With Jack...It's Always Something.....

Saturday we had a Junior Girl Scout Troop in from Pacific Beach to earn their "Horse Fan" Badge. During one of the activities, we bring out Jack, a very quiet and complacent horse, to take weight & height measurements; listen to heart & gut sounds; and record respiration. It was during this little workshop that we notice Jack had a nasty gash on his...and here's the technical term...armpit! Called the doctor on call, who soon arrived to fix him up. Of course, I wouldn't miss an opportunity to catch this on video!



What I like about this video, is that it shows so much "humanness" going on around: like the doctor's phone ringing "American Beauty"; then one of his kids, that he brought with him, quietly announces he has to go to the bathroom! And then, you hear text massages coming in on my iPhone! All in the space of 30 seconds!

Then, the doctor asks me to "use both hands" i.e. stop videoing and put the camera down!! to hold the horse while he stitches him up. Thus ends my epic documentary on "just an other day in the life of horse-human non-parallel relationships".

Night Time with the Vet

Yesterday - Challenge, a 20 yr old Arabian gelding, come out of the upper turn-out with a nasty wound to his right stifle. We thought it was a bite mark from the young interloper, Flash, who was out to steal Challenge's new gal pal, Dolly. Jessika cleaned and dressed the wound and put Challenge to bed in his own paddock to recoup.

Today - Wound not doing any better and on closer inspection looks more like a puncture wound. Challenge moves lamely, dragging right hind hoof, and the stifle area is swollen and tender to touch.

Vet is called out and arrives pronto. Dr Bender who loves a "challenge" works deftly in the dark and even stops to strike a pose for the iphone video. He knows his work will be all over YouTube tonight (I made him sign a waiver)



Challenge is given standing sedation before doc begins poking around, but it is apparent he can still feel quite a bit!! And he's not liking it!! Especially when doc pokes his finger in the wound and moves it around looking for foreign debris (or a rise from the audience)

Yes, I know this video goes on for seven and a half minutes....in the dark...in the gore...

But you don't want to miss..
0:58 doc hams it up and strikes a pose
1:27 doc sticks his finger in the hole (up to his wrist?!)

Anyhow...seems Challenge impaled himself on a stake in the turn-out.

Ok, pics of the wound tomorrow in broad day light!!

Nasty Gashes and When to Definitely Call the Vet

Ok, here's something new I learned yesterday when we called the vet out to have a look at the nasty gash on Jack's cannon bone: this cut, shaped like a "V" should have had stitches. We work on it for a few days, wrapping, cleaning, prepping - thinking the flap would die off, new growth and healing would all take place quite naturally. However, when the flap is like this, blood still flows down to through the entire flap and it never dies, so it needs to be re-attached correctly. A flap like an "A" i.e. point up, would die off because there would be no blood flow to the flap!! Makes sense!!

Bottom line - we should have call the vet on this one right away.

Live and learn...

Diatomaceous Earth -Everything Good...Nothing Bad

Tired of rotational deworming? Or just like to try something that is perhaps less chemically invasive? less prone to resistant-buildup? In all my years of being around horses, and struggling to keep on a good deworming schedule or dealing with a horse (Max!!) that would rather flip over backwards (almost) than take a dewormer paste, I can't understand why nobody ever told me about diatomaceous earth as a mechanical/physical internal parasite control!!

This stuff does just about everything good and nothing bad!! You gotta love that!!!

Diatomaceous earth is the remains of microscopic one-celled plants (phytoplankton) called diatoms that lived in the oceans and lakes that once covered the western part of the United States. Apparently, it works by slicing open the internal parasite with microscopic razor sharp edges, then the powdery diatoms sucks the life out of the parasite leaving them dehydrated and dead!

I have started top dressing soaked beet pulp with one cup of diatomaceous earth for each horse. This is all part of my move away from processed, sugary feeds and towards formulating a more natural feed based on the horse's individual needs.

Suddenly - There's a New Turn-out!

Joanna came over today to work on the horses hooves and announced she'd brought her husband to build a turn-out for the horses because that's what was needed to keep their hooves healthy and strong.

We had talked about putting in a circular turn-out around the perimeter of the property - eventually! and that idea appealed to me, but I don't think I was ready to dismantle half my pipe corral paddocks and re-assemble them into a nifty quarter acre run around for the horses, but that's what happened this evening! Jason (Joanna's Husband) and Bob (my husband) worked until dark to make it happen. (Then we went to J.J. Purty's in Fallbrook for dinner & Drinks)

And so now I'm worrying about how they are going to get along in this turn-out even though I know it's the best and most natural for them - it's that initial pecking order repartee that they go through that I worry about. And the Oleander bushes that are so prevalent along the fence line.

TaDa!! Connor goes for a walk!!

Here's Connor out for a stroll in the arena. You can still see it's painful for him to walk, but I don't think he has one foot in the grave!!



A few weeks earlier, I had reach the point where it was more painful to watch him try to move than to think about having him euthanized. Luckily, the doctor who came that day suggested we give it one more try...

Don't you just love his little duct tape booties...?

Changing dressings on Connor's hooves

Slide show below shows Connor's left hoof, then right hoof. Notice on both, the abscesses (small, nickel sized reddish bulge) are healing; the edges of the abscesses are closing in with healthy hoof material. Side view shows high heel of Connor's right hoof.



For more information on holistic hoof care approach, see Hoof Rehab.

Vet Visit Today

During an early morning lesson, Star was not her usual self; she was slower than usual and seemed to be off in her hindquarters, then, all of a sudden, her muscles started twitching (shoulders and hips). A few days ago, she was off her feed - wouldn't touch her pellets or hay. She also has ridges of swelling on her belly, which I assumed were the returning annual allergic reactions to gnat bits. But everything added up to something wrong - so I called Dr. Bender from Creekside Veterinary Services and he came out this afternoon to have a look at her. She checked out ok for all vital signs; he gave her a shot of lasix-type drug to reduce the edema and a steroid to help reduce the allergic reaction.

Star was eating ok this evening.

Connor - Right Foot Forward

Dr. Bender, Creekside Veterinary Services, was out bright and early this morning to have a look at Connor, the old grey TB gelding. We've been nursing an abscessed hoof on left front, and now, he appears to have pain in the right hoof, i.e. not bearing any weight on it. Truthfully, Jessika and I lamented over the thought that it might be Connor's time to cross the rainbow bridge.

But Dr. Bender located another abscess in his right hoof, again, in an unusual spot at the point of the frog. He did a hoof block, released and cleaned the abscess, packed in ichthammol, then wrapped the hoof with bandages and duct tape. With Connor able to bear weight on his right hoof, he could examine the progress on his left hoof. Still thrushy; he rinsed with 7% Iodine solution; then gave him a shot of bute. I'll give him 1.5 grams bute twice a day, Iodine rinse on left hoof once a day, increase Creekside Life Stages (supplemental feed) and mix in corn oil. Throw in some generic biotin for hooves. Connor is loosing weight, although he does eat well.

Wet winters, old age (30+) and Thoroughbred feet all contibute to Connor's hoof problems. We'll need to be extra vigilant to pull him through this.