Medical updates--good and bad

Miss Vixen got her stitches out yesterday--day 11, I think. It is healed up really well. The bloody area is the spot that popped open, and that is fine. We wore it out scrubbing to make it bleed rather than letting it scab up. I am thrilled with it. No it is not pretty but I bet we will never even see it again, once it hairs back up. Now all I have to do is make sure scabs are picked all the time, so it can keep healing. Its a little puckered, but I am sure with time it will flatten out. Considering what a mess it was, I am good with this.
So after all this time, she got to go outside. First, she did not seem to know what to do with herself--she just stood at the gate and snorted at me. See you cannot even see her scar from here. She eventually realized she could play and she put on quite a show--I am saving those pics for a rainy day.
Meanwhile, poor Echo is really hurting. This abcess is kicking her ass. Last nite, after we confirmed it is just an abcess, I put on her epsom salt soaking boot, and wrapped her off leg for support. She waves her left foot around all the time and will not put it down for anything, so her off leg needed some additional support. She was not a fan of the soaking boot, and the wrap concerned her, so she had a real dilemma. She did not want to use either foot, but that made it hard to go anywhere--like to dinner at the front of her stall.

She solved that problem though--she rocked back on her hind legs, picked her front ones up about 18 inches, and shuffled across the stall. She looked like a Lippizaner. A short one, but one all the same. It wore her slap out but she got there, and did not seem to like me laughing at her.

This morning she had taken off the support wrap and the soaking boot had slipped down so it sloshed and flopped. I took it off. I felt sorry for her tonight, so I gave her hay where she was resting. Just a little, because I want her up and moving around. She had eaten her breakfast grain well, so I thought she deserved a little extra loving. Most of it I put in her rack so she would need to get up. She did get up to eat her grain tonight, but she was down again the next time I saw her.


She even stayed down so I could put her iccthammol packing on. I slapped that diaper and duct tape on and she never even offered to get up. That makes it easier on me, but sad that she hurts that bad.

I sure hope this thing pops soon. I have never seen one hurt this bad before, and it breaks my heart. Cross your fingers

Back to fun pics tomorrow--it was Aries' baby's first day out today, so there are some cute ones.

Echo's off

There has been some weirdness around here lately. Echo and Squiggy are on the fatten up program. Its working on both of them, although Echo here is taking longer because she is just less interested. Being out on lush grass helps keep her full, so she does not always finish her dinner. That is fine, as I am really pouring it to them, feeding 4 pounds or so every time I go to the farm. I know she will have that weight on before I know it though, so this does not concern me.....unless it is for a reason other than that she was just getting bullied off the round bales when she was still in the back pasture.

She has been up for a month or so and is doing well. I notice though that she is ALWAYS laying down. She takes her time getting up to come eat, but she comes and eats with Squiggy and Playmate. I mentioned to the doc about two weeks ago that she was just so lethargic--you should have seen her getting her feet trimmed. She just stood there and hung her head, like she just did not feel good. Since then, she has gotten two shots of B-vitamins, and definitely is acting better than that.

Yesterday though was a whole other deal. She was three legged lame. She acts like she has a bad abcess brewing, and I am sure that is what it is. We had to fetch her in the pasture, and push pull and drag her to a stall. We cannot get a reaction in her left front which is the one she is favoring, but she did get fussy when her forearm was palpated. I gave her a Bute yesterday in case it is not an abcess, but all three times I have been to the farm today, she has been laying down in her stall. She really did not want to use that leg to get up for dinner and from the looks of her bedding, she has been down there a good part of the day. Plus most of her hay was left and she had not been overloaded on it. The three steps to the food bucket took several minutes--that is how much she is not willing to use it.

So I guess it is an abcess. I hope so. I diapered her foot with iccthammol and taped it on as she ate. It occurs to me that she might not be drinking enough either, if it is that hard to move--the stall is so big it might not be worth it to her. Guess I will go back over there. Ugh.


The vet will be here tomorrow for some other stuff, so he will take a look at her. He already weighed in that its an abcess and he is always right---I just do not remember one ever hurting this bad with one. Its pathetic.

Cross your fingers she feels better soon

I made a detail shot

Echo has curly hair. Seems like there is at least one in every bunch and this year, it is Echo. In addition to having the Sly day glo fro, hers looks like she has been electrocuted.

Hi Jim!

I am rehashing this photo of the first baby of the year as my friend Jim just asked me about pics of the babies. I directed him here and then realized there were not many of babies posted recently--this is Echo, when she was a couple of weeks old, so in mid-March.

Unbeknownst to baby Echo, she will be weaned on July 29----she better be enjoying her mama until then!

I better get back on it with the baby pics--they are growing so fast

The anti-Shiloh

I will have to do way better than this, but I wanted to show how crazy Echo is shedding off---and Melody who is normally bright red, is fading in the sun, so that they almost look the same color--which they are for sure not.

Echo is a beast of a child, it is funny to see her with the others.

Mel gets her feet done this weekend, so when they are in, maybe Echo can get some big girl pics done

A rainbow!

Well it has been raining non-stop--so a rainbow is not out of the question. Since the sun won't come out, this will have to do.

Why would anyone do this?

Echo was having a laydown when I arrived. In the mud. In the rain. What do you think that is about? They have a perfectly nice shelter and she chooses this instead. I do not get it.
This I understand. There is food involved, so I get standing in the rain.

Babies this week- and a name change

Triton just could not stick for me, so now baby boy is named Turbo--that goes well with his nonstop hollering so that he sounds like a jet engine and his running like his butt is on fire.


The sun has come out so I have managed to get a few shots of the babies--nothing earth shattering because I cannot walk around on the rough ground without hurting too bad, so I am limited to what I can get from outside the pasture, and then can only do it at certain times of the day so that the sun is in the right place.


They are such cute babies though, even the not so great shots are still worth having. They are growing up so fast, it makes me sad.

And the winner...

in the name the hoss game this time around is Belinda of Mic Bel Quarter Horses in Arkansas. She suggested Echo, and I think it is possible that both Bree and Madison suggested that one as well, but for some reason, when I heard it from Belinda, it was obvious that was her name.


Not only is it a cool word, but it plays on the fact that she is a carbon copy of her mother (with a bit of a washed out color kind of like an echo pales next to the original sound) but it also plays on the musical nature of Melody's name. I don't know for sure what the registered name will be so we are still open to ideas on that--that is Bree's specialty. Her other Slybabies are Mojo (Slydun to the Music) and Hammer Down Haida--well that does not go with the musical theme at all, but when Missy K of PA came up with it, I knew that was his name as well.


So bring on those registered name suggestions!