Vet School It Is

So, I had a (mostly) quiet week and a half. It's been a tough time of tests and paper, so I haven't had a lot of time with the horses. But right now, as long as I show up every once and a while with cookies they're happy. A little obsessive and zombie-like, but happy.

 Coooooooooooookieeeeeeeeeees...

On Friday, I had some time between class and work, so guess where I was. I wanted to play with Royal on the 45' line in the hopes that he would not be all crazy-like. He was slightly more sane, but still wanted to zoom around like a maniac. He also has a habit of hitting the end of the line (usually close to the gate), interpreting that as a "come-in-to-the-center" signal, and trotting in all snorty. The progression of bolt-come in has made it had to progress. So, this time my strategy was to allow him to hit the line, come in for one or two seconds, and send him straight back out. We kept at this until he was able to canter around a complete circle without bolting or pulling on the line. Progress! 

I was working on getting him to go sideways over a small log when my barn owner started calling for me. Her old horse was choking and she didn't know what to do. I went to them and felt a hard lump in his throat, by the junction of the esophagus and trachea. I tried to message it down while my BO talked with the vet on the phone. The poor horse was miserable, coughing with half-masticated food coming out of his mouth and nose. The vet said to keep trying to push the block down and help it break up. For an hour and a half, we keep rubbing the old guys neck, trying to break up the block and help him swallow. It seemed to work; the lumps went away and he seemed more comfortable.

At this point, I would love to stop here and say the horse got better, thanks to our intervention. Unfortunately, that was not the case. My BO had to call the vet out later when the horse stopped getting better. It turns out we did move the blockage... down to the entrance to the stomach. The vet had to pass a nasogastric tube and manually break up the blockage. In addition, he had aspirated some of the food, giving him a high chance of pneumonia. He's better now, but it could have been really bad.

The other vet came out the next day for the second half of spring shots, so the boys got jabbed. BJ was good, but Royal threw a conniption fit while he was tied up. Great. He's been so good about it, so I haven't really had to teach him tying etiquette yet. That may change. He also did okay with the shots after I played with him a bit. Luckily, it was just vaccinations and nothing else. No sedations or drugs to mess with his head.

Pictured: Not Royal

But the whole choke event basically made up my mind. I felt so powerless, but also that what I was doing was the right thing. I know I want to do this sort of thing for a career, so for now, it's vet school or bust. I don't know how I'll get there or where I'll go, but I'll make it work. Somehow.

Speaking of vet stuff, Royal's face keeps getting better.

But, he likes to keep life interesting. I found this, probably gotten during a fight with one of the other geldings. No broken skin or tenderness, and I think the hair will grow back fairly quickly

Never a dull moment.

Today Is A Blue Day. No - Orange. Red!

Title inspired by Robin Williams.

The crazy weather is showing no signs of stopping. We've gone from hot and humid to windy and rainy. Royal keeps shedding, albeit at a reduced pace. We haven't had much time to do anything major lately in what has almost been a comedy of errors. Last Saturday, I went out with the intention of doing some finesse, but one of the barn owner's horses was sick, and she wanted my advice. I suppose my experience makes me a pseudo-expert and I was eager to lend a hand. The poor guy had a weird range of symptoms (sweating on his side and flanks, a fever which turned into a temperature worryingly below normal, and just not feeling well), but it didn't seem like anything serious. However, by the time we had taken his vitals and consulted with the vet, I had to leave to get ready for work. Royal was most good and patiently waited while we fussed over the other horse, with one mini-fit. Sunday, just as I was ready to go out to the farm, my grandmother came over and stayed for an hour and a half. Which meant I had very little time to do anything at the farm. I decided to try playing with him on the 45 foot like out in the back paddock. Now, Royal has two modes on the 45: good and responsive or berserk.

 Guess which one he was on Sunday.

 It started out well enough. The trot circles were lovely, but as soon as I asked him to canter, he took off. Right into a deep patch of mud. He lost his footing and his hind legs went flying out to the right. He basically sat down like a dog before popping back up. He seemed no worse for wear, so I did lots of calming exercises with him at the trot (going up and down mounds and sideways to a tree). He had a bit of heat in his hinds so I have him some bute and a massage and made sure his legs were cool before putting him back in the pasture. He was a bit subdued, though. I think he tired himself out.

 Tuesday, I set up a small grid in the indoor; basically a ground pole 9' from a small jump and 9' to a another ground rail. We just did that as a free jumping exercise, which went pretty well. He was a little confused about how to negotiate the ground poles, but the point was to let him figure it out. Didn't have to be pretty or perfect. But I noticed he had this funny scab on his face, near his eye. He seems to get something like this every year. I think he gets so itchy from shedding that he rubs his face raw. But I noticed another scab on his jowl, which was much bigger. I picked off the scabs, put some neosporin on the wounds, and hoped for the best. Totally forgot to get a picture of it though.

Friday, I tried (again) to help him get over his fear of the Blue Blanket of Death and once again felt unsuccessful. It's very frustrating because just as we get to the mythical "good note"  to quit on, something happens and everything goes wrong. He gets really scared of the blanket all over again, and I get really annoyed. So, I'm still at a loss for how to proceed with this. And, to make matters worse, his face wounds were all red and inflamed looking. I tried to put more neosporin on them, but they were so ugly looking. And I STILL forgot to get pictures! Argh! Epic fail day.

Today was better (I had to work all day yesterday). I want to do some jumping, both as a stress releaser and to test the grid from Tuesday. At first it looked like that may not happen, since he was TENSE. All the horses on the property were talking, for no discernable reason, and the arena was creaking. It took quite a bit of ground prep before I felt he was safe to ride, and a lot of stretching undersaddle before he was safe to jump. Once he was, it was awesome. It was still a tiny little jump, so I was able to focus on my position. I've heard pretending you're trying to show someone watching from a distance the bottom of your boots, and it seemed to work, judging from the lack of noise being made from my saddle and boots. It worked at both the trot and canter, although the canter had a few take-off bobbles. Again, the jump was tiny, so we were okay. I felt good to quit when we had two perfect jumps at the canter.

And the best part? His face looked better! The inflammation was mostly gone and it looks like they'll heal well.

Yeah, yeah, laugh at the weird scissor work. I didn't want any hair in the wound, so I had to take precautions. And it appears to have worked. So, I think we'll be okay.

Dr. Sliverhoof

After Royal got better on Sunday, he was lame again on Monday. I called the vet on Tuesday and set up and appointment for the next day, since I really didn't know what was going on. Dr. E came out Wednesday evening, performed a lameness exam and found an abscess on the lateral bar of Royal left front hoof. I had considered an abscess as the cause of the lameness, but didn't think that was the reason. I had always thought of abscesses as making sound horse three-legged lame overnight. But this seems like a small one and Royal is pretty stoic. Dr. E thinks it was caused by Royal stepping on a rock last week in the pasture. He got some "toothpaste-like" pus out of the hoof and told me to soak it in Epsom salts and warm water for 5-7 days, keep it wrapped for 2 weeks, keep Royal turned out and hope the abscess blows out the hoof sometime soon. Hopefully it will resolve quickly.

Unfortunately, the soaking is turning out to be an issue. The vet told me to soak his hoot on the rubber mat in the arena. Royal is most opposed to this idea, to the point where asking him to stand on the mat reduces him to a shaking and sweaty mess. And, when he rockets backwards, he gets dirt all over his hooves, defeating the purpose of soaking it. So, I've decided to soak him outside on the grass. That way, if he steps out of the water pan, he just gets a bit of grass on it. No dirt, no mud, and I can just brush the grass off and put the hoof back in the water. Plus he's more relaxed when he sees other horses and I can give him hay and mints.

After soaking, I have to put a iodine/sugar solution on the sole of the hoof to disinfect it. I then wrap the hoof to protect it. This requires three layers: an absorbent layer (I'm using diapers now, but will use a Animalintex hoof pad tomorrow), a layer of Vetrap, and a final coating of duct tape. That's where the "Dr. Silverhoof" comes in. It turns the hoof silver, which looks kind weird/cool. One horse that used to be at the farm had a tendency to abscess in the summer, so it seemed like he always had duct tape around one of his hooves. I would jokingly call him Mr. Silverhoof, but then switched to Dr. Silverhoof. It sounds more like a James Bond villan, and therefore cooler. So, now, Royal has become Dr. Silverhoof. Dr. E told me to wrap the Vetrap higher than the duct tape, so I always leave a bit poking out. I bought a dozen rolls, all in different colors. Wednesday was red.

Yesterday, I went out after working at the clinic. I was tired, sore, and overheated. The temperature was in the high 90s and very humid, so both Royal and I were cranky. I tried to get him to stand on the mat, but he was vehemently opposed to this idea. At one point, he shot backwards so fast I got a mild rope burn and at another he went sideways and accidentally struck me above my knee, which hurt. He was starting to sweat around his eyes (a MAJOR stress signal) and I figured it was better to soak him outside instead of fighting with him. He was much happier and willing to stand in the pan. The imitation Vetrap that night was navy blue.

Today it was hot (over 100) and humid again, and I just set up the soaking/wrapping outside the barn. Royal stood very well for a long time, but did start to lose patience. The mints helped with that, and we got 15 minutes total of soaking. The wrap was orange, but I couldn't get a good picture of it with my cell phone. It kept showing up white.

At this point, I just have to wait. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pus coming out the hole soon and Royal will be all sound. Right now, he's sound on 2g of bute a day, and I'll try to wean him off it over the next few days. Until then, it's just going to be lots of soaking and wrapping.

Sigh.

Royal Gets A Quiet Week... And I Don't

After the excitement at Steepleview and with Birchbury being postponed, I decided to give Royal a relaxing week. He's really earned it, and I think letting him have ample time off is good for him mentally and physically. I try to keep our sessions fun and engaging, but it can still be hard stuff. We had a relaxed session on Wednesday, just playing at Liberty in the arena, and with yielding to pressure from Zone 4. He was a champ, as always. Friday was hot and buggy, but we still had fun on the 45 foot line. Today was Freestyle Dressage Test day. I put the bareback pad on and used the hackamore and we did the Intro A & B tests. Lots of fun was had, and the tests aren't too challenging. Turn, stop, go, circle, change direction, circle, change gait, stop. Pretty simple stuff.

I had a mostly exciting week. On Monday, I was at the clinic and one of the appointments was some dog vaccines and blood tests. One of the dogs (a big hound) didn't want his blood drawn and fought like mad. Eventually, it got to the point where the owner was kneeling on the dog, I was holding off the vein, and the vet was drawing the blood. At the last moment, the dog kicked and the needle went through his skin and into my thumb, stopping just below the back of the nail. Do I need to say OW!! I had to keep it wrapped and iced for a while, but other than a puncture wound and a bruise, no damage.

Thursday was another interesting day. The vet and I were called out for the works (check teeth, clean sheath, Coggins test, vaccines) for a Percheron-cross and his new owner. Who's never owned a horse before, and this is a 1400lb. behemoth. He decided he didn't want anything to do with us and he didn't have to. There was no fear in it, only dominance. We ended up having to give enough IM sedation for SIX horses. Oh yeah, this was a tough one. And the worst part is that we were confirming his suspicions about this being a fight, and it's probable that the next time will be worse. The owner said that a trainer was going to work with the horse, but this went beyond cookie-cutter "disobedience". This was a nearly-feral horse that had no respect for humans except as treat dispensers, which is something that is going to take a lot of work.

I hope his owner is up to the task.

A Hyper Horse and a Sick Cat

Well, Spring Break hasn't turned out like I wanted, but what else is new.

The high temperatures have turned the area into a wet, muddy, wet, goopy, wet, slimy, mess. Oh, and did I mention it's wet? There's no good place to play outside and the indoor at the farm is flooding. When I was up there on Thursday, it was almost half flooded. Which just sucks, since that's the only refuge. Once all the snow cover is gone, it'll dry up, but that could take a while. And what Royal and I need are some consistent sessions. Royal tends to lose emotional as well as physical fitness in the winter and that has to be built up too. Right now I've become very focused on relaxation under saddle, but it gets hard when I can only ride twice a month. So, not lots of progress right now.

And Todd, one of my cats, is sick. He suddenly lost weight and didn't want to hang with us. Usually he's very cuddly and affectionate, but he's been very stand-offish the last three days. I took him to the vet this morning, as it's extremely likely his kidneys are failing. The prognosis is guarded and it's possible he may return to normal. Right now, we're just trying to keep him quiet and comfortable. It's touch and go.

Feets!

We interrupt the Horse Blogging Challenge to bring you some photos of Royal's feet. Mani-pedi day was yesterday and both Royal and BJ did very well. I hope they continue that niceness tomorrow, because tomorrow the vet is coming out. Oh yes. It's the Worst Day of the Year, a.k.a. Teeth n' Sheath day. The happy drugs will be flowing and all sort of private areas will be messed with. The price we pay for being healthy I suppose.

Front

Hind

The hind one turned out kind wonky since I was taking it in the arena with my cell phone. It looks like there's a dish in the wall, but I swear there isn't. I think it was most likely dirt.

Less Yakkin', More Crackin'

So, it's raining. And warm (as in high 30s). In Minnesota. Right before New Years. Hey, since all the global climate change denialists like to use the "it's cold, there4 global warming is a hoax! Dur hur!", can I say "It's rained in MN in December twice in two years, thus proving global warming"?

Royal got his back cracked by the vet today. He was at the farm for my barn owner's mare anyway, so I might as well have Royal worked on while the weather is still crappy. The mare needed a lot more help, so she took longer. I didn't mind, since it was interesting to watch. I'm unsure of how I feel about chiropractic and acupuncture. I'm okay with the way my vet does it (obviously, since I let him do it to my horse), since it's not the only thing he uses. Before he recommends chiro or acu, he does a full lameness work-up to make sure the horse would really benefit from it. I first had him work on Royal a couple of years ago when Royal stopped wanting to take his left lead or let me pick up his right hind leg. The vet did the standard sensitivity and flexion tests before recommending chiro. So, today was just a tune-up from Royal. I'm starting to work more finesse-type stuff, so I want Royal at 100%.

No riding for a while, which isn't hard since it's going to get cold again and freeze. Happy happy joy joy.