Ouch!

It's been one thing after another, as usual, around here, and horse time has been scarce (I think I've written about this a few times before...). So this morning I was rushing to feed so I could get some work done before meeting my family to conduct some business at 10:30, and there was Dublin--on 3 legs. Well, he was actually using his left fore, but only to hobble on. No obvious injuries or foot irregularities, but then again, I wasn't wearing my glasses and the sun was in my eyes. Call to vet, who got here quickly and did her level best to get me out of here by 10:00. Of course, not to be. Apparently Dublin has a gravel at the tip of the frog, and it took a lot of digging to get close enough to the source to relieve the pressure. Called family to let them know I'd be late.

Dublin's Owie

Finally, the pressure was relieved (Dublin was drugged and snoozed happily through the procedure). Then the diaper poultice went on. He is now confined to Cowboy's paddock, which is a lot smaller than Dublin's, and on antibiotics and quite a cocktail of that, probiotics, and Bute. 

Next challenge--this horse has obviously been given Bute before. He has the head toss/lip flip down to a science. And don't forget he's tall, so when he tosses that head, it's very much out of my reach. So being good Parelli types, we are now convincing him that syringes being stuck in his mouth are really good things, by using a syringe full of applesauce to give him a treat. He's still quite suspicious and it took a lot of attempts before he figured out that the stuff hitting his lips and gums actually tasted good. That had him pretty confused, but he finally stopped the head-flipping and at least showed a little curiosity about the syringe. Of course, eventually we had to give him the Bute so now we're suspect again, but it's a start.

The good news is that, after getting the pressure relieved, he is no longer very tender on that foot and in fact, you have to look closely to see that he is off. The poultice stays on until Sunday when his personal physician will be back to check him. Outlook is uncertain as far as how long he'll be out of commission and what kind of complications to expect, but he sure looks good tonight. Good chance I'll be learning to put on those poultices, though. I've gotten the overview of the process from my veterinarian and from attending Stuart Greenberg's Farrier Science class at the JC. Just have never had to personally apply one. Fortunately, Laura has a supply of diapers from the last time she got to go through this, so I'll be spared the first diaper-shopping experience of my life.

Cowboy is actually pretty happy about the arrangement, since he no longer has "the kid" following him around getting in his space, and he can hang out by the fence with Dexter without having to share Dexter.