Hole

Last weekend we were all set to take both the horses to Jump Club - I was going to attempt the 90cm with Allie and Gracie was going to hang out at the float while I did that, then Nat and I were going to go for a ride around the Camden Equestrian park before coming home.

Gracie had other ideas.

Excuse the french, but that fucking mole of a horse refused to get on the float and chucked such a massive hissy fit that she got her chest caught up on the butt bar of the float and ripped a hole in her pectoral muscle.

Yep.

No jump club for me, and a nice Sunday vet bill for Natalie.

There was so much blood. Even I was worried about the amount of blood (and I've seen my fair share of graphic horse injuries) but by the time the vet got there we had stopped the bleeding. It soaked though an entire animalintex bandage plus a couple of smaller ones too. Natalie almost fainted while trying to stop the bleeding.

The vet said there was nothing she could do - the wound was in a great spot for drainage and stitches weren't going to be a help at all. I even had my own bute on hand so we didn't even need her for that - but we are the type of people that when our horse tries to impale herself, we get a vet check.

It's been a week and a half and the wound is healing excellently. We've been keeping it super clean and it's draining really well and seems to be closing from the inside (yay!).

Vet said a good 6 weeks before she would be healed.

Damn horse.

Ok, graphic photos now, ok?

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The day it happened, but about 2 hours after the fact.

Day 2 - note some fill in between her front legs. That needed massaging but is gone now.

Day 9, after being cleaned. Looking good! No bute anymore and she's sound as a bell.

Bloody horses.

Post-Hawaii Drama.

So, where did I leave off? Allie wasn't coughing anymore, and needed a clip.

Ok, well I went on holidays to Hawaii for two weeks so Allie sat around spelling while I was overseas. I got back last Friday and rode on Saturday. We had a little jump and she went well. I put her back in her grassy yard up the back of the property afterwards because her front yard is basically dirt and I don;t like paying for hay if I don't have to.

Well, the rides we have had after puttin gher back in the grassy yard have progressivly gotten worse with the coughing. I'm so frustrated!! So, back to the dirt yard and back on hay again. She will have the next couple of days off as I'll be at work and I'll see how she is on Friday. Grrrr.

I got the vet bill while I was away for all the investigation of this stupid cough - $1329.65!! And she is still coughing! I'm pissed to be honest.If she needs steroids then she should have gotten them a long time ago.

Now, I'm hoping she comes good as we've got our first away event on the 28th which I desperately don't want to scratch from. Every time I get going with this horse some other shit happens. I am so sick of it. Am I just want her to be happy and healthy! She friging deserves it after everything she has been through.

Anyway, I ave her a light lunge today then had a go with our brand new set of clippers I bought. She was really good! Shes been clipped before but never without sedation. I got her left front and shoulder and neck done. She was super good, I'm proud of her.

Not too bad for my first ever time using big arse bloody clippers.

She's not particularly impressed.

I wish I had better news for you guys. :(

Trachea Wash

When I went to pick up Allie today she had quite a lot of discharge (she had even been rubbing it all over her legs). She coughed a couple times while getting ready to go.

Once we got there the vet checked her vitals and noted her elevated respiratory rate. She then had a bit of a trot and canter in the round yard to get some mucous cleared. She coughed quite a few times in there. Poor thing.

She was sedated and they put the scope in again. They took some more mucous (there was so much more than last time she was scoped) and it's being sent away again for another culture and a sensitivity test to find out which antibiotics are the right ones to treat it.

Allie was a gem the whole time, as per usual.

A couple of screenshots from the video my sister took of when the vet was trying to insert the tube into the gutteral pouch. If you guys wanna see the video let me know and I'll upload it, it's super boring.

Ffs

We've been riding weekly, Allie has been really good, like, amazing, to ride.

We have her feet in gear, all systems are go to plod along.

Then, yesterday, attack of the fat leg.

SIGH

Right hind fetlock, doesn't look lame to me, but she seems uncomfortable when flexing it.

It was worse this morning, so off to the vet tomorrow. Wish me luck.

So, I've been very quiet here. I guess it's because this is a horse blog and I've not been doing much more than feeding the damn things. Being a mum to a tiny baby is hard you guys.

But Evie is starting to go longer between feeds. She is very happy being looked after by her dad, so I'm slowly starting to go do more stuff by myself. It is really helping my mental state.

I've tried riding a couple of times but Allie needed/needs so much stuff done to get her right, before she can officially start back in work again. The shopping list:
- Vaccinations
- Teeth
- Body clip (way too hairy and itchy)
- Body work (massage etc)
- Feet trimmed, lucky I know a good trimmer ;)
- Saddles fitted and billets changed on dressage saddle

Of course, hooves were easier than most, I just needed hubby to look after Evie while I did them. Then I had the EMT out for a massage - she's feeling pretty good over all, just slightly tight in the hind quarter. The EMT and I agreed that the jump saddle fits well right now but that the dressage does not. So I'm riding in the jump until next month when we can afford to have the dressage altered and billets done. That works!

My float needed a new loom because we lost blinkers and electric brakes. So that finally got fixed, and we took the horses to the vet to be vaccinated and clipped (and Allie's teeth). The trip over was super eventful, with Gracie not traveling well at all and a bloody truck riding up my arse and holding his horn down honking straight into the float and terrifying the horses again and again to the point where I stopped and got out of the car and had it out with him on the side of the road. I was fucking furious. He didn't give a shit though. Ugh I hate other drivers when I'm towing.

ANYWAY they both got clipped. Even the groomer kept going on and on about how much better Allie looked with a clip! She seriously looked like an unkempt yak (see comparison below). And she feels awful with all that hair, she's too hairy for Aussie winters. It's been pretty mild this year so she's been super itchy from sweating.

So with teeth, body, hooves and coat all done and a saddle that fits, yesterday we went for a fang around the property. She was a lunatic, had so much energy. She started the stupid threatening to rear bullshit again (I guess that happens when you aren't schooled for almost 3 years) so I wore my vest and got stuck into her and made her move FORWARD. And it worked.

We ended up bowling along the gravel drives (it's so wet that we can't ride anywhere else really) and along a high well drained ridge in a big balanced forward canter with me up in two point and her feeling the awesomeness that is her body and she could breathe fine (!!!!!) and I felt like the last 3 years of setbacks didn't matter and it was just my horse and I and and and and yeah. All that good stuff. It was fricking fantastic!!

Next up is saddle fitter, then hopefully we can figure out a way to get to the indoor to school on some footing that doesn't threaten to trip my horse.

Just a little general update on things that have been going on around here.

Nostril Roller Coaster

Allie's nostril sort of cleared up - then this afternoon it was pretty snotty and a bit stinky again. It is like she heals just enough to stop me taking her to the vet and then has another issue a half a week later. This time, it might have been caused by the weather again - Sunday we had a 45 degree day (113F) and then yesterday afternoon we got a windy, thundery rainy storm roll through. Might have whipped up a bit of dust up there? God knows. I'll give it a few days and see how it settles. And no, I am not dealing well with this but I am trying to ignore my anxiety.

Preggo Lady Stuff

So I am 26 weeks and 5 days pregnant now.

I feel enormous.

The baby kicks and rolls and moves ALL DAY LONG. I thought they were supposed to sleep sometimes? I had a glucose tolerance test this morning to check for gestational diabetes. If I am negative, I won't hear anything. If I am positive, I will get the result at my next midwife appointment.  I had three bloods taken. It was not nice. You had better appreciate this, kid.

We have bought a bassinet and a cot/change table duo. It looks fancy in the room.

Pretty...

Joey

Joey is continuing to get better with the training we are doing (as am I). The biggest thing we are working on is impulse control. He's getting there.

My little kitchen helper.

He had a play date with some other puppies at the dog park for the first time a couple of weekends ago. He had a blast.

See that happy white puppy on the left there?

He was super pooped after.

Gracie

Gracie hasn't been doing much of anything either - she has been a bit sore over the back. She had her teeth done, had a massage, and is now waiting for Nat to find the time to get her back in work.

First time getting her teeth done without sedation. She was such a good sport about it! This dentist was a gem - I think she is going to be Gracie's lifetime dentist.

In Other Horrific News...

One of my trimming clients was towing 2 horses with a friend when a tyre on the float blew out, flipping the float on it's side on a freeway going probably about 80-90km/h (50-55 mph). The horses were trapped and had to be cut out of the float via the roof. Both horses are ok - have some deep gashes and some brusing and will be sore for a while. But they are fine.

The people are fine too - very shaken, horrified and incredibly sad. The driver (my client) has been accused (on Facebook, by strangers) of being drunk, speeding or driving while tired. That she somehow did something wrong and that is why this happened. Unbelieveable! This could happen to any one of us. Any one. It just happened to her and the poor woman needs to heal from that. Why does the horse community turn on each other so easily?

Also, her float was towed off the freeway at the closest exit and just dumped on the side of the road by the freeway operators. This is ridiculous. I'm outraged and horrified and angry on her behalf over the whole ordeal. I hope nothing like this happens to anyone I know (or to me!) ever again. The people and the horses are so lucky to be alive, let alone to escape with relatively minor injuries.

This is just terrifying...

Coming Home

Cross post from Facebook. Totally sums it up for me.

Still Not There

It is Wednesday morning. Allie is still in the hospital and will have at least 2 more days in there. They ended up putting more pack in while she was under standing sedation as when they were flushing yesterday there was no pus but there was still some freshly masticated hay and feed getting through to the sinus. Today, there was no food in the sinus but there was a small amount of green fluid that had squeezed through, which ran clear very quickly.

Christine says the new pack is not doing as well as she had hoped but better than she had feared. We are at the point where we need to just buy a little time to see if this will settle down before making a decision to go back to surgery in the next week to close everything up. Obviously surgery is something we don't want to have to do monetary for me or physically for her, but we need to do what we need to do.

Apparently she is very happy. She is behaving beautifully, they don't even need to sedate her for flushing, she just stands there!! They are poking the tube through the small hole they cut in her face to flush so it is not like she is having a grand old holiday at the vets but I am so so glad that she is eating and behaving and just being the pleasure that she truly is.

Love love love that horse.

Do I title ths one 'Poor Allie"? Because that is all I can thnk right now...

Gosh, where do I start.


Over the last few days, Allie's lump hasn't gone away but her nasal discharge has increrased and so has the bad smell. This morning I hauled her over to the vets for Christine to check her.

Never ending vet visits wear us out.

First up was a radiograph. The teeth don't look good. Both the tooth behind and the tooth in front look unusual. We still don't know if they will die and need to be removed or if they will live and be fine.Time will only tell. Basically, if they do have to come out,  the two teeth plus the tumour leaves a big gap to try to encourage to close. It would mean surgery, lots of flushing, $$$$$. We do not want to go down that path if we don't have to. It is quite serious (serious-er?) if she needs those teeth removed.

After the rads, she had a scan done over the area to see what was causing the lump. Infection, possibly from a small piece of bone that had lost blood supply and died we think, or maybe the teeth are the insidious cause of it all. She then had an oral exam which looked good, however Christine could feel that tooth in front has a small depression that may be a sign that the tooth may die.

After the oral exam, Christine ended up having to cut a small hole with a scalpel and then inserted one of her surgery tools to make the hole bigger inside to get through to the sinus. She then spent about 20 minutes pulling out some of the pack, some sinew, and quite a bit of old food material that is getting in there from the mouth. She went looking for the piece of bone but she doesn't think she got it.

After this, Christine flushed out the sinus/mouth with two bags of saline and then squirted aqueous penicillin in over the area. There was blood, stinky food and snot everywhere.

Poor Allie. She got pain relief and had been sedated but she was so damn good about the whole process. That experience must have been terrifying and even under sedation she did lift her head high a coupke of timez and looked very worried in her eye but she held it together. She is amazing. Just a superstar.

Christine wanted me to leave her there over the weekend so that they can flush her on Saturday and again on Sunday. Hit it hard. Hopefully by flushng and keeping it clean, the small hole that is allowing passage of food will be able to close over and her sinus can finally dry up and hopefully those teeth hang on and decide they aren't going to keel over and quit this life for good. So I left her at the clinic, because emotionally right now I am rubbish and I need to know that I have done everything possible to give this horse the best chance of recovery. What else can I do?

One of the other vets was discussing the case with me and she said that Allie is very very lucky to have me and Christine/Derek (the other surgeon). "Not many owners would do what you have done, and not many surgeons would have attempted that surgery at all" were her words. That really brought home the seriousness, the gravity of the situation for Allie. Emotionally, I am not good today. I have taken the day off work to just lay in bed and chill out. I have my first uni exam next week and I hve picked up a cold too. So today is for me I have decided.

This has been a depressing post. Sorry guys.

Vet Bill

Got my vet bill.

So far:

$500 for hospital overnight and rads when she had the bleeding nose when she was diagnosed.
$1400 for the CT scan.
$4000 for surgery and hospital care and post-surgery rads.

So what's that so far - $5,900.

She is worth every cent.