all is well. So imagine my surprise when I showed up Monday to access his soundness post illness and he came head-bobbing across his 12 acre field.

#FFS

I immediately assumed the leg was hot and swollen again, I mean it's not like mud helps with horses that are cellulitis prone right? But to my surprise (and secret delight), he was ONLY missing a front shoe. And because I'm turning into a total maniac, I was furious. I turned him out Saturday myself and now it's Monday afternoon and HOWLONGHASHEBEENWITHOUTASHOE. So he got to spend another day in detention while he waited for the farrier to come out. It was far to muddy and icy to even try to wrap up the foot. I couldn't be there to talk to my new farrier about Scout's feet but I did mention that he's never lost shoes before and my old farrier always hot fit him. New farrier did not hot fit him, so we'll see how long these stay on.

The next day I planned to let him trot around a little so I could finally see how he was moving since he got cast. We had gotten a few inches of snow and slightly warmer temps so the ground was at least a little cushioned, but unfortunately I had to test out his free movement in a ring where one 1/5th of it hasn't thawed since temps first dropped below freezing.

You're going to let him loose where?

He was super quiet and he generally stays away from that end of the ring anyway (it's where the puddle of doom is) so I figured he'd just trot around me and come back looking for cookies.

Wrong answer

This dumb dumb trotted off squealing, and trotted right over to the snow-covered ice rink. FUCK.

SASS for DAYS

See those arrows? ICE, ICE, BABY...

But, in the end he adjusted his footwork while cracking through the ice and stayed upright. Maybe he'll make a good fox hunter after all? And guys, outside of a few sketchy steps that I'll chalk up to the world's worst footing, he looked damn good.

Looking confident on that right hind

Don't mind me, I'll just be over here practicing my extended trot on ice:/

All four, off the floor!

Weeeeee!

Uphill much? Damn, son!

My favorite of all... "I did a good job Mommy?"

Watching the videos I can see a little residual stickiness in the hock, but it could just be a little leftover soreness or stiffness from being stall rested for 2 weeks, or from the footing or trotting around in his blanket. Hopefully the warmer temps this week will help get rid of the rest of the ice and snow and I can start him back under tack this week. Hopefully he can keep a lid on his enthusiasm:)

Two Days In

Good news:

Scout is responding well to meds. His fever is staying down and we switched him from banamine to bute (to wean off over the next 6 days). The antibiotics are doing their job so far and he's being a pretty good patient about having syringes shoved in his mouth and having his temp taken all the time. His neighboring stall buddy is staying in to keep him company, so that's quelling the building #FOMO (for now). He's bright, alert and back to his normal personality of HI, HELLO, HI, TREATS?

ALERT + bright eyed

Bad news:

His leg is still very swollen. It's less hot and much less sensitive to palpation and touch but it looks scary. The vet said I could try DMSO, but it could potentially aggravate him (any suggestions for topical anti-inflammatories) plus it's not fun to mess with. For now I've been instructed not to wrap it and luckily the LH isn't any worse for the wear, fingers crossed that continues.

Like where is his hock?

Good news:

He's much more comfortable on the limb. He's not favoring it at all. I hand walked him this morning and he came out of his stall much less stiff. If you didn't know him you probably wouldn't think he was lame at all. I can see the difference in his gait and the shorter step he's taking with the left hind to support the right. He's in very good spirits and seemed to be feeling VERY full of himself out walking (it helped that the other horses came galloping up screaming).

Bad news:

I'm not sure how the next 12 days are going to go. While I'm grateful for the cooler temps in terms of helping reduce the swelling, Scout is already fed up with being inside. I've rarely used a chain on him for anything ever and today I preemptively put one on him and I'm glad I did! When all the horses came running up, he started screaming his God Damn head off and dancing around. A quick reality check and I asked him to keep all four on the floor and act like a gentleman. It helped that I had a pocket full of treats to help bribe him when he was being quiet.

WHERE ARE MY FRAAAAAANZZZZ?!

So, time to invest in some stall distractions and maybe scale back his grain intake just a little to keep a lid on things. He's also convinced that the only good hay in the world is alfalfa soooo there's that.

I'm being cautiously optimistic about his recovery. He's got at least another 12 days of Baytril to go, and a lot can change in terms of swelling etc. After dealing with his fetlock I feel like I'm more equipped emotionally to deal with the slow recovery process. Scout continues to impress me with his good natured attitude about everything and he doesn't seem the least bit worried about getting cast again, as evidenced by his constant need to roll in fresh shavings.

Stop giving me a heart attack!!!!

I'll try to update more on his progress in the next two weeks, but I don't want to monopolize the blog with debbie downer content, so I'll try to sprinkle in some back burner posts I've been sitting on.