Life Happens (Third catch-up post)

 This is a long post, but mostly pictures (some of which you may want to fast-forward through). 

Happier times:  Pat, on "Rambler" and me, on "Kate,"  at a poker ride in 2011.

The one bit of disappointment that came up during the spring of 2014 was that my good riding buddy Pat and her husband had decided to pull up stakes and move to Arizona to be closer to their kids.  They quietly put their farm on the market, and were surprised that it sold in just over a week!  Suddenly, Pat was in a whirlwind of preparations for a farm auction and a big move!  She had no time to ride. 

Shortly before they were to head south, but when most of the packing was done, I decided to drag her out for a "farewell ride."  Knowing she wouldn't want to lose an entire day, we chose to stay fairly close to home, and ride at the local "Wild Horse Wind Farm."  It wasn't one of my favorite spots, as there are few trees, but Pat had a little xeroxed map from the visitor center, that showed a four-mile loop that was just about right.

I drove, we got the trailer parked, saddled up, and headed out.  The so-called "trail" petered out less than a mile from the start of our ride, but we were in fairly open sagebrush and had the little topo map and the wind turbines to guide our bush-whacking, so we kept moving.

The "trail" we thought we were following started out in the trees, but soon disappeared.

 About 3/4 of the way around the loop, we were skirting a dry creek bed, headed for what was labeled "the old cow camp."  (A long time local later told me it was a moonshiners' camp, hence the name "Whiskey Dick Creek.")  We had spotted the remnants of an old fence line in the brush on the west side of the draw, so we stayed to the east, side-hilling as we scrambled through the brush.  Pat was leading, on her young horse Chief, and as she cleared the last bit of heavy brambles to break into the grassy clearing that was, we assumed, the cow camp, Kate tripped.  As she jumped forward to regain her balance, I could distinctly hear, uphill from us, the sound of old fence wire pulling through the brush.  I don't know how much of that barbed wire raked its way across her left hind hock, but after her third jump, I semi-voluntarily dismounted as she made her way down to the flat.  By the time she reached the clearing, she was free of the barbed wire, but it was obvious from the blood that we were in big trouble.

WARNING:  GRAPHIC PHOTOS!
If you're at all squeamish about blood you might want to skip quickly over the next 3 or 4 pictures.

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Waiting in the shadow of a turbine for Pat to return with the trailer.  (That's the soaked "dressing" we tried to fashion from a couple of kerchiefs around her ankle, not hide!)

 We tried fashioning a dressing out of two kerchiefs that Pat happened to have, but the bleeding was too much.  By the time I had it tied together, the fabric was saturated with blood and too slippery to stay in place.  Surprisingly, Kate was not lame.  I could see what turned out to be her extensor tendon loose in the wound, but it is not essential for movement.  We were maybe 300 yards below one of the ridgeline roads that service the wind turbines, so we started walking out, letting Kate set the pace, and rest when she needed to.

Cell service was spotty, but at the top of the hill we were able to get through to 911, as well as home.  We never did see the sheriff's department, but Allan was able to get in touch with folks from the riding club on FaceBook, and we had several offers to help.  Also contacted the on-call vet in town (it was 4th of July weekend!) and arranged to meet her at her clinic.  Pat walked out the two miles to get the trailer (we were afraid her young horse might not like leaving Kate, or that Kate might not like being left).  I stripped off her saddle and Kate, Chief and I waited in the shadow of the turbine--it was in the low 90s.  

Once we got to town, Dr. Samantha Howard cleaned up the wound and wrapped it, and started Kate on antibiotics and pain-killers.  Arrangements were made for a friend to haul Pat and her horse home, and Kate and I hit the road east to Washington State University's Veterinary Teaching Hospital, where Dr. Howard had arranged for a team to meet us (in about three hours--WSU is on the opposite side of the state from us).

Dr. Rund was the resident that met us, with a team of about eight vet students.  It was nearing 9:00 PM on the Sunday of a holiday weekend, but they were ready!  The wound stretched about 80% of the way around her leg--they pulled her hide up like a sagging sock to stitch it together.  But there was only a little spot, maybe the size of a half dollar, that was missing hide, so that was a plus.

That's Kate's extensor tendon sticking out.  It had been since the accident, though it would pull under the hide each time she took a step.  The extensor tendon has a redundant "twin" that can take over the job of pulling the toe up during a step, so they weren't too worried about repairing it--there was a good chance it would reattach with scar tissue.

Because the hock is such a mobile joint, the only hope for the wound to heal was to immobilize the leg.  Her *first* cast was fluorescent orange.

Dr. Rund teaching Kate how to swing the leg to the side, in order to move around, on the way to her stall.

After two weeks, the cast was removed, and the stitches taken out.  At this point, Dr. Rund had finished his residency and moved to a practice in Montana (I think), so Kate's care had been transferred to Dr. Claude Ragle, a surgeon at WSU.  Dr. Ragle assessment when the cast came off: "Looks great!  About as good as it could be!"  However, ten minutes later, after removing the stitches, Kate took one step, and the whole site opened back up like a faulty zipper!

So new stitches went in.  Also, it became clear, from Kate's ability to hyper-extend her leg to the rear, that another tendon had been ruptured, either in the original accident, or (as is known to happen) from the two weeks in the cast.  The "pernius tertious" reaches from the stifle to the middle of the cannon bone, and is part of the mechanism that retracts the whole leg, in a zig-zag scissors action, when the horse moves.  This was a more serious loss that the extensor tendon, as it might limit Kate's ability to walk normally.

This time her cast was red, and the plan was to keep it on three weeks.  This was shortened to two and a half weeks, when the cast shifted and began rubbing/irritating both the inside of her hock and the bottom of her pastern, just above the hoof, where it settled.  Also, when they took it off, they initially only removed half of the stitches.

A week later, the rest of the stitches were removed, the leg was wrapped in a bright yellow dressing, and I brought her home, five weeks after she arrived there!

"Are we there yet?"

"Yes, we're home, Kate."  Both getting into the trailer in Pullman, and getting out at home (where I let her turn around for the first time ever), Kate decided the best way to negotiate the trailer step was to "hop" on her good leg.  She would also do this when she was unsure of how to get her injured leg to do what she wanted it to--particularly for tight turns or changes of elevation (stepping over the threshold of her stall).  Otherwise, on a straight, level path, she moved soundly, if awkwardly.

"Home."

Miss Saggy Britches

The biggest danger in the early months was infection.  I got pretty good at changing her dressing every 4-6 days.

Good pink granulation tissue, and, so far, no sign of proud flesh.

The rubs on her pastern and heel from the cast.

The first layer is basically a standing wrap of padding and vet wrap, which serves to keep the upper layer from shifting downwards.

Antibiotic ointment and non-stick dressing go under the next layer.

Elasticon adhesive tape over everything.

Including a good overlap of her hoof and gaskin, to *try* to anchor it in place.

Kate got pretty good at the drill.  So did I.

You can see we made use of every imaginable color of vet wrap.  Also some blue duct tape.

By October the wound was looking pretty good.  Unfortunately, on a couple of occasions Kate would get to farting around and reopen it.

She also developed quite a bit of swelling in her fetlock.  Vet assumes that is was primarily due to the lymphatic system shutting down while the leg was immobile in the cast, and to a lesser extent, in the dressings.

By September the wound probably could have gone without any covering, if the flies weren't still in residence.

Kate had been due for a hoof trim the week after the accident.  At WSU they hadn't felt comfortable making her stand on the leg for a trim for the first few weeks.  Finally, Dr. Ragle gave the go ahead for them to at least trim her fronts.  Upon returning home, in September, our barefoot practitioner, Diedra, was able to do the three other feet normally the first trim.  Kate still wasn't able to flex the injured leg very well, so Diedra just trimmed off the toe with a dremel-like tool.  This was helpful, as Kate was still dragging the toe a bit.  The next time, in late October, we tried getting Kate foot up to the hoof stand. 

What finally worked was to put her front feet up the little slope to the tackroom, and Diedra was able to trim out the sole some.

Looking good.

In October, Dr. Hayden gave us the best birthday present ever:  Kate was allowed out of her stall!  She was fairly well behaved on what hand-walks we did before the weather turned ugly.

And she now had a small pen where she could move around some more.  This additional movement started to reduce the swelling in her lower leg.

We decided to try some laser therapy, on the premise that it would help the scar tissue form is a stronger, more linear fashion.  Unfortunately, although Kate learned how to get in the trailer without the hop, the shifting of travel ended up opening up her would again.  No go!

She did get to move to a bigger stall and pen, but you can see the new blood/drainage.

She had also grown some really thick, curly hair on that leg.  In order to better keep track of the swelling, I decided in November to trim down the hair.

My clippers didn't want to cooperate.

So I made do with scissors.  It's a good thing that Kate and I trust each other!

It didn't look near as bad without all that hair! Her range-of-motion is still pretty limited, but slowly improving.

My wound care at this point consists of Desitin diaper rash ointment--basically zinc oxide with added vitamins A and D.  I have also been rubbing her lower leg down with "Sore-No-More"-- a witch hazel and arnica gel.

Due to my own medical issues, it's hard for me to be outside in the wintertime much beyond the time necessary to do chores.  But January has been unseasonably warm here this year, so last week we went for our first hand walk in awhile.

It started off calm enough...

...but as we got further from home...

...Kate felt like...

...flying!

After a bit, Kate settled down and we had a pleasant, if vigorous, walk.  Same a few days later, without, thankfully, all the "airs-above-the-ground."

I have just this week gained the use of one of my boarders as a pony horse, so after I get to know him a bit better, and Kate builds a little more stamina on our hand-walks, we may start wandering a little farther afield.  Dr. Hayden believes that I may be able to ride her again by this summer.  Considering that this was not a foregone conclusion last summer, we've come a long ways.  It remains to be seen if she will be limited to local trail rides, or if I'll be able to compete her again.  She can step laterally, as required by many obstacles, but still has some trouble with stepping up and down.  Whatever is to come, Kate will always be "home" here with me.

My next, and final, catch-up post will be of some o the other goings-on in the last year.  Then I will try to keep you abreast of Kate's rehab, and the training adventure that Maddie will be embarking on next week.

Kate on Steroids

Had to skip today's KVTR ride, as when I let the girls out last evening, I noticed a large swelling on Kate's belly, remarkably similar to the symptoms of the  [suspected] bite on her udder three years ago.

http://mountaintrailmusic.blogspot.com/2009/04/unique-one-of-kind-kate.html

 This one was more on the flat of her broad tummy, about as big around as a dinner plate, and maybe an inch thick.  When I checked it again this morning, there were two more, though smaller.

Into the vet we went.  Dr. Joan was happy it wasn't an edema, which would have required more detective work to determine the cause.  Because they were all fairly hard, she decided they were hives.  She found one spot that was actually draining, and she suspects that Kate was bit by something--much as was our best guess three years ago.  A shot of steroids, and I'll give her some bute starting tomorrow, to reduce the inflammation.

The swelling has already gone down this evening.

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Now for this week's mountain trail horse training segment:

He forgot Kate's spots!

Medical Update

One of my favorite pics of the girls, summer 2005.

Maddie and I headed into Valley Vet Clinic yesterday to get her teeth done (reason for the original appointment) and check to see if there were any physical reasons for her ongoing, sporadic and unpredictable behaviors.
When Dr. Mark Hayden palpated Maddie's back, she showed nearly zero response.  None.  Compared to Sunday and several other recent days when she visibly shrunk away from my touch.  (I think Dr. Mark is beginning to believe I'm imagining it all...)
 He checked her ability to flex her head and neck, and found nothing of significance, though she was just a bit hesitant lifting her neck straight up.
She was slightly "off" on her left front, on a tight circle, but there was no swelling, and it did not worsen with flexion, so he attributed it to a two-year-old injury in that foot.
Maddie's eyes were clear of any cataracts or uvietus, and her blink response was normal.
 She was a bit overdue for her teeth and had some points that were starting to irritate her cheeks.  (I wish now I had had him do Maddie's teeth earlier, but I didn't want to do it right before the clinic, when I was trying to get her legged up.)  Hopefully her mouth will be considerably more comfortable now.
One unusual thing that we noted was extreme tension in her jaw--Dr. Mark was barely able to open her mouth wide enough with the speculum--we're going to keep an eye on that.  With the hesitation to lift her head up, I think I'll get a chiropractor out to check her out (though last year when we were having similar problems, he didn't find anything significant--maybe I am imagining all this.)
Considering that these problems seem to crop up every spring, I'm starting to wonder about "female problems."  Dr. Mark and I discussed ovarian/hormone possibilities, but with only one very old gelding on the place (who was her weaning time companion, so not a "boy" in her eyes) my mares rarely show obvious heat cycles.  I may try her on some mare/calming supplements, before considering anything as drastic as Regumate or an uterine marble.
All-in-all, it was both a positive and a frustrating visit:  there were no big problems and we decided on a couple of little issues to address; but on the other hand, we couldn't pinpoint any particular physical reason for Maddie to be acting the way she did.  Is this all a behavioral problem?  Have I created holes in Maddie's training that are coming back to bite me now?

Maddie will need a couple of days for her jaw to feel a little better, following the work done yesterday.  I'll look into getting a chiro out here soon, to check her neck, jaw and poll.  And I went ahead and ordered SmartPaks' "Smart Mare" herbal supplement--it should be here next week.  Maddie will need a week or so, I think, for that to effect her system.  The first local ACTHA ride is at the end of April, so I'm thinking Miss Maddie will have a little time off while I get Kate going.
It will NOT be all summer, though, like last year. Although I'm sure I will have some butterflies the first time I step up onto her, I am currently (sitting comfortably in my computer chair) not feeling quite the trepidation just thinking about it, as I did last year.
Maybe because I didn't actually hit the ground this time.  Maybe because I'm determined to work through this.

Madrigal, yearling glamor shot

I'm not ready to give up on my Maddie yet.

A Bit Of A Scare

You might remember our little Arabian boarder, Royal Tardez (aka "RT").

 He took over "baby-sitting" when we lost our Corky a few years back.

He's coming up on 32 (this April), and has always been as healthy as, well, a horse.  Other than a little bit of arthritis and his teeth:  the last two years he's had a little trouble with a couple that were a bit loose, and was getting yucky impactions of feed in his gums.  Vet finally pulled two this last summer, and the rest are worn pretty much to the gum line, so he is pretty much on total senior mush (plus a little beet pulp)--though I always leave some soft grass/alfalfa hay for him free-choice, and he spends lots of time just gumming it into wads that he then spits out.

RT, he do love his mush.

Especially on frosty mornings.

Anyway, last week we had a cold front blow--really blow-- through the Valley.  That evening the herd was all being pretty silly, but it concerned me that RT didn't come streaking in for his dinner, as he usually does, in spite of any shenanigans the girls might be participating in.

When he did come in, he dove into his mush pretty much as usual, though he would stop and look around periodically, and even left the stall once or twice.  I figured that was because of all the wind-blown sounds in the barn, and headed to the house.

The next morning, the wind had died down, but the temps had dropped considerably.  Al didn't notice anything unusual in RT's behavior at breakfast.  (Al feeds in the mornings during winter, due to medical issues that make it risky for me.)  Though he's not horsaii (a born horse person), Al is very observant--it had been he who first noticed when Corky was off a few years ago, also at a breakfast feeding.  So I still didn't have any concerns.

But that evening RT was definitely NQR.  I had to walk out into the [dark!] pasture to find him and persuade him to even come in for dinner.  Then he just poked at it and hardly ate any.  I threw his blanket on, in case he was chilled, checked his temp and respiration--both normal.   He didn't seem to be in any significant pain--no pacing, pawing, or wanting to roll.

I called my vet's after hours number and, after consulting with Dr. Ben, we decided it was a "wait and see" situation, rather than a "come out right now."  I would decide in the morning whether to cancel a rather busy day at work to pull the trailer out of the barn and haul him in.

Called Bri, and also her mom (who would have to help with any vet bills accrued), and apprised them of the situation.  Both agreed that, even if he started feeling better, it would be good to get him in for some basic blood work, to see what might be going on.

At my last-thing check, he had worked through maybe a third of his mush and was standing comfortably gazing out the stall door.

At breakfast, he hadn't eaten any much more, but showed some interest in the fresh, warm batch that I brought him.  Checked on him one more time before leaving for work and he had eaten about half.  I arranged with Hank's wife, Nita, to keep an eye on him throughout the day and call me if she saw him down or anything else unusual.  She also had one of her boys go over at noon and soak another small batch of mush I left for them to give RT.  Called and made two appointments, one for the next afternoon, a Friday, when my commitments at school weren't quite as significant, and one for Saturday morning--If he seemed to be improving, I'd wait until the weekend, when I wouldn't have to cancel anything at school, and we could take our time hooking up the trailer, with the advantage of daylight.

Thursday evening, Nita reported that RT had finished his breakfast by noon, and he had cleaned up the lunch batch when I checked.  He summoned called out to me for dinner and was pacing the fence looking for it in his usual manner--a good sign.  He didn't finish dinner up by the time I finished my other chores, but when I went back out after our dinner, he had--it usually takes him about an hour, so this wasn't atypical.  It was, however, another good sign.  Because the appointment was for 4 PM Friday, and he would have had to stand in a pen all day at the vet clinic if I took him in before work on Friday-- which, in itself would have been pretty traumatic for the old guy--I decided the trip could wait for the weekend.

One thing I noticed in here someplace while I was lovin' on him, was a bit of a knot in his neck muscles on one side.  When I check the other side, there was one there too, to match.  Asking Bri about it, she said he used to get those once in a while back when he was showing, mostly tension, she figured.  I began to wonder if, rather than internal, the problem was possibly that RT had slipped on the slick footing somewhere, and strained some muscles.

Friday was was pretty much business as usual, but I still hauled him (and Misty, to keep him company) in Saturday morning, and Dr. Joan took a look.  When I pulled his blanket, she said she was pleasantly surprised to see his condition--she half expected a gaunt old horse, on his last legs--and that's not how RT looks, thankfully.  The one thing she did note, that I hadn't, was that his gums were a bit pale.  She drew blood for a a general CBC, and some for a mineral screen.  She was wondering if I might be inadvertently over-supplementing RT:  beside his Senior complete feed, he get's the same vitamin/mineral supplement that the girls all get, on the theory that he isn't getting the total recommended ration of Senior (yet).  I had done some research concerning this, because over doing selenium can be toxic pretty easily.  But our soil locally, and therefore our hay, is very deficient in selenium, so I wasn't too worried (nor was Dr. Joan).  We'll see what the test says when it comes back in a couple of weeks.

I also asked if she thought his weight was okay, as the last few weeks I have been looking at him critically, wondering if he was just starting to drop a little weight as winter went on.  He was a little drawn up in the flanks, but that could be due to the week's events.  She felt that the layer of fat over his ribs was sufficient, but that it might be good to add more mush before he did lose any condition.

I have since upped his Senior by 50%, pretty much the full recommended ration for his weight, and dropped part of the vitamin/mineral supplement, (pending the screening test results).  She also suggested adding a dose of Red Cell for possible anemia (the pale gums), and it too has selenium, so I may drop the V/M that the girls get altogether, at least until I cut back his Senior when the spring grass comes up.

Dr. Joan thinks maybe RT did have a mild bout of colic.  She commented that horses, in general, and old horses in particular, are sometimes very stoic about such things, knowing instinctively that if they show weakness, the cougars will get 'em!

At any rate, this week, you wouldn't know anything had been amiss.  RT is back to his normal demanding self:
I want my dinner!
I want my mares!
I want out into my pasture!
(I had locked him in the paddock, to keep him close to the barn and it's lights.)  The basic blood test came back Monday, pretty much as it should look.

Our winter has been so mild until now that RT hasn't even needed his blanket.  In the week since he's been wearing it, however, he has already started rubbing the hair out at the points of his shoulders, as he had last year.  So I decided to try adding some shoulder protection.  I got this jammies hood when I was showing Maddie some, just to help keep her clean between bath and show.

But it's way too big for little RT!

This won't do!

 

Plus, as it works down his face, it pulls off his withers, and I don't want it to rub his mane.

So I altered it.

And a bit more in front, so it doesn't rub there.

In spite of the fact that winter is finally here (we had about a foot of sn*w this last week) RT seems to be back to his normal self.  And I can sleep a little easier.