Wednesday, Day 14 of Abscessing

Today is day number 14 of the second round of abscessing. I guess if you were to count from day one, back in August, we're on day number 36. Yikes. That's depressing, when counting from the day it was first diagnosed. Anyways, here's the abscess photos from today. Like ususal, I did a 15 minute espom salt soak followed by a hot pad of Animalintex, cotton, vet wrap and finally topped off with some duct tape.

Gus was a bit embarrassed by the hot pink name tag. Haha. 

I did take some new body conformation shots as well. Just for comparison sake, here's Gus from today:

And here are photos from May 2010. Granted he's in his spring coat - clipped, but weight wise, he was still pretty dang skinny. Just comparing his neck muscles... it's amazing. And the above photos, taken today, show Gus about 6 weeks out of work. He looked a bit better at the end of July, muscle-tone wise.  

Wish Gus still had his mane. Sadly he decided to rub a chunk of it out and it just never grew back right. So we'll see how it grows over the winter. 

I also took new photos of Gus's hooves in general. As usual, they are taken left front to hinds, ending with the right front. 

I already posted this photo above, but note to the left of the abscess - the hoof wall. Doesn't it it look odd? In the pictures posted above (the abscess ones) you can see the odd separation. I'm not entirely sure what's up with that - I plan on leaving a note for J. Then again, why should I even bother when I never get any answers?

 Ugg. Note the flaring of the hoof wall. Yikes. 

And the quarter crack... sheesh, when will it end?

This hind (right) hoof is also flaring badly. For whatever reason this hind has been having more issues flaring then the left, but regardless, IMO, both hinds are flaring badly - and they shouldn't be. Again, the hooves are only at 6 weeks out - Monday when Gus is retrimmed, it'll be 6.5 weeks. 

God, the bottom of his RH looks like a dinner plate. Sheesh!

Underrun heels much? 

Anyways, I think there is not a lot to be desired with these hooves. No telling what I can get the farrier to do. But I'm thinking something needs to change again. Maybe I should run things by the vet? 

Fall Colors

I need to get more photos of Gringo and of course more of Gus sans sheet, but here's a few photos I took the other day of Gus, chilling out in his paddock. Every fall Gus turns this absolutely gorgeous shade of red... hard to explain, but it's a beautiful color. I typically clip Gus every fall, usually by mid-September, but due to the fact that Gus is off, it doesn't make sense to clip him if I'm not able to do any riding.

So, without any further ado, here are the photos.

I definitely need to get some more photos, but sans the sheet. The sheet hides so much.

I was also able to take some photos of Kherrosel the other day. I'll see if I can somehow sneak some photos of his summer sores, but imagine this. Raw meat on a joint. A joint that moves CONSTANTLY. That's what Kherro's wounds look like and the whereabouts as well. Poor guy. He was in such pain that he didn't even eat. That's part of the reason why he's skin and bones. He's looking a lot better though and has his appetite back as well.

Here's a few photos that I took of Kherro the other day. He's bandaged, wrapped and wearing Cashel fly wraps as well. Better then 24/7 fly sheet, neck cover, belly band, leg wraps and a fly mask AND a screened in stall. Sometimes things aren't better in Florida.

Such a pretty boy. I'm hoping for B's sake that he makes a full recovery, well I suppose for Kherrosel's sake as well. He deserves better then this.  I'll do updates as I can, with Kherro's progress.

Hoof Pictures, again

I was finally able to make it out to the in-laws this past Friday. I kinda killed two birds with one stone - saw Gringo and took photos of his hooves (about 9 days post-trim) and picked up feed for Gus.

So, here's the photos I took this past Friday. As usual, the are taken in order of left front, left rear, right rear and right front.

I'm still not overly pleased with the oblong-looking hooves. It's fairly evident in all the sole shots that I took - though I'm thinking that I like how his hinds look this time around. I guess we'll see how things look about 5 more weeks down the road. I do not want to wait until 8 weeks have passed... that's just about two weeks too long.

I thought that I had kept the photo of my "assistant" from the hoof photo shoot, but it doesn't look like I uploaded it with the others. One of my MIL's rootsters decided to give pointers. Was pretty funny to have a rooster "cockadoodle-doodling" above me as I was taking pictures.

Happy LABOR Day!

So, Labor Day should be a day of some good ol' fashioned R & R (rest and relaxation), right? Well, after a long 3-day weekend (finally, first one all summer!) I finally had a chance today to go out and see the boys. I saw Gus first, but he'll get his own post here in a few minutes. Gringo first.

I haven't been out to see Gringo in a bit, probably about 10 days or so. But all in all, he seems to be doing great. I think he truly is a bit bored with life. All he does is eat, sleep, p & p. It's a life of leisure, if you ask me, but I truly think he'd enjoy doing more with himself. Needless to say, my MIL agrees but I just don't have the guts to get up on Gringo, once we're back to that point. She insists that my husband can get up on Gringo, or better yet, his best friend. The fact of the matter is, I don't want anyone I know getting up on Gringo that I know personally... god forbid he does something stupid again, I just don't want anyone to get hurt. I wouldn't want a professional to get hurt either, but they "break" horses for a living, so would carry (I would hope anyways) adequate liability/accident insurance. I would just feel better if I was someone else getting on Gringo for the first time.

Today, Gringo got a good grooming and that was it. I had wanted to do some work with him, but I was a bit overdressed (had a hoodie on from this morning, it was a breezy 49 degrees when I got up) and just anxious to get back home.

On Wednesday morning Gringo is getting his hooves trimmed again. He is 8 weeks out on Wednesday and I think I waited two weeks too long. He's really long and has a lot of breakage going on, especially with the RH. I'm planning on talking to L, the farrier, to see about bringing the toes back further. They are just too long. See for yourself.

A close up of the RH crack/chip.

It seems to me, but I'm no hoof expert, that Gringo's heels are a bit contracted and he's flaring, badly. Mind you he's sound on these hooves, but they certainly aren't pretty to look at. Uggh.

I ended up grooming him outside today as well and took the opportunity to get some good body shots. Or attempt to get some body shots. I accidentally deleted one of the side shots, so here goes.

Gringo is still eating ~ 1/3cup of alfalfa pellets daily along with his supps. He is still getting MagOx 56%, Mega Cell and MSM. Couldn't tell you how much hay he's getting, but I know my MIL is still supplementing hay, and the pasture has been FABULOUS this year. So, he's still a fattie... only so much I can do though regarding that (and she won't listen re: the hay situation).

Anyways, nothing else new regarding Gringo. He's feeling good and looking fairly good. Just need to see what we can do regarding his hooves. Hopefully we can get working on those.