We had a couple of injuries this weekend. One horse and one non-horse. Saturday was a Westernaires day. We had to be thee at 6:30am and didn't leave till about 2:30. Long day. Especially since the day before was a grooming night so we didn't get to bed until 11:00 and we had to be up at five to feed and load up the trailer. But we were the very first trailer to show up so we got the best sparking space. That is kind of nice.
Showing posts with label Injuries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Injuries. Show all posts
Monday, September 26, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Beamer Decides He Dosn't Like the Trailer
I should have figured things were going to good to last. The horses were getting into and out of the trailer with no problems, we were having fun at Westernaires and enjoying watching the horses in the back yard.
Then one day, for no apparent or particular reason we can find, Beamer decided he didn't like riding in the trailer. Specifically, he did not like making left hand turns. One day on the way to Westernaires we were making a left hand turn and we felt all kinds of stomping in the trailer. It stopped as soon as we were going straight again but the next left hand turn we made was also accompanied by a lot of stomping. We didn't think to much about it and continued on our way.
When we got to Westernaires we opened the door and were greeted with a bloody trailer. During all that stomping Beamer had managed to break a few of the boards on the side of the trailer and proceeded to knock a chunk off of his coronet band on his left rear hoof. Swell. We cleaned it up a bit and but some tripple antibiotic ointment on it and Kimi rode the rail that day (she sat on the side and watched the other girls ride.) We took Beamer home and called the vet for advise. They came out pretty quick and I got a rather interesting lesson in coronet band injuries. Turns out, antibiotic ointment will cause the coronet band to produce skin cells. The doc had us use straight iodine on the injury and the irritation the iodine causes to the area causes the coronet band to produce hoof wall. Pretty cool. He was not lame at all so we gave him about a week of stall rest and sure enough, at the end of the week the coronet band was healed over. We were VERY lucky with this injury as he didn't damage the coronet band itself, he only scraped the skin cover the band off. He healed fine.
But he was still dancing in the trailer and we didn't want another injury. Naturally, the solution was shipping boots. We got shipping boots and the first time we put them on him we laughed ourselves silly watching Beamer high step and shake his legs in an effort to get the shipping boots off. We bought some cheap shipping boots but they did protect his legs. For a short while. Until he pretty well shredded them up in the trailer.
About this time there was a parade we had to go to. I was out of town so one of the other dads pick up Kumi and Beamer and headed off to the parade. I don't remember exactly why Beamer was not wearing his shipping boots but I do remember that he scraped the coronet band on his right front hoof. Well, at least we knew what to do this time and we still had the iodine from the first time. Again, we were lucky and there was no damage to the coronet tissue itself.
We had to do something else so we bought a better pair of shipping boots. These did protect his legs but he still danced around in the trailer a lot. We figured it was only a matter of time until he hurt something else so off to Craig's List to do a little trailer shopping. We found a nice two horse slant load bumper pull by Trails West Trailers. The price wasn't to bad so we went ahead and bought it. It has a much larger tack room which is really nice for organizing and we have even used it as a changing room.
The horses had no trouble loading and unloading with the new trailer. But Beamer kept dancing. So we kept Beamer in shipping boots. He hates those things to this day. We weren't sure what to do to get him to calm down in the trailer. And then, one day, he quit. He just quit. We don't need to put shipping boots on him now because he stands quietly in the trailer for the whole ride. We may never know what set him off and I hope he doesn't start again. But just in case, the shipping boots are in the trailer tack room, waiting patiently for the day when Beamer decides the trailer is going to eat him.
Then one day, for no apparent or particular reason we can find, Beamer decided he didn't like riding in the trailer. Specifically, he did not like making left hand turns. One day on the way to Westernaires we were making a left hand turn and we felt all kinds of stomping in the trailer. It stopped as soon as we were going straight again but the next left hand turn we made was also accompanied by a lot of stomping. We didn't think to much about it and continued on our way.
When we got to Westernaires we opened the door and were greeted with a bloody trailer. During all that stomping Beamer had managed to break a few of the boards on the side of the trailer and proceeded to knock a chunk off of his coronet band on his left rear hoof. Swell. We cleaned it up a bit and but some tripple antibiotic ointment on it and Kimi rode the rail that day (she sat on the side and watched the other girls ride.) We took Beamer home and called the vet for advise. They came out pretty quick and I got a rather interesting lesson in coronet band injuries. Turns out, antibiotic ointment will cause the coronet band to produce skin cells. The doc had us use straight iodine on the injury and the irritation the iodine causes to the area causes the coronet band to produce hoof wall. Pretty cool. He was not lame at all so we gave him about a week of stall rest and sure enough, at the end of the week the coronet band was healed over. We were VERY lucky with this injury as he didn't damage the coronet band itself, he only scraped the skin cover the band off. He healed fine.
But he was still dancing in the trailer and we didn't want another injury. Naturally, the solution was shipping boots. We got shipping boots and the first time we put them on him we laughed ourselves silly watching Beamer high step and shake his legs in an effort to get the shipping boots off. We bought some cheap shipping boots but they did protect his legs. For a short while. Until he pretty well shredded them up in the trailer.
About this time there was a parade we had to go to. I was out of town so one of the other dads pick up Kumi and Beamer and headed off to the parade. I don't remember exactly why Beamer was not wearing his shipping boots but I do remember that he scraped the coronet band on his right front hoof. Well, at least we knew what to do this time and we still had the iodine from the first time. Again, we were lucky and there was no damage to the coronet tissue itself.
We had to do something else so we bought a better pair of shipping boots. These did protect his legs but he still danced around in the trailer a lot. We figured it was only a matter of time until he hurt something else so off to Craig's List to do a little trailer shopping. We found a nice two horse slant load bumper pull by Trails West Trailers. The price wasn't to bad so we went ahead and bought it. It has a much larger tack room which is really nice for organizing and we have even used it as a changing room.
The horses had no trouble loading and unloading with the new trailer. But Beamer kept dancing. So we kept Beamer in shipping boots. He hates those things to this day. We weren't sure what to do to get him to calm down in the trailer. And then, one day, he quit. He just quit. We don't need to put shipping boots on him now because he stands quietly in the trailer for the whole ride. We may never know what set him off and I hope he doesn't start again. But just in case, the shipping boots are in the trailer tack room, waiting patiently for the day when Beamer decides the trailer is going to eat him.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Finding Our Second Horse Mariah or How Not to Buy a Horse
The arrogance of guys sometimes surprises me and I'm a guy. We have had one horse for over a year now. If ridden him for a total of maybe 5 hours but have spent a fair amount of time grooming him. We have learned how to get him into the trailer and hauled him back and fort to Westernaires without any troubles. I am now a horse expert! (Anybody hear reality lining up to administer a full body hockey style reality check?) We have a new house and it is now time to find a second horse.
We actually have few criteria for a second horse. We want a horse with enough training on it so that The Instigator's friends and other non-horse type people can ride it. We want one that is healthy and sound (well, duh!) and we want one we can afford. And since we are horse experts now, our vast knowledge and a vet check is all we need to find the perfect horse. (Reality is skating a bit faster now and starting to line up for that reality check).
My niece found a Craig's Listad for a chestnut Morgan. Cute pictures, nice description and, most important to me, the price was right. So we hop into the car and off we go to see her. Here is a picture taken the first day we met her.
Not the best picture for conformation but since I didn't know anything about conformation (and I am the self-proclaimed horse expert!) its the best I've got.
I think we all fell in love with the big brown eyes. Her barn name was Squiggy. I hated it from the moment I heard it. All I could think of was "Laverne & Shirley" and the two guys known as Lenny and Squiggy. So not going to have a horse named Squiggy. But I digress. Squiggy was trained in dressage and had actually won two or three (sorry, don't remember the exact number) of blue ribbons. She obviously had some good training on her.
The owner brought her into a stall and we saddled her up and its time to ride. The owner put a unique piece of tack on the horse that I had never seen before. I asked about it and she told me they were draw reins. They clipped to the D-ring on the saddle and had a short piece of elastic that clipped to the bit. Thus tacked up, we headed off to the arena to ride. The owner hooked up a longe line and longed her a bit in each direction. She was very well behaved and collected. So The Instigator hoped on her back first and away they went. Squiggy was very well behaved and responded nicely. I got on and rode and she was well behaved for me. Tira-Toes rode her and had not a single problem either. We are VERY much licking what we see.
We decided to go ahead with the vet check. The owner was nice enough to transport the horse to the vet we were using for the vet check. She passed with flying colors. Really, the vet struggled to find anything negative to say. The worst thing he could say is that she has a very slight paddle in her front feet as she moves. So we decide to buy her.
The day we go to pick her up I ride her again. We didn't put the draw reins on her at first and she was a bit ill-behaved. That should have been a warning (reality is skating faster now) but we put the draw reins on her and she was a perfectly collected perfectly behaved horse. We took the saddle off and the owner wanted to show me something. She was starting to train Squiggy to pull a carriage. So she hooked up the long lines, ran then through a training surchingle and I got to drive her around the arena. I have to admit that that was a blast. I don't know why I enjoyed it so much but it was fun. She turned easily to cues and controlled her gait. I was really pleased with the horse and glad we bought her. So we took her down to the trailer, the owner loaded her up and Squiggy officially became Mariah. We headed for home. (Ominous skating sounds in the back-ground)
There were no problems getting her home and out of the trailer. We were still boarding at this time and there was a stall right next to Beamer so we put her in. She was nervous, as yo would expect, but no major issues. The next day we let her run around in the arena and roll and just generally get used to her surroundings.
After a couple of weeks, I decided it was time to ride her. The owner had given us her bridle so I put that on and she stood perfectly calm while I did. I did not have a saddle but I did have a bare back pad and since I was not going to do anything other than walk I figured that would be fine. Never mind that this would be the first time in my life I have ridden bare-back. No problem, I'm a horse expert, right? (skate skate skate) I put it on, cinched it down and lead her into the arena. I took her over to the loading blocks and got up on her back.
BOOM! Reality unloads a full body reality check right on me. As soon as I sat down on her back she took off. I wasn't ready for it and the next thing I know I am sliding off and headed for the ground. Since it is a cold January day, the arena, already wet from snow, is frozenhard. I land on my hip and right forearm and it HURTS! (I also think I hurt my shoulder in that fall. For about six months after that fall I could not use my right arm to lift more than maybe five pounds straight out in front of me. I couldn't pick up a gallon of milk. My shoulder blade moved in strange ways that shoulder blades don't normally move in. It didn't hurt unless I tried to pick something up so I never went to the doctor. Don't tell my mother that. She'll scold me. Now, a year later, I am happy to report that my shoulder is essentially back to normal.)
I takes a moment for me to collect myself before I stand up but I do get up. I limp (boy does my hip hurt) to where she is standing, collect the reins and lead her back to the loading blocks. I get back up on her back and she takes off again. But this time I'm ready so I do not come off again. But I quickly learn that I have no meaningful control over her and I jump off her back. Since this was a planned evacuation, I actually land quite neatly on my feet. Our first ride is done. And now, I admit it, I'm a bit scared of getting back on her.
It was not to long after this that it was time to move the horses to the new house. So we load Beamer right up into the trailer and go get Mariah. We take her to the trailer and she will not get in that trailer. She wont go near the trailer. Rather than force the trailering at this point we take Beamer to the new house and then I go back for Mariah. I am going to have to walk her back to the house. We have to be out of the barn today. Fortunately, the new house is only about a mile from the barn so it is not a bad walk.
I had a good plan for getting her home, I was going to walk her along the ditch road to avoid going up a very busy street. We walked all the way down the ditch road, a much longer walk than expected, only to be met with a locked gate and no way around it. Nuts. We walk all the way back to the barn and now our only choice is to walk along the busy street. My one mile walked turned into about a 3 mile walk due to that little detour. Oh well, I really do need the exercise. I am happy to report that we made it home with no further incident. We now have horses in our back yard. Pretty cool.
A few days later I took her to the trailer and tried again to get her into it with no success at all. None. Not even an attempt by her to put a foot it. Hmmm... I may not be the horse expert I considered myself to be. I need help. Its time to find a trainer. Again.
Now, for those of you still keeping tabs, this is where things are standing on the terms of the promise:
Daughter: $900.00 for horse
Dad: $100 dollars for horse
$950 for trailer
$550 for receiver and hitch.
$300 first months boarding
$450 for saddle, breast collar and cinch
$120 for saddle pad
$200 for headstall, reigns and grooming supplies
$75 for miscellaneous sundries such as muck rake and bucket and the like.
$200 for trailer training
$1200 for four months board.
$50 for grain (Grain! Are you kidding me! Why do hay burners need grain! Next up - nutrition)
$1800 for about 6 months more of board.
$50 for 6 months of grain (we figured out a reasonable ration)
$1250 for knee care
$2300 for Mariah.
$3600 for a year of boarding.
And this does not include the house and some of the things that had to happen there. More on that next time.
We actually have few criteria for a second horse. We want a horse with enough training on it so that The Instigator's friends and other non-horse type people can ride it. We want one that is healthy and sound (well, duh!) and we want one we can afford. And since we are horse experts now, our vast knowledge and a vet check is all we need to find the perfect horse. (Reality is skating a bit faster now and starting to line up for that reality check).
My niece found a Craig's Listad for a chestnut Morgan. Cute pictures, nice description and, most important to me, the price was right. So we hop into the car and off we go to see her. Here is a picture taken the first day we met her.
Not the best picture for conformation but since I didn't know anything about conformation (and I am the self-proclaimed horse expert!) its the best I've got.
I think we all fell in love with the big brown eyes. Her barn name was Squiggy. I hated it from the moment I heard it. All I could think of was "Laverne & Shirley" and the two guys known as Lenny and Squiggy. So not going to have a horse named Squiggy. But I digress. Squiggy was trained in dressage and had actually won two or three (sorry, don't remember the exact number) of blue ribbons. She obviously had some good training on her.
The owner brought her into a stall and we saddled her up and its time to ride. The owner put a unique piece of tack on the horse that I had never seen before. I asked about it and she told me they were draw reins. They clipped to the D-ring on the saddle and had a short piece of elastic that clipped to the bit. Thus tacked up, we headed off to the arena to ride. The owner hooked up a longe line and longed her a bit in each direction. She was very well behaved and collected. So The Instigator hoped on her back first and away they went. Squiggy was very well behaved and responded nicely. I got on and rode and she was well behaved for me. Tira-Toes rode her and had not a single problem either. We are VERY much licking what we see.
We decided to go ahead with the vet check. The owner was nice enough to transport the horse to the vet we were using for the vet check. She passed with flying colors. Really, the vet struggled to find anything negative to say. The worst thing he could say is that she has a very slight paddle in her front feet as she moves. So we decide to buy her.
The day we go to pick her up I ride her again. We didn't put the draw reins on her at first and she was a bit ill-behaved. That should have been a warning (reality is skating faster now) but we put the draw reins on her and she was a perfectly collected perfectly behaved horse. We took the saddle off and the owner wanted to show me something. She was starting to train Squiggy to pull a carriage. So she hooked up the long lines, ran then through a training surchingle and I got to drive her around the arena. I have to admit that that was a blast. I don't know why I enjoyed it so much but it was fun. She turned easily to cues and controlled her gait. I was really pleased with the horse and glad we bought her. So we took her down to the trailer, the owner loaded her up and Squiggy officially became Mariah. We headed for home. (Ominous skating sounds in the back-ground)
There were no problems getting her home and out of the trailer. We were still boarding at this time and there was a stall right next to Beamer so we put her in. She was nervous, as yo would expect, but no major issues. The next day we let her run around in the arena and roll and just generally get used to her surroundings.
After a couple of weeks, I decided it was time to ride her. The owner had given us her bridle so I put that on and she stood perfectly calm while I did. I did not have a saddle but I did have a bare back pad and since I was not going to do anything other than walk I figured that would be fine. Never mind that this would be the first time in my life I have ridden bare-back. No problem, I'm a horse expert, right? (skate skate skate) I put it on, cinched it down and lead her into the arena. I took her over to the loading blocks and got up on her back.
BOOM! Reality unloads a full body reality check right on me. As soon as I sat down on her back she took off. I wasn't ready for it and the next thing I know I am sliding off and headed for the ground. Since it is a cold January day, the arena, already wet from snow, is frozenhard. I land on my hip and right forearm and it HURTS! (I also think I hurt my shoulder in that fall. For about six months after that fall I could not use my right arm to lift more than maybe five pounds straight out in front of me. I couldn't pick up a gallon of milk. My shoulder blade moved in strange ways that shoulder blades don't normally move in. It didn't hurt unless I tried to pick something up so I never went to the doctor. Don't tell my mother that. She'll scold me. Now, a year later, I am happy to report that my shoulder is essentially back to normal.)
I takes a moment for me to collect myself before I stand up but I do get up. I limp (boy does my hip hurt) to where she is standing, collect the reins and lead her back to the loading blocks. I get back up on her back and she takes off again. But this time I'm ready so I do not come off again. But I quickly learn that I have no meaningful control over her and I jump off her back. Since this was a planned evacuation, I actually land quite neatly on my feet. Our first ride is done. And now, I admit it, I'm a bit scared of getting back on her.
It was not to long after this that it was time to move the horses to the new house. So we load Beamer right up into the trailer and go get Mariah. We take her to the trailer and she will not get in that trailer. She wont go near the trailer. Rather than force the trailering at this point we take Beamer to the new house and then I go back for Mariah. I am going to have to walk her back to the house. We have to be out of the barn today. Fortunately, the new house is only about a mile from the barn so it is not a bad walk.
I had a good plan for getting her home, I was going to walk her along the ditch road to avoid going up a very busy street. We walked all the way down the ditch road, a much longer walk than expected, only to be met with a locked gate and no way around it. Nuts. We walk all the way back to the barn and now our only choice is to walk along the busy street. My one mile walked turned into about a 3 mile walk due to that little detour. Oh well, I really do need the exercise. I am happy to report that we made it home with no further incident. We now have horses in our back yard. Pretty cool.
A few days later I took her to the trailer and tried again to get her into it with no success at all. None. Not even an attempt by her to put a foot it. Hmmm... I may not be the horse expert I considered myself to be. I need help. Its time to find a trainer. Again.
Now, for those of you still keeping tabs, this is where things are standing on the terms of the promise:
Daughter: $900.00 for horse
Dad: $100 dollars for horse
$950 for trailer
$550 for receiver and hitch.
$300 first months boarding
$450 for saddle, breast collar and cinch
$120 for saddle pad
$200 for headstall, reigns and grooming supplies
$75 for miscellaneous sundries such as muck rake and bucket and the like.
$200 for trailer training
$1200 for four months board.
$50 for grain (Grain! Are you kidding me! Why do hay burners need grain! Next up - nutrition)
$1800 for about 6 months more of board.
$50 for 6 months of grain (we figured out a reasonable ration)
$1250 for knee care
$2300 for Mariah.
$3600 for a year of boarding.
And this does not include the house and some of the things that had to happen there. More on that next time.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
A Routine Emerges and Beamer Gets Hurt
So where were we? We had just learned to get Beamer into the trailer easily and consistently. Life was settling into a bit of a routine albeit and difficult routine. The barn we were boarding at was only about 10 minutes away but it was proving to be extremely difficult to get The Instigator over to work with her horse on a consistent basis. Try as we might, it always seemed that two nights a week was all we could do. At the time, we did not recognize that the universe was conspiring against us.
One night I was getting ready to take Tira-Toes to gymnastics when my phone rang. The Instigator was on the other end and there were tears and fear in her voice. Beamer had tripped and his knee was bloody. Rats. I was able to make arrangements with another parent to take Tira-Toes off to gymnastics and off I went to the barn.
I found the instigator standing with the barn manager and they had rinsed Beamer's knee with an iodine and water mixture. I asked what happened. The Instigator had taken B for a walk. At the end of the road was a bridge over a large irrigation ditch. We had been over this bridge several times so it was not unknown to the horse. But, being an Arabian, this day he spooked as he got to the far side of the bridge. Being a klutzy Arabian, he tripped when he spooked and went down on his front knees. God has a special place in His heart for new horse owners and He likes to make sure we know exactly what we have gotten ourselves into early on so B's knee landed on a sharp rock and cut it open fairly bad. Here is a low quality picture from my cell phone.
So we load him into the trailer with a little fuss and its time to head for the vet. A vet. Slight stumbling block here. We don't have a vet yet. The vet we used for the vet check was to far away to become our regular vet so we ask the other owners around the barn who they use. Golden Animal Hospital emerged as the leader. They were close by so off we went. Timing in these kinds of accidents is everything and our timing was, as to be expected, bad. We called the vet to let them know we were coming but since it was our first time to go there, we didn't know exactly where they were and that lead to a couple of wrong turns. We did get there but after 6:00pm which kicked us from normal hours to emergency after hour care. We were not about to let the knee go until the next day so in we go.
The vet looked at the knee and didn't think it looked to bad. She started to wash it. She took a large syringe and filled it with a water based cleaning solution and squirted it into the open wound. B didn't like that much but stood patiently. The vet sat back on her feet and said, "Hmm." I knew something was amiss instantly. I said, "What?" She was concerned that a lot of the water she injected into the wound did not seem to come back out. She was afraid that the wound was deep enough to have punctured the knee capsule and was concerned that an infection in the actual knee joint was possible. Know, given the little I knew about horses then, I still knew that was bad. The vet gets an IV bag of penicillin. She places one needle in one side of the knee and places another needled in the other side to which she hooked up the bag of antibiotics. The idea is that we would flush the antibiotic through the knee capsule to clean it out. We spent three hours squeezing that large bag and only managed to work about a quarter of it through the joint. My arms hurt for three days after that!
The vet decides that we have done enough so its time to stitch the wound closed. First, she gives B a sedative. He snores when he sleeps. Then she set to work and stitched the knee up. While the sedative wore off she taught us how to properly bandage the knee. We would need to keep in bandaged for about 2 weeks before the stitches came out and then a couple of weeks of stall rest to make sure the knee healed properly. The vet finally sends us home with a little stock of bandaging supplies and a rather large bottle of antibiotics. 18 tablets a day for the next ten days is a lot of pills. Mixed with a bit of applesauce was the only way we could get him to take them.
We had a great time with the bandaging largely because the horse hated it. He stood quietly while we did the bandage and that made it easier. But we had to apply the bandage very tightly to minimize knee movement. So when we let him go he had to try and figure out why his knee would not bend the way it was supposed to. Very amusing. Well that was our first experience with the vet. And our tally at the end of this little adventure is thus:
Okay, so the tally stand thus:
Daughter: $900.00 for horse
Dad: $100 dollars for horse
$950 for trailer
$550 for receiver and hitch.
$300 first months boarding
$450 for saddle, breast collar and cinch
$120 for saddle pad
$200 for headstall, reigns and grooming supplies
$75 for miscellaneous sundries such as muck rake and bucket and the like.
$200 for trailer training
$1200 for four months board.
$50 for grain (Grain! Are you kidding me! Why do hay burners need grain! Next up - nutrition)
$1800 for about 6 months more of board.
$50 for 6 months of grain (we figured out a reasonable ration)
$1250 for knee care
I am pleased to report that B's knee healed fine. There is not even a scar. He did not develope any infections and there have been no lingering issues. Except he is still a klutz.
Last summer, The Instigator gave B a bath. She spent and hour washing and drying and brushing. He looked pretty darn good. She took him back to the pasture and let him go. He went into this beautiful extend trot that only Arabians can do. Head high, chin down and tail almost straight up. With a freshly cleaned main and tail he look good. Really good. And then he tripped and fell down. He rolled over and popped right back up with a look on his face that seemed to say, "That was planned. I'm fine! Nothing to see here!" The look on my face said, "Damn! Time to call the farrier for a trim."
And one more thing to note at this point. I am starting to learn something about myself. I am discovering that I like horses. I have learned that they each have a unique personality. I have learned that I like riding a horse that is not part of tourist trail riding string. Who knew.
One night I was getting ready to take Tira-Toes to gymnastics when my phone rang. The Instigator was on the other end and there were tears and fear in her voice. Beamer had tripped and his knee was bloody. Rats. I was able to make arrangements with another parent to take Tira-Toes off to gymnastics and off I went to the barn.
I found the instigator standing with the barn manager and they had rinsed Beamer's knee with an iodine and water mixture. I asked what happened. The Instigator had taken B for a walk. At the end of the road was a bridge over a large irrigation ditch. We had been over this bridge several times so it was not unknown to the horse. But, being an Arabian, this day he spooked as he got to the far side of the bridge. Being a klutzy Arabian, he tripped when he spooked and went down on his front knees. God has a special place in His heart for new horse owners and He likes to make sure we know exactly what we have gotten ourselves into early on so B's knee landed on a sharp rock and cut it open fairly bad. Here is a low quality picture from my cell phone.
So we load him into the trailer with a little fuss and its time to head for the vet. A vet. Slight stumbling block here. We don't have a vet yet. The vet we used for the vet check was to far away to become our regular vet so we ask the other owners around the barn who they use. Golden Animal Hospital emerged as the leader. They were close by so off we went. Timing in these kinds of accidents is everything and our timing was, as to be expected, bad. We called the vet to let them know we were coming but since it was our first time to go there, we didn't know exactly where they were and that lead to a couple of wrong turns. We did get there but after 6:00pm which kicked us from normal hours to emergency after hour care. We were not about to let the knee go until the next day so in we go.
The vet looked at the knee and didn't think it looked to bad. She started to wash it. She took a large syringe and filled it with a water based cleaning solution and squirted it into the open wound. B didn't like that much but stood patiently. The vet sat back on her feet and said, "Hmm." I knew something was amiss instantly. I said, "What?" She was concerned that a lot of the water she injected into the wound did not seem to come back out. She was afraid that the wound was deep enough to have punctured the knee capsule and was concerned that an infection in the actual knee joint was possible. Know, given the little I knew about horses then, I still knew that was bad. The vet gets an IV bag of penicillin. She places one needle in one side of the knee and places another needled in the other side to which she hooked up the bag of antibiotics. The idea is that we would flush the antibiotic through the knee capsule to clean it out. We spent three hours squeezing that large bag and only managed to work about a quarter of it through the joint. My arms hurt for three days after that!
The vet decides that we have done enough so its time to stitch the wound closed. First, she gives B a sedative. He snores when he sleeps. Then she set to work and stitched the knee up. While the sedative wore off she taught us how to properly bandage the knee. We would need to keep in bandaged for about 2 weeks before the stitches came out and then a couple of weeks of stall rest to make sure the knee healed properly. The vet finally sends us home with a little stock of bandaging supplies and a rather large bottle of antibiotics. 18 tablets a day for the next ten days is a lot of pills. Mixed with a bit of applesauce was the only way we could get him to take them.
We had a great time with the bandaging largely because the horse hated it. He stood quietly while we did the bandage and that made it easier. But we had to apply the bandage very tightly to minimize knee movement. So when we let him go he had to try and figure out why his knee would not bend the way it was supposed to. Very amusing. Well that was our first experience with the vet. And our tally at the end of this little adventure is thus:
Okay, so the tally stand thus:
Daughter: $900.00 for horse
Dad: $100 dollars for horse
$950 for trailer
$550 for receiver and hitch.
$300 first months boarding
$450 for saddle, breast collar and cinch
$120 for saddle pad
$200 for headstall, reigns and grooming supplies
$75 for miscellaneous sundries such as muck rake and bucket and the like.
$200 for trailer training
$1200 for four months board.
$50 for grain (Grain! Are you kidding me! Why do hay burners need grain! Next up - nutrition)
$1800 for about 6 months more of board.
$50 for 6 months of grain (we figured out a reasonable ration)
$1250 for knee care
I am pleased to report that B's knee healed fine. There is not even a scar. He did not develope any infections and there have been no lingering issues. Except he is still a klutz.
Last summer, The Instigator gave B a bath. She spent and hour washing and drying and brushing. He looked pretty darn good. She took him back to the pasture and let him go. He went into this beautiful extend trot that only Arabians can do. Head high, chin down and tail almost straight up. With a freshly cleaned main and tail he look good. Really good. And then he tripped and fell down. He rolled over and popped right back up with a look on his face that seemed to say, "That was planned. I'm fine! Nothing to see here!" The look on my face said, "Damn! Time to call the farrier for a trim."
And one more thing to note at this point. I am starting to learn something about myself. I am discovering that I like horses. I have learned that they each have a unique personality. I have learned that I like riding a horse that is not part of tourist trail riding string. Who knew.
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