He keeps us guessing

So when we left off last, Stampede was on lots of meds and on three legs and stall rest since the Thursday before last. The beast got pretty cranky in his stall after a few days so instead of having him beat up the barn workers while they tried to clean his stall, they started taking him to a set of connected sick pens outside and luckily not far from his stall going out his back door. It’s one 12 x 12 section attached to a 12 x 24 section that you can separate or leave open. So the beast got some time outside to eat some hay and look around.

Broken pony 🙁

We pretty much carried on the same way with his pain managed but no real improvement through Thursday of this week. A full week of pony with an angry foot. 🙁

Watching his brother leave for turnout one morning this week

On Friday morning I got to the barn to find some swelling between Stampede’s ankle and coronet band. His legs had been wrapped, so really that was the available spot for swelling. I was a bit concerned about this in addition to him still not being weight-bearing, so I called my vet with an update. She was also very concerned and we discussed having her come out sooner than planned.

I got back to the barn in the evening and was feeling very discouraged because the swelling had gotten bigger in the original area and extended up into his lower leg. To add to that, Stampede was uncomfortable and pawing while still on a pretty good amount of medication. Talked to my BM and we decided to give him some extra banamine and wait and see where we were in the morning. My friend R who lives right by the barn was nice enough to check on Stampede on her way home so I knew he was at least comfortable.

Then this morning I get to the barn and the BM had just gone in his stall to check him out and he’s standing there like a mostly normal horse. Examined him more and found this…

Just a big hole…

and this…

another hole

So I called the vet and we discussed how my horse never does anything normal, then I soaked his foot.

Standing on four legs with a foot in the water

The vet had previously suggested I make Stampede a foam shoe to wear for cushion, and she still thought it was a good idea because he obviously had a lot going on in that hoof and probably still had/has laminitis caused by the trauma. So I put that on him today and was pretty impressed with my handiwork.

Foam shoe for the pony

Amazing that the pad was the right size on the outside to start

A few hours later, his foot looked like this…

Gross drainage, ewww

I soaked his hoof again tonight and he walked pretty well. A bit sore but nothing compared to where he was last night.

Yay for standing on his left front!

So pony is still on lots of meds and things are somewhat still up in the air on the laminitis side of things, but I am feeling better tonight.