A quick Gus update ...

As I write this my fingers are crossed that Gus continues on the up and up path for soundness. After having Dr. N out a week ago to do a Legend injection, Gus proved he's an idiot. You see, the day prior (that would be Wednesday, the 16th) I was out to lunge Gus, to check his soundness, and he was perfect. Nice walk/trot on the lunge and moving freely through his back, for the most part. Haha. Fast forward to Friday afternoon. What started off as a nice, forward moving walk and trot, quickly escalated to a rodeo-style, full-out bronco bucks. What a flipping idiot. So of course he was lame. Again.

I guess the good news out of all of this is that Gus is only lame when the LF is on the outside of the circle... This means that, for the most part, the lameness is higher up. Yea for this! B palpated Gus's back and withers last Friday and came to the conclusion that it was definitely withers/back issue and not lower leg. So at least this is something that we can work with.

So,  on Saturday and again on Monday, I made phone calls to get the chiropractor back out to see Gus. It's been a LONG time since Dr. K saw Gus but I think the chiro is the key to get his back back into order. Unfortunately, we're looking at a good three weeks until the chiro can get out. So now I've got to make another phone call to another boarder to see if the chiro they use is coming out anytime soon.

But, overall, Gus seems to be doing slightly better ... and this is without being medicated (aka bute). My plan is to hop up on him Saturday and Sunday and do some light work (walk/trot).

Still haven't heard when the potential leaser plans on coming back out, which is good because I think Gus can use the extra time to get his fitness level back up. Fingers crossed that everything works out in the end.

Round Two ...

Now it's Gus's time to shine! Here's Gus's photo montage from the last few weeks.

As with the previous post on Gringo, I'm starting with Gus's hooves and working my way upwards. For whatever reason, I'm missing the photos from October 25th's trim, so the photos posted below are the most recent from December 20th, in their typical order.

J added snow pads to help Gus deal with all the snow we've been having. They are working great!

Body shots. I remember mentioning in an early post that Gus had dropped A LOT of weight in a really short period of time. We know now that it was due to the crappy hay quality that the BO had. Not her fault at all. It was some hay she had purchased from someone she routinely purchases from and it just had no nutritional value at all. Gus wasn't the only one to dramatically lose weight ... but I still felt bad for the poor boy, nonetheless.

These next shots are from December 2nd:

Absolutely no topline ... muscle loss on barrel, hip, hindquarters ... everywhere. Poor Gus!

His bony butt ... and lack of muscle.

Visible ribs... nearly all of them. Uggh!

Still a pretty face though.

 These next few are from December 17th.

This next batch is from December 23rd. Gus has, by now, gained a considerable amount of weight back. 

Uggh... still missing that topline though.

Much more filled out rump though.

Now, for some leg shots. Every year I get paranoid that something is wrong with Gus's left hind leg. The fetlock joint gets so swollen and basically that entire leg looks like a stove pipe. Fortunately, that's just normal Gus ... but it's ridiculous how grotesque it looks. I should really get some comparisons of the right hind, you'd be amazed at the difference between the two.

Even though I already posted these on my previous post, I had to share them again here. I'm just so proud of Gus (and Gringo) as they were both very GOOD boys. These were taken on January 7th.

Such a pretty boy!

I had taken a bunch of photos yesterday, celebrating Gus's birthday ... and I even uploaded them on Facebook, but I guess I forgot to upload them to Picasa? Sheesh. My brain is fried, I guess. Well, they'll just get uploaded at another date.

ETA: Got those photos uploaded ... So here's photos from yesterday. Mr. Gus turned 23! WhootWhoot!!!

Rocking the "tongue" and the "mohawk". Silly boy!

Gus, Me and Bowser ... He's totally NOT a Bowser. I think he's a  "Buddy" or something along those lines. Needless to say, one of the nicest strays to wander up to the barn.

Gus chowing down on his birthday "mush".

Anyways, last Friday (January 11th), Gus had a potential new leaser out to test ride him. Go figure that on that day, of all days, he was lame. I was so frustrated and embarrassed because just days prior he was sound. Looking back, I truly think he sprained/pulled something as it was extremely icy out that morning (horses in the barn weren't turned out until after 12p) and he's basically running around on ice skates (aka shoes).

So, after 2grams of bute twice a day from Friday until Tuesday, he's sound. I did call the vet on Monday to get them out to do another Legend injection. Today they'll be out to administer that. But thankfully when I was at the barn last night, Gus was sound ... or as sound as Gus typically is (or isn't).

I did call back the potential leaser (we'll call her K). So I'm hoping she and her parents will come back out to recheck Gus and hopefully have a real test ride. I think her and Gus would be a good fit. More information to come on how that situation pans out.

Picture Update Time!

Okay. First things first ...

Gringo.

Here's is a photo montage of Gringo's hooves from his last trim, on January 4th - not sure what happened to the photos from November 7th. They are in the "usual" order.

Alrighty. And here's what happens when, umm, the toes are left a little long and well the ground is a frozen, crappy mess. These were taken on January 11th, a week after the trim. Because I wasn't able to make it to the barn on Wednesday, I'm not sure exactly when this break occurred. But OUCH!

By the way, this all happened to the left front hoof. Which, of course, is the one that Gringo has the coffin bone fracture in. Go figure. Interestingly enough, he was 100% sound on this leg.  

And here's what the hoof looked like last night, after J (Gringo's J, not to be confused with Gus's J) was out to retrim him. She thinks a lot of the issues had to due with the ground being really hard, and while I agree, I do think that the long toe exaggerated things. Anyways, least now they are back to where Gringo likes them to be.

I guess he tested positive to the hoof testers, per J, but on the lunge last night he looked pretty sound. Least in typical Gringo fashion. J recommended treating Gringo for thrush as well as applying something like venice turpentine ... to help harden up his hooves. I think I've got some Durasole from when I was trying to toughen up Gus's hooves, so I guess I'll be digging that along with some mastitis ointment (Tomorrow) to help Gringo's hooves out.

Now on to some new(er) body shots.

December 2, 2012

These next few shots are from December 17th:

It's like "Really, Mom? You have to stand there an take photos? Honestly!"

Uggh. Crappy photo of me. Not sure how people get such cute self portraits. Any tips?

And now some body shots from December 23rd:

Look at that belly!

Yikes! You can totally see where he's absolutely FILTHY! Oh well. No bath until the temps are steady in the 50s-60s ... too cold otherwise.

And then, there are the photos from our first ever outdoor pony ride on January 7th, 2013. What a great way to celebrate the new year! Both boys were good, despite all the new exposures. See blog post here.

Gus is telling Gringo that everything will be okay and that he needs to get his "big boy" pants on.

Seriously? Can't Gringo act like the Andalusian/Appaloosa he is, rather then the Thoroughbred racehorse he wants to be? No biting Gus on the neck ... especially when I'm on board. Really, boys!?!

More secrets to share...

Wow. Look at that dirty look. Sheesh.

Would be lovely picture except Gringo is sticking his tongue out at me. Silly boy!

Tongue shot ... again.

LOVE this picture!

Gringo sunning his bum after his "pony ride". Silly boy, again.

The below shot is of Gringo enjoying his strawberry-banana "mush" from Gus's birthday celebration. Gus turned 23 yesterday and to celebrate, both Gus and Gringo had a little extra something mixed in with their dinner - along with some much needed hot water. Both boys LOVED their "treat".