Angelbones
Well-Known Member
For those of you who remember my post of 25 May about William going through the fencing and damaging his hock:
On Thurs 29th I called the vet out again as there was some puss type stuff oozing from the wound and she immediately had him admitted to the horsepital (I unfortunately wasn't there at this stage so poor mum and good mate loaded him up and headed off. He was such a good boy, he is 23 and hasn't travelled in a good 10 years if not longer, and had to leave his girlfriend behind. He was dripping when he got there, and totally hoarse from yelling for her).
They were very worried about an infection in the bone (not the joint) so obviously not good news. They put him on IV antibios and tried to sedate him enough to have a good go inside the wound but he wasn't having any of it, so they left him for the night. He settled and found a new girlfriend (fickle that he is) and they managed to do more the next day.
They called yesterday to say they had xrayed etc and he has a tiny piece of bone pushed up above the wound and that this is causing the infection and now they are going to operate on him, tomorrow I think. We had really thought he was coming home soon and that it would be down to changing dressings etc so this is a bit of shock really.
So they said the options are, a) the obvious.... b) don't operate and keep giving antibios and see where that leaves him.... c) operate and 80/20 he may be fine.
He is retired now, and we are lucky in that it is no problem to keep him forever, and extra fortunate that mum is able to afford the cost of all this (he was her MFH horse before she retired and there is nothing she won't do for him) as he is not insured and there is obviously no guarantee that he'll be ok at the end of it.
So that's my update, poor old William is still in horsepital, about to undergo surgery, and may or may not be ok at the end of it.
So healing vibes please...we are very worried but hoping for the best as you can imagine. He otherwise is in incredibly good health and it is definitely a privilege to have him in our lives.
Thanks guys x
This was William last Monday after the first vet visit, with dodgey hock bandaging.
On Thurs 29th I called the vet out again as there was some puss type stuff oozing from the wound and she immediately had him admitted to the horsepital (I unfortunately wasn't there at this stage so poor mum and good mate loaded him up and headed off. He was such a good boy, he is 23 and hasn't travelled in a good 10 years if not longer, and had to leave his girlfriend behind. He was dripping when he got there, and totally hoarse from yelling for her).
They were very worried about an infection in the bone (not the joint) so obviously not good news. They put him on IV antibios and tried to sedate him enough to have a good go inside the wound but he wasn't having any of it, so they left him for the night. He settled and found a new girlfriend (fickle that he is) and they managed to do more the next day.
They called yesterday to say they had xrayed etc and he has a tiny piece of bone pushed up above the wound and that this is causing the infection and now they are going to operate on him, tomorrow I think. We had really thought he was coming home soon and that it would be down to changing dressings etc so this is a bit of shock really.
So they said the options are, a) the obvious.... b) don't operate and keep giving antibios and see where that leaves him.... c) operate and 80/20 he may be fine.
He is retired now, and we are lucky in that it is no problem to keep him forever, and extra fortunate that mum is able to afford the cost of all this (he was her MFH horse before she retired and there is nothing she won't do for him) as he is not insured and there is obviously no guarantee that he'll be ok at the end of it.
So that's my update, poor old William is still in horsepital, about to undergo surgery, and may or may not be ok at the end of it.
So healing vibes please...we are very worried but hoping for the best as you can imagine. He otherwise is in incredibly good health and it is definitely a privilege to have him in our lives.
Thanks guys x
This was William last Monday after the first vet visit, with dodgey hock bandaging.
