Her body is tired from so much compensation for the painful foot. She has been standing in this spot for most of the morning. Her butt muscles are very fatigued and she has her back feet under her for support. Normally, when relaxed a horses hind feet rest further behind the point of the hip.
When horses stop eating they colic. And I could tell that she had not gone #2 lately. Immediately I dosed her with some strong pain killers, 2 grams of Butte. I pulled her hoof wrap and removed the cotton plug the vet put in the hole of the abscess. The pressure was building up in the hoof again. More discharge poured from it. I think the plug, while good intentioned, was preventing drainage which is BAD...
The plug had Betadine medication on it, an anti bacterial solution. But to prevent further infiltration of bad stuff, I will keep it wrapped with a cotton pad on the surface of the hole so drainage will continue. This is the finished product complete with the silver duct tape which sticks most excellently to the hoof.
Moral support is always good. Sharpie keeps checking in on Gem to make sure she is still annoyed with him enough to pin her ears back. When I checked her a couple hours later she had relieved her self and looks a bit better and she started nibbling her food.I am hoping for better this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I think this is going to be a long recovery.
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13 comments:
Hope Gemma gets to feeling better soon. Poor thing.
That's so sad. I made a sad face for her. :(
Poor horsie. I hope your ministrations help her quickly.
Wowzers! I thought her back end looked a little droopy. And I'm not even a horse expert! Poor baby. What a weekend for you huh? Are you going to have to call the vet back out? Or can you MD this yourself? I found another roll of duct tape. Give Gemma a big carrot and a sugar cube from me! =)
I hope she does continue to improve. I think it's pretty cool that you have the instincts to know what to do to help. I'm sending positive vibes!
Well that poor thing. You could tell in the first picture that she felt so wore out, it was plain in her eye. But in the picture with Sharpie, I think her eye looks happier, relieved-like.
Can you make her some mash? Sometimes they'll eat that pretty good.
ODP-I've been soaking grass pellets in water and adding a bunch of oil to entice her to eat. It's working and this evening things are much better. I was a bit worried though for a while of her actually colicing. I think we were skating a fine line today...
Thanks for everybody's nice comments and concerns.
Oh dear... I hope she feels better soon. Must be difficult for everyone. Horses sure can have lots of problems.
I hope Gemma feels better fast a horse with colic is a bad bad thing.
awe, you can see the weariness on her fact... :(
Abscesses are so painful for our horsey friends :-(. Sorry to hear about Gemma. Are you soaking the foot in Epsom Salts? That usually helps draw out the infection and gives them some relief. After soaking, dry the foot and while your horse is standing on a clean towel, prepare a poultice of Epsom salts and gentle iodine. But I'm sure your vet gave you instructions? I hope she feels better soon!
Oh that makes me so sad! You can just see how bad she is feeling, she just looks depressed poor thing! I hope she gets better and soon!
How is that Gemma mare?...you know, my PBO name is Gemma too!
Thanks for spending the time telling me about your technique Julia. I will try doing this ...She is very, very sensitive and if I may keep from too much pressure on her sides...all the better!! She gets so blame offended! I will start to iniciate this On Thursday
Thanls again...I truly appreciate this advise!
KacyK
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