vel's journaly thing

Well no wonder Waldo isn't completely back to normal...turns out his abscess is STILL draining! My trimmer came today to do Waldo's feet, and he found that stuff is still coming out of the crack. He said I could try more epsom salt soaks and walking him around to help it work its way out. I guess he doesn't move around enough in the pasture to accomplish it?

It can't be that BAD since he walks on the foot almost totally fine, but he's probably landing toe-first since it's coming out the heel bulb. I don't think this is a new abscess since he never got lamer again; he's just not getting completely better. I left a message for my vet to ask if there's anything else I can try or should be doing. I bought one of those little hand held infrared thermometers (like this) to accurately measure the temperatures in his feet since I can't tell well enough by hand. Today both front feet read the same temp from the front of the hoof, but when I pointed it at the heels, there was about a ten degree difference, with the right (abscessed) one being warmer. I think this will give me a better idea as to whether or not anything is still lurking in there. I think he's going to be one of those multiple-month recoveries. SIGH.

( Hoof pics (haha, get it? I didn't even do that on purpose!) )

I haven't really mentioned much of anything about this, but Waldo has had some white line separation in all of his hooves for a long time, I believe since before I got him (hard to tell from the crappy pre-purchase pics I took). Up until recently, my trimmer and I haven't really done anything to remedy it as it doesn't appear to bother him or cause him any pain or lameness. The only issue I've seen is when he occasionally picks up a pebble in one of the gaps, then he immediately starts limping until I pull it out. But since the gaps are always packed with dirt and crap, and that can lead to infection (white line disease), it's really not good to just let it stay there.

We'd been hoping the issue would eventually resolve itself, but it's still just as bad or worse after nearly a year. Separation is caused by environment (too wet -> mushy feet) and diet (food too rich -> laminitis). His feed has been analyzed by an equine nutritionist, so that shouldn't be the problem. I thought for a long time it was just a matter of him adjusting from wet Oregon to drier California. Every time it was dry for a while we'd get another big rainstorm, which I thought was messing up that adjustment. But it's been completely dry for at least three months, I think the separation ought to be gone or at least diminished by now, and it isn't. My trimmer is stumped as to what else the problem could be, other than that he's just a big horse with feet that are a bit small for his size.

So for the last few weeks we've taken a more proactive approach to getting rid of the separation. Since the laminae can't reattach itself, the only thing you can do is cut the hoof back and get rid of as much of the separation as possible, keep the gap as clean as possible, and let the laminae grow down from the top. So first he had an aggressive trim (7/16), then another one a week later (7/25), then another one two weeks later (8/8). He'll get another one in another two weeks probably; his feet grow really fast!

I have to keep an eye on him for soreness, and I have to keep the gaps cleaned out as much as possible. I've also started scrubbing an antibacterial/antifungal mixture into them to try to stave off any possible infection. The trimmer thought I might want to keep him in a stall with mats for a day or two after the first trim, but thus far he's seemed fine out in the pasture. He gets his hoof boots on for anything else, though. The ground around the ranch is really hard and rocky, so he needs them on just to walk around; I'm definitely getting my money's worth out of them now. He's very comfortable in them and steps out nicely as long as he's wearing them. About a week ago I did try taking them off to ride in the outdoor arena, but as soon as I did, he was clearly mincy and ouchy with every step, so I put them back on and he went back to normal. That arena is full of dirt clods and rocks, so I wasn't really surprised. I haven't tried taking them off to ride in the soft indoor sand arena; no rocks there, it was cleared of them when it got the new footing a few months ago.

We've been at this for four weeks now, and while it's a bit disconcerting that the separation is still there, it is definitely improving. Likely it's something we'll always have to keep on top of, but I hope we'll be able to get it grown out altogether.

( Progress Photos )

Yesterday evening my friend Kim (greenanimal) and I went to see Cavalia in San Francisco. It was fun and full of surprises!

( Read more )

I'm posting this as a photographic record of just how far from normal the corpora nigra in Bo's eyes are. I had seen these things in horses' eyes before, of course, but I never really noticed or thought about how big his were until the vet pointed it out and I started really taking a look at those of other horses. Here I want to show you a comparison with Glory, one of the Paints I looked at last weekend; she also has a blue eye. After seeing these it definitely makes sense that much of his vision is being blocked out and he probably just kind of sees fuzzy stuff.

( Photos here )

...grinding dirt into his white coat. Yay. Is it any wonder I keep him covered most of the time?



( More fun in the dirt )

I rode Bo a little in the round pen again tonight, still in the western saddle and giving him sugar cubes during and just after mounting and stepping out. No problems there. Prior to that, I took him into the indoor arena to the scary mounting corner and fed him some grain there. While he was eating I stood next to him on the mounting block, leaned over him, and swung my leg over his back a little bit (still stood on the block with the other one). He only vaguely tried to move away from the block at the beginning and only looked a bit concerned when he had run out of food. =p We'll keep working on it...

I've learned I talk way too much when I videotape things...anyway, pics and videos ( here )

This weekend was lovely and warm with temps in the 70s, and Bo got to run around and enjoy the sunshine quite a bit. But he did end up straining something while running around like a loon in the deep dirt arena today, so he's now a little lame. =\ I don't think I'll be letting him out there again, it's just too damn deep and is never dragged. I did get some cool photos and videos out of it, though, so enjoy! These are on Facebook as well.

( Bo galore! )

By the way, I also added pictures to my last entry about the Sharks game if you care to see them. There are horses there, too!

Today Bo and I went on a nice long three hour ride, which is the longest one I've done with him thus far. We went with greenanimal and her new friend Kathy from the barn across the street, an endurance rider with two Arabs. We walked pretty much the entire time, did a teeny bit of trotting on the way back home. We went out in the park to an area I'd never been before, next to a small lake.

We went through a cattle grazing area to get there, and Bo gave the cows a distrusting look; I don't know if he's been around cows before or not, but I kind of thought he had since he was a ranch horse. He especially looked askance at the bull we passed close by, but the bull was too busy grazing to care anything about us.

Out by the lake there are some pretty steep hills, and it's also an area hang gliders and para gliders use. The first time a para glider came in for a landing near us, Bo was quite startled! Thankfully his idea of spooking is to sort of jolt in place and take a few steps away from whatever it is. After a while he got used to all the things sailing through the sky near us, though he did keep a close eye on them. We went partway up one of the steep hills to one of the jump off points for the gliders, and we hung out while a few of them got ready to go, letting the horses graze and chill. There was a very nice view of the lake up there.

( Some photos here )

And now for ( THE MOST DISGUSTING THING EVER )

Our last yellow labrador, Yukon, went to the vet to cross the rainbow bridge today. He was a month shy of 13 years old, and it was definitely his time. He'd been arthritic for a few years now, but he went rapidly downhill over the last week or so, being barely able to move. May he romp around pain-free with Heather, Taffy, Sierra, Sequoia, and Bootsie now.

Yukon was the lunkhead of the house, as well as the only male dog we ever had. Headstrong and smart as a brick, he was ruled by his stomach and got into anything and everything that he suspected was food. Kleenex were a favorite snack of his, especially used ones he pulled out of all the garbage cans he would knock over on a regular basis. Training him required lots of patience and lots of treats. But he was absolutely the most sweet-natured dog ever, loved everyone instantly and would lick you half to death given the chance. He was a good companion and was lucky to have such a good, long run.

( Yukon: May 27, 1997 - April 11, 2010 )