Update on Q's Suspensory

I dropped Q off Thursday morning last week for her 120-day ultrasound appointment to wrap up our monitoring of her suspensory injury.

To recap in the most concise way possible: Q came up lame at the end of August and was diagnosed with lesions near the origin of her suspensory in her left hind on September 19. (Due to a wicked year of repeated abscesses in 2 out of 3 of my horses, I had suspected it was an abscess at first. But after she didn't regain soundness after blowing a massive abscess on her RF, off to the vet we went!)

The 60-day ultrasound appointment showed improvements though there was still disorganization in the pattern of fibers.

This most recent ultrasound however showed huge improvements!

Q was very alarmed by the AllEarsApp

When I picked Q up, the vet was out to lunch, so I didn't get a complete download of information beyond the techs telling me, "We can't tell you much other than it's definitely looking better." And hey, that's all I needed to hear at the time! Trending toward "better" is all I care about. I don't mind it taking awhile so long as it is *improving*.

Due to some turnover at my vet's practice (her second vet is leaving/has been working at another job), they've been outstandingly busy for a few months as is wont to happen with these kinds of things. I didn't anticipate dropping by to get a download on information until Monday afternoon. However, to my surprise, my vet took a few minutes Sunday morning to call me and give me an update! She reported that Q looked a LOT better this time around and that it was very hard to see any disorganization in the fibers at all on this round of ultrasounds. HURRAH! She also told me she'd be attending a specialized lameness workshop in Lexington in coming weeks that was centered around suspensory injuries. She's got me and Q in mind as she plans to attend and I'm looking forward to hearing more about the latest and greatest in the realm of suspensory research.

I'm psyched to hear that Q's doing so well and hope she continues to heal and get stronger in coming months. So far she's had four complete months off due to this injury.

She'll get a year off from true work, but we'll be doing some short (5 to 10 minutes) in hand sessions once every week from here on out. These will not be anything exciting or crazy at all, but instead will serve mostly to remind the mare that she is NOT in charge. Her herd status coupled with the time off (read: complete freedom from anything beyond getting her hooves trimmed once every four weeks) has unfortunately resulted some very rude behaviors (e.g., biting me, excessive fidgeting when tied, protest to (read: pinned ears) having her feet handled/certain body parts groomed, and constant wide-eyed and ear-swiveling concern for where her herdmates are at all times) that I absolutely do not tolerate.

I'm so relieved we've had a nice linear healing trend through these first 4+ months following the injury. I hope that this trend will continue into the future.

Q's Scratches II

The Bottom Line

Q's better. Again.

Treatment 

With this bout of scratches I flip-flopped for days about having the vet out. The topical I was applying  this time (4 combined OTC ointments: desitin, clotrimazole/miconazole, triple antibiotic, and an anti-itch with hydrocortizone) were working amazingly for Q. The scabs shriveled to nearly nothing, the bugs didn't get in, the yucky smell associated with fungal/bacterial infections went away, and the inflammation died down and disappeared. SO much improvement in two or three days time!

However, those tight scabs were still ouchy to the touch and with a mare who is the Queen of Anticipation and also the Queen of Overreaction, things quickly boiled into a VERY pissed off horse when you'd try to treat her. Her evasion games escalated to a new level and my relationship handling her rocketed downhill FAST.

So I said bye-bye groceries (for me) and had the vet out so we could sedate her and get those scabs off and maybe take a biopsy. However, after discussing things at length with my vet, we decided to not do a biopsy (yet). Q clearly responds VERY WELL to the topicals I've been using of late, and my vet discussed all of the other skin issues she's seen with horses and other livestock at length with me, too, so I could better grasp what Q didn't have.

We ultimately decided to try out some new supplements into Q's diet (primarily flax/omega 3s; perhaps some other things later as my vet wanted to do some research on her own first to see) to help her through future things, and then we'd sedate and get the scabs off. Vet agreed that the topical ointment combo was doing a really bang-up job of treating Q. She suspected the hydrocortisone was playing a huge part in that, and recommended that I just keep doing my OTC routine instead of purchasing anything extra from her.

Queen of Anticipation and Overreaction was SO worried about us just walking around her and LOOKING at her legs (we hadn't even TOUCHED them yet and she was dancing away from the apparent lasers our eyes were shooting at her), that when Vet went to sedate her she was too tense to be able to inject the solution (Q didn't quake at the needle going in multiple times, just chose to stand with a tense, unmoving neck). Mare, come on. So we coaxed her down enough to finally deliver the sedative.

All in all, it took 3 doses of sedative, a lip twitch, and a blindfold (this was the cherry on the whipped cream because Q is SO visual; she'd worry about me going NEAR her and start reacting before I could even get close; with her vision blocked she just stood quietly) for me to be able to shave off those scabs!! And she would STILL kick out at me some. Elephant in a 14.1hh pony body, I swear.

Getting the scabs off - though painful - results in Q healing within 3 days. Every time we've dealt with scratches this summer, this has been the case. New pink skin within 3 days of scab removal - provided I keep her legs washed daily and reapply some sort of topical to manage whatever stage we're at (may need steroid plus other stuff, or may just need something to help keep that skin soft and healthy and keep the bugs off).

So we're back to healthy looking legs for the most part.

Vet agreed with me that Q likely has always been very prone to scratches and it probably just depends on the pasture she's in (this time it was triggered by the back pasture). Vet noted a few key things from her personal experiences with bad scratches cases like this:

• The worst cases have oddly, been on all Arabian horses, with and without chrome legs/pink skin
• Certain pastures can make flare ups worse, when the horses are kept out of those pastures (usually wetter ones) the flare ups aren't as bad
• Maintaining this kind of sensitivity means shaving legs year round and rinsing daily

Vet also noted that it appears Q may just have some general allergies to the environment overall. I asked, "What does this mean for me managing her?" And Vet laughed and said, "Nothing you want to hear!" But ultimately, Vet recommended getting Q on the flax as she has seen some remarkable differences in animals on it vs. not on it. We may add some other supplements with time (vitamin E and selenium), but Vet wants to see how Q responds to the flax first. Vet seemed all about trying to battle whatever we can with dietary supplements and minerals before we consider medications/steroids, something I'm super on board with, too!

Behavioral Ramifications

In regards to the residual behavioral effects from this bout of scratches, it's been quite a process. We expect Q's issues with having her hind legs handled stems from her sensitive skin that is prone to scratches.

When Mary was here helping me treat Q, she noted that Q is definitely not responding to pain for much of her outbursts. She's clearly anticipating something happening and reacting to try to prevent it. One of our terrific local farriers and another boarder even watched me with Q the day or two prior to Mary coming and were astounded at Q's violent reactions to someone merely approaching her back legs. She's clearly had some really, REALLY horrible trauma with someone handling her hind legs at some point and is having some sort of flashback reaction due to the recent bout of pain.

The big key for regaining Q's trust of late with having her hind legs handled has been a blindfold. That blindfold goes on, her whole body relaxes significantly. While she still may waggle a leg around to try to evade, when you start gently wiping on that cool ointment, she relaxes the leg and rests it on the ground as if to say, "Oh? That's all? Well, that's not so bad." Taking away her visual really helps to dull her acute flight instinct, which is stronger in her than almost any horse I've been around.

Preventative Measures for the Future

For the future, I'll be following a strict protocol of:

• Shaving Q's legs weekly/biweekly as necessary. Keeping that hair short and preventing the ability of moisture to sit prolonged against her skin will help greatly.
• Daily washing of Q's legs with an antifungal-type of shampoo. Often dilute and in a spray bottle, it will be key for me to not only rinse Q's legs, but to rub in an antifungal shampoo to then sit for 10 minutes prior to rinsing. This will help to prevent the nasties from making a home.
• Acute care for small scratches. Shaved legs also means more likelihood of being scratched by things when on trail. Scratches as tiny as those caused by a brier open the door for nasties. By washing these small cuts and treating them preventatively with a topical of some sort (which will be dependent upon degree of scratch and location), I will be able to prevent the nasties from sinking in and drumming up bigger problems.
• Moisturizers? Constant wet-dry cycles can cause sensitive skin to crack and open the door to fungi and bacteria. Keeping Q's skin along her legs healthy will be key. With dry winter weather, I'll be spending some time experimenting with some light moisturizers to help her out. It's hard to tell what will work the best right now, but I'm VERY familiar with the arsenal of moisturizers that is on the market from my years of competitive swimming - a winter sport over here because some crackhead decided long ago that being wet and chlorinated in dry winter air was a good idea. (??!!!) When I was logging 10+ hours in a chlorinated pool each week during winter months, it wasn't rare for me to have no fewer than 3 different moisturizers to combat dry, cracking skin. And I have sensitive skin, so I am really familiar with the mildest of strong moisturizers out there! 

It's A Lot of Work

But by keeping up with the routine I will hopefully prevent future bouts of scratches that require veterinary intervention and harm the level of trust I build with this horse.And besides, if you keep up with a routine for long enough, it becomes pretty easy!

Beyond the monetary expense of having the vet out to help with treatments is the trust expense that happens when Q has to deal with that level of pain. Her trust in me was at its highest ever before this recent bout of scratches. So far, fortunately, that trust is only impacted in our ground handling and not our under saddle work. I'm thankful for this because I've been working really hard to get to a higher level of trust with US work. However, lack of trust with ground things is a huge inconvenience because Q had just reached a very high level of trust for me and things we'd do from the ground. Having the slate wiped nearly clean is hard! We're starting to gain it back, but it will be some time before I can handle her legs - especially the hinds - without her worrying excessively.

We'll get there though. Time and patience.

Update on Kenai: 5 Months Post-Op

If you remember (or if you don't here's an update anyway), Kenai had surgery on the cruciate ligament in both of his knees in August. It seemed surprising at the time - such a young dog (3) needing surgery like this. But we'll just have to chalk it up to genetics and make the best of what's happened. (While unaware at the time of purchase, Kenai has some of the TOP Siberian show lines in the country. His close cousins - his father's brother's pups - were featured in Snow Dogs. He's got > 50 champions on his mother's side alone. I think all of these generations of Siberians in the show ring have weakened tendons and ligaments because they're no longer working dogs. Their bone structure - and Kenai's - is near perfect, but the other supporting structures of their skeleton are lacking due to years without a true job. I know none of this for certain, but its the best hypothesis I can come up with re: what happened to his knees. He has a VERY active lifestyle with me. He's a husky that can be off-leash and recalls 99% of the time. He trail rides with me!)

Its been a long road to recovery since then. I'm fortunate that he was a really phenomenal patient, taking it easy most of the time, and pushing through rehab exercises as they were provided.

In November and December he was considered "healed" as far as paperwork on rehab goes. However, he was still not 100%. He wouldn't limp after a day of movement, but he would rise very stiff-legged. It would take several minutes of stilt-legged movement before he was loosened up and moving forward. He'd still favor a 3-beat gait over his old favorite, that lilting jog that floated him over the ground that is so specific to all spitz breeds.

This worried me for a time. A friend had consoled me, noting that his broken ankle (that had to be put back together with metal it was so badly broken) was stiff like that, too, for awhile. He assured that Kenai's stiffness would go away with time. I had to trust this. It was all I had.

With the advent of winter weather, consistently lower temperatures, and being a lot more active, Kenai has really shown huge improvement in the past month insofar as stiffness goes. I rarely, if ever, note the stiffness in his movements now.

He's quick and agile again. He has zero issues bounding into my car - whereas before it was hit or miss if he'd ask me to pick him up. (And yes, he would ask! He'd stop, turn, look at me, look at the car, and repeat until I helped him out. He's conservative about things when uncertain.) He chooses the 2-beat gait over the 3-beat more and more often. His movement during his jog isn't quite as light and free as it once was, but there is improvement every day.

His hair is far from normal though, 5 months post-op. I had originally guesstimated that March would bring about "normal" appearance for his coat, but I'm now fearing that this may not come to fruition. He's got all of his undercoat - it gets thicker by the day. But his guard hairs are still struggling to come in. And he has bald patches in a few places! There is a reason people advocate against shaving double-coated dogs! There is no guarantee the coat will grow back the way it originally was. If you have a working dog, or a dog with a job who is often exposed to the elements, having an ill-functioning coat could seriously limit the animal over time. I've found some opinions online that say that a Siberian's coat will take 2 years - 2 years! - to be 100% normal again. From my experience with Kenai so far, I believe it!

But overall, if you were to ask me if I thought the surgery was worth it, would I do it again, my answer would be a resounding: yes. Kenai is feeling so much better than he was before I opted to do surgery. He moves better and doesn't favor his legs at all after a long day of running or hiking or exploring. He's happy. He plays more. And his life through the future will be so much better for it. I'll have my fuzzy partner in crime, happy and healthy and able to keep up with my shenanigans far into the future. And this makes us both happy.

WW: Q healing update

June 10 healed.  April 27 day of injury

Rehab riding

Two sessions down, another few weeks to go. My BO and vet and everyone else that has seen her in action thus far thinks she's great and that she's gonna be fine far before I think she will be. And this may very well be true! However, I'm cautious. I would hate to do something too fast and then "break" her for life. She's got way too much potential and way too much life ahead for me to risk that. Its killing me (yes, even after two sessions) to not push a little harder. But I'm going to stick with it. The fear of her hurting is enough to keep me on track with my plans.

Saiph sent me a rehab riding plan for weak stifles that I'm following. It consists of 30 minute rides 5-6x/week. Beginning with 4 min. trot/1 min. walk for 6 reps. You slowly increase the trot minutes and decrease the walk minutes as the weeks pass, or stall at one particular set if needed. Saiph suggested flat without cavaletti or ground poles for the first month; add cavaletti and ground poles and slight slopes with trotting and cantering for second month; resume normal activities on third month.

Post-ride; she wasn't even sweaty!

Keeping slopes out of the workout is nigh impossible at home. I live in WV! Smack in the middle of are the Mountain State only the eastern half really has the sizable mountains)! The barnyard is flat. Any other riding from the barn involves hills, though there is only 1 short incline between me and the rail trail which is flat... At any rate, bottom line is that I'll have to trailer away to gain more flat area to work on.
the Appalachians at that (no, the whole state is not within this mountain chain, though we

I will likely move faster through the program than what is described above, but will do so cautiously. We are walking and trotting ground poles currently. I have to hold her back from trying to canter, too. Yes, only after two rides! And only riding in the "boring" barn yard. She just gets a little eager and zoomy on our 1 minute trot sessions right now and will go into her ~10mph trot without any encouragement on my part. As BO has observed, watching Q's behavior while she moves suggests a horse that has no concern about pain at all. Her eyes are bright, her ears are forward and eager, her movement is forward and steady with no noticeable hitches in her stride and movement.

My goal for the rehab riding is to keep it to flats as much as I can these next two months. Barn yard. Rail trail. Flat USFS road in the adjacent county. Trailering to the local arena. Trailering to lessons.

Wait, lessons?! Yes, lessons. There is a centered riding instructor about an hour and a half north of me. I'm looking forward to trailering Q up there some next month and August for a few lessons. The concepts I gain from her coupled with the 101 Dressage Exercises book will be great training for little miss Q. And then, come August, its back to jumping, back to trails, back to "full" training (3 days a week: 1x speed intervals, 1x hills, 1x strength incorporating dressage, jumping, and distance into those categories) with the goal of doing Fort Valley I and II at the very end of October.

The accident has definitely been a blip in our competitive career, but a good thing as far as progressing our teamwork and abilities in other disciplines that will ultimately help our endurance career. I'm looking forward to moving forward with dressage concepts this summer.

Ever better

She's just so stinking cute; the baby fur is falling out. That buckskin color is going to be a bit darker it seems

The filly loves her Aunt Q

All that remains of the cut!!!!!!!

I love love love her darker color; I am not looking forward to the sun bleaching that will occur

She stood for awhile, not even trying to eat, as I doted on her, photographed her, and loved on her.

Shine. Shine. Shine. Shine. Shine.

DARK. <3

Remember those white hairs? Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. :-)

Saddle spot on baby's back

The filly is such a ham. She loves posing for photos. Getting bigger and stockier!

And yet another photo of her beautiful dark color

Oh haaayyyyyyy

Hey Griffin, let's take photos of you now!!

Aaannnndd this is why photos of him so rarely occur

He thinks he's a horse.

Q movement; Griffin work

 Miss Q: The wound is scabbing up beautifully. Yes, I have pictures, no they're not here because I'm lazy like that.

Now, opinions please on her movement. Injury was to left hind. If anything, I think she's a bit stiff on it, but definitely no where near lame. (Man, she's so dusty! I did take a cloth (aka my leather gloved hands during trimming) and wipe her down after this, haha.)

Griffin: Is a snothead still and firmly holding a grudge against me for his time in the barn prison. He evaded Jordan and I in the field even! -_- But once in, and after some reprimand during his trim, he did settle. He loved Jordan's massage while I trimmed him.

In this video he is in full tack lunging. This was within seconds of the lunge session beginning and you can see his hesitancy with wanting to canter. I stopped him rather quickly after he'd completed a succession of strides without slowing as he does best with small rewards like this. In hindsight I should have had Jordan film a little later on in the session because as soon as she stopped filming, he cantered and cantered and cantered and cantered like a perfect gentleman in both directions. A little praise in way of stopping his feet and re-directing does a lot for him.

Freedommmm! and The Rock

Catching up:

Wednesday night I went out to clean/feed/water/graze the horses. Guys, I made a mistake Tuesday; I'm going to share this story in hopes that other new-to-owning their own horse folks won't make it. Tired of cleaning up uneaten, spoiled hay I decided to use hay nets for the horses. The Nibble Net was already in the round pen and an unused rope hay net was hanging nearby that I decided to put in Q's stall. Q has not eaten well from the Nibble Net in the past even when primed by me with hay pulled out of every hole.

Now I've heard horror stories about hay nets. I have. Most revolved around trailers though and for some reason that knowledge just went out the window when I tied it up in Q's stall. Knowledge out the window + the obvious physics of full hay net vs. empty hay net dimensions out the window.

Enter Wednesday night: I arrive. Jeanna is there prepping momma and baby for some small training sessions to engage their minds. I let her know I'm letting my guys out to run around. They're used to me showing up and immediately letting them out of confinement to graze. Jeanna says to wait so she can contain hers, no big deal! Completely agree and understand. Well, not my horses. Griffin is pawing in the round pen, Q is pawing in her stall. She had never pawed in her stall before this; outside of it, yes, in it, no. But paw she did. And she must have gotten her foot stuck in that damn hay net. Instead of being a normal horse who is polite and well-mannered and adjusted to things like this (which she is) and just dancing a bit until it jiggled out again - she flipped out. Completely and totally flipped out. She jerked,  spazzed, slipped, fell, cast herself, flung her feet and head against the wall and stall door, sent the hanging water bucket flying. She kicked and thrashed and kicked and thrashed. Jeanna and I stood in shock and horror. We couldn't open or go in without fear of hurting ourselves or her more. In less than 30 seconds, though it seemed like time stopped and made it last longer, she was free and standing. She was shaking more than I've ever seen another horse shake. Nostrils flared, blowing air in terror. Knees bent standing on her toes. Shaking in sheer terror. She wobbled around the stall on her toes shaking, blowing. Jeanna and I talked to her. Calmed her. Comforted her. And then I got her out and walked her around slowly.

She was sound.

Another bullet dodged. Narrowly. Never will I ever put a hay net like that in a stall again. Ever.

Assured Q was okay and sound for real, I let Griffin out.

He. Was. Crazy. And that's putting it mildly. Bucking. Spinning. Galloping. Acrobatics.

Q in red hot heat and Griffin being a nut is not a good combo. I had walked her around for a few minutes then surrendered her to the dragging lead rope as she had calmed per her norm and was busy being a S-L-U-T SLUT along the fenceline with her boyfriends. I went back in the barn and began the cleaning process. I hadn't been in there but 5 minutes, maybe a little more when galloping ensues. HORSES.

I go out to find Griffin being a NUT and Q walking fast, then trotting with him. He continues. The other boys get involved. Q begins cantering and galloping and evading my every move - and D's! I was losing even more years off my life.

Within another 30 some second time-frame of anxiety Q stopped. I ushered Griffin out into the field and tied her up. CRAZY HORSES.

I sponge-bathed her. She mellowed right down. This little mare really loves to be primped. She even let me wash her face. I found a series of VERY superficial cuts - just enough to rub hair and tippy-top layer of skin off - all over her legs and face from her stall incident. UGH. Luckily though, the wound was no worse for the wear, the scab had just cracked open a little, much as you or I would break one if we moved to much too soon in healing. I was so stressed and cranky. I was telling Q I hoped she liked being tied like this because this was how the next week + of stall rest were going to go.

I led her around post-sponge bath and let her graze and watch Jeanna work on flexing with momma horse. I then put her back in her stall (with the Nibble Net - weight loss be damned) and went to fetch Mayer from the far field thinking two red-hot-heat mares together might be better company than Griffin. Besides, Mayer needed to diet.

Thursday morning I got a text from my vet asking  how Q was doing. I expressed how PSYCHO she has become about stalling. The incident the night before and the now galloping around the barnyard. Because my vet understands the lifestyle of horses used to being out 24/7 who are so unused to stalls, she said I should let her out to get her head on straight. She worried Q would end up doing more damage to herself with her growing stress-level from being inside than she would in the field. YES!

I went out Thursday night to find 1. Q's stall so, so clean thanks to the Nibble Net, 2. Q had only eaten what I'd primed and no more (sad face) 3. a very mellow Q - yay hormonal girl horse company (happy face). I haltered her and led her out of the barn (put Mayer in her stall). She was really surprised when I led her through the gate and into the field. I walked her over toward the other horses. She was excited but not being a loon.

Griffin and Saja ran over to greet her. Oliver followed suit as well. Greetings were given. A little squeal, but

<3

no more. I walked her over to see her original boyfriend through the fence. Some more squealing and then she decided to be a hussy. Squat. Pee. SIGH.

I walked her around the field with the other horses for a few minutes longer. She was a bit of a slut with all the boys, but she wasn't crazy and trying to run around. And so, I granted her freedom. She continued to walk slowly around teasing the boys and then went to "her" baby and everyone grazed and was happy. No drama! As I drove away I could see one very happy little mare grazing quietly with all her friends. (D promised to call if she observed her being a nut and running.)

s-l-u-t slut

Friday I headed out with a friend from ski patrol with our dogs to hike the trail and see if we could find what hurt Q. I can report after 59 ticks forcibly removed from Kenai, 2 from myself, 3 from the back of the car, unknown number from Dog #2 and 7 off my friend that there were no sticks, no sharp protruding rocks, and no obvious reason for her to have received such a deep injury. It was truly a freak accident. All I can assume is that the force of her leg rubbing one of these rocks tore the skin deep and cut the ligament, too. But we were at a walk? I guess the little bit of a slip/hip check movement I felt with the aid of gravity was enough. It will forever be a mystery. Examine the photos below for yourselves and let me know if you have any other hypotheses.

Beautiful green Appalachian springtime

Kenai standing above the rock

Standing at the step down where Q cut herself - but on what?!

Mattie lying below the step down for the rock. Q got the injury by slipping to the uphill side

Hard to imagine what delivered that wound....

Ticks. I removed 2 from myself, 59 from Kenai, there were 3 in my friends car, 7 on him, and unknown # on his dog so far.

Healing

**Fair warning, there are photos of her healing wound at the end of this post. Dom made a great point to me the other day that I should post them so others can learn from them. I will insert a line of asterisks prior to posting the photos for those who can't handle that type of thing. (-: **

Q's first night of stall rest was rough. The morning I came to check on her she was a live wire. Upon Griffin joining her in her confinement she became a completely different patient. By day 3 of confinement I joked with her as I arrived, "Q is your spirit broken?" But then I took her outside to graze and she's on super-high-Q-alert mode. Nope. No broken spirit. I think she's merely conceded to her circumstances.

Evening of day three I took the below video. Somehow I always manage to be a bumbling fool in front of a camera - this is why my brother is in theatre and I am not! It does show how she's moving well despite the injury though. (If you look close you can see the drain in her left hind near the stifle still.)

The vet came 4 days post-hospital visit to remove the drain and give Q a second dosing of Excede (an intramuscualar antibiotic). My vet's first words when she got out of her truck were how awesome Q's wound looks, how awesome she looks moving, and that I would be back to riding her in no time at all. She thought I could probably do our race (Ride Between the Rivers) in early August if I did the 30 miles. While this is great news, I still dunno that I'll move that fast. I don't know a ton about ligament healing, but I don't want to move too fast and not ever have a sound horse again. Ultimately I'll listen to my horse and move forward as she feels better. My vet said 1 more week on stall rest and the would will be nearly closed, then she can go out (she's not a horse to run around the field much at all per my BO and her observations from her house that overlooks the farm). My vet also suggested that the next step of moving forward in the healing process will be to get her moving the joint with lunging exercises at the walk and trot over trot poles and cavalettis. Nothing crazy, but enough to make her really use her range of motion in that leg.

Another huge point worth stating - Q is being such a phenomenal patient - just...wow. Not what I expected from my typically high-strung little mare who hates to be inside! The needle administering the Excede was massive, the antibiotic looked to have the viscosity of glue, and she just stood there like a champ! She wiggled a bit for the second injection, but overall was SUCH a good girl.

My vet noted that she had scratches on her left hind leg so we shaved it in prep for me to treat it with a few things that apparently do a kickass job of ridding scratches. She was a little antsy for this which led to the vet just laughing at her. In past experiences with Q my vet knows that the little mare will come to anticipate things. Q will anticipate and fret about stuff and then dance a little for no reason. Its really silly. We all just tend to step back and let her do her thing for a few seconds. Once she realizes we're not out to get her she chills out and lets us proceed.

I got instructions for treating the scratches and instruction for cleaning her wound in coming days. If I can keep the part where the drain went out clean and open, things will heal up even better. I followed both sets of instructions the evening after the vet visit. Q did her silly anxiety dance for a bit, and then settled in, letting me clean, massage, and treat both her wound and the scratches. By the end of it she was even standing with all her weight on that left (injured) leg and cocking her right hoof. I'd say she feels pretty good!

Wednesday and Thursday evenings I even trusted her enough to just turn her out with halter and catch-rope (read: lead rope dragging) to graze while I cleaned the barn. She and Griffin, despite being turned in all day were so mellow the past several times out together that I was confident she'd do nothing. And she didn't....Wednesday night. Thursday night however her turnout buddy was Oliver and I got to see the crazy-horse he is deep deep down inside (seriously, this horse has always been super mellow) as he careened and cavorted like a complete and total madhorse around the barnyard. She ignored his antics almost the whole time. She's walk fast after him, but was mostly unconcerned. But then, yes THEN, he herded her out of the barnyard, into the front yard, and chaos ensued. She trotted and cantered like a little madhorse with him, and then cantered and galloped from the yard all the way to the opposite end of the barnyard again. -_- Oliver lost all of his volunteer stallrest duties and Griffin was re-appointed. She was sound on the leg after all of this nonsense, but it was enough to give me a mild heart attack.

Overall, I'm so happy (and relieved) that she's healing so well. She is young. She is fit. And because of those two things she'll move forward from this injury faster than another horse may. This experience has been stressful (and expensive), but I'm taking away a lot of learning from it.

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Day of injury; note the dark red dot along the bottom of the left corner; that is what
remains of the vein that was severed during the injury. So thankful it wasn't one of the
more obvious larger veins or arteries in that leg!!

Day of injury

Day of drain removal - pre-removal

Day of drain removal - pre-removal

Immediately post-removal of drain

Immediately post-removal of drain

1 day post-removal of drain

1 day after drain removal (everything always looks bad with a flash!) wet because I'd just cleaned it

The "drain" one day post-removal of the drain.