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.

DeMotivation

I haven't felt like writing much at all lately.

I had several GREAT rides on Q, then went and visited Saiph, and then came home to find Q with a wretched case of scratches AGAIN.

She's so incredibly susceptible to it. Three days of missed preventative washings/topicals led to the current demise.

And to add to matters, my finances these past few weeks have been in the most dire of straights. Like, I haven't even been grocery shopping dire straights. So just "calling the vet" to come out and sedate my small elephant (because that's the kind of sedation it takes to get Q drunk enough to deal with it) hasn't been an immediate option. However, today is payday...

I've read up oodles on scratches vs. Pastern Leukocytoclastic Vasculitis and other dermatological issues. This case of scratches, even more than the original one, presented very "textbook" though. Complete with that oh-so-NOT-lovely smell customary to fungal/bacterial infections.

Photos of horses with PLV do not match the appearance of Q's legs this case or the other case. Additionally, PLV won't improve with topical treatment from what information I can gather. Q improves RAPIDLY with topical treatments - especially if the scabs are softened and removed. 

The trouble is treating my highly-pain-sensitive mare who doesn't love human touch. She's very hands off and doesn't love grooming or scritches from humans. She's a do her job kind of horse. She appreciates me for the food I provide her, and she will be my friend when she's away from her "herd", but beyond those things? She'd rather be left alone.

She is a total and complete Drama Llama about pain. And I don't blame her - to a point. 

Q is the Queen of Anticipation when it comes to pain. Her very first vet visit when I got her 2 years ago demonstrates it perfectly: I'd asked my vet to show me how the vets at the endurance ride would be palpating to test for back soreness. She stroked her hand along Q's back lightly, narrating things to me, then she prodded one time just to show how it wouldn't be done and why - because any and all horses would react to it. Well, Q danced off Highly Offended about being touched in a painful way. And, being the Queen of Anticipation that she is, she proceeded to dance away from my vet's approach to touch her for the next solid minute because she thought it would happen again! My vet laughed, and remarked how similar Q is to one of her geldings - a comparison that has been made countless times since. (Ultimately, Q got over it and let my vet complete the exam with no more issue. Additionally, Q harbors no lasting resentment to my vet and has never been fearful around her.)

So, as you can imagine, treating a Drama Llama Queen of Anticipation for something as painful as scratches is incredibly frustrating. She takes her evasion games that she's always played to a minor extent to the Extreme. She dances about and waggles her legs and jerks them away in various attempts to avoid touch - these are both evasion tactics and games to her. To an extent it is expected and understood for painful areas, certainly, but it becomes infuriating to deal with when you go to touch, oh say her ELBOW, an uninfected area, and she nearly leaps out of her skin. -_- 

I refer to these tactics as games also because she often will waggle a leg about or dance/walk away when you're not doing a single thing to cause pain (including times when she doesn't have scratches). Brush her - she walks away (as far as the lead allows). Pick the hoof out on an uninfected, non-painful leg - she waggles it about. Kneel down to take a photo of the affected areas (you know, not even touching the horse) - she walks off/waggles the leg. 

And when you look at her body language while she's doing these things? Completely and totally relaxed. Soft eye, relaxed ears, nostrils un-pinched, body relaxed throughout.

So understandably, the increased degree of these evasion techniques and games and dealing with them intimately each day has been quite infuriating. I have sobbed uncontrollably, talked calmly, and yelled and screamed my frustrations to the sky. In fact, I've had to apologize to the neighbors within the ¼-mile vicinity for screaming my frustrations, "Sorry if you heard strangled screaming last night. I'm okay and I swear I wasn't dying or killing anything."

This bout of scratches is on both hind pasterns and on one front leg. Despite frustrations with the mare, within three days of treating it, I was able to have all of the scabs removed from the front leg and the skin was healing - today it is clean, pink, and healthy new skin. Her hinds are more difficult to treat; she's always been weird about her hinds being handled. The areas have improved greatly (like seriously, they're 75% better than they were), but without being able to completely remove the scabs due to her refusal to have the legs handled at all, they're not completely better and won't get there.

So, to keep both myself and the mare sane, the vet will be coming out ASAP this week to sedate the hell out of her and shave the two areas the size of a silver dollar each that I have not been able to shave to treat. And I will stock up on all the medicines and washes and skin biopsy for good measure. So you're welcome, Q.

Grocery store, I'll see you in another few weeks when I can afford you again. Until then, if anyone has recipes that are healthy and SUPER DUPER CHEAP, please share them in the comments. I don't like peppers.

Continued improvement to Q's legs

I forgot to snag photos on day 4 post-vet visit, but did remember last night when I went out to give both horses trims.

It is easy to tell where the vet's trimmers clipped her legs vs. my trimmer - so much closer a shave!
Inside of her right hind hasn't been shaved at all around the fetlock area.
I plan to keep a shorter shave (the shortest my clippers will go) on her legs year round. This will leave
sufficient hair for protection while removing enough that her legs won't stay damp from the hair being water-logged.

Not as clear a shot due to lighting and Q pawing her left front as she deterred flies.

 Q was better for her trim than she's EVER been in regard to me handling her hind legs last night. Since I got this little girl two years ago she's been fiesty at best when you request her to let you handle her hind legs. Until this recent bout of scratches, she always got them the worst on her hinds. The pain associated with that has left her very distrusting of any kind of handling of her hind legs.

Not any more! She was SO so good; she even predicted when I was going to need her next leg and had it resting and ready for me to request.

She continues to be great about letting me clean her legs up and apply salve. When she dances now, it's half-hearted and completely a game. When I finally reprimand her for it, she glares at me, then faces forward again motionless.

Her new acceptance of letting her legs and feet be handled in these past few days is REMARKABLE. This alone speaks volumes.

I haven't completely ruled out the potential for a later diagnosis of a more serious condition as the cause to what I'm currently referring to as extreme scratches, but until the time that there is a re-occurrence, I'm not going to worry. I feel that if she'd had some autoimmune issue as the cause of this outbreak, then the round of treatment we have followed wouldn't have had such a drastic effect so fast.

I'm keeping a more diligent watch on her legs and keeping even the tiniest and superficial of scratches clean and salved. Additionally, I'm using the open front boots on her forelegs for every ride to provide protection. So far, so good!

Standing square after a maintenance trim.

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

Vet Visit for Q

Back in March when both horses had their annual check-ups (vaccines, Coggins, health certs, teeth check (neither needed anything this year), etc.) I had my vet check Q's hocks as I've been concerned for awhile now that her hocks could be/become an issue down the road.

My vet flexed Q and had me trot her out. Q was grade 1-2 lame on her right on the trot away, normal by the time we turned to trot back. She was grade 3 on her left going out and grade 2 on the return.

The weather was in the single digits on this day. My vet and I discussed the potential for x-rays and perhaps other diagnoses at a later date (when it was warmer). She said I shouldn't worry greatly just yet, but be sure to monitor Q through the spring. Depending on how she was doing on training rides leading up to competition we may decide to look into things sooner rather than later. Q would tell me if I paid mind.

I noticed Q had some medio-lateral imbalance in her hooves around the time of my vet's initial visit. I focused in on this for awhile, and made effort to balance her out over the next few months.

Life plodded on. Q plodded on. She didn't exhibit typical signs that her hocks were bothering her: she was eager to work, didn't refuse work, didn't rest her hind legs any more or less than normal, had zero issue or reluctance navigating hills up or down, had no back pain, etc.

We entered No Frills. We completed No Frills. She was tired at the end, but after she was allowed to eat for a half hour upon completion she was much perkier. (She had been drinking well all day but refused to eat at the away check, so I wasn't too surprised by this.)

Training continued. Behavioral spooking issues increased in frequency, but no other signs of pain were exhibited.

Then at the OD one vet was over-critical of Q's swinging/waddling gait. Those who know my little girl know it's just her way of going. Still, we were almost pulled for it twice when the same unfamiliar vet watched her go.

We completed the OD, though Q was obviously stiff and sore through her hind legs notably the following day. It was hypothesized with Saiph, my vet, and others that it was time to look into diagnoses for her hocks.

My vet came out last night. We flexed Q again before starting anything else. She trotted out with no lameness on her right. She was grade 1-2 on her left. Intrigue. My vet was intrigued. I was intrigued. I noted about the medio-lateral imbalance and my efforts to correct that since March, wondering if that could have made a difference? My vet concurred, it may have.

We did xrays.

Left

Left

Left

Left

Right

Right

Right

Right

Her left hock shows the beginnings of some arthritis, but not bad at all. My vet said she would be uncomfortable giving injections at this point. She noted that we could, if I wanted, but that she wouldn't recommend it.

I inquired then about what could possibly be causing Q's behavioral differences? Yes, I'm certain I am an issue - I am riding her differently since she has been spooking so dirty. I micromanage more and fret more. That needs to be fixed, duh.

But couldn't she be acting out because of pain? What about her stiffness and soreness post OD? And her gait oddity? My vet answered re: stiffness with the intensity of the ride. The terrain coupled with the length of time we rode would be hard on most horses! And her gait oddity is just how she is. My vet (who vetted at the OD and vets other endurance events) noted that for every 100 horses she sees at an endurance ride, at least 10 of them have an odd gait. She said that the important thing to watch for with trot outs on horses like Q is the symmetry of their gait; the same way you'd go about watching a trot out for a gaited horse like Funder's Dixie. 

I still inquired about saddle fit. I noted that her spookiness did begin increasing after I started riding in the Ansur all the time. But she'd never ever shown issues with her back being tender or sore - I mean hell, she's done three 50s where she was examined by a minimum of 6 different vets in this time. She's had her annual check-up and now this check up. Something would have shown up somewhere in that time with all of those different eyes on her! My vet agreed with this.

In fact, my vet followed up my saddle inquiry with this question, "Think more simply."

Want to talk about changing herd dynamics?! Because my vet did. And she thinks this could be playing a much larger role into things. (She has a horse who is very similar to Q in so many ways; she's stated this from day one of me having Q. She's had that horse for most of his life. She noted that this horse's social status in the herd affects his behavior in a HUGE way.)

So, I noted to my vet that in addition to the saddle change, Q had been in the field with two VERY studdy geldings for the same amount of time; in other words, the saddle change and herd dynamic was altered about the same time.

The first gelding arrived the same time I began exclusively using the Ansur. His arrival triggered some manic heat cycles in my little girl. She was never herself while they were in the same field. Fortunately though, his aggressive displays toward humans (remember when he offered a double barrel kick at me?!) got him sectioned off into the other half of the pasture on his own last fall. His owner never came out, so being in the far field wasn't a problem. Sectioning him off helped some, but Q was still VERY drawn to him and would spend a large amount of her free time grazing alongside him on her own side of the fence.

And then, the Christmas Surprise horse arrived. He started kind at first, but with time and less of a work load (weekly/biweekly lessons were not enough to keep his temperament where it had been) he became quite studdy. In fact, by spring and the mares heat cycles beginning, he was head gelding on his half of the field, as typical head gelding Little Bit was in the far field with the other studdy gelding and three other horses who weren't typically ridden or worked with.

Drunk mare is DRUNK.
She is NOT a cheap drunk either.

Finally, this spring, the original studdy gelding left. I was thrilled. Except, then I wasn't.

This is the first formal mention of this on the blog: Suddenly, K's Xmas Surprise horse was behaving in a horrid way. He was never aggressive toward people the way the other gelding had been; he understood what "back off" body language was and listened. But boy did he love the mares. He loved the mares so much that he would mount them. He would mount them and get the job done. Stir it around and finish it off.

I flew into worrying about my little girl getting a piece of something I didn't want her to have. My BO assured me that Q had ZERO interest in that gelding. She was always aggressive in her body language toward him telling him to back off. Of course I'd always seen this at the barn when I was there - despite that gelding's manic calling and galloping toward Q when she returned from a trail ride. I worried about what was going on when no one could see though. Fortunately, the horses were still confined to the area of field within sight of my BO's house (primarily her kitchen window where she watches them as she cooks - its how she saw him "breed" her mare).

His owners called his original owner - a 71 year old man - to confirm his gelding. The guy said he'd been gelded as a yearling and "it was done right". Well, okay. But still, cryptorchid anyone?! I still worried. (And will continue to show concern until she's squealing, kicking, peeing, and squirting again haha.)

The geldings owners were less and less enthralled with him as a match for their girl, whom I'd been giving lessons to all this time. I was on board with their concerns. While the horse wasn't mean or aggressive in any way, he had learned he could get away with almost anything he wanted. His behavior spiraled downward from there.

A few weeks ago, I saw that a friend of mine was selling her incredibly versatile little mare for a STEAL of a price. She's 10 years old, Q's size, and has the sweetest temperament ever. I've known the horse for YEARS. She's shown English, western, and has been used to rope goats. She's an in-your-pocket sweetheart of a mare. I shared with K and her family, and before I knew it, she was bought and was on the property and the gelding was sold back to his original owner. He's been gone 2 weeks now.

Little Bit is back in charge. He's a terrific little leader. There are five geldings and four mares now. Q hates the new little mare and bosses her around in a bigger than usual-for-her way. The usual head mare has had some lameness issues of late that have led to her being corralled away from the others. Q was always neck and neck with her as head mare; lately Q is in a bigger role though. Neither mare is aggressive. Both tend to just give visual displays instead of resorting to physical confrontations to demonstrate their leadership.

I talked about all of this with my vet. She nodded all the while. She noted that Q's cycle may be the  biggest thing affecting her mood. We discussed regumate (so expensive. No.) and maybe trying to marble Q next spring - even though the efficacy of this method isn't very high. My vet was on board with SmartMare Harmony and the Magnesium supplements Q's getting (and has been on for about 5 weeks now).

Between the supplements and me doing what I can to micromanage her less, we'll see where we get. Our ride the other day was encouraging (details in next post). This new herd dynamic and Q's role within it may play favorably for us. (And could bite us in the butt later on if it changes again!)

Time will tell.

: : : : :

In addition, to all of the hypothesizing about Q's behavior during the vet visit, we also took time to take care of Q's scratches once and for all.

I did SO well this winter shaving her legs and keeping them clear of scratches. I would have never guessed that they'd crop up like this in JUNE. UGH!!

They were about 75% better a week or so after the OD. But then I didn't make it out for a day to put on medicine and they went downhill in a big way. And I don't know (and didn't think to ask last night) if the bugs are playing a role in exacerbating it, but I think they may be. They don't leave her legs alone. The gnats especially dig on in and don't go away. They meander from one are to another on each leg.

We'd had to sedate Q to get her to stand still (she was upset about the cords and the camera for the xray process) for her xrays, so we started to remove the scabs. Well, she wasn't drunk enough to deal with that pain, so we doped her up even more! She was STILL reacting to us removing the scabs and had to be twitched on top of all that sedation! They were BAD.

I knew this, but I knew I couldn't get near her legs to fix it without her being sedated. With the impending vet visit, I just decided to be patient. Q has had a yearly battle with scratches ever since I bought her. She's much more prone to them than any horse I've ever been around.

As a result, handling her feet/legs is super tricky because she's dealt with so many bad sensations on her legs. She's the kind of horse who experiences a bad poke ONCE and then anticipates the hell out of every tiny potential movement you may be making near the area of the bad poke. She'll dance away and get herself all in a tizzy.

In fact, in writing this, I almost wonder if some of her spooking could be because in addition to seeing a potential monster, she took a misstep that caused a rock to fly up and knock her square in one of the scabs/bad spots while moving. That would certainly hurt enough to merit a big response!

My vet noted that my other endurance friend in the area, Jen, has a gelding who gets chronic scratches like what we're dealing with on Q. She's finally had to resort to keeping his legs shaved year round and washing them once every two weeks or so to really clean them up. I'm probably in that boat, too.

Just look!

You can see the areas on her legs from here. This was last week.

Somewhat noticeable here as well.

After we shaved and removed scabs last night.
Mid-way through scrubbing process with medicated shampoo.

Poor little girl. At least she was drunk?

Her left front has been the worst this time. So bad.

Hinds covered in medicated shampoo and suds.

Floppy drunk lip.

Drunken stance.

After we rinsed her off, right before I applied the steroid ointment.

Hinds.

Hind.

Fronts.

Front left. =(

So you can see, it's pretty bad. I left her in a stall last night through today to help keep her legs dry (out of wet, dewy grass) and to keep the bugs at bay some. I'll apply the CK Shield balm/salve tonight, and she'll go back out. If I need to, I will reapply the steroid creme tomorrow. Otherwise, we're back to the balm for several days and another shampoo in a day or two.

Hoping to see some drastic improvement!

I'm sad that the scratches reached this level, but they were honestly much better and then got really bad again in a hurry. We'd been applying the balm daily and keeping them as clean as she'd allow us. She was quite a witch about being touched there though (with reason), so I'm happy we could finally get it taken care of last night!

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Tonight:

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Don't forget about the Dublin Dog giveaway! Prizes for humans and dogs alike are up for grabs!

There will be three winners!

It ends Friday.