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7/16/02: It was really hot today, and Chance and I felt out of sorts. I swear, we are too much alike! She did eat grain well but wasn't so interested in her milk, water, or hay. It's cooler tonight, and she is eating/drinking like normal again. Other than that it was a pretty uneventful day.
7/17/02: There is a cool breeze today! Chance and I are both feeling much better. And she is eating well today.
I got new pics of her ongoing pressure sore. It is looking so much better. I put together several pics to show the progress. Most of the sores are healed, just dealing with rubbed off hair on hips and such. But I am still treating the one elbow, and I thought I would share what it is I'm doing for it, asided from flipping Chance over at every feeding.
Aloe cream, peroxide, and barnyard lime- miracle cure!
Years ago I had a mare who impailed her shoulder on a branch while running through sagebrush. Went to the bone, and tore out hunks of muscle, one that was hanging down was the size of a large banana. I could see shoulder bone and muscle. I rushed her to the vet, who cut of all the hanging pieces of muscle, cleaned things up, and pretty much told me to keep it clean. He said that it was in a bad spot that it would be moving all the time, so there was no way to keep a dressing on it, and stitches would tear. He gave me some antibiotics, said "keep the flies out" and "what a shame, waste of a great mare." After a month there was proud flesh filling in the hole (that was originally so big I could put my whole hand in it). It was yellow and gross, there was lots of goopy fluid draining all the time, and it was all I could do to keep infection from taking over. We were having temps of 110 and more, and the flies were horrible! I would smear furozone ointment in and mist with fly spray. But 15 minutes later the salve would be melted and all down her shoulder and leg, and the flies were back.
My sister and her husband lived 12 hours away. They were calling constantly to check on how things were going. Chris, my bro-in-law, kept telling me I should try this "ol' cowboy thing." It involved caustic lime and peroxide being put right into this gaping oozing hole on my poor baby. I just kept politely making excuses for why I hadn't tried it yet, hehehe... BUT- one day they showed up in my driveway. Chris said "Give me 4 days to prove this will work." I gave in. Twice a day he went out, soaked the wound with clean warm water-soaked rags, got all the gunk moistened to the point that it would dab off. Then he would dry everything, cover all the tissue and proud flesh with peroxide, grab a handful of the lime powder (barnyard lime- NOT the kind that you mix to make cement!), and start pressing it against the tissue until it would soak up the peroxide and stick like a cast. Chris did this twice a day for the four days, and I'm telling you- it was amazing! By the end of the fourth day, the lime was eating the proud flesh, exposing pink healthy tissue, and it was soaking up the oozing stuff so everything was staying much drier. The skin around the edges was healthy and growing, closing in.
So I continued doing this after my family had gone back home. 6 weeks later I swear the hole was almost closed in, with no scar tissue inside. 3 months after the accident "Poedunk" was trotting and running just like she always had, with only a slight indentation and thin scar. You couldn't see the scar, it was so thin, but the hair sorta curled a bit. The way the skin came together, the scar looked like a large "Y" had been drawn on with a pencil. And her movement wasn't hindered by proud flesh fusing muscle and such. It was a miracle.
So this is what I'm doing with Chance's elbow. The only difference is, instead of using water to soak the old "cast" off each time, I apply the aloe cream, let it soak in and moisturize, then I wipe the old lime, and any debri off with a soft dry cloth (pieces of smooth bedsheet.) It is taking a bit longer to heal, simply because she's spending 1/2 her time on it. But there is no inflamation, oozing, granulation, and the skin is slowly closing in. The bottom three pics, on the above link, show how good it looks. Pink healthy tissue and skin. We will get it healed, and I'll bet the scar is nearly unnoticable. I circled the original open pressure sore perimeter. You can see in the bottom right photo, that it is closing up well.
I highly recommend this treatment. The only biggies are: BARNYARD/GARDEN LIME! And after applying the peroxide, dry all around the wound or it may eventually bleach the hair. It's helpful to shave the hair all around. Also, DAB the old crusty stuff off. If it's still sticking to the wound, and you force it off, it will tear and bleed. Allow it to moisten until it comes off on its own.
One more thing- I know this sounds like it would burn and hurt so bad. But my mare would come up to me when she saw me coming with all the supplies. The only time they flinch is when the peroxide first starts to bubble. That must feel weird.
7/19/02: I had a most wonderful email waiting for me this morning. It was from Guy Vanstraelen, of Equine World Wide (Belgium). Guy wrote a very informative article, on Fescue Toxicosis, in 1995, which was published in the equine magazine, Chronicle of the Horse (one of my favorite horse publications!). Guy has the copyright on his article and was generous to give me permission to post on my site. So CLICK HERE to read. It's posted in Microsoft Word format.
Chance is doing well today. She even rolled over twice! Not the colic alert kind of roll, but the "I have energy and want to wiggle around and scratch myself" type. This is the first time she's done this, any any new bursts of energy from Chance excite me to no end! One quick note. It's now bedtime but I just wanted to add- at the last feeding Chance got up without me prodding her into it! Must've been tired of laying on one side. She stood up took a step or two, then laid back down on the opposite side. This is VERY encouraging! Okay, I going to get some sleep. G'nite all!
7/20/02: Chance has been here for one month and two days, and in a about a week she will be two months old. Wow. So many changes in such a short time. Today Chance was really restless, so I ask Dave to move her from the framed-in area (filled with shavings) to the yard. The sudden thunderstorm last night had soaked all the bedding anyway, and with her off it the shavings would dry out more quickly. So Dave strapped the engine hoist to the hay forks on the tractor. We got the sling on Chance, lifted her with the hoist, and off to the yard she was headed. I held her head while Dave drove. Right after we got her situated in the grass, Chance started trying to get up. I helped, and she was off and running, figuratively, of course. But she got herself a good 10-12 feet before collapsing. She has done the same thing twice more today. I think we're on a roll. Chance is starting to see that up is better than down. What a day for our little girl!
We just today noticed that a front leg is growing quite crooked, bending out, very pronouncely, from the fetlock. Hoping that once she is up and around, that it can be put straight again with corrective trimmings. That's the least of our worries, and we're finally making steps to overcome the others. This is a good day...
7/21/02: Rain isn't expected, so we have left Chance in the yard. This afternoon Dave came in and asked if I'd gotten her up and moved. I went out and she was quite a few yards from where she'd been. I don't know if she just scooted around or got up and walked. But the three times I did have her get up today, Chance walked 12-15 feet each time, without me pushing her to go forward. Still all hunkered down in the back end, but the legs are all going the way they should be. I think Chance is getting stronger and maybe starting to realize that walking MAY be something normal. Another great day... Continue to page 6...
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