Quaid Update

 Hi guys, I am not feeling creative enough right now (too tired) for a catchy title, so I just settled for saying what it was about. 

I had a call on Sunday from the resident. It seemed that once Quaid had his Easy Ride boots taken off he became decidedly lame. They decided to go in and found a huge abscess that they drained. There was, to quote the resident, 'lots of pus'. 

I headed home on Sunday and went to work Monday morning. When I arrived my work laptop was acting up. Then I had an email from the college saying that they were trying to reach me. I tried to call on my cell but had a message that I didn't have a plan. Like what the actual fuck? I used my work phone and spoke to the surgeon who just wanted to let me know her plan. 

I then spent an hour sorting out the cell phone thing. There was an error with them registering my auto payment. It was affecting a few users. And of course it was mine. Honestly, with luck like this I should be buying lotto tickets. 

Later in the afternoon the resident called me. They have carved open his foot and derided his coffin bone to get rid of all the infection. They believe they got it all. They also perfused antibiotics into the joint. He'll be one some strong (and expensive) antibiotics to make sure. Wednesday they will x-ray again to make sure.

 If all looks good they will have a farrier put on a medical plate. This will protect the hoof while it heals. I wrote everything down and also double checked because I was sure he said that the shoe would only be on for 3 weeks and then it can come off and he'll be fine. I asked about that because his hole did not heal. He said that it was because there was an infection and that was impeding the healing. 

My farrier and I talked as well and I'm going to try to find out out who the farrier is they use so that he can call him. I am so not fucking up this recovery. 

I asked and the resident said that his prognosis was good to  have a good career. I told him that that was not my concern. My concern was that he be pain free and reasonably sound. The rest I could deal with. He seemed surprised by that. 'look' I said 'I have learned with horses that plans and things that happen are two different things. I love this horse and want him to have a happy life. The rest we'll figure out.' 

That's all I know for now. If anyone has experience with a medical plate I'd love to hear about it. I'll share updates as I get them. 

Old photo from before. Not gonna lie- I'm not going 
to miss the wrapping. 

A Lull

 Quaid is now at the Veterinary Hospital. 

Thursday night we were hit with a crap ton of snow. Easily a foot. That night, in the middle of blizzard my vet showed up to drop off some Easy Ride boots. She thought that they would help with the drive. 

Ed spent Friday plowing so I could get the trailer out. I usually turn it around so I’m facing down the gentle slope driveway. but it was so slick that I couldn’t get any traction. Ed came and put sand down so I could pull it up but that meant I’d have to go down the steep driveway. It was so slick we had to put chocks behind the wheels. I was freaking out. So I reached out to sone friends. He’s a class 3 driver and within 5 minutes had my truck and trailer turned around. I gave him a huge hug even though we probably weren’t hugging friends (we are now). 

On Friday it looked like he had an abscess pop on his frog. It was tender but he was putting more weight on his foot. I tried on the boots and he was immediately comfortable. I’m decided to leave them on overnight. 

In the morning the boots were off- one even flung into the barn aisle. But he was weight bearing and much perkier. I had made a cocktail for him (😀on veterinary advice) of bute, Tylenol and trazadone.  Julia came bright and early and we put the boots on. 

This horse guys.. I don’t deserve him. He walked out and on the trailer without batting an eye. 

The drive was completely uneventful and the roads bare. Other than some restlessness part way through I wouldn’t even have known he was there.

He unloaded at the hospital and walked right in. I met with the intern and resident. The plan of Monday to do the surgery. I won’t know how extensive until then. It could be just another hole or a big hole requiring a special shoe. I did tell them that I didn’t want him saved to live a life of chronic pain. 

It’s such a relief to have him there safe and sound. I can relax and not worry about his care- is he okay in his stall? Is his bandage okay? Does he need his meds?  Know others will make sure he’s fine  

The Hard Stuff

 It's morning and it's time for yet another dose of medication. Antibiotics this time. I have crushed 12 large pills with sugar using my coffee grinder. I then add in a little maple syrup and some water. It still tastes awful. 

Quaid sees me coming in the stall, eyes the syringe and tries to run away from me. It's heartbreaking to watch him struggle on 3 legs in a small space. I go back out and grab his halter. Up until now I haven't needed it. But after repeated doses of awful stuff  (four times a day) he is done with this crap. 

I stand in the stall holding the halter while he eyes me warily. 

I know,  I saw softly. this stuff is shit and you hate it. Those are totally valid feelings. And you need to have this. 

I stand waiting, not approaching, not feeling anxious. Just breathing. 

After a few minutes, he gives a big sigh and comes over, gently touching his nose to the halter. I slide it on and fasten it slowly, murmuring quietly. I uncap the syringe and put in his mouth giving him the medication. I rub his neck telling him what a good boy he is. 

He swallows and again gives me a reproachful gaze. I drop the syringe in my pocket and offer him an apple piece. He takes it gently and then returns to his hay. 

 In the past I would have rushed to get it in. Now I know better. Rushing a horse will only add to the stress. He has no idea what this is about and it reminds me of when I had to force medications into my children when they were young. It's hard- physically and emotionally. But it's necessary. 

I don't know what this will do to our relationship. I honestly don't. I do know that when he comes home I will be spending a lot of time just being with him and re-establishing the bond we had  before all this hell. 

Horses are resilient and he will respond. I know that. 

It's just hard. 

Stop the World, I want to Get Off

 Have you ever felt like you just want to curl into a little ball in the back of a cave and just pretend that nothing is happening? 

Really cheery start, I know, but it's honest. 

When I wrote last, Quaid was feeling great. Good enough to almost break my arm. Fortunately, he did not and, while it is a spectacular colour of black, purple and yellow, it is healing quite well. I had even started turning Quaid into the larger paddock and he was great. A little groundwork and greater turn out and he turned back into his sweet self. 

Until yesterday. 

Monday evening he seemed a little foot sore. But it's been really cold and there are a lot of frozen ruts out there. I was a bit worried but decided to wait until morning. By morning he was 3 legged lame. I wasted no time getting the vet out and she did some more x-rays. 

The good news? the bone chips are gone. They have been absorbed or flushed out or whatever. There was an old, dried up abscess (she poked it and nothing came out). This is the only good news. 

What she did see is some erosion of the coffin bone. She used a more technical term but I cannot remember it. Likely, this is because of the damage of the screw. The only treatment is to take him back to the Vet College for him to have surgery. They will open his foot, scrape the bone and (probably) put a medical plate shoe on him. 

Of course, winter has decided to start, so the earliest window for me to take him is Saturday. My vet assures me that this will make no difference in the outcome. And that the prognosis is still positive. And expensive. I have pretty much exhausted my insurance on the earlier treatment. 

She did say that if that screw had went in further back he would have been put down by now. 

All of this I understand. 

And still, FUCK. 

We think that he's got another abscess coming because of the bone issue. He's in so much pain. I have him on bute and acetaminophen. It's not helping at all. I hope that, if it is an abscess it blows soon. He's spending most of the day laying down. I don't know how to trailer him if he's that sore. I have asked my vet for advice. Maybe we could block it or something. I don't know. 

he's in too much pain to stand for long

I describe myself as optimistic by nature. But the past 2 months have emptied my resilience to zero. Or below zero. What is the term for negative resilience?  

send me all the positive, uplifting support you can. 

About That Light at the End of the Tunnel

In my last post I was talking about how well everything was going. And it is. But yesterday was rough guys. Quaid finally had enough of confinement, reduced movement and separation. And I was the casualty. 

Here's what happened. Yesterday was a rainy, cold day so the two horses were in for most of the day. Late afternoon the rain eased up so I let them out. But the small paddock was a muddy, puddly mess so I put him in the small paddock I created between the two  larger paddocks. At supper time I went to bring him in and he was a bit excited. I had left his halter on so snapped on the lead and began to bring him in. I don't know what set him off (could be him or perhaps something spooked him). Anyway, he went to run by me and I tried to stop him. Then he spun and kicked at me deliberately and got me in the right arm. I was in an enclosed space so couldn't really get away. 

I corrected him but it became pretty clear that my arm was useless so I got him in and shut the door. I then sat down and tried to not vomit. My fingers were tingly and my arm was numb but my elbow was overwhelmingly painful. I texted Ed who came running out the barn. He fed the horses and drove me to the hospital. 

The nurse, after triage, brought me right in and I had my x-ray in about 20 minutes. Then it was waiting for the doctor to look at it while I iced my elbow and felt sorry for myself. After a couple hours (and ice) the tingling/numbness faded and, while I still couldn't straighten it, my elbow felt better. This made me feel that perhaps it wasn't broken. The doctor came in and told me that my x-rays looked good. 

I was so relieved because, honestly, I don't have time for a broken arm. I know that this has been building with him- his confinement and coming three are making him challenge a bit more. I will be working on getting him to turn his ass away from me. Clearly he feels better so I can start to do some work. 

I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty shaken up. This wasn't a glancing blow but deliberate. Which I hadn't seen from him before. But he's young and we've been letting some things slide because I didn't want him to exacerbate his injury. I will fix this and it will be fine. I just need to keep that in mind. 

But enough universe. Enough. 

Rock Stars

 Things are ticking along here on Oakfield Farm. Now that we're through the acute (and very stressful) part of the injury we're into the long haul of recovery. Hoof wound recovery is a marathon not a sprint. 

I'm at the stage where I can change the bandage every other day, unless it looks damaged. 

I told him that his fans wanted to see his ears up and 
looking cute. 

Quaid is quite a good patient. Especially when you consider his age (2 1/2). My skills in bandaging are improving. Ed bought me new duct tape that is very shiny and so his hoof looks like a baked potato. 

Turn out has been tricky with the weather. It's much easier when there's snow. But we've also had mud which makes it trickier.  My farrier suggested that I make a little paddock in the alleyway between the paddocks. It worked great. 

He's doing very well with the small turn out. When we hand walk he's got a bit of energy but, really, all things considered, he's been amazing. Especially since he's perfectly sound. I will start this week to let him out into the larger paddock to see how he does. 

I've been following Emma's blog for a while. But I've been paying particular attention since she's rehabbing Charlie's hoof. She bought this Easy Boot Zip for Charlie and I really liked it. I found a tack shop in Canada to get it from and I have to say I'm very impressed. It fits well over the bandage and has a cork base and some traction on the sole. 

I put it on him for the first time yesterday and he took it off. Sigh. Baby horses. I wish I could explain that his turn out situation depends heavily on me being able to keep his hoof clean and dry. So I did some thinking. 

The bell boot protects the straps so he can't get at them. So far it appears to be working. Fingers crossed it continues to do so. 

I finally got the x-rays from the vet college. He's the one that shows what happened the best. The probe was to follow the wound tract. We were very lucky. A little bit back and the outcome would be much much worse.

Because of our quick action and some wonderful vet care, our outcome is looking very positive. My vet is still cautious but every day that he's fine leads to a good prognosis. I am okay as long as he doesn't have any chronic pain. That is not fair for such a young horse. Other goals can be adjusted. 

I have this video I took before the accident. I had planned to share it on it's own post but things happened. This is the first time anyone sat astride him. The video is a piece of the work leading up to this. But for him it was no big deal. 

He's such a cool horse. 

You know who else has been a real rock star? 

This girl: 

She has dealt with separation, less attention and reduced turn out without complaint.  I can see how mature she has become. 

In addition I have some very human rock stars who have been part of this whole journey. Julia has come out every day (and every other day) to help me change the bandage. The one day she couldn't come, Tanya did. Paula helped keep me calm on the trailer ride and Karen & Jim gave me a soft place to land. My vet  and farrier have been accessible and helped me map out a plan going forward. 

Surround yourself with rock stars. It's way better that way. 

General Hospital

 I don't know if any of you young'uns will get the reference, but GH was a soap opera back in the day set in a hospital.  The precursor to Gray's Anatomy if you will. 

****after internet research****

Apparently it is still running- I thought it was over. Huh. 

Anywho,,,

I've become pretty good at wrapping. Julia (or Tanya if Julia can't come) help. I have to be so careful to not let dirt into the wound so having someone to hold him is incredibly helpful. I've been taking daily photos to track the healing. Sorry if you are squeamish. 

Last Thursday (the day after coming home)

He's getting it changed every day: animalintex, a layer of vet wrap to hold it, a baby diaper, more vet wrap and then duct tape.  

From today

Ordered a box of wrap from Amazon, 
hopefully it will work as well. 

After Wednesday, I can go to every other day for another week. I can't see the hole being healed in so have an easy boot zip on order. I also purchased a Tubbease hoof sock. It has a pad in the bottom and protects the hoof in silicone. I hope to put this on his foot and then the easy boot to go outside. 

In the mean time I have been working on keeping him occupied while Carmen is able to go out. When I clean the stalls in the morning I let him wander the barn. 

I find it amusing he chooses to eat from the hay net rather than the loose bales

When it's muddy out (and this year has been incredibly mild and muddy) I open the door to his stall so he can see out. I put up some boards across to keep him in. Quaid is not super happy with this but I found if I hung a hay bale by the door he settled right in. 

not sure how interested he is in the lick-it but it's there. 

When the ground is frozen I fit an Old Mac boot over the whole bandage and let him out into the little paddock. He chews on the boot but it really isn't a great fit- it was Irish's, but it protects his sole and keeps the bandage dry. When the ground starts to soften I bring them both in. Fortunately, neither seem to mind being in for a half a day. 

There is definite separation anxiety in both of them. It has shown me that Quaid needs work that he needs to focus even when upset. He did knock me over once when he was upset. I am more aware not and don't take his full cooperation for granted. 

Like I said, the weather has been incredibly mild and it would be good for riding. But I honestly have zero desire to ride. I find that looking after the horses, Ed and work is more than enough right now. In the grand scheme of things having some time off from riding is not a big deal. And Quaid being on stall rest for a few weeks will soon be a distant memory. I am so lucky that things are going well. I plan to do everything I can to keep it that way.