Ho hum...

I've been a little lax in updates...I am home now and whilst all is well with Quadi, for various reasons I haven't felt like doing much except the essentials for him. And I've been even less bothered about blogging.

He is going really well. His gammy hoof doesn't look half as bad as I thought. His current routine is to syringe iodine solution up the crack in the hoof wall every day. Sadly, being a clumsy great oaf, I stood on the syringe today so will have to try and source another tomorrow!

He was looking sound even over the stones in the yard the first couple of days home. Sadly he's looking sorer than he was, I'm wondering if he needs some hoof wall removed again because if it gets too long in that foot the shearing effect when he walks must be sore. Or it could be that we've had rain for over a week and standing about in mud isn't helping. Perhaps the infection is taking hold again, the vet said on the phone on Friday we can use stronger chemicals to flush the area out if we need to. Haven't decided whether or not that's a good idea.

He also said he'd like to examine him again in about a fortnight and to have him shod for that if we can. Also haven't decided about that one... :|

He had his massage and was a mad little cookie, kept fidgeting! We can only surmise that he and Fin were excited about being in new stables and couldn't settle to it. Quadi's lost tone and has taken a step backwards but nothing like what I was expecting. His back feet are looking odd right now, must take some photos.

The vet has OKed that he can do some mooching around the school in hand, I said I'd boot up his feet to keep any horribleness out. Just something to keep his mind occupied, he seems very bored indeed but there's not a lot I can do in the confines of his stall.

I've had to get used to walking after 5 weeks of walking no more than the length of myself on board, and that was only usually to the loo or to eat! So I've been a bit sore but getting back into a normal routine now. My mission is to find myself a cheap car, it's just too big a chunk out of the day to take the bus, not to mention expensive.

Not in the best of humours at the moment, though the boys have been trying to cheer me up. Fin nipped out of his stable and walked to the end of the block into the tack room. Once I'd stopped laughing I pointed him back to his bedroom! And Quadi tried to tip a bucket of water over my head, grabbed one side of it whilst I held it up to him. I wrestled it from him before I got soaked...

Nicola, does this look like a horse happy to see me?!:



I think my rotten humour is rubbing off on him :(

Hometimes :)

Me that is, heading home tomorrow :) Won't see My Boy until Thursday, but am very happy to be heading back to Blighty nonetheless.

Lucky Quadi has an appointment with his equine massage therapist on Wednesday. Auntie Kate organised it for him,

I hope he enjoys it, lucky pony!

His feet are coming along really well. He's been sore on that off fore but he's shedding frog now which is helping a lot. Can't wait to see his feet, and the rest of him of course!

Freedom!

No photos, I will take care of that once I'm home in 9 days (yay for me!), but the great news is that he's out now :)

The original plan was to turnout on Friday but the weather was most unkind back home so he went out on Saturday morning. Aside from churning up a little patch of his paddock, it sounds as if he's been very good about the whole thing. Or perhaps I'm not getting the full story about his behaviour *lol*

He's still sore on the offending foot, which is no surprise. There isn't a fully intact hoof wall at the toe and he's obviously compromised in his heels what with the abscess coming through. But I gather the ground is reasonably soft so I guess in the meantime it will just have to be sore, poor love. Once his heel has healed (!) he can have boots and pads on for a time again.

I thought it is probably like having a poisoned thumb or similar, no matter what you do with it, it just aches until it's healed!

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Not that I was stressed...much...ha! I slept hardly a wink all day (I'm on nights) wondering and worrying!

The good news is that Quadi now has the all-clear to begin paddock rest. There may or may not be some grumbling abscesses still lurking in the offending hoof so standing in won't really help them surface. Plus the vet thinks that a month's box rest has been ample for the medial CL. It'll be good for The Boy to get out and moving, I'd imagine increased circulation will help the ligament now at this stage.

He won't have a lot of space but he'll be happy just to get out I should think. Just have to wait on some horses moving now. He'll be in a corner of Fin's current paddock, but at the moment he's sharing that with two mares. I don't think Quadi would stay put for two minutes if there were ladies on the other side of the tape!

He did have a piece of hoof wall removed, but it's only the bottom third, so he doesn't need any additional support. Kate said it's pretty horrid in there so it's good to be able to attack this infection at it's root. There was talk of possibly resecting much further up and having to put on an egg-bar or moulded shoe in order to support the hoof, but the vet and farrier have been very pragmatic and have tried a less-invasive approach first. Daily hoof soaks for a while and flushing out the area with a syringe, hopefully that won't be for too long.

Best of all, Quadi was an angel for both the vet and the farrier. I think he's very relaxed in his new home.

I'm so so happy that he is making forward progress, and grateful as ever to those looking after my horse whilst I galavant in foreign climes!

Vet visit

Just a quick update. The vet and farrier are due out on Monday afternoon to assess the infection to the front of the hoof. The vet wants to know if we can resect part of it without compromising the integrity of the structures. I'm not sure you can open up the hoof wall without assuming some damage? I guess it's whether the greater good is in opening it up to attack the infection (although leave it open to further intrusion), or try and make sure the tight new growth means that infection has nowhere to go, and contibue the foot spas.

Obviously I'd prefer the latter but I'm not a vet and not a farrier!

He continues to shed sole in the fronts but not in the hinds, a suggestion that everytihng is moving up within the hoof capsule, which is good news if that's the case :)

Hopefully on Monday evening I'll be able to report back that the hoof is intact and that in-hand walking can start in earnest!