Update on Q's legs

The following photos are from two and three days post-vet visit.You'll see how dramatically her legs are improving. I am SO happy. Q is SO happy.

She's been letting me wash them and scrub them daily with the medicated shampoo. This is HUGE. Prior to shaving those scabs off, she'd dance around and do everything in her power to get the hell away from anything or anyone trying to touch her legs. She'd roll her eyes and threaten to kick you. 

Not anymore! Now she stands idly while I wash them and treat them. She'll raise a leg in the air or maybe take a step or two away, but she totally doesn't mean it. It's completely a game. I snap at her and slap her with an open hand on her neck or flank depending on where I am and she stops. She even goes so far as to turn around and look at me with the calmest, albeit sassy expression. She KNOWS it doesn't hurt and she KNOWS she's just fuckin' with me. Irritating? Yes, but I'll SO take it over her being a royal pill because of the pain.

The shampoo is medicated. I have it in a spray bottle (thanks for that recent idea, Gail!) and just spritz it on her legs in the hot spot areas. I then take a medical scrub (sponge on one side soft scrub brush on the other) and scrub each spot good. Then I spritz a little more medicated shampoo and let it sit for about 10 minutes. When that time is up, I get a clean bucket of water and sponge and rinse her legs. 

Once they're dry (air dry or towel), I've been alternating (depending upon the day) a topical steroid (entederm) or the CK shield balm on the hot spots. She's had two rounds of the steroid cream and two rounds of the balm so far. Tomorrow will be the (hopeful) last blast with the steroid, and then we'll just do the balm and some other over the counter meds/ointments I have access to. These OTC ointments will be used in conjunction with the balm as needed to maintain her legs. Once they've healed up, I'll continue to make sure they are washed and clean multiple times a week, but likely not EVERY day.

Between routine washing and keeping her legs shaved forever more, I hope to beat this thing and keep it away! Additionally, as I did on our ride today, I will probably continue to put the open front boots on her front legs when we do trail rides. This will help prevent the small knicks and cuts that inevitably occur from rocks and thorns we encounter. (These small cuts were very likely the catalyst for this entire breakout as prior to receiving some cuts she had NO issues. Those healing cuts coupled with legs that weren't freshly shaved were too tempting for the scratches to resist.)

I want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who offered up information to me on the photosensitivity, as well. I took that information, looked up a lot in multiple places on the internet, talked with several of you at length, and then asked my vet more about it, too (we had dinner last night and went riding this morning). She said that it could certainly have played a role in reaching the level of severity that Q's legs were at, but she didn't think it was the main culprit. She shared an anecdote about a horse who I used to train in this area who does have the photosensitivity. While I recognize that each animal will react differently to things, the symptoms he presented were drastically different than what's going on with Q. That he lives so near to us and is in the same kind of climate (though his field is definitely FAR more clover-ridden than Q's! His pastures are clover, timothy, and buttercup. LUSH.), I would expect Q to show similarity in symptoms - though probably varied intensity of said symptoms - if she had that issue. All the same, thank you to everyone who plugged my ear with that; I took it and ran with it and learned a lot!

Two days post vet visit; right after shampoo and rinse.

Two days post vet visit; right after shampoo and rinse.

Two days post vet visit; right after shampoo and rinse.

Two days post vet visit; right after shampoo and rinse.

Two days post vet visit; steroid had been applied and she was back in field.

Two days post vet visit; steroid had been applied and she was back in field.

Three days post vet visit; after wash and right before balm application

Three days post vet visit; after wash and right before balm application

Three days post vet visit; after wash and right before balm application

Three days post vet visit; after wash and right before balm application

Q was waving her foot around and holding it up here; she's being a dork.
Clearly photos don't hurt at all! You see how she's being a goof about the
whole thing!

Three days post vet visit; after wash and right before balm application