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dancinghorseSo we had a great Camp--our first full-on family group, with all of them riding, interacting with horses, and sharing various chores and adventures in Farm Life. I got a wonderful present: all the gawdawful desert broom cleared out of the yard. And it went well and they all want to come back. The horses agree. Thirty-six hooves up.
Tuesday was the last morning of Camp. As the Campers prepared to leave for the airport, I went out to feed horses and found Pooka standing in a pile of pawed-up dirt with his back leg truly ingeniously wound through the fence. He'd been there at least an hour. Probably not all night or he'd have been in much worse shape. He'd been getting all squealy at the mares in the stalls, and forgot to aim his patented testosterone-fueled full-body explosive kick away from the fence.
I cut him out; the fencing was wrapped securely around his swollen leg, but the cuts and scrapes were minor. What concerned me more was his extreme shakiness and the weakness of the "good" leg that had been holding him up for who knows how long, plus his back was one huge quivering knot.
Vet-emergency time. Talk about your full-on horse experience for the departing Campers. I stowed him safely, with hay he was too shocky to eat, and dealt with the rest of the crew, then put him in a stall with a small amount of soaked hay--if he would eat, he'd also get water on board. And the vet was alerted to a possible colic emergency as well as who knew what kind of damage to the structures of his legs and hindquarters.
The vet arrived after an hour or so. Checked him out thoroughly. Diagnosed a whole lot of muscle soreness, but no tendon or ligament damage, and no imminent colic. Prescribed three days of wrapping to help with the swelling, six days of bute (horse aspirin), and two weeks of stall rest followed by gradual turnout and slow return to work. "And massage therapy would be a good idea." Longterm prognosis: full recovery. Short-term prognosis: Booooored Pooka. And no Roundup for him.
Well. Stall rest was not on. After a mere eight hours he was ready to Kill Things. I made a judgment call and opted for the stallion stall with run at night (no arena until the two weeks are up, which gives me time to do some serious fence repairs) but a truncated version of his usual daytime arrangements: stalls plus the back corral, but with the paddock closed off. That way he could carry on most of his usual routine and be generally less perturbed about the removal of the rest.
Generally. He is not happy about his nighttime jail sentence. Tried to explode out this morning, did passage beside me to his daytime stowage, but settled down once there and has not been pacing or swearing. He was excellent about having his wrap changed. Evidence:
They now make Vetrap in cool colors. He gets to be a Star.
S came yesterday in her capacity as Masseuse to His Highness, and worked on him for an hour. He was an ouchy pony. She agrees that keeping him immobile is not a good idea, but letting him hoo-ha around ad lib isn't genius, either. I'm to do gentle groundwork and wiggly bits in hand for a week or so, then open up the paddock so he can climb the hill and mosey around. Then in two weeks, see how he is and ease him back to work.
He's not as sore today as we feared, though he's not his perfect self yet, either. He won't be going to Sonoita after all, but I'm pondering a possibly even better Plan B, so we'll see. Meanwhile he gets lots of attention, and I'm deciding on who gets ridden in his slot for the next month. I have plenty of volunteers.
Tuesday was the last morning of Camp. As the Campers prepared to leave for the airport, I went out to feed horses and found Pooka standing in a pile of pawed-up dirt with his back leg truly ingeniously wound through the fence. He'd been there at least an hour. Probably not all night or he'd have been in much worse shape. He'd been getting all squealy at the mares in the stalls, and forgot to aim his patented testosterone-fueled full-body explosive kick away from the fence.
I cut him out; the fencing was wrapped securely around his swollen leg, but the cuts and scrapes were minor. What concerned me more was his extreme shakiness and the weakness of the "good" leg that had been holding him up for who knows how long, plus his back was one huge quivering knot.
Vet-emergency time. Talk about your full-on horse experience for the departing Campers. I stowed him safely, with hay he was too shocky to eat, and dealt with the rest of the crew, then put him in a stall with a small amount of soaked hay--if he would eat, he'd also get water on board. And the vet was alerted to a possible colic emergency as well as who knew what kind of damage to the structures of his legs and hindquarters.
The vet arrived after an hour or so. Checked him out thoroughly. Diagnosed a whole lot of muscle soreness, but no tendon or ligament damage, and no imminent colic. Prescribed three days of wrapping to help with the swelling, six days of bute (horse aspirin), and two weeks of stall rest followed by gradual turnout and slow return to work. "And massage therapy would be a good idea." Longterm prognosis: full recovery. Short-term prognosis: Booooored Pooka. And no Roundup for him.
Well. Stall rest was not on. After a mere eight hours he was ready to Kill Things. I made a judgment call and opted for the stallion stall with run at night (no arena until the two weeks are up, which gives me time to do some serious fence repairs) but a truncated version of his usual daytime arrangements: stalls plus the back corral, but with the paddock closed off. That way he could carry on most of his usual routine and be generally less perturbed about the removal of the rest.
Generally. He is not happy about his nighttime jail sentence. Tried to explode out this morning, did passage beside me to his daytime stowage, but settled down once there and has not been pacing or swearing. He was excellent about having his wrap changed. Evidence:
They now make Vetrap in cool colors. He gets to be a Star.
S came yesterday in her capacity as Masseuse to His Highness, and worked on him for an hour. He was an ouchy pony. She agrees that keeping him immobile is not a good idea, but letting him hoo-ha around ad lib isn't genius, either. I'm to do gentle groundwork and wiggly bits in hand for a week or so, then open up the paddock so he can climb the hill and mosey around. Then in two weeks, see how he is and ease him back to work.
He's not as sore today as we feared, though he's not his perfect self yet, either. He won't be going to Sonoita after all, but I'm pondering a possibly even better Plan B, so we'll see. Meanwhile he gets lots of attention, and I'm deciding on who gets ridden in his slot for the next month. I have plenty of volunteers.
