Sunday, September 28, 2008

Not Again!

When I walk out the back door in the morning to feed the horses, I look to see if two beautiful heads are sticking out of the Dutch doors of the barn. This morning, they weren’t there. I went to the tack room to get the food, hoping that the horses would be looking out for me when I came back out.

Silk was there, but no Siete. Siete is always the first one to greet me. I approached her stall with deep dread. I wished I had my cell phone with me. I prayed. I asked Silk what’s going on with her baby. When I saw Siete, she was lying down but not colicking, thank God. She had a really hard time standing up because her back left leg was very lame. Here we go again, a hoof abscess.

While I was really bummed out, I was also relieved that I knew what was wrong and what I needed to do. I called the farrier. He’s coming first thing Monday morning to open it up and drain it. I pulled out the hoof boot, loaded it up with an Animalintex poultice, and gave Siete a little banamine.
It was 6:30 on a Sunday morning, so there was no one around to help me hold her. I couldn’t get the little horse to walk out of her stall. I decided to just do the best I could and cleaned the hoof. She put it down and got dirt on it again, but I just pulled the medicine boot on and tightened it up. I wished I had two extra hands. Siete was one unhappy little horse. I decided that I’d give her some hay and crawl back to the house for a cup of coffee. A half hour later, I came out to find her in Silk’s stall, getting comfort from her mommy.

Two hours later, she was walking around putting weight on the foot that was in the boot. This afternoon, I was able to move her into the pasture so I could clean the barn and lay down some new shavings. I know it could be much worse, but here we go again.

8 comments:

Deejbrown said...

Oi vay. Wish I could be those extra hands. It would help us both.

Grey Horse Matters said...

Oh no not again. Poor Siete, I feel so bad for her. Hopefully, after the farrier drains it tomorrow it will feel much better and heal quickly.

Carolynn Anctil said...

Poor girl! I'm glad to hear that your ministrations helped her feel better though.

billie said...

Oh, no... I'm sorry she's dealing with this again. Sending good thoughts.

billie said...

Victoria, I was just on COTH and noticed a thread under Horse Care that is titled "Osteomyelitis/Chronic Abscessing" - and read through it to see what they were discussing.

There are a number of different things in the thread that might be worth discussing with your vet if you haven't already done so. Just wanted to pass it on!

Pony Girl said...

I am sorry to hear that about Siete! After seeing my sister go through a hoof abscess with her mare, I know the amount of work that goes into it's care, and, how hard it is no the horse. It takes a patient horse to allow all that fussing and medicating! Hang in there.
As to the "here we go again..." that appears to be my m.o. these days as well, as my spotted pill remains a challege to catch! Thanks for your kind words in the matter, too, I will check into the clicker training! :)

Anonymous said...

So sorry to hear that, but so glad that she was not collicking!

Unknown said...

We always worry when a horse does not go well. I hope now the healing is in a good way.
Thank you for having come and see my pictures. I'll come back, more especially on the week end because the week days are often too short for me to do all I have to do.
See you soon.