Horse in horspital awaiting surgery - update!

TheSylv007

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25 February 2009
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www.ridewelland.co.uk
Just thought I would do a little update as I got some nice messages of support on here. Rose came through the operation very well and came home about 3 weeks ago with a huuuge dressing on! The journey home was a bit hairy due to diabolical rain but she was so pleased to be home she practically dragged me off the trailer and dived into her stable. Had to change the dressing twice before having the vet out to take out the stitches. They had warned me at Newmarket that she was afraid of the duct tape they used to keep everything in place (she didn't like the noise of it coming off the roll!) and boy they were right! The first dressing change was a nightmare as I had reams of fibregee and vet wrap to try and position over the hoof and leg while she pranced about, then getting the strips of tape meant her panicking and breaking her baler twine. Needless to say it took a while! I then realised that cutting the tape into strips first and sticking them to a chair (Blue Peter style) combined with bribery with mints was the way forward. So every time I had to unravel more tape, she got a mint - amazingly she got very brave after that and instead of diving off, she would look at me as if to say "ok, I've been brave, now where's the mint eh?". Sorted!

Then had the vet out to remove the stitches (the wound was so neat!) but I couldn't start her walking as her feet had grown so much (she had been due to be shod when she went into horspital but I was advised to leave it as they would take off the shoes for the MRI and if they wanted to do any remedial trimming I needed to leave them something to work with) and it was proving difficult to get the farrier out. Got him out a week later to trim her and we have started our walking. We began with 5 mins twice a day which was 'challenging'. Lots of pent up energy resulting in spooking then rearing - stupidly I didn't wear gloves the first time so got some nice rope burns! Just in the school at the moment til she calms down then maybe we'll go out for some in-hand hacking to keep it a bit more interesting.

Oddly, I'm actually quite enjoying the walking, I need the exercise but its nice to just spend time with her (rather than just mucking out and feeding her) so maybe it will be a nice way to bond more? Got to build up to 30 mins twice a day and then more after that which is quite a commitment (she's normally on full livery in the week but I'm now having to go up twice a day) but luckily I have access to the walker for some of it.

She is walking out really well, I just hope that it works and that I can get her right again.
 
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