The Vet came out, cut a hole (no matter how small the hole, it's still saddening to watch your horse's hard-earned sole getting trimmed down), and found an old abscess. No drainage, no real infection, so that would be why I never saw anything "blow out." It's very small but obviously it still means he has like almost-zero sole under a little portion of his hoof.
ANOTHER old one. He already had one old abscess they found and cleaned up before I bought him. I'm getting a little nervous here. Did he have like no hoof care prior to Pinch of Luck picking him up?! Or was he just stoic enough that his previous owner didn't notice? Or did previous owner belong to the camp of don't-call-the-vet-ever? And, of course...is there anything else lurking under there?
*Le sigh* Guess we'll find out. At least hooves grow out! For now he's in his stall because the bandage has to stay dry and hey, we live in Tennessee--it's never really dry, as long as you're in grass! Fortunately he isn't upset by being inside--he's eating and drinking like the proverbial horse (really, his eating level compared to the other horses' is rather shocking) and I'm hoping maybe all this limited exercise and lots of food will help him gain weight. He has two weeks before we can head back into full turn-out and regular work, so that's plenty of time to start putting on some pounds. He's eating all his grain/beet pulp twice a day, plus a gargantuan amount of hay (!!) so all good signs. :) But it looks like no real exciting updates for the immediate future!
Friday, July 26, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Good News, Bad News
Went out today hoping for a long trail hike with the Bud and found...
...a pony with a sore foot again.
GAH. He's been fine for the better part of a week now!
Poulticed it all up (by myself, I'm proud!) and vet coming out tomorrow. Hopefully we get this thing licked!
On better news, I had lunch with the Coach today. Ahhhh I've missed her!! So happy to catch up!! Now I have homework for before-I-have-a-lesson, too. Namely, getting on the Buddy again (trying to get there, thought I'd be back on by the end of this week but it looks like not) and working on the walk-trot-canter-stop-back up basics till they're fairly smooth. I love that she'll coach me "from afar" till I've got those basics at least in progress, and that she trusts me to be able to get the basics on my own. She's the best. ;)
Annnd the Buddy LIKES BEET PULP!!!! YAY!!! I finally got to the feed store today and got him some, and he trucked right into it when I gave it to him. Though he still seems to have a philosophical objection to finishing all his grain in one setting...ha. I'm getting his teeth done as soon as I can find a good dentist in the area, and with that and the new feed, maybe we can really start getting some weight on him.
...a pony with a sore foot again.
GAH. He's been fine for the better part of a week now!
Poulticed it all up (by myself, I'm proud!) and vet coming out tomorrow. Hopefully we get this thing licked!
On better news, I had lunch with the Coach today. Ahhhh I've missed her!! So happy to catch up!! Now I have homework for before-I-have-a-lesson, too. Namely, getting on the Buddy again (trying to get there, thought I'd be back on by the end of this week but it looks like not) and working on the walk-trot-canter-stop-back up basics till they're fairly smooth. I love that she'll coach me "from afar" till I've got those basics at least in progress, and that she trusts me to be able to get the basics on my own. She's the best. ;)
Annnd the Buddy LIKES BEET PULP!!!! YAY!!! I finally got to the feed store today and got him some, and he trucked right into it when I gave it to him. Though he still seems to have a philosophical objection to finishing all his grain in one setting...ha. I'm getting his teeth done as soon as I can find a good dentist in the area, and with that and the new feed, maybe we can really start getting some weight on him.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Turns out lameness is 'cause the Boy got an abscess. Booo. And his feet had been doing so well. With all the rain and muck, though, I'm not too surprised. So we wrapped it up in diapers and epsom salts and charcoal for 48 hours or so, and by yesterday afternoon he'd been doing fine for close to 24 hours. So I took it off overnight and he's still fine this morning. I can probe and pinch and squeeze and bang on his foot with my hoof pick and no reaction. Unlike earlier when he'd try to jerk it away if I even squeezed that part of his sole with my fingers. I got permission to move him and his girlfriend/mom/grandma, the 29-year-old Cheyenne, to a (really lovely) paddock up closer to the barn, where there isn't any mud or streams or other yuckies, for a little while. So hopefully it will stay a bit cleaner while it heals. In the meantime there's lots of grass to help him put on weight!
Also talked to some other boarders yesterday while I was over doing my Saturday feed rotation and taking care of River, and I might have a lead on a good barefoot trimmer/farrier that's already coming to the barn and isn't too expensive! YES!!! I will be calling him early this week and asking a ton of questions to try to see if I want to let him loose on the Boy's footsies. Fingers crossed that works out.
Also talked to some other boarders yesterday while I was over doing my Saturday feed rotation and taking care of River, and I might have a lead on a good barefoot trimmer/farrier that's already coming to the barn and isn't too expensive! YES!!! I will be calling him early this week and asking a ton of questions to try to see if I want to let him loose on the Boy's footsies. Fingers crossed that works out.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
FidgetFeet and Ride
Maybe it's my imagination, but the Boy appears to be putting on some weight. Even if it is my imagination, clearly he's no longer losing anything, and I can now sleep at night, so that's good. Ha. It poured for nearly a week while I was gone, and he doesn't like the rain, so perhaps that had something to do with the sudden loss. Who knows.
Tuesday I fed him as much as he would eat (which isn't a whole lot, he will eat maybe a big scoop of grain and then decide he's full), and then took him out and let him eat grass while I groomed him and took pictures of him and his feet.
MAN this horse is fidgety when he's tied. I'd noticed it before in the barn, but figured his feet must be hurting him and that's why he wouldn't stand still. But his feet weren't sore today--he was walking sound on the grass and only mildly short-strided on the sandy gravel, and let me pick up all four feet with no hesitancy. And he still won't stay in one place longer than 30 seconds! Good grief. He's respectful of the tie and hasn't set back, but he's here, there, and everywhere. I anticipate it will settle itself somewhat as he continues to get used to everything--when he's at all anxious or uncertain he has to move his feet. Just now my only really inflexible rule is that he can't run over/into me.
Anyway so I worked round his fidgets to get him groomed and then decided oh, whatever, and tacked him up. We didn't have much time but I wanted to go up to the arena and see how he'd do. Grass was slippery outside, so we weren't going to do more than walk anyway.
He was very "up," but his "up-ness" doesn't translate to any kind of really-less-than-desirable behavior, so that's good. We hand-walked around and then I persuaded him to stand still long enough for me to get on, and we walked round a bit. The arena surface is rather hard and nasty at the moment, especially where the rain's blown in, so I didn't want to do more than a walk till either (a) I get the arena dragged and fixed up a bit, or (b) his feet are 100% on everything. But he was very very good and I was still happy with the saddle fit when I was sitting on it. :)
So so SO happy to be back sitting on a pony again, even if we're not doing much at the moment. And he's MINE!! Lol. We'll be back in business before long. Hoping to be ready for a lesson with Coach (aka arena fixed and/or grass pastures officially okayed to ride in and/or pony in boots and/or pony feet 100% on arena and/or pony shod) sometime in August. :)
Update: Brought the Boy in on Wednesday night for his yumms and on the way he apparently stepped on something and made himself lame. Argh. Horses. At least I know what foot it is this time; it's not just an overall soreness!
Tuesday I fed him as much as he would eat (which isn't a whole lot, he will eat maybe a big scoop of grain and then decide he's full), and then took him out and let him eat grass while I groomed him and took pictures of him and his feet.
MAN this horse is fidgety when he's tied. I'd noticed it before in the barn, but figured his feet must be hurting him and that's why he wouldn't stand still. But his feet weren't sore today--he was walking sound on the grass and only mildly short-strided on the sandy gravel, and let me pick up all four feet with no hesitancy. And he still won't stay in one place longer than 30 seconds! Good grief. He's respectful of the tie and hasn't set back, but he's here, there, and everywhere. I anticipate it will settle itself somewhat as he continues to get used to everything--when he's at all anxious or uncertain he has to move his feet. Just now my only really inflexible rule is that he can't run over/into me.
Anyway so I worked round his fidgets to get him groomed and then decided oh, whatever, and tacked him up. We didn't have much time but I wanted to go up to the arena and see how he'd do. Grass was slippery outside, so we weren't going to do more than walk anyway.
He was very "up," but his "up-ness" doesn't translate to any kind of really-less-than-desirable behavior, so that's good. We hand-walked around and then I persuaded him to stand still long enough for me to get on, and we walked round a bit. The arena surface is rather hard and nasty at the moment, especially where the rain's blown in, so I didn't want to do more than a walk till either (a) I get the arena dragged and fixed up a bit, or (b) his feet are 100% on everything. But he was very very good and I was still happy with the saddle fit when I was sitting on it. :)
So so SO happy to be back sitting on a pony again, even if we're not doing much at the moment. And he's MINE!! Lol. We'll be back in business before long. Hoping to be ready for a lesson with Coach (aka arena fixed and/or grass pastures officially okayed to ride in and/or pony in boots and/or pony feet 100% on arena and/or pony shod) sometime in August. :)
Update: Brought the Boy in on Wednesday night for his yumms and on the way he apparently stepped on something and made himself lame. Argh. Horses. At least I know what foot it is this time; it's not just an overall soreness!
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Guys, Guys, My Pony's Fixed!
. . . well, not totally fixed. But he's on his way.
Cue the "Hallelujah Chorus."
I went out today to see the Boy for the first time in two weeks, fully expecting to see a herd-bound, skinny critter with horrible feet (it has been so wet while we were gone, I was fully expecting the feet to go squoosh).
I did find a pony rather on the thin side. Ribs. :( So upping his grain and adding rice bran and maybe rice bran oil or dac oil if he doesn't gain weight soon. WHY he is skinny when all the other ponies are fat as pigs is another question. I'm going to get his teeth done first and we'll go from there.
I also found a pony who did not want to leave his buddies. Fortunately he's very non-dramatic about it--his "I don't want to" consists mostly of planting his feet, sticking his head in the air, and glaring at me down his nose. Lol. Once we get out of the pasture, he merrily marches away to the barn. Go figure.
BUT I did not find a pony with horrible feet! Still tender, but much improved over what he was two weeks ago. He's still short-strided on the gravel and hard barn aisle, but much much much better. Growing wall like nobody's business, so it's about time for a trim, but not sore. YAY!!! And this is with very soggy nasty wet weather all the time I was gone! So happy. Maybe we will make it barefoot after all! :)
And I tried all my tack on and it fits!! It'll fit even better once he gains some weight and some topline, but as I plan on that happening soon, I wouldn't want anything smaller. I even hopped on to ride for about 30 seconds before hopping off because a rain shower was coming through and we were a long way from the covered arena.
Will get pictures soon. :)
Cue the "Hallelujah Chorus."
I went out today to see the Boy for the first time in two weeks, fully expecting to see a herd-bound, skinny critter with horrible feet (it has been so wet while we were gone, I was fully expecting the feet to go squoosh).
I did find a pony rather on the thin side. Ribs. :( So upping his grain and adding rice bran and maybe rice bran oil or dac oil if he doesn't gain weight soon. WHY he is skinny when all the other ponies are fat as pigs is another question. I'm going to get his teeth done first and we'll go from there.
I also found a pony who did not want to leave his buddies. Fortunately he's very non-dramatic about it--his "I don't want to" consists mostly of planting his feet, sticking his head in the air, and glaring at me down his nose. Lol. Once we get out of the pasture, he merrily marches away to the barn. Go figure.
BUT I did not find a pony with horrible feet! Still tender, but much improved over what he was two weeks ago. He's still short-strided on the gravel and hard barn aisle, but much much much better. Growing wall like nobody's business, so it's about time for a trim, but not sore. YAY!!! And this is with very soggy nasty wet weather all the time I was gone! So happy. Maybe we will make it barefoot after all! :)
And I tried all my tack on and it fits!! It'll fit even better once he gains some weight and some topline, but as I plan on that happening soon, I wouldn't want anything smaller. I even hopped on to ride for about 30 seconds before hopping off because a rain shower was coming through and we were a long way from the covered arena.
Will get pictures soon. :)
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Because We Must Find Ponies
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| Ponies in flowers on top of Bighorn Mountains, WY |
I think my family will be forever grateful when I leave home and they don't have to put up with my shopping expeditions again. ;)
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