It's warm finally... but windy again.

It's finally getting nice here again, and it's about time. I went for another ride on Gus today and it dawned on me that's it has been a year since Gus was first diagnosed with a torn CCL and meniscus damage to his right stifle. It's amazing what all has happened since then.

First, it was a good 6 weeks of stall rest for most of May and June, with handwalking daily (or as often as I could get out there to do it). Then we progressed to walking under saddle. After a week or two of that (and still on stall rest), Gus was allowed turnout after (and only after) he was walked under saddle. That progressed to eventually being turned out daily, regardless of being walked under saddle or not.

We had many setbacks after that. One being when another horse was turned out with Gus... ended up with a very lame horse again and a BO not understanding why. Sheesh, you think it could be because he's running around outside like an idiot with the other horse he's turned out with? No... couldn't be because of that.

That particular scenario happened at least twice over the summer (more like 3-4 times) when new horses kept coming and going from what was supposed to be a PRIVATE turnout situation for Gus. Really ticked me off as we just weren't making any progresses because he kept restressing that stifle by being an idiot in turnout (only because he was rough-housing with the other horse(s)).

We also had the issue that popped up this past fall - where his left hind cannon bone swelled dramatically, seemingly overnight. Still don't know what caused it and he's still got the "bump" but he's sound on it. Go figure. That required a month of stall rest and daily sweatings... didn't do much but who knows?

Thankfully he came thru winter, none the worse for wear. No major problems cropped up. Though we were stuck in the arena all winter, he didn't regress... and he wasn't any lamer come this spring (which is what usually happens every spring).

Found out in January at Gus does not have Cushings disease, but further diagnostics showed that he is insulin resistant (I've blogged about this before). Thankfully that seems to be doing okay... waiting to see how the bloodwork comes back to see if things have improved at all. Vet was supposed to be out last Tuesday, but due to an emergency he needed to reschedule. He should now be here on Monday... keeping fingers crossed that that appointment doesn't get rescheduled.

Then, just a few days after the boys' move to their new home, Gus gets chased through the fence. So, now we're dealing with that wire burn on the hind leg that still won't heal. I debrided it today, and boy was it gushing blood. I didn't realize that the chickens were attracted to blood... so I had to fend off Gus's leg from those hunger blood-peckers. Dumb birds. Here's what it looked like after the debriding:



Ouch, right? OMG I haven't seen so much blood in forever. It just kept pouring out. Ended up just using plain water (still need to locate some Nolvasan solution) and adding the Wonder Dust (activated charcoal) afterwards. The WD is supposed to help prevent proud flesh and help stop bleeding.

Regardless, both boys seem to be thriving out at the B farm. The love it there and the constant moving is doing wonders for Gus. Gringo is still lame... but I think he always will be. We'll see if he starts improving after a few more months.

It's WINDY!

Boy, was it WINDY here today. I thought for sure we'd be getting some rain, but no go. I did end up getting up on Gus again today. It was our second ride since the injuries sustained a week or so back. He was definitely "up" today - didn't help that the winds were nearly 20mph at times. The ride was successful though and we weren't eaten by any scary monsters, a definite plus.

On to the injuries... here's the new photos.


Pretty sure we're dealing with some proud flesh with this wound. Talked to the old BO and she concured... recommended really scrubbing the area daily (or as often as possible) and keeping up with the Wonder Dust. Need to debride the area so it can heal from the inside-out, not the other way around.

The swelling really seems to have gone down quite a lot. Still sound (thank GOD) on all legs, minus the old stifle issues ;-)

Left Front - healing quite well, for the most part. The hair is starting (slowly) to grow back in... but I think he's have some Frankenstein-looking legs for most of the summer.

A close up of a small spot that still won't heal on the LF. It actively bleeds whenever I touch it. I'm keeping up the Banixx (see: www.banixx.com) on this spot along with the large wound on the heel and another spot on Gus's chest.

Right Front - not looking too bad. No bleeding at all on this leg. It really itches him a lot though, but they do say that itching = healing, right?

This is the other "spot" that cropped up on Gus's chest. Picture is hard to figure out, but this sore is located on Gus's chest, on the right side. I used some scissors to cut a chunk off... and nothing happened. That's the white line in the middle of the sore. It bleeds at times but otherwise I can't figure out what exactly it is. We'll keep monitoring it for the time being.

I'm happy with Gus's progress for the most part, but do worry about the heel injury. I just don't want it healing with loads of proud flesh... that would not be good. The vet was supposed to be out yesterday (Tuesday) but got called out on an emergency, so our appointment needed to be rescheduled. He was going to give both boys their West Nile vaccines and recheck Gus's blood glucose levels. I was going to have his heel looked at too, since he was out. Hopefully things will work out and the vet will be out on Monday.

Gringo is doing well too. Still being mean to Gus... but he's been improving. We're slowly switching Gringo to Triple Crown Lite from Progressive's ProAdvantage Grass Formula. Although it's more of a "grain" then the TC Lite, the TC Lite is lower in NSCs then the Prog. Nut. Gus needs to be on the lowest NSC possible and it won't hurt Gringo to be on a lower NSC too.

Gringo's still lame and still takes short, choppy strides with that left fore... some days though it doesn't seem nearly as bad. And get this, he may walk into the barn lame, but after standing around for 30 minutes he'll walk out sounder. Go figure.

Nothing really new otherwise. I'm hoping the weather improves. We really need the rain (like I mentioned earlier) but it's gotten cold again. Aggh. Gotta love Minnesota, right?

Updates again.

So, went out to see the boys again today. And things seem to be looking better, least from a distance. As you can see from the first photo, the swelling has gone down quite a bit in the left front knee.



However, there are still a few deep areas that are still healing. The photo below shows Gus's left front knee, from the outside (so front of leg is to the left). He's got a "triangle" of deep areas left that are still healing. It's looking better, but still actively bleeding...



Here's the kicker though. The next two photos show Gus's left hind... what I thought was just something small, like scratches, turned into this mess. It's raw and oozy. Looks like some proud flesh is growing now also. So, I applied some activated charcoal, in the form of Wonder Dust, to the site. We'll see how it looks on Thursday when I'm out next.



Here's another photo. Same view, basically. Thankfully Gus doesn't seem to be too sore on it. He didn't like me cleaning it with ice cold water, but he tolerated it. Could've cared less about the Wonder Dust being applied.



So, hopefully it's looking better by Thursday. I really don't want to call the vet back out. I may just wait until Tuesday (after Memorial Day), as my future MIL's vet is coming out to do spring vaccines and will be seeing both my boys anyways. So, we shall see...

Leg Updates

Well, the following photos were taken Sunday. I've been a bit too busy to update the blog, but everything has been looking really well. The wounds are healing quite well, scabs are falling off and the skin underneath looks great.

Here's the photos before gooping them up with ointment:

Right Front


Left Front


Left Hind


Front to Back

These are all with the "goop" on:

Left Front

Right Front

Left Hind

Right Hind

It turns out that Gus also got "wire burn" on his left hind, just above the heel and around the pasturn. It's really scabby and hurts but it seems to be doing slightly better today when I was out versus on Sunday, when we first noticed it. It looks a lot like how his scratches presents itself... but we're thinking its wire burn from the fence incident.

Anyways, more updates to come.

Ouch!

Well, yesterday started off as a busy day off for me and things never improved. I went out to visit the boys and was planning on a nice trail ride with Gus. He had seemed like he was adjusting well... living out 24/7 and enjoying the decent weather. Well, was I ever wrong.

Got out there and here's what I discovered:



Needless to say, we discovered what happened, to an extent. Either Gringo was being an *ss or Gus spooked, regardless he was scared and bolted into the woods. He tried to skirt through between a tree and the fence, but there wasn't enough space. He ended up getting entangled with the fence and got shocked repeatedly. The end result is what you see above, plus this next video of his eye.



Anyways, it's a good thing he had his eye mask on as it saved that eye quite a bit. I feel horrible for him though. I did end up calling the vet out, to the tune of $111.50. He's been cleared as "good to go" but we are doing a week's worth of antibiotics, just to be on the safe side. The medication is called Uniprim. He's also on Previcox for a week too, to ward off any pain. Cool hosing and plenty of movement and everything should be fine again. No work until the swelling in his knee goes down... hopefully that won't be too long from now.

Here's a few more shots of his leg injuries:



This is the knee that's really messed up. The area just to the front of the knee is right where a tendon sheath is located. He narrowly missed cutting it...

Gringo Photos

Here's Gringo's photos cause for whatever reason they wouldn't load on the previous post:

They made it.

Well, the boys made the move successfully. No issues what so ever, except Gus giving Gringo the hairy eyeball while we were trying to load him (Gringo). Gus loaded like an old trooper... no issues whatsoever.

Anyways, thank GOD, they adjusted very well. Gringo knew exactly where he was and was so happy to be back home. Gus basically took his lead and has adjusted quite well. We've had no issues with either of them... with the exception of Gringo picking on Gus when they are eating their hay.

Regardless, they are doing well. Gus is not happy, but he's having to wear a grazing muzzle... the grass is way greener then I thought it'd be, and he's at greater risk for founder considering his other metabolic issues. So... we're having fun trying to get him to adjust.

Here's some photos I took yesterday on their first day at the new farm.

Gus looking so happy (I think he's smiling):


And another one of Gus:


Here he is sporting his grazing muzzle:


And another withe the muzzle, which he HATES:

So, what'd ya think... pretty curly hair, right? But surprisingly, he does not have Cushings Disease, yet..

Another view of the coat/topline:

Here's the resident oldie, Toaster. He's in the ballpark of 32 years of age.

Here Gus, with Buster, T and Sable.

Here's all five of them, minus Toaster as he's in another pasture.