Hold Whatcha Got

I'm working hard to beat the blues these days. Things have gotten so gross around here that it's hard for me to find a bright side to look upon. I feel like I spend most of my time lonely, sad, frustrated, disappointed, and overwhelmed. Most of this is because of Lex's situation. At least, without that going on, everything else would seem more manageable. The thing is, though, I don't regret buying her at all. I am not sorry I own her. Every day - multiple times a day - when I get to the barn to see her, and I walk up to her stall, and she looks at me with her adorable, beautiful, sweet face, my heart skips a beat. Every time.

I mean... Look at that face.

Yesterday R helped me give her an Adequan shot because I was having issues and my hands were shaking (she needs seven, one every four days... $$$) and was talking to her: "Do you know how lucky you are? Your mom loves you soooooo much." But really, I'm the lucky one. I get irritated at her when she insists on pooping in her water bucket every other day, but she's like this amazing cool being that I never thought I'd be awesome enough to get to hang out with.

Riding her was like hanging out with someone I've known forever.
I hope we get to do it again.

Sigh.

She is being such a good girl on stall rest. She gets wheelbarrows full of hay brought to her on the regular. I'm back to seeing her 2-3 times a day. This morning I was at the barn for three hours just working on getting her feed bagged for the week (she's on 30 very hard, large pills a day. My pill crusher can only handle one such pill at a time), cleaning her stall, hosing her puncture-wound leg, etc. Then I was there for another four hours this evening to work on her some more and do evening feeding. I worked on my dissertation for one hour. This isn't good. On the other hand, when I'm at the barn, I'm usually pretty calm and content. It's when I'm at home that I start to fall apart.

I'm glad she's being so sweet though. Today she got to hand graze for five minutes between rain storms!

Precious grass! I have missed you!

She was awesome - just stood in one spot just outside the barn door, stuffed her face for five minutes, and then went politely back into her stall. 

Eatsing grasses.

After our foray into the wilderness of the first five blades of grass outside the barn door, I took off her stack wrap and determined that her leg is still too stocked up for my liking and that cold hosing and wrapping aren't doing the trick. I texted the vet, and she was like, "Put a sweat wrap on. If that doesn't work, it's more pills."

DAMMIIIIIIIIT.

I am a top-notch wrapper. That stack wrap you see in the photo above had survived overnight on a horse who likes to lie down and roll and is very hard on her clothes. But sweat wraps are my least favorite thing. It's not the wrapping itself, really. It's the DMSO. Have you ever had to use DMSO? It's made of Satan. Get it on your skin and you will have a garlic-death taste in your mouth for the rest of the day. And you WILL get it on your skin.

The first step is to mix equal parts Furazone and DMSO. WEAR RUBBER GLOVES.

 

Spread a thin layer of this on whatever part(s) of the horse you're wrapping. Then take regular old plastic wrap and put a couple layers over the area you just put Satan's Own Mixture on. I did separate wraps over her leg and her hock.

Then, cotton batting. You can use your standing wraps but I just get the disposable stuff if I'm going to be using DMSO because that stuff is nasty. I just measure and cut so it's the same length as my regular quilt. I did one wrap on her leg - just like a regular standing wrap - and one on her hock, again.

 Then, rolled gauze! I like brown gauze but I couldn't find any today so I just used regular rolled gauze. Same story - one roll over the leg, one roll over the hock.

Then, everyone's favorite, Vet Wrap. I actually did the batting, gauze, and vet wrap as a regular standing wrap, and then I did all three over the hock. Then I took a third roll of Vet Wrap and went back over the whole leg to keep it secure, making sure not to cover the point of the hock.

And finally, Elastikon around the top and bottom to keep dirt out.

Tada!

Pretty proud of this.

Cut out the point of the hock if you can - it helps prevent hock sores. The last thing this horse needs is another excuse to blow her leg up.

I always worry with wraps like this that she'll become uncomfortable, but I'm going to make myself leave it on for 24 hours. I really don't want to throw more pills at her. She's already on antibiotics, so I don't think it's infected. If she could go outside and walk around, that would probably clear it up. Thoroughbreds love to stock up!

Anyway, I'm glad I could do something for her. That always makes me feel better.