OurHorse's Xanga

Where did we go?

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:09:56 GMT

To a new blog spot! You can continue to read about Curly and our adventures together at:

www.ourhorsecurly.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading!

Hoof health update...

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 13:42:30 GMT

Curly is finally putting his full weight on his injured foot. The abscess is healing but there is still a large hole in the bottom of his foot - kinda disturbing to see, actually. We took him to the vet on Monday for a follow-up and were told that all is going as it should. Curly was not too happy to have Dr. Kress digging around his hoof and was not cooperative about holding his leg up. In fact, he nearly kicked the helper in the head! So glad he doesn't react that way to us! But then, we are much gentler in our ministrations than the staff at the vet's office.

Part of our conversation with the vet centered on different bandaging options for Curly's hoof. He goes through the duct tape very quickly and we have been changing it daily to insure that the bottom of his hoof stays as dirt-free as possible. After some brainstorming, Dr. Kress came out with some used IV bags to be used as the layer next to the gauze (they are made of a very heavy plastic). We covered this with tape, hoping that he wouldn't wear through the whole thing so quickly. Seems to have worked pretty good. Curly was able to stay in the same bandage for a few days this week, which was great because we were not able to come out to the barn due to illness around our house.

So, in summary, all is going well. Curly will be ridable in approximately 2 weeks. We are on the mend in the house, as well. And I'm thinking about buying stock in the company that makes duct tape....

Duct-tape bandages...

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:11:18 GMT

Yesterday I learned how to make a bandage out of duct tape for Curly's hoof. What did people do before that stuff was invented?!!

The tape is used to keep dirt and other nasty stuff away from his wound. It is still pretty yucky and he doesn't put much weight on that foot yet. This healing process is going to take months. He was allowed out in the pasture for the first time since going to the vet - and promptly tore the bandage off his hoof. Actually, 'wore through his bandage' would be a better description. He desperately wanted to run around with all his herd-mates! So we will be going to the barn daily to check on the bandage and replace as needed.

E. had her visit with the podiatrist. Her ankle wound is a bit more than a fracture. She broke a little section on the outer bony part and it's going to take a long while to heal completely as well. She has been wearing regular shoes for the past couple of days but is still unable to get her boots on.

So my two gimps were hanging out, getting brushed and learning to french braid yesterday. Curly may be lame at the moment, but he sure did look great!

Punctured frog...

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 23:09:18 GMT

I got back from my trip to Missouri to learn that Curly did not have a pulled hamstring. The vet actually uncovered a puncture wound in his frog. (For those who are wondering what the heck a frog is doing on a horse, it's a part of the underside of the horse's hoof.) We don't know how it got injured. (Sharp rock? Stick? Nail?)

His hoof is now completely wrapped with something similar to duct tape so that it can heal without infection. Curly is currently being confined to his stall and dry-run...and is very bored. Our visit yesterday made him quite happy - the carrots helped, of course!

The tape will be removed on Saturday, new medicine added and then we will re-wrap the injury. He will be out of commission for about another week, which is okay because E. is still out of commission too! She goes to the podiatrist on Monday to take more x-rays. The ankle is still slightly swollen and still pains her in the evenings. She tried to put her boots on yesterday but couldn't point her toes enough to slide the foot into the boot.

Quick injury update...

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 02:58:38 GMT

E.'s ankle has now turned a wonderful shade of purple - dark plum to be exact - and the swelling is still quite significant. She is able to move around fairly well with the boot on but is tired by the end of the school day and does feel some pain.

Curly might have a pulled hamstring. He is favoring his hind right leg but does not appear to be in any great pain. (We can tell because usually the more pain he is in, the closer to his stall he poops. Extreme pain causes him to poop in his actual stall. So far he is pooping near, but not in, his stall.) The barn manager has graciously offered to take him to the vet for us. (He favored this same leg a week or so ago but then appeared to be fine. I don't think the fall caused this injury, just maybe exacerbated it.)

I don't think I can say enough how lucky we are to have A., the barn manager, in our lives. She is a great blessing in so many ways!

A visit to the doctor...

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:31:37 GMT

Yesterday's riding lessons started off well enough but had to be cut short when Curly and E. took a tumble in the arena. About 40 minutes into the lesson Curly stumbled and fell, trapping E.'s left foot and ankle under his body for a few moments. The horse tried valiantly to not hurt his rider but he just couldn't stop from rolling a little. When he fell he pushed himself forward rather than falling naturally to the side, which I'm sure would have been much easier for him.

E. didn't appear to have any broken limbs and chose to get back on Curly after a few minutes to make sure he was okay as well. (He was.) But after two slow turns around the arena she said her ankle hurt too much and decided to call it quits. She immediately found that she couldn't put any weight on her left ankle so we rushed through the process of putting the horse equipment away and got her home to some frozen peas and an elevated leg. Here's what the ankle looked like last night:

Pain woke her up off and on throughout the night and the ankle was even larger this morning so we drove off to the doctor and some xrays. They are not completely sure but they think she has a hairline fracture on her fibia and have given E. a rigid plastic boot contraption to wear for the next week or two.

She is to go see a podiatrist in two weeks to make sure all has healed correctly.

Like any true horse lover, E. was concerned about Curly this morning and had to call the barn manager to find out if he was okay. He's a little sore, we learned, but doing fine overall. We'll be sure to give him a good rubdown and massage. Our guy did great during this whole ordeal. Not only did he truly try to not roll onto E., but he stood quietly by us as we were ministering to her in the arena. It was obvious that he was very nervous, maybe even a little scared, but he did a good job waiting.

Pasture fun...

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:17:31 GMT

When we arrived at the barn yesterday for lessons Curly was out in the farthest part of the pasture, calmly grazing away. He made E. walk all the way out to him to put the halter on - stubborn boy! She then had to perform the fine trick of getting just him out of the gate and keeping the other 6 curious bodies inside. Somehow E. managed it all.

As they walked over to our stall area I noticed that Curly was favoring his back right leg. It appears that he has pulled a muscle while running around the pasture yesterday. So no lesson for E.

R. got up on Q (he's the horse we are considering leasing for this next year.) and attempted to get through her lesson - but not very successfully. A grumpy old horse and a grumpy little girl do not make a good combination.

We will try again in a day or two. Hopefully Curly's leg will be healed up by then...

Birthday treat...

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 05:38:56 GMT

We just got back from a fun afternoon and evening in Dayton. Took Curly, the girls and my mom up to visit friend A.. The girls and A. rode Curly around the pastures surrounding her house until dinner time and then we let him have the rare treat of grazing to his heart's content.

A very yummy chocolate birthday cake ended the celebratory excursion. And Curly got an apple.

Everyone is sleepy and happy.

Happy Again...

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 02:42:35 GMT

Well, we all survived fair and everyone is happy again. Curly was a big grump - and letting everyone know it - until the moment we pulled into the barnyard on Sunday night. As soon as we took him out of the trailer he was back to usual happy self. It was wonderful to have our horse-friend back again.

On the Monday after fair, the farrier came out and removed the shoes on his front hooves. Curly was pretty tender-footed all week long but he was able to keep up in "horse tag" last Saturday. The girls loved playing this game...I'm not sure if the horses did.

E. and Curly had their first post-fair lesson yesterday. She smiled the whole time - I'm sure partly because we let her go helmet-less for the first time. The lesson took place at the fairgrounds instead of our usual location and E. discovered as soon as we arrived that she had left her helmet back at Curly's stall. Rather than cancel, her trainer and I let her ride anyway - after a stern talking-to of course!

A happy pair...

The big event of the day, however, was that this was also little sister R.'s first riding lesson. She has been so excited all week, waiting for the big day to come. She was very serious when the moment arrived and paid close attention to all that her trainer told her. Like E., R. is starting out on Pyro, a 27 year old Arabian who is bullet-proof (and beginner-proof!). He is a great match for new riders - patient (most of the time), fairly slow and totally trained.

R. on Pyro - already looking like she was born there!

I got up on Curly for the first time after the girls had finished their lesson. I was surprised to learn that I am nervous on him! Very nervous, in fact. I think it is because I don't completely trust him to not bolt, plus he felt like he was in constant motion, which can be very unsettling. I have decided that I, too, need to begin lessons on a horse like Pyro. I don't know how E. controls him - it wasn't an easy thing for me and all I tried to do was get him to walk in one direction for half the arena!

Curly on the run - but never in a straight line!

We have the opportunity to lease another horse this year. He's an older trail horse living out at the horse barn - very similar to Pyro, in fact. Still thinking about it though. It might take some serious convincing to get M. to agree that another horse would be a welcome addition to our family.

After lessons, I had a conversation with the trainer about Curly's progress so far this summer. She is very impressed with the quickness and willingness to learn that he has demonstrated thus far. She is convinced that once we get his hoof problems under control and he no longer feels pain, he will be amazing. Should E. choose to put the time into it, Curly could become an amazing 4-H show horse. Curly is just entering the prime of his life and most likely, things are only going to get better!

Cheat grass and sour moods...

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 12:56:58 GMT

Poor Curly! He had a rough day yesterday. E. tried to exercise him right after lunch and he would have none of it. It was almost like watching the Curly she started out on months ago. After 20 minutes of pure struggle, she brought him back to the stall.

We came back to the barn right before dinner and found an "I bite!" sign taped to his stall. We were pretty surprised but could understand the desire to be left alone. All of the horses were a bit anti-social by this point and tired of being poked at by fair-goers.

A few minutes later, however, one of the girls called out that they saw something in his mouth. All us parents went over and two of the braver ones searched his gum line and came out with a handful of "cheat grass" (a.k.a. fox-tails). The poor guy felt so much better almost immediately! He then let us touch him again - as long as we stayed away from his mouth area! - and seemed much more relaxed. Thankfully, there don't appear to be any sores in his mouth.

We checked his remaining hay bale and sure enough, there are bunches of this weed throughout the bale. Needless to say, we will be tossing it.

We get to bring the horses home tonight - at 11:00 p.m.

Can't wait to be back at our own barn!