Galloping Galoshes

 

As you can see Quaid is back home where he belongs. Paula and I drove up on Saturday and stayed at Karen and Jim's for the night. Once again we were treated to an incredible multi-course meal. The next morning we headed over the teaching hospital to meet with Quaid's care team and learn what to do. 

I'm going to show a photo of his hoof (sorry if you're squeamish). When this saga is behind us I am going to put all the info in one post- maybe it will be useful for someone. 

The surgery carved out the abscess and derided the coffin bone to healthy bone. 

This photo was sent by the farrier to my farrier the day
he put the shoe and plate on. 

 It seems huge but not as large as I was expecting. 

the medical plate

While I was being shown how to do this, Paula took a video. It's a good reference to have:

Once again, Quaid hopped on the trailer like it was no big deal and was great for the ride home. Carmen was happy to see him, until he breathed on her and then she was all 'I hate you'. Mares. 

The instructions are to remove the plate every 3-4 days, replace the old gauze with fresh soaked in diluted betadine.  Julia and I have done one change and the hoof was looking better already. I had so much in my head that I forgot to take a photo but will for the next change. The biggest danger right now is to keep water and dirt out of the open wound. The plate is not enough. The shoe is also wrapped in duct tape and vet wrap. 

It is, of course, the wettest time of year. 

fresh snow in March is pretty but it's pretty slushy.

Poor Quaid has been on some version of stall rest going on since February 3. For 2 he's handling it extremely well. Hell, he's handling it great for any aged horse. I hate keeping them in, I feel that they are happier when they can be outside. 

I had bought an Easy boot zip when this  all started and it seemed to work great. But I've only had it on him maybe 14 time and it completely disintegrated. 

10/10 don't recommend

I contacted Easy care inc and they said that it was not 'intended for this use' but acknowledged that it wasn't clear about that on the website (they have now changed their website).  But honestly, it's for horses, why would it be so fragile? Have they met horses? Anyway, on their recommendation I have contacted the vendor. I suspect that it's going to be fruitless and I will be out $115 (Canada pricing + shipping). *shrug*

There was too much snow for me to turn him out with a duct tape boot. I was worried that water would seep down. We had some nasty weather so both horses were in anyway while I figured out a solution. Which ended up being this: 

This boot is for soaking but I figured if it kept water in, it should keep water out. I drove to the tack shop in the city and picked it up to try. Do you remember wearing galoshes as a kid? Putting it on is like that. You wiggle it mostly on and then ask your horse to put his foot down to get it the rest of the way. It's pretty open at the top so I put a bell boot over top: 

It works, but I'm going to need a bigger bell boot. What is more money at this point anyway? 

Quaid is not in the larger paddock. I'm pretty sure if he runs around he's going to haul that boot off. So I have him in my small paddock right outside the barn. It's about 36 x36 (which, for the record, he was in with the easy boot too). It's enough to let him walk around and eat some hay. He can come in and out of the barn which he likes. Carmen is in the bigger paddock. So far it's all working. 

I just need to get him to the point of the hole being covered with fresh horn and then he can have more freedom. 

People ask me how he's doing and I always say the same: 'he's good right now'. I just can't let myself think that we're out of the woods. No matter what the vet says. I've been here twice before. I'm trying to be optimistic. Intellectually I know that we should be fine, this time we dealt with the underlying issue (infected bone). But emotionally I 'm not there yet. 

Just keep telling me it's all going to be fine.