Day 7 Part 3

We have poop (only a horse person could get excited about this lol) but honestly Ive never been so happy to pick a stall in my life. Hes resting quietly now after hours and hours of walking but it seems to have helped he ate a tiny bran mash and a little bit of hay so maybe hes finally gonna turn the corner. We are still keeping a very close eye on him for now but Im gonna take a quick nap.

Day 7 Part 2

Still no change I just stopped in to get food and more warm clothes and then back to the barn.

Day 7

Not alot to report right now hes still up and looking less painful but he still will not eat or drink so we know this cannot last.

Day 6 - Colic :-(

Jacks refusal to eat or drink anything has finally caught up to him.  Even though I tried everything under the sun to be inventive and get some food into him he was very uncooperative.  Today I arrived at the barn to find his stall totally destroyed wood everywhere Jack was down and refusing to get up.  Called a friend got the vet started on his way and waited.  Finally got him up before the vet arrived but he was very aggitated walking circles, pawing, trying to roll ect.  Gave him a tiny tiny bit of banamine and much to Jacks happiness took him outside.  He did almost a complete 180 getting outside in the sun he started eating, drinking and calming down.  So for now we built him a really small outdoor pen that he can go out in on nice days see if that keeps him happy and eating.  Still touch and go for awhile but his attitude has totally perked up with the warm sunshine so hopefully this is where we finally turn the corner to better days.

Day 5

Well I lack some serious skills when it comes to wrapping legs.  The plus side to this I should be an expert when this is all over :-)  Jack seemed much more himself today hes still very aggitated he wants to be turned out poor guy.  He wasnt really interested in his grain this morning though I think more because he was so fixated on banging the door to let me know he wasnt happy.  I let him stand on crossties for about an hour while I did this and that around that barn he seemed to enjoy the change of pace.  I had to rewrap his leg again because the bandage slipped down :-( everytime I open it I find myself feeling disappointed I have to remind myself to be patient this isnt going to heal over night.

Day 4 Part 2

I can honestly say I have never been so excited to see a horse eat in all my life.  Took Jack out for a walk up and down the barn isle a couple times then we hung out at the end of the isle watching it snow out the door.  He seemed really happy to get his head out into the fresh air and to stretch those legs.  I made him a nice warm soupy supper of a couple handfuls of hay stretcher and warm water it took him a few minutes but he finally ate and licked the bucket clean.  He was much calmer when I put him back in his stall it was nice to see him relaxed and happy after the aggitated beast I had this morning.

We think the meds may have been irritating his stomach because he wasnt eating leaving him feeling even worse so hopefully now that hes putting something in there before his meds he will start to feel alittle better.

Do you mind?

Day 4

Not a good day for us :-(  Jack is completely off his feed wont eat his grain, hay or drink any water.  Hes extremely aggitated walking circles and pawing the floor of his stall while making nasty faces at anyone who walks by.  The vet gave the okay for him to walk up and down the barn isle a few times to see if it makes him happy to get out and move alittle.  Also going to try making him a nice bran mash and see if that entices him to eat something and maybe get some water into him.  I also have to redo the bandage it seems in his aggitation he managed to get part of it off.  I will try to get some pictures of him other than his leg for future blog posts.

Day 3

Today we changes Jacks bandages for the first time.  He seemed really happy to have it taken off for a couple minutes so stood like a total gentleman threw the whole thing.  He liked walking the 5 feet to the barn isle and stretched a few times in his new freedom though he wasnt very happy when we went back to his stall all re-wrapped.  Again hes off his feed nibbling a few mouthfuls and slightly aggitated with the whole process.



Day 2

Not much to report Jack is still alittle painful making him fairly quiet.  Hes not happy that I tried to stick his medicine in his feed and is refusing to take anything I offer him.

Day 1

9:00 AM - The horror begins as I arrive at the barn for morning feeding and find my gelding standing on three legs with this horrific injury.  Somehow he has done this to himself while spending the night in his nice safe padded deeply bedded stall.

11:00 AM - Vet finally arrives... Jack has opened up a large gaping wound that exposes both the bone and his hock joint.  The long digital extensor tendon is completely severed and the wound cannot be closed.  The vet injects antibiotics into the joint to see what the communication with the wound is like and we wait holding out breath for the fluid to leak back out which would have resulted in immediate euthanazia.  Thankfully someone was watching out for Jack up above and his condition was upgraded from grave to poor when the fluid stayed in place.  All the dead or dieing tissue was cut away and the leg was bandages from hock to hoof to start the healing process.

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The scene that awaited me at 9am:

After the vet cleaned it up: