A Change in Perspective

This was the least negative title I could figure out how to come up with. All of the other ones were very final and probably would have given anyone reading this the wrong impression.

Monday the vet was out to give Scarlet a treatment after he had his farrier visit. She was very happy to hear about his progress. And she saw how he was able to stand more square and shifting his weight well. I showed her the video I posted on Monday of Scarlet wandering around in the arena looking for a place to lay down.

After seeing that and talking more about how he’s moving, she said that she believes that his nerve issues are coming from a narrowing of his spinal column. She referenced how his balance and coordination got worse when his head was lowered and then he’d recover when lifting it up.

We talked about the fact that that is difficult to even see on an xray. They’d likely need to put dye in in order to see correctly. And that has a fairly high rate of infection and might lead to needing euthanasia.

I asked what she though he could do in the future. She said she wouldn’t want to see him even canter on his own in turnout. If he can get back to going over poles while on the ground and trotting, that would be really good progress. I mentioned that a saddle would pinch the neck area as well and she agreed with me.

Scarlet is happy and healthy enough like this. I wouldn’t want to pay for an xray when at best it would confirm what we already think. Or it could give me nothing or make him worse.

I’d mostly came to that conclusion on my own given how its taken so long to get to this point. But I’d held out hope. I’d hoped that we’d get back to riding. I’d hoped to do things with my boy again. I’d hoped I’d hoped I’d hoped. But that’s not something that is in our future.

This hurts so much. This wasn’t how I wanted to retire him. This wasn’t how I wanted these years to go. I lost him for 6 years and I only got 4 of those back before he got hurt. Its not fair. I had so many things planned. I’d just moved three minutes away from the barn.

I’ve been depressed all week. I’m mourning those hopes and Scarlet’s early retirement. I’d love to get a second horse but I have a mortgage payment and other expenses. One horse is all that fits in our budget. I wont even consider putting Scarlet down. He’s healthy other than this.

I’d love to figure out how to fit a second horse in my budget. Its not going to happen with our current income. Its not fair of me to funnel more money into my hobby. We need to have savings for emergencies and our future. So I need to figure out how to get a second income stream coming in. Its not an easy thing with everyone being stuck at home to do. I’m looking into freelance online options. But if anyone knows how to get rich quick, let me know. For now, Scarlet and I rehab and I work on the future.

Not Bad

Scarlet got his feet done last Thursday. I was really nervous about this as the last couple of times have just been so hard. They always end up setting us back in our progress. But luckily, I’d also convinced my husband to try another treatment to see how his progress goes with that now that I have an idea of what his progress looks like just normal walking. And it just so happened to be scheduled that day as well.

Thursday morning the farrier showed up and wow did Scarlet do well. Only a couple of wobbly moments but he really didn’t need to lean on the farrier and we didn’t go down. It was so amazing to see. I see his progress and changes every single day so what I see is just tiny slivers. Its very hard to convince myself that yes he really is improving. But then I have something like the farrier coming over and I can really compare how he was two months ago to how he is today. It felt amazing.

I was really happy with how he held himself but I was sure he’d still be sore as he doesn’t have full feeling or much muscle right now. He really liked his acupuncture and equipulse treatment and was such a good boy, per usual. The vets commented that he seemed more positive attitude wise, like he was just feeling better overall. I hope so. He’s never been super down mentally to me but its nice to see him slightly more energetic.

All his fly gear

The aftermath of the farrier visit is what was worrying me. I was expecting him to still have a lot of trouble. Previously, we’ve had to decrease our walks down to nothing and slowly work our way back up. But this time, we didn’t. We kept them at the exact same distance. We walked slower and I could see that he was definitely sore on his left hind but we were able to do it with only the stumbles that I expect to see out of him. There wasn’t any complete loss of his hind. It was amazing.

On Sunday, he did the same distance 30 seconds faster than the previous days. I plan to increase again on Tuesday, which is only 5 walking days after the last distance increase. It has been taking us a week or so each increase so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we can start to ramp up that speed. It would be great for him to get walking more.

The walking is what I tend to gauge his improvement off of. But I do need to remind myself that there are smaller things too. Like him being balanced enough to get a really good head rub using my shoulder. Or being able to eat from his feeder while I clean out his feet. These things are small and if I don’t focus on them, they are easy to miss. Its slow progress but its progress.

Been A While

It’s been a while since an update from me. Only 2 weeks but in this crazy time, 2 weeks can stretch to 2 years. It did feel like that in some respects.

We last left off with Scarlet still having a bit of heat in his leg. That did go away. I think it was mostly due to standing more directly on the leg because once we were able to start walking, it would go down over the course of the walk. I finished the antibiotics and stopped wrapping. None of the heat or swelling came back so I called that good.

Of course Scarlet wasn’t going to leave it there.

On April 3rd he had an overreach on his right fore. A little bloody and it seemed to split the back of his frog. My farrier wasn’t concerned (I’d initially wondered if it was an abscess trying to come out. Never dealt with one, its too dry here. So I had no idea what they would look like.) He just said to clean it and put some ointment on it. So I did. But Scarlet likes to bite at his wounds when the flies get to them. And so he started making them worse.

I got a bell boot to cover it and he seemed okay with that. But then he started jerking his foot away from me when I was cleaning his hoof. Only on the outside corner of the frog on that foot though. The rest of it was fine. And his heel bulb looked kinda inflamed. And it was tender. So I tried cleaning the wound and leaving the bell boot off. But he was still getting at it with his teeth.

After a couple of days of trying to clean it and it just seeming to get worse, Scarlet wasn’t resting much weight on it while standing. He would put weight on it for walking. I couldn’t tell if he was lame on that leg as he’s kinda lame all over…

We arrive at last Monday and I’d reached out to the vet. She scheduled a time to come over. She couldn’t find anything obviously there and she was happy with how he put weight on it. Since he was tender, she packed it with poultice and cotton and then wrapped that sucker up in duct tape. We basically treated it like an abscess as it wouldn’t hurt if he was just sore.

I kept it on for two days, adding duct tape as needed. He definitely liked it being packed. He put more weight on it almost immediately. After two days, it didn’t look like anything had drained. But he wasn’t sensitive on it anymore so… bruise? I’m going to have to assume a bruise.

He’s still doing good on it which means we’ve been able to take advantage of summer arriving with a vengeance. We’ve been walking every morning since the 14th. I did about 4-5 days of just short walks back and forth in front of his stall. I wanted us to not have very far to travel to get back to his stall if he was having issues.

After he seemed to do well with that, I increased the walk to about 3:30 minutes. I’m trying very hard to take this very slow and carefully. We’ve had so many set backs that I do not want to cause any of them myself. I intend to increase only every 4-7 days and only if Scarlet seems to be doing well at that distance for several days.

He has seemed to be doing well for a while. His strides have gotten more even each day and he seems to be stepping easier each day. I’m pretty happy with his movement and I’m glad that he seems to be liking the new weather. I’m planning on increasing our walk by 30 seconds on Monday. Hopefully he does well there.

Second Treatment

I’m very grateful that I have a husband who understand animals and is supportive of my horse hobby. He was on board with me getting a follow up treatment for Scarlet 2 weeks after the first one, even though its an extra expense for us. It worked out great as Scarlet had a farrier visit on Thursday. It was just as bad, if not worse than the last one.

My farrier does a good job and he listened to me saying Scarlet needed a break. It is just very hard on him. I don’t think it helps that he has little muscling at this point. But we got it done over the course of an hour. I was very nervous about what he would look like the next day balance wise.

Miffed that I pulled out my phone and not another cookie for him.

Friday he seemed pretty good. It had poured overnight and the ground was super super slippery. I’d been planning on giving him a day off after the shoeing so it worked out well. I could still get to all his feet and do his exercises with him so he seemed to be okay. Less sore than I had expected.

The soreness just came later. Saturday Scarlet was definitely having issues. He was leaning to the side a lot and had difficulties letting me pick his hooves. Sunday was even worse. I couldn’t pick up the left hind, the one he supports himself with, to clean it. We truncated his stretches since he was having issues balancing. It was painful to watch him hobble around his stall. I was very, very worried. I’d talked to the vet on Friday and had an appointment scheduled for Monday morning though. Pretty much as soon as I could manage it after the farrier visit.

Monday morning lean, which is better than the previous day.

The vet came and did her thing this morning. He actually looked better when I was out there before she came. A bit less unbalanced and I could pick up all his hooves and do his stretches, though it was difficult. He relaxed into his acupuncture and PEMF and was moving better by the time we were done. I’m looking forward to tomorrow to see how he does walking around a bit.

I’d asked last time about balance boards and she did a bit of research into it. She thinks it will be okay if we do the firmest boards and start small and carefully. So I’m going to look into that to see what the cost of the boards would be.

I’m so glad I could get a treatment into him asap after the farrier visit. I just hope that we can slowly work our way back up with walking again. Regaining some muscle would greatly help with these types of problems. But trying to regain the muscle causes soreness problems. Its a delicate balance I’m working with. Luckily, it will be dry for a while so we can go for walks and work our way up from there.

Early Days

Scarlet got a spa day on Tuesday. The vet was able to do it without me there since I couldn’t be there due to having to work. But she sent me pictures!

She also took a look at his slice while she was there. She trimmed back the flap and scrubbed of the dead skin so that it could heal well. It looked so much better as soon as she did that.

On Wednesday morning we went for a walk. I’ve become an expert at using every single sense to try and figure out how he is moving. I couldn’t tell if it did something neurologically but it did something. I think the first thing that it helped was to relieve his muscle soreness. He is very oddly balanced on his hind end at all times so I’m sure that his legs are sore.

When we were walking, he did very good. We didn’t have any of the weird disconnect of his hind end that day. He also wasn’t breathing quite as hard as he has been on previous walks.

I was tentatively excited about this. I didn’t want to be too excited if it turned out that we were just having a good day.

Thursday was so freaking cold. I know that I am a thin skinned San Diegan but it was cold. I’m pretty sure it was below freezing. I know this because the water buckets were frozen over. The cold makes things harder for Scarlet and he was definitely more stiff when we got out of the pen but I’m pretty sure it was just the cold. As he warmed up, he moved much easier.

Friday we had distinct hoof beats the entire time! He generally starts off dragging the toes of one or both of his hind feet. This time, not at all even from the beginning. I was so happy I wanted to start crying.

I don’t know for sure if acupuncture and pemf actually do anything for the nerves. There are some studies regarding how acupuncture can help with nerve regrowth. But even if it just relieves his sore muscles, it allowed him to move easier and more evenly. This is key to building muscle correctly to support himself better. He needs the muscle right now since he doesn’t have the nerve control.

I am scheduling at least two more sessions. At $212 a pop, they aren’t exactly cheap. But I’m willing to try a couple more and see if we get some results there as well. If so, maybe we wont need more or we could do them at a lesser frequency. The rain coming is going to put a cramp in our walking schedule. Hopefully it wont be too wet and we will still be able to get out some.

A Change

So as of the day this blog posts, Scarlet will have been getting dosed with reBalance for seven days. It’s not really enough to tell if it is helping him but it helps me mentally. He’s definitely not in love with it. I’m pretty sure he feels tricked when I go out there and don’t give him any treats. And it probably tastes awful as well.

Physically, Scarlet seems to have gotten slightly worse? It just seems like its a bit harder for him to move comfortably. He can still move and still gets down to roll so I’m concerned but trying to tell myself not to be too concerned.

My goal for this week was to find a new vet with whom I felt supported and would have easy communication. I got a couple of numbers from friends and made some calls. It was a bit difficult to make myself call (phone anxiety gah) but I did it.

The vet I ended up going with had amazing office staff and she called and spoke with me for twenty minutes about the situation before I ever had to schedule an appointment. I felt more supported in that call than I ever felt with the last vet.

Even more amazing. I spoke to her for the first time on Tuesday of this week. They got me scheduled for Thursday of the same week. (Shout out to the random client who allowed their appointment to be rescheduled for mine.) So quickly. And I was so grateful. I needed someone else to come out and look. I’d had another breakdown early this week. It just felt like I was watching Scarlet slowly slide into oblivion. And I’m really not ready for that. And I dread finding out that that is the only option.

On Thursday I took a half day off work and met the vet out at the barn. She started loving up on him immediately. He seemed pretty cool with it. Scarlet isn’t an attention starved horse but he doesn’t mind it. The vet began doing just some basic physical tests in his stall: making him cross his feet to see if he puts them back, visual acuity check, pulling on his tail etc. Scarlet just kinda stood there. She asked me if he was normally this chill as the leg thing can sometimes make horses frustrated. I told her he was. And he is. He can get spooky but he is really tolerant of you on the ground messing with him as long as monsters aren’t coming.

Then we had to take him out of his stall. I was a little nervous about that as I haven’t done it in about a week. I am just overly concerned with the drainage ditch in front of his stall. I can’t avoid it and I have visions of him tripping and breaking a leg or his neck or his head exploding when he falls. You know, normal worries.

He navigated the walking portion fairly well. We did a tiny bit of trotting and lots of tight circles. He didn’t like to walk with his head up or down but walked fine blindfolded. The vet even commented on how little he freaked out about the blindfold being put on. She tested his skin reflexes. We walked up and down a curb and up and down a slope.

She agrees (obviously) that he is neurological. She notices that he is very tight muscle wise and flexibility wise and that his hind is more the issue than the front, though he searches with his right fore sometimes when walking. We drew blood for the neuro panel and she suggested adding on an elecro magnetic pulse treatment and acupuncture to the visit that day. It was about $100 more than the rest of the cost. (Wow am I feeling the hit of the cost of everything right now…) We did that. Scarlet wasn’t too sure but he was okay to let us try it if we kept a steady stream of  treats. It was feeding time though so I don’t blame him for being distracted.

I now have some bute to try to see if it helps him move at all. I’ve got ten days worth so I really should be able to tell if there is a significant difference by then. I’ve also got some stretches to do for his neck and back legs. The vet also told me to start walking again as he can’t afford to lose muscle. Yes, ma’am.

The blood test is being sent to Cornell. We will be able to retest EPM, and test for four virus causes of neuro stuff. We will be able to at least eliminate some things based on those results. I was told it should take about a week. So I’m assuming I will hear back Friday or Saturday of next week.

She also said that she’s had great results with electro pulse and acupuncture for other neuro horses and suggests once a week for a month for those treatments. I’m not sure how I feel about that. It’s going to end up being just over 200$ a time between the cost for each thing and the farm call. Which really sucks. And I don’t know how much I believe that those things actually help. Some of it is woo-woo and some of it is not. I haven’t been fully convinced that these aren’t. I’ll have to see how Scarlet reacts. I believe I am going to wait until after we receive the blood work back to even try again. But in the meantime, what is your experience with electro pulse and acupuncture? Any studies done on those and their benefits/cons you can share?

Infuriating

So Thursday I make sure to have my stuff to work from home. I do my normal morning check of Scarlet and have a literal hour countdown going on in my head.

When 10:30 rolls around I go out to wait for the vet. Scarlet proceeds to uppercut my boob while begging for treats so I smack him for that.

11 rolls around. I’ve started doing stuff around the barn. Vets are always late so I’m not too worried. Annoyed because I’m a punctual person but not worried.

I get a call from the vet, he’ll be there in about 30 minutes. Oh but the two month long expensive meds for EPM were out of stock everywhere he checked. So he ordered a different one. Similar efficacy, 3-7 month treatment. Oh and it won’t be here till tomorrow the earliest. Do I still want him to come out since I’m not sure about doing the blood test?

FFFFFFFFFFFFF

Again, the communication with this vet is horrible. I’m probably going to call around to other vets to see what they say today. I do feel slightly on the hook for the medication he did order as I requested it. Luckily this one is significantly cheaper (~$150/m) than the others so it’s not as crazy.

As if dealing with Scarlet being neurologically unsound wasn’t enough, I have to deal with a vet who doesn’t feel like he’s working for me.

A Tentative Diagnosis

So Monday I went out and free lunged Scarlet a bit. I wanted some videos of the tripping so I could watch them back at slow speed. Scarlet walked fairly good when leading him around so I may have allowed myself a small bit of hope that he was better. Trotting put that to rest. He was definitely reluctant to trot off and tripped several times while filming. I’m putting a couple of video links right below this paragraph and I’ll stick the rest at the bottom of the post so you don’t have to be inundated with videos if you do not want.

 

Since he was definitely still tripping and my inexperienced with lameness self couldn’t figure out what exactly was wrong, I decided we needed a vet visit. He needed to get floated and shots anyway so I wanted whatever the earliest possible appointment was. It turns out that that was Wednesday. So I was pretty happy to take the time off and make my schedule work with that.

After a horrible 48 hours of waiting and Scarlet seeming just fine besides not wanting to go faster (ie eating fine, walking well enough etc) Wednesday rolled around and the vet arrived. He listened to me explain what I had noticed and then had me take him to the round pen. As we headed over there, he had me trot away from him. Scarlet tripped a few steps into trotting and got his feet under him to continue on. But ever time he trips I swear my heart stops beating.

We made it to the round pen and he had me wtc both directions. Scarlet was reluctant to go faster but he definitely listened to me and did it. He tripped at the trot to the right. To the left, he looked really really odd at the canter. He was carrying his hind end so far inside so that all his legs were on different tracks.

The vet had us stop and he asked us a couple of questions while we walked back to the cross ties. Where had he lived? (Sacramento, central coast, here) Had he ever been on pasture? (yes) He had his vet tech trot him away and toward us. Then he had her walk him by us and he grabbed his tail and pulled. Scarlet’s whole haunches swung sideways and my heart dropped.

The vet explained that there was something neurologically wrong. He could have collapsed him if he wanted to as he didn’t have the ability to balance. He was interfering in his legs when moving and would lose sensation and couldn’t catch himself other times. What he believes he has is EPM. We took blood to do a full blood test and run the EPM test. The better test is a spinal tap but that is difficult to do as you have to put a horse under in order to do so. So most vets run off of blood tests and physical symptoms.

So we are now waiting to see what happens. The treatment is fiscally feasible for me, but not cheap ($900 for a month of treatment). The vet is pretty positive that EPM is the correct diagnosis (he has had lots of experience in his residency with EPM and its common in norCal horses). Its generally brought on via another immunocompromised state as the body can no longer fight as effectively. The odd weather we’ve been having (cold then unseasonably hot) could be the stress needed to kick it off.

I was feeling pretty good about having done what I could do last night after the vet trip and the ridiculous amount of research I’d read. But Thursday morning I was not feeling as good. I started crying while walking Scarlet around. I had no specific reason for it. Scarlet was still walking fine and he went on a walk around the property with me for ten minutes this morning. But I was worrying about how fast EPM can deteriorate. Its completely variable. Scarlet is pretty good right now and would likely fully recover with treatment if it is EPM. But if he changed quickly what do I do? What if it isn’t EPM? What if I could have caught it earlier? There were a few things thinking back that may have been symptoms of it (difficulty getting him to canter, tiny nicks in his legs that are likely from interfering but I thought were from moving him to a new pen, etc). I was feeling guilty about that and it just all… bubbled up. Luckily, Scarlet is experienced with dealing with my crying and we continued on our walk.

I think I will likely roller coaster over emotions for the next few days while we wait for the blood test. I’ve got a few tentative plans if he gets worse or if the blood test comes back negative. I have a logical limit to where I have to stop paying to figure out what is wrong. I’m just really hoping that the blood test comes back positive because I know what to do then and I’ll have a plan and a good possibility of full recovery. I’m keeping that mindset and making plans for rehab strategies and supplements to support him afterward. This keeps me in a somewhat more positive mindset.

So for now, I’m keeping a very close eye on my boy and waiting for the blood test results. Its great that I’m so close to the barn because going out multiple times a day is so much easier. Also, my friend Holly is checking on him when she goes out. I’m doing what I can. I just need to repeat that until another step opens up.

One sweet thing that happened was I was talking to my husband and thanking him for being so supportive during all this. And he responded “Scarlet if family too.” I just about sobbed myself to death right then and there.

Also, shout out to L. and Karen for being there for my texts and calls. And shout out to Stacie for answering all my questions about her experiences.

Here are the rest of the videos:

 

Expect the Unexpected

So much happened this week. That’s how it goes sometimes.

Monday I shortened my stirrups like Trainer A suggested. It felt so weird when I first got on. Buuuut… I did feel like I could actually get my calves on to push with them rather than have to use my heels. Using my heels would cause my legs to crunch up and probably threw off my balance a lot as well.

Most of my ride Monday was based around me figuring out what I was doing. Also me trying to move through the soreness. I was so sore after the lesson. I always work so much harder when I’m in a lesson than when I’m riding on my own. As difficult as the ride was, I’m glad I went out. I’m sure that after I would have been worse if I hadn’t worked out some of the stiffness.

Wednesday I went out looking forward to a good ride. It was not a good ride. We came out to see *gasp* wood chip piles near the arena that weren’t there before. Scarlet just about lost his mind.

While losing his mind, he also lost all feeling in his sides apparently. He gave my leg cues a HUGE double middle finger for the whole ride. The ride quickly devolved into us arguing over GOING FORWARD WHEN ASKED. Nothing was done besides walking and trotting. I’m hating that I have to chase him into anything more than a plodding walk and it takes a while to get his trot forward as well. We worked a lot on a quick response to a soft leg cue and continuing to speed up until I removed my leg. I ended before I got exactly what I wanted but I had to go to work.

I was pretty frustrated over that ride for the rest of the day. It really sucks when things end like that. And I don’t know exactly what to do in this situation. I don’t want to have to constantly shove him forward at the walk. Every other gait is not as bad once we get going. But the walk? He might as well be going backwards sometimes.

That evening, Holly texted me that Scarlet’s mouth was swollen. He was still eating but I immediately freaked out. I’d just cleaned his bridle and used denture cleaners to get the gunk off his bit. I knew that it had to have been that.

Thursday morning I go out to see this:

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Swollen mouth, hives and a shoe missing two days after they were done? It's not my bday Scarlet. You really didn't need to get me these 'gifts'. 😑 #thosedarnhorses #horsewoes #horseproblems #arabianhorse

A post shared by Alexandra Kamachi (@alex_kamachi) on Jun 27, 2019 at 10:58am PDT

That’s right. Hives. All over. Slightly swollen sheathe/back leg area as well. AND a lost shoe. They were put on on Tuesday. At least I knew that his mouth wasn’t my issue.

Now, I get out to the barn at 7~ in the morning. Scarlet has been so low maintenance that I’ve not had to figure out much medical stuff. And 7am is too early for vet, friends, other people at the barn, etc. No one was up. I did text all my horse friends (Thanks for talking me through it later L!) But I was really feeling the lack while I tried to decide if I needed to go to work late and call the vet in for an emergency call.

I also felt the lack of having a barn where I trust the trainer/BO. I was concerned about leaving the barn. It had started with just his mouth swollen and went elsewhere. What if it got worse? Not too many people around the barn look out for each other’s horses. Id has to be something super big for people to notice. Friends notice but Holly isn’t around the barn much more than I am. Lots could happen in the hours we weren’t there. And the BO/trainers do NOT care. Nor do they pay attention. So I was feeling extremely worried and helpless.

I did end up leaving a message around 7:30 for the vet. Meanwhile, Scarlet ate his grain, rolled in the arena and then started eating his hay when I put him back. So he wasn’t really in any pain. He also didn’t seem to care about me poking his mouth. The skin was definitely tight there.

 

Thurs morning

Thurs evening

L started texting me somewhere after 8 am and I got a call back from the vet ~8:25. I started driving to work shortly before that because I was pretty sure Scarlet wouldn’t die but I needed to at least go in shortly and then get my laptop so I could work from home after whenever the vet had free time. He surprised me and swung by on his way to another call. So I turned around and headed back to the barn while telling work I’d be late. He gave him a shot of banamine and dex, then checked his temp and breathing. They were normal and Scarlet was pretty good. A bit confused about all the fuss right outside his stall. I got two packets of dex, one for the evening and one to hold onto. The vet said not to worry if this isn’t a chronic thing. Whatever caused the hives did transfer through the bloodstream (indicated by the widespread swelling) so it might have been a bug or a bee he bit in his food or something.

I went back in the evening and everything was so much better. Immediately I could see that his mouth swelling was down. He had wrinkles in his lips again! He was excited to get more grain and ate the dex up without issue. I ran my hands over his sides and there were a few small bumps left that might have been hives but also might have been the result of bites from neighbors.

 

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I’m grateful that the vet came by quickly and the allergic reaction was mild. My farrier said he’d come back out tomorrow.

I definitely had a pretty icky day after that though. The amount of stress and panic from that roughly 1.5 hours of not having him treated was just… horrible. He means way too much to me and having something unexplained happen just set me off. He’s older, what if the reaction got to him worse? I did manage to keep myself from spiraling too hard but that took a lot of energy out of me. I’m glad its almost the weekend and that he has mostly recovered. I need a break!

Health Stuff

Scarlet had to get his teeth floated and his vaccinations on Wednesday. He doesn’t love the covered crossties we have to go into in order to get it done. I arrived early and waited for 15 minutes after the vet was supposed to arrive. He called me and said he was going to be there in about 20 minutes. So more than half an hour late… Should have known better than to arrive early for a horse related appointment. I’m a perpetual early bird to appointments. I get anxious about being late really easy. I’ll just have to be ready to chill when it’s a horse thing.

Waiting for the vet

The vet showed up and got to work. Scarlet was pretty good and didn’t do more than kinda try to move backward. Understandable when there’s a giant rasp in your mouth. The vet said he looked pretty good because he stays on a regular schedule. Always nice to hear that my old boy is healthy.

Drugged baby

After the vet went to do another horse’s chiro appointment. I stood around tapping his face to try and get him a bit more awake before I walked him back to his stall. I must have been there too long because the vet stopped back to check on me and then walked Scarlet off. He told me he was good to go back. Sorry vet if I look like a crazy horse mom. I am! Scarlet is very important and I’m overly cautious with his health.

We then had a stupid amount of rain come down. I’m happy for it because rain in CA is always welcome. San Diego has rain so rarely that literally no one knows how to drive in it. When I was going to the store, everyone was driving like they’d never driven before. Better than the alternative. There was a serious multiple car multiple fatality accident that might too so I’ll take the granny driving thanks.

I got our Saturday morning and went on a few loops of the trail with my friend K and her horse. Scarlet was really good about it all. He hugged a bit but after having not been ridden for 4 days, I’m not complaining.

After the ride, I gave Scarlet his grain. He just shuffled around instead of trying to eat it. Immediately, I started panicking. He ate if I lifted the pan but he didn’t want to lower his head much more than halfway down. I left him to the pan while filling his water and he ended up eating a bit from it but he didn’t clean his plate like he normally does. He drank a lot of water too so I didn’t think he was really sick. I ran my hands all over him and didn’t find anything besides a small bump where a vaccine was given. I talked to K and she said her horse has a stiff neck all the time after vaccines it takes her three days or so to recover. She gave me some bute to give Scarlet so he could have some pain meds.

So, in light of that, I’m planning on putting together a first aid kit list for myself. I’ve got bute, vet wrap, gauze, wound cream. Anything else you guys suggest?