Crossing my fingers

Curly has been given a new spot to call home at the horse barn. Our barn manager has moved him into his very own 1/4 acre pasture - which means less mud and surprisingly fewer rocks as well. There is no shelter there, but one end of the area is next to a barn and has a few trees. These should provide some relief from wind and light rains. It's a pretty nice spot and I'm sincerely hoping the new environment will help us mitigate any future hoof problems. Curly is definitely enjoying the added space.

At the moment, he has this pasture to himself, but other horses may be turned out with him on occasion. I think this will also be great for our guy.

So I'm crossing my fingers that the healthier environment and freedom the small pasture provides will be enough to keep him sound through the winter.

Wish list

After tonight's visit to the barn, my wish list now includes a nice dry, rock-free pasture for my horse to live in.

Mud season has arrived and "Lake Curly" is occupying a large portion of our guy's run.

Sound?

I've been visiting Curly every other day, to clean both his stall and his hoof. We've become quite skilled at the whole Epsom salt solution in the soaking boot thing. The hardest part is getting him clean enough to soak the hoof - mud season is beginning around here and he's a mess.

Anyway, during last night's visit Curly walked normally all around his dry lot and seemed very much his old self. I think we may be through this latest bout of lameness. And an abscess never did appear on that right front hoof.

E was invited on three separate trail rides last weekend. They were all given to her as birthday presents - a wonderful present, I'd say! She will go on the first one this Saturday...and she may even get to ride Curly rather than borrowing a friend's horse. I might get to go too, riding my old friend Q.

Keeping my fingers crossed that Curly stays healthy.

And behind door number 3...

...we have yet another abscess!

I went to clean yesterday and discovered that Curly was barely moving - again! I immediately called the vet and made an appointment for this afternoon. Poor Curly was in so much pain when I took him out to the trailer - the short walk actually made him sweat.

When we arrived at the vet office, the doctor agreed that the abscess on the left front hoof is healing up as it should and that my course of soaking/Betadine was the right thing to do. The vet then tested his right front hoof but could not locate any weak spot where an abscess was likely to come through. He's still pretty sure that is what is causing this newest bout of lameness, though. I am expecting to see another oozing wound like the last one, at the heel bulb. As far as I'm concerned, that's an okay place for this thing to erupt.

We are doing another round of Bute to help Curly with his pain and if the abscess doesn't surface by Friday, I'll take him back to the vet to reassess the situation.

So what's causing all these hoof and abscess problems? Well, Curly has always been a bit tender-footed. And there are bunches of stones out at the barn - it used to be a river bottom. Perhaps those things combined are doing this. Or perhaps it's just rotten luck.

Will shoeing the horse be the solution? I wonder....

Another Abscess

I've been home sick with a flu bug, so I wasn't able to go out to the barn yesterday. When E went out on Friday with her grandpa J, Curly was not moving at all. Today, however, he was getting around pretty well. When E cleaned out his hooves, she discovered a small puss-filled wound on the fleshy part of his left front heel.

Uncleaned abscess, on the left side at the hairline.

So it appears that what we thought was a pulled muscle was actually an abscess that hadn't come through yet. Now that it is draining, Curly is in much less pain. I put an Epsom salt poultice on the spot for 30 minutes or so to draw out any remaining infection and then flushed out the wound with some Betadine. We'll repeat this process over the next several days.

Vet wrap bandage holding poultice in place

This abscess is soooooo much easier to care for than last winter's. It's in a better spot, not as large and just plan easier to keep clean. He'll be ready to ride again in no time at all!

I suppose I should retract my earlier insult and state that my horse may not be such an idiot after all. :-)

And follow up the retraction by saying that he was actually quite patient during all my ministrations today. What a good boy.

My idiot horse

Don't get me wrong - I really do love the guy - but sometimes he is just such an idiot! He has finally gotten through all his previous lameness problems (shoulder inflamation, tender hoof/frog) and yesterday was to be E's first lesson on him since June. This was kinda important because she's become really afraid to ride him and we all know that the only reason he's been so naughty with her is lack of use.

Anyway, we get out to the barn to clean on Thursday and guess who's barely walking??? The big dork had been playing with some of his horse buddies, racing around and bucking, and it appears he has pulled a muscle on his left front leg.

We are using Bute to help him with his pain and hope that this has resolved itself by Monday. If not, I'll take him into the vet to have the leg looked at.

There are two horses that we may consider this next week. One, Serrano, is an older TB/QH cross who's never done any arena work but is supposedly wonderful out on the trails. My concern with him, however, is that he might find the arena riding we often do way too boring. The second horse, Lottie, is an older mare who has done 4-H, trail riding, lesson horse - well, just about anything we would consider doing, really. She's little - about 14.3 hands - and fat, but cute. Both horses are sound and appear to be great beginner horses. Our friend who is helping us find these animals agrees that E deserves an animal that will be easy. She's had to work hard for a long time already and it's only fair that she have some easy fun now!

I'll keep you updated....

Conquering fear

We spent a few hours out at the barn yesterday, cleaning & doctoring and just generally enjoying the beautiful fall day. E took Curly into the round pen for a long while to exercise him and to make sure he was attending to her.

I wanted her to ride him - which she eventually did - but she was very frightened. All she could think about was her last ride and getting bucked. After much talking and encouragement, E managed to get up in the saddle and go around the arena at a slow pace for 30 minutes. She was scared the whole time.

But she didn't want to get off, either, because she felt like she should be working him. Only she didn't feel confident enough to actually work him. The ride ended in tears.

E will begin lessons again to help her get over these new-found fears. She says she still really wants to ride, only that she doesn't trust Curly. Understandable, really.

But she still loves him.

I have begun to ask around for a horse to lease. We need to find something that will work for her....soon.