Monday, March 12, 2012

Somemore Soakings...

I continue to wish I had something exciting to share. The weather this weekend was ridiculously warm and just overall wonderful. We turned our clocks forward which meant the sun didn't set for an extra hour (who cares we all awake to pitch darkness again when it means you get to the barn in daylight). I maddeningly wish that I could be spending time aboard my pony, instead of spending it staring and worrying about him.

Black spots are the pigmentation of his hoof-wall where it wraps around his bars. Bruising is near-er the toe and shows up as a faint pink/reddish marks one on either side of the sole. Still nothing like an abscess showing up...

The BF came out to the barn on Saturday and Sunday to help me with soaking him, and the only perk is watching how well they're getting on. He's learned about leading from the correct side, where the crossties are supposed to clip, as well as getting him to lift his hooves. He even mixes up my epsom salts and slips Moon's boot on. I get to stand and watch and pick up the poop... : P
We trotted him out in the arena late Saturday night and he was sore. Sunday morning we did it on the concrete alley way of the barn and he was still limping. I'm about 90% sure I'm targeting the correct hoof, based on how he limps. It's been a week now (assuming I noticed it the first day he was sore, which could have been longer since we were MIA for the weekend). I'm always left wondering if I've missed something critical and should be getting a vet out for xrays and ultrasounds and all kinds of crazy things.
I realize that the masses are probably correct. Abscess. But nothing is showing up. Someone told me on Sunday that if it was an abscess it would have shown by now, so it's probably a strain from the poo-balls in the paddocks.

My gut disagrees. A strain would have had some sort of heat or swelling and there's really been none of that other then around the coronary band. I don't feel any digital pulse on his hooves, don't see anything that looks like an abscess. But my gut still thinks it's gotta be an abscess. Or so my gut hopes.
We made a trip out to visit the trailer and we've got a TON of snow. Hiking in, the snow was up to my knees (getting into my tall riding boots!) and we couldn't drive the truck in if we wanted. Here's the quad, with really aggressive tires clawing it's way through. It was slow going and even the DOG had to bunny-hop her way through the snow.
Granted, with the hot temps, when we went back later in the evening the snow levels had dropped. The current expected temps for the week means that all the snow could be melted by Saturday. If we don't end up with a flood or TONS of mud, maybe we can drag it out this weekend and I can have a project to divert my attention from my sore pony.


You can probably see from the pics that Mr. Moon has gotten tubby. He needs to be working to get that weight down (and probably cut out some of the grain/treats), but I can't work him and I hate not treating him when he's standing so nicely in the cross-ties, foot-in-boot. I mean, he literally stands still for 30 minutes, gets groomed and nuzzles your hand. That pony deserves a treat. Even if he taped at 1064 lbs, up nearly 70 lbs. from my November taping...


Lastly, my snowman. He's tiny, but he was a welcome smile. Too bad he's likely melted straight away....

4 comments:

  1. I just wanted to let you know that my first gelding had many abscesses (I agree that they are not fun). But one thing that happened with his is that they were often a bit deeper than usual so some never came through the sole. I would soak and soak (and wrap his leg), but they never appeared.

    Then one day I would go there and is leg (to about half way up his cannon bone) was inflammed and hot. It turned out that the abscess would "pop" inwards, hence the inflammation and heat. But I would wrap his leg for a few more days and the heat and inflammation would be gone and he would be sound again.

    The vet said that it happens sometimes based on the shape of the hoof and the initial reason for the abscess.

    So it could happen with Moon.

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  2. Ugh! Annoying...sounds like an abscess to me, but usually they do blow by now...crossing figures that this resolves itself soon!

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  3. I'm sorry to hear he's still sore... and that there's nothing to really tell you what's going on. I don't have a lot of experience with abscesses (thank goodness) but I know some of them can take a really long time to get out of there. If all else fails, you could always have your vet come out and do a block, just so know for sure it's his hoof and not something else.

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  4. Poor old Moon ... I hope this abcess bursts soon. It certainly does sound like an abcess.

    Cute snowman :)

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