Today I bought a shedding blade because my horse is hairy for the first time in his entire life.
Also got horsey shampoo, conditioner, Miracle Groom, fly spray, aaaand a fly mask! Hopefully he keeps it on, he hasn’t worn one since he was a 4 year old because he plays too hard and rips them within a few days. But now that he’s turned out by himself (and will hopefully be turned out with some golden oldies in the near future) I’m hoping he won’t be able to do so much damage.
I’m about to go out to the barn (it’s a 45 minute drive to his rehab place, THIS SUCKS), and see if he’s still as lame as he was Thursday and Friday. If so, we’re calling the vet tomorrow morning, wahoo.
Ha ha ha why is my horse still lame ha ha ha
It seems like his fronts are okay for now, but he’s still off in his hinds. Not significantly lame, but off. I can’t find any swelling, but he’s sensitive in the heels of both of his hind hooves.
Easy fix: He needs hind shoes. Fingers crossed/BEGGING that this is the answer because holy lord that’d be awesome.
Hard fix: Mystery lameness. No one knows. Hoo-ha. Or, back issues/something in his hips.
Calling vet on Monday to ask his opinion on the shoes, then possibly farrier if the vet thinks its a good idea.
If this doesn’t work out, we’re looking at second opinions/equine hospitals for tests/who fucking knows. My mom insists that she’s not giving up on him, no matter how expensive he gets, so that’s a relief I guess… he’s 7 years old, we need to figure this out.
Also, he’s fat. Fat fat fat. Gonna have to back off on that beet pulp/sweet feed combo, because DAMN. Who’d have thought that the ribby little TB-looking thing could suddenly turn into a draft horse after a few months of rest.
Ollie is fat
No one believed me, but it’s true.
Maria came to see him yesterday and couldn’t stop laughing at him.
Pooor fattyyy ponyyy.
He’s almost 100% going to the left now, but still a little shuffle-y going to the right. HOWEVER he’s about a million times better than the last time I was able to go see him, which was about 3 weeks ago. That was when he was noticeably lame at the walk, and the vet came out and diagnosed him with the abscess in his right hind.
Vet says it could take up to six weeks for the “soft spot” in his hoof to heal up completely, and until then, we should just continue with the light riding unless he gets worse. Now that I’m officially home from school, I get to do the rides instead of Kate :) Yay! Pony time!
I wish my horse looked decent in ear bonnets. I used to have one for him, but it covers his only white marking (his little star) and it just makes him kinda look like a goon.
I just want to go home and ride. I keep getting all excited about all these things I want to do with Ollie this summer, but then I remember that he’s still lame and I honestly don’t know if he’ll get better… my summer could be spent crying and walking my horse in circles, only to the left.
Kate has been riding him again for a little over a week, and she said he’s pretty good, but not quite 100%, to the left, and our vet wants her to keep riding him to increase circulation yadda yadda. He told us to take it easy on going to the right while the abscess grows out, as he could have a “soft spot” in his hoof for up to 6 weeks. He’s not going to be sound yet, but he needs to keep being ridden (at the walk).
The optimistic part of me says, “It’s just an abscess! It’ll heal and he’ll be back to normal!” The realistic part of me says, “It probably wasn’t just an abscess, he probably has a million other issues that will surface as soon as this one is healed, we’re never going to be completely sound again.”
At this point, I’m just losing hope of ever having a fully functional Ollie ever again. I’m always going to have to be super careful and super attentive to how he feels, and that’s going to be so difficult because he’s NOT going to feel like normal. He’s out of shape, and it’s so hard for me to figure out if he feels funny because he’s fat and has no muscle or if he feels funny because he’s kinda in pain.
So, yeah. I get all excited about going home in nine days and getting to spend every day at the barn with him getting both of us back on our game, but I’m 99.9% sure that it’s just going to lead to more heartbreak.
sigh
had a phone conversation with my mom about how i need to ride
she mentions that i’ll have access to a bunch of school ponies in a few weeks
“but they’re not MY horse”
):
Ooooh Ollie update!
It was an abscess. A deep, deep abscess that’s definitely been in there for a while. It blew out of the top of his heel (hind right hoof). The vet kept using the term “gravel” and my poor mom didn’t know what it meant, haha. All the information that I have has been relayed through my mom (Kate handled Ollie and the vet called my mom after the appointment). My mom is not a horse person, so I might not have the whole picture.
He’s going to be ouchy for a while still but the vet says he can return to light work on Monday. Kate told me he was only a little bit off today. It’s going to take about 4 weeks for it to really heal up, and the vet seemed kind of concerned with how deep it was. It’s likely that it damaged some tissue inside of his hoof, and he might have a soft spot there for a while. The vet would recommend that we soak the hoof, but considering it’s a hind hoof and my horse is an asshole he knows that’s not really possible, sooo disinfectant sprays it is. If anything seems to get worse, we’re supposed to call him right back out.
Honestly, I don’t mind that we’re going to be iffy for another month. As long as the vet knows what’s going on and is confident, I’m fine. As long as it’s not a mystery lameness. I’ll be home in 3 weeks and then I’ll get to spend every day with my stupid gimpy horse, so it’s okay.
Oh so Ollie update, because I’m taking a break from homework and my mind is on ponies.
The vet came out last monday (4/8) and diagnosed the new lameness in his hind right as an abscess. It was believable, because he was significantly more lame on Sunday than he was on Saturday, and the vet was even able to squeeze some pus out of Ollie’s heel. Kate has been wrapping & treating his hoof every day, but he’s still been on small paddock turnout. The vet said that if he didn’t improve in ten days, to call again.
Welp… he’s not improving. He has a vet appointment for Friday (4/19). I have no idea what they’re going to do. Honestly, I’m skeptical about the abscess diagnosis because while we were at Wilson, he had an issue with the OTHER hind off that the vet there couldn’t diagnose. She took x-rays, couldn’t find anything, and went “Well, it’s probably an abscess.” He never blew anything but mysteriously got better on his own. I have a feeling this is the same situation, but fingers crossed it’s not and we can just fix it and get it over with.
I really don’t know what I’m going to do with this horse anymore. Mysterious, reoccurring lamenesses suck. I just want him better.
Ollie’s vet appointment was moved up to 4:00 today and I am so so so nervous. Why can’t I be there? Why am I in stupid Pennsylvania?
Here’s my dummy horse before we trotted and I figured out he was lame again.
He’s always so so so excited to be ridden in that outdoor. In one corner, you can literally see out over the hills for miles. He always just wants to stop and stare, but if I let him, he gets super excited and starts prancing…
Please get better soon.
