It was a cold and blustery night...isn't that how it always starts? All day it had been blowing snow from the lovely storm Draco. Yes now we name winter storms in the USA. Apparently we are behind the game since Europe has been doing this forever. Anyways, I wanted to check on Dani for hoof snowballs and to refill her supplement containers. I have a week supply that I premix for the stable. It's just a handful of the Purina Senior and a scoop of SmartPaks EZ Keeper Vitamins and Minerals. Once a month she gets the 7 day purge with Sand Clear, I already did that this month and will have to film it since she makes a face like she’s eating peanut butter! LOL.
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| Barn aisle had snow blown in from the wind |
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| Nice ice free water, so far as I've noticed Dani is a good drinker! |
Anyways WD-40 didn’t work as good as I had hoped it would. There were still balls of snow compacted on her feet but when we are talking blizzard conditions and extremely cold temperatures I don’t know how avoidable the snowballs really are. I started working away at them with the hoof pick. Then I found a hammer as I read that you can use that to breakaway the ice. It worked pretty easily and I had to reassure myself that farriers use hammers on hooves, I wasn't going to crack the horn! I may need to purchase a little one to keep at the stable. I finished her front feet first since they were the worst.
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| Snow pony |
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| On flat hard ground this looks so extreme, in dirt and snow I'm sure it's not as dramatic but still, Poor Pony! |
I think the issue has been that I don’t get all the ice off when I WD-40, there are still remnants left. I wonder if a hair dryer would help melt it all away. I could get a cheap one and then get her used to the sound….ideas, ideas.
When I went back to her off side hind leg I noticed some blood on her white sock...OH NO! She lifted her leg up oddly and I felt around her ankle. No ouchie on her fetlock but above, on her inner thigh there were a couple wounds. What in the world????
Dangling from the back of her blanket was the butt strap bungee. It had broken apart at one of the snaps. The only thing I can imagine was that it got caught on something and when Dani pulled to get free it became very taunt. With it being a stretchy material it had quite the impact once it broke free. I’ve contacted Rambo to let them know, I might get a free replacement; it’s only $10 to replace the strap though. I’m just not sure I want the bungee again, it compounds an impact. I'd prefer a more easily broken strap that has less of a chance injury my horse. The outer PVC covering was nice for cleaning it off but I can do that on any strap, hardware stores have lots of tubing that I could concoct something.
Uge. I cleaned her up with some wipes but was worried about doing too much cleaning and getting her wet. Frozen anything onto her skin would be a bad idea I thought with this weather and wind chill. I left a message for the vet to come the next day since I’m so new to this horse ownership thing I don’t want to take any chances. She was walking fine at least, didn't seem to be really bothered by her ouchie. I brought her into the indoor to walk her around and help to thaw the last bits of snow off her hooves. Then I WD-40’d her hooves again.
The vet came today, looked Dani over and said it was a puncture wound, he has her on Bute and antibiotics for the next 3 days to prevent infection and keep her moving around the pasture. He said keeping her stall bound would make the wound swell more. So Dani is out to pasture with an icky antibiotic taste in her mouth and I have the icky taste of yet another unexpected bill. I still haven’t been able to rebuild my savings!!
My poor little mare! She seriously needs heated boots and to be wrapped in bubble wrap! Or maybe a horse sized exercise ball?
8 comments:
Ugh! That's gotta be tough dealing with those snowballs and injuries. I'm glad you got the vet out and he could tell it was a puncture wound, so it could be treated accordingly. I suspect I would have just scrubbed it myself if it were me, probably thinking it was just a scratch, and the the horse and I would have paid for it later with an infection.
Good that you had the Vet out, puncture wounds can be tricky as they heal.
Poor Dani, hope her wound heals quickly and smoothly. I definitely agree that letting her walk around plenty will help.
Don't worry about the hammer. It's not as bad as it sounds and I think it's a great solution.
Poor Dani i hope that her wounds heall quickly and that she doesnt get anymore, my dog is a long haired shih-tzu and tends to go snow stuck and using a hair dryer on her melts it, mybe you should try this with Dani :)
It looks cold cold cold there! Brrr! I wouldn't like the snow build up in the hooves either, it looks so wrong on hard ground.
I'm sure that wound will heal up quickly, you'll find as you become more experienced that you can treat a lot of little injuries yourself. Do you have a First Aid kit for Dani? Now's the time...
I've purchased a very basic array of supplies. I need some stuff to scrub and clean wounds, so I'm going to some stores to see what they have. There is also a vet supply store on the south side of Colorado Springs I'll have to hit up. Also a good First Aid book is on my list. Has anyone used hobbles on horse legs to keep a horse from kicking when the wound is on the leg? She nearly got my vet when he was probing!
Gosh no, have never used hobbles & I've never been asked to use them by a Vet! I have seen the vets sedate a horse to investigate a wound though. Usually picking up another leg does the trick, although if the horse is in a lot of pain he will still react when the vet is investigating.
I wasn't asked by the vet I was just curious for times when I have to treat her and there is no one around to help, hold up her front leg etc. I know packers use hobbles so a horse can't move too far from camp but still have some freedom if there is no ability to do a high line. Just curious.
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