Goodbye Curly

I'm too sad to write anything more....

Abscess update

Got a call from the barn manager last night - Curly appeared to be doing worse.

After rushing out there again, I re-cleaned the hoof and we put him into his stall, adding a gate across the run so that he was forced to stay out of the mud for the night. Curly was NOT HAPPY with this arrangement.

The farrier arrived bright and early this morning to trim both boys' hooves. Curly was still a 3-legged horse, though, so there was no way his could get trimmed. Mike tried to determine just what the heck was going on with Curly but he wasn't able to find anything else.

So after we finished up with Monte's pedicure, I hauled Curly off to the vet. The vet's office was totally packed today so she squeezed Curly's care in between other appointments. She took some x-rays of his hoof and found a pocket of infection that she was then able to open up. And it was indeed related to that crack I had noticed on Saturday on the outside of his hoof.

When she sliced into the area black pus, and then blood, came out - YUCK! They had to sedate and then do 2 nerve blocks on Curly in order to accomplish this and she still wasn't able to make him comfortable enough to open the abscess up completely. The doctor medicated and wrapped the hoof up after they were done and then gave the poor boy some bute. He was not feeling too good after the whole ordeal.

Curly is spending the night at the vet's office. I'll pick him up early tomorrow morning. Crossing my fingers that he's feeling much less pain now.

Curly the 3-legged horse

I ended up calling the farrier out yesterday. Curly looked miserable and I just had to do something to make him feel better.

After a little investigation and a bit of shaving on the bottom of his hoof, what appears to be a drain hole was found. Didn't see anything come flowing out but we are hopeful that by opening up the hole to the surface the pressure in the hoof will now be released.

I packed the area with an epsom salt poultice, put the medicine boot on and led the poor horse back to his stall.

I'll go out again this morning to check and re-clean the hoof. Crossing my fingers that he's doing better today.

Another abscess?

E is sick. High fevers (101 - 102), sore throat, fainted on Saturday (That was scary! You try catching someone taller than you as they collapse to the floor!).

We had previously purchased tickets to a local fundraiser/banquet for Saturday evening. Since dinner was already paid for, hubby and I decided to pop in, eat dinner and head out before the auction fun began. Just as we sit down to eat, my phone rings.

Our barn manager is worried. Curly is laying down in the field and won't get up. Colic? Injury somewhere? She can't tell at this point.

So I jump in the car (leaving hubby at the banquet) and rush to the barn. By the time I arrive Curly has successfully made it to the tie bar on the side of the barn. But it is obvious it took some effort. The poor boy won't put any weight on his right hind hoof, which makes us all immediately suspect that there is an abscess forming even though we don't see anything on the hoof yet. Curly doesn't respond to any pressure with the calipers, either, but abscess is still our best guess.

I apply an epsom salt poultice, wrap it up and put on the medicine boot we have. Curly is (painfully) lead to the round pen for the night and given some bute to help with the pain. It just breaks my heart to see him hurt so much.

Since I'm still in my steppin' out clothes, and hubby is still at the banquet, I head back to dinner and then home to my sick child (who still has a fever over 100). I'm exhausted and my eyelid is twitching - a little stress, perhaps? :-)

My wonderful barn mangers checked on Curly several times throughout the night; he seemed to be doing okay - or was at least standing the whole time! When I arrived Sunday morning I took off the poultice. It smelled pretty bad but I didn't find any obvious drainage hole. Since he was moving with only a slight limp, I decided to let him go on out to the field for the day. He was able to use the hoof, but we could see that it was tender.

I checked on Curly a second time yesterday afternoon, re-cleaned the hoof and soaked it in a bucket of water and epsom salt. I didn't find anything that looked like his previous abscesses, but there is a crack on the outside of his hoof, with a horizontal crack at the top of it. It may be that the abscess is draining from this spot.

Throughout this whole ordeal I've watched Curly's face and eyes. I want to know what he looks like when I KNOW he is in pain so that I can be a better judge of days when I think he may be but I am not entirely sure. And here's the weird thing - his eyes and demeanor during the last two days have been exactly the same as they always are. He has a slightly worried look over his sweet, dark eyes. And he's the same gentle dope that he usually is - sometimes pushy, but generally trying to do what ever it is you're asking. What does this say about his general pain level? I wish he could tell me more clearly....

The farrier is already scheduled to come out on Thursday. Unless there is some drastic change, we'll just keep that appointment rather than call him in early to take care of this. In the meantime, I'll be going out to clean and soak his hoof several times each day.

Vaulting

E's Pony Club had a vaulting lesson today. The owner of Happy Horses Riding School brought out two of her lesson horses and taught the club members how to vault onto the animals, do scissor kicks, mills (turning around on the horse) and other tricks. Before we arrived, E had imagined a pretty simple lesson in which they might vault on and turn around on a horse that is walking. She quickly discovered that they were in for much, much more!

Here's a bunch of pics from today:

Waiting patiently to take a turn.

E learns to balance on Bubbles, the Belgium.

We were teasing E that she finally was riding a horse that was the right size for her! ;)

Riding double, learning to stand.

Trying to coordinate swinging legs around so that both riders end up backwards.

This is when they really needed helmets - to protect their heads from swinging feet!

By the end of the lesson they were doing tricks at both a trot and a canter. Tons of fun!

Ouch!

The following was said by daughter E, last weekend:

"Should we put you down, too, because your back hurts?"

A hard decision just gets harder and harder....

And the chiropractor says....

We finally had the chiropractor come out to work with Curly on Thursday afternoon. She found a couple of painful spots at the top of his head/neck, as well as further along his neck, a couple of ribs out of place, and then a spot on his right hind leg that gave her a bit of concern. She said it felt like something was pinching some nerves back there (midway down his leg) - or something like that. I have to admit that we talked about so many things that some of it is now a jumble in my head.

Anyway, she manipulated his body a bit and said that perhaps she might be able to help him. But perhaps not. She really isn't sure that his physical ailments can be fixed - but also offered that she didn't think it was time to give up on him yet either. That fact that Curly is a generally kind and well-behaved horse makes everyone who comes in contact with him want to help the big guy out.

We talked about what's been going on and Curly's conformation (not all that good) and what this might mean for his future ride-ability. She felt that he probably can be brought back to being strong enough to handle child-sized riders, but she is not so certain about his ability to ever being able to handle an adult's weight. The way his legs cross over in the back has created prolonged strain on is hips and back. And there may be permanent damage.

But all of this is just supposition at this point - we really won't know what Curly will be capable of until we start trying him out.

So, I've asked her to work with him each time she comes out to the barn (every 4 to 6 weeks). I will be more aggressive in our ground work, trying to strengthen his back and bring him up to a better level of fitness in general. And then we try riding again.

Now I just need to find an experienced, light-weight rider..... ;)