Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Update on Jaz

After a gorgeous day with temps near 80°, I went to see my Boyz last night at Heather's. Jaz is in one of the front stalls, followed by Poco, then my little buddy Quaker, who also has hoof issues. There are three pregnant mares across the aisle and a several mares in heat in the pasture, so Poco is in rockstar heaven. I brought them out on a lead to eat some fresh grass on the higher ground, which has drained well enough to not be a mess.

I forgot to take pix when we were outside, and decided the mares would not appreciate the flash in the barn. It's not as if y'all don't know what they look like.

While we had Jaz outside, I ran a shedding blade over him and we picked his other three hooves. Two of them don't look bad, but his left front one is pretty nasty. On the other two, the black is a hairline, but this one is thicker. I'm amazed at how crumbly that part of the hoof is. I'm thinking I may have to cowgirlthef*ck up and learn how to use a knife. Yeesh, I scare myself. May also consider doing a hoof supplement for him. Suggestions?

Heather and Nita had soaked Jaz's foot in epsom salts and changed the dressing. Because he is in a nice dry stall, she didn't use the boot. He certainly prefers the duct tape method to the boot, which he kept trying to bang off his foot, albeit unsuccessfully. We removed the bandages and scrubbed the foot with a brush and tea tree oil soap, then soaked it in epsom salts, which Mr. Prissy Foot liked not at all. "Eww! Eww!" I can't really say it looks any better, but my untrained eyes have a difficult time seeing past the craters the vet dug. Heather's eyes and my nose told me it was draining. Jaz is unquestionably more comfortable and putting weight on it. I learned how to do the duct tape and vet wrap method of bandaging.

Jon, the farrier, will be out sometime around Wednesday the 25th to work on him, and I think I will just have him go ahead and do Poco again, too, even though they were last trimmed February 7th. I don't want them on different schedules.

I have paid for a month's boarding. This afternoon I'm going to look for some annual rye to throw while the weather is still too cool to sow Bermuda. Heather says once it takes, it will help hold any Bermuda we sow in place. Also need to pick up some more vet wrap and another roll of duct tape.

Remember how I told you Mike is working nights so was asleep for most of the craziness this weekend? Turns out, he was/is mad at me at how he perceives I handled it. I keep trying to tell him he has no idea of everything that went on! According to him, my decision to take the horses up there stemmed from panic. He says I should have got him up to help. Well, I was damned if I did and damned if I didn't. I love the guy to death, but he'd have bitched the whole time if I had sucked him into the Weekend From Hell. He says he doesn't want anyone to think we're not capable of taking care of the horses, which has absolutely nothing to do with why I took them up there! In my judgment, a clean, dry stall, and competent people in the barn every 2 hours on foal watch, who are willing to care for him is a no brainer! Getting the horses off our wasteland is just an added bonus. From my perspective, he's being pretty darned condescending, so I'm pissed off, too.

Probably will not be able to make it up there again until the weekend. If Mother Nature cooperates, maybe I'll have some foal pix.

10 comments:

Funder said...

Oh man - just caught up on your Horrible Weekend. Abscesses - especially the first one! - are terrifying. I agree, your husband's being a bit of a jerk. Pay him no mind.

Alex said...

I agree with you- if you have it in your power to make healing easier/faster then by all means. do it!

Unknown said...

Sorry you had a crappy weekend - and yeah I am going to have to agree with Alex and Funder, don't validate his "behavior" by reacting to it.

Seems harsh but I am done the same with my hubby and it seems to work, at first he want to pitch a bigger fit because I am not really reacting and then he just drops it and more I don't validate "horsey caused" moodiness the less it comes up.

Sorry you have to deal with along with everything else. I think you made the right decision.

ezra_pandora said...

Men!! You are absolutely right. It's 6 to one, 1/2 dozen to another and you'd be wrong no matter which you pick. Grrr. Like everyone else says, you just have to smile nod and try to change the subject. Lol. I hope Jaz is doing better. Putting weight on in it sounds good, at least you would think it doesn't hurt as much. And peace of mind is DEFINITELY worth a months board :)

C-ingspots said...

Glad to hear Jaz is feeling better. I too just got caught up on your vile weekend. You did just fine, and if something similar happens in the future - you'll be an old-hand by then. Abscesses are a major pain in the ass, but usually nothing more. And just think, what a great topic for your blog post. Lessons in life are always so damned entertaining, not to mention educational. :) You done real good Leah!!

Paint Girl said...

Like Cingspots says, abcesses are a real pain in the you know what! I found out during Fritzy's abcess last June that she has really thin, weak soles so my vet recommended that I put her on a hoof supplement. She told me to use Nu Foot (Not Nu Hoof!). She has been on it for 9 months now. I don't know if there is much of a difference, it is hard to tell with all the mud and wet we have around here. Her abcess was caused by a stone bruise and since she has really flat feet I thought I would keep her shod all year, I use to pull her shoes in the winter since I don't ride much this time of year.
Sorry to hear your husband wasn't to nice about the whole thing. Men can also be a pain in the you know what!

Leah Fry said...

Mr. Fry apologized and has been a real sweetie, just like he is 99% of the time. I think I reacted badly to it because it was out of character for him to be judgmental.

Truth be told, I can be a jerk myself sometimes ;-)

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Gee-sounds like you had a year's worth of bad luck in one weekend. Isn't that how it goes though-when things go wrong...they can just keep going wrong.

I don't involve My Honey in much of my horse stuff. He helps a little bit, if I ask, but I don't often ask, so if I had had the same weekend as you, he would have just nodded and accepted that I could handle it. Which to me, sounds like you handled everything fine!!

And now, you get to hang out at the barn and see new babies...win, win right?;)

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Alls well that ends well. Good for hubby getting that trailer fixed so fast, though. Bet that's a relief.

Here's hoping that Jaz heals up nicely in his new digs.

Lisa

word verification: hayster

Anonymous said...

It will all be good. They are healthy and Jaz is in good hands in a nice, dry stall, where he should be.

Horse crap happens. It even happens to the most experienced folks. I've owned, ridden and trained horses my whole life (lets just say for more than 30 years). I've managed a couple of pretty big show barns and I teach lessons. My mom is a horse vet and I have spent a good portion of time out on horse emergency calls with her and I can do a lot of my own vet work.

But I don't know that I would have noticed a developing abscess until my horse was going lame or the abscess broke through. Especially if your horses are living outside and it's muddy, it's hard to see something like that. I am the first to admit I don't pick my horse's hooves every day. I don't need to, they are barefoot and their feet are healthy.

Don't be so hard on yourself. No one knows everything and no one notices everything right away. That doesn't make them bad horse owners or idiots.

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