Every time I toss out Tristan’s leftover dilut Betadine, I can’t help but think it looks like a murder scene.
CSI Vermont
Author: Amanda
2013 Area 1 Scholarships
I have been so busy blathering on about my own pony that I forgot an actually awesome thing that is going on right now: the USEA Area 1 Scholarship awards.
I’m on the committee that puts together the guidelines and then gets to review the applications, and it is one of my favorite things to do each year, to be so privileged as to get to share in so many wonderful people’s hopes and dreams. I wish I could give every single applicant a scholarship, truly.
This year I am closer to that wish, because we have more than doubled our award money – we’re giving a total of 9 scholarships of $250 each for those who want to pursue eventing-related educational activities – lessons, clinics, unmounted classes like TD training or course design, other out of the box ideas – you name it.
Application materials can be found on the Area 1 website here.
Spring…
Yesterday was the first full day of spring. We had several inches of snow on the ground and are getting more today. Tristan has not shed one single, solitary hair of his winter coat. I am torn between worrying and admiring his good sense, because it’s not meant to go much above freezing for at least another week. (To be fair the poor pony also hasn’t seen sunlight in nearly a month, so I’m sure that’s thrown him off kilter.)
Healing continues apace. He has had three days of 5 minutes of handwalking and is doing beautifully, very eager to move out, sound to my eye. The drainage is, knock wood, slowly decreasing. When I sent the 2 week pictures to the vet hospital they said it looked good and suggested that the local vet could take a hoof knife and pare off the top blood clot to get a clearer sense of what the wound looks like underneath.
When I flushed last night, I used the tip of the syringe to move the blood clot (it’s basically a scab) aside a bit, and there was bright pink flesh underneath. Yay for that. Tris was not wild about that, which leads me to think that we’ll have to tranq him a bit if the vet’s going to do that on Monday.
He’ll also get the first half of his spring shots on Monday, and if the vet clears everything we’ll decrease the amount of wrap I’m using and try to get him into the smaller size boot so a) it’s less likely to fall off and b) he can possibly go on light turnout. (I’m fairly certain the larger boot would be destroyed in short order if it ventured outside, as it flops a bit.)
He’s now eating his antibiotics as dressing in his regular supplements, mixed in with some mints for intermittent reward, and hasn’t had them syringed in 5 days. They run out on next Friday, and we’ll talk about getting another bottle and keeping him on them. He’s down to 1/4 quart of grain a day, half in the AM and half in the PM, and holding his weight steady.
So hopefully on Monday we’ll a) cut away the blood clot and take a good close look; b) get the ok to do 10 minutes of handwalking at a time, and possibly light turnout the week after that; and c) get a judgment on the antibiotics.
WHEW
So much better. Soooooooo much better. Thank God. Back to his normal self, well-behaved and patient. I was dreading tonight, making plans to beg the vet for drugs or the boyfriend for carrot-feeding duty. But Tris stood like a champ, fussed a little bit at the very, very end but only then and only for a few seconds. BEST pony.
In happy news, too, when I called the clinic to talk about the photos I sent them (they are still pleased) they gave me the go-ahead to do a little bit of handwalking as long as he stays comfortable. So tonight we did three! whole! laps! of the indoor! He was soooooo happy, moving right out and looking at everything.
When we left the indoor to head back to our stall he paused for a long moment and looked hopefully at the door to go outside. Poor guy. On Monday we’ll be halfway to the low end of his estimate, though, and I he tolerates handwalking well then maybe the Monday after that he can go on short turnout – especially if we can wrap less and put on the smaller boot.
In my continuing attempts to document everything: here, have some random pictures of our wrapping supplies.
 |
| Bucket o’stuff: 5 gallon bucket filled with vet wrap, gauze rolls, and underneath some miscellaneous extras. Mostly what you see on top, though, all the way down. |
 |
| Typical supplies for a night’s wrapping. Starting with the knockoff Betadine and going clockwise: betadine, gauze roll, vet wrap, betadine swab, baggie of gloves, two pairs of bandage scissors, and a roll of elastikon. |
No Go
So we were meant to have a two week checkup yesterday morning…but due to a scheduling mixup with the vet, we’re going ahead next week with a three week checkup instead. I took pictures and sent them to the clinic along with a detailed verbal description of everything, so I expect to hear back from them today.
I rewrapped his foot last night and it was awful. The foot itself looked okay, I think – some discharge, but not copious amounts – but he was just totally unmanageable. He reared, kicked out, tried to fall over on top of me, tried to bite me, yanked the foot away – you name it. I got at most stretches of 10-15 seconds to accomplish things before I had to hang on tight again and not let him put his bare, unwrapped foot back on the aisle. He did not respond to cajoling, growling, smacking on his shoulder, manipulations to try and find a more comfortable way for me to hold the foot – none of it. He just wanted me GONE.
I don’t know why he was so awful. It could be that the flushing mixture was too cold. It could be that he was in some kind of pain – that the discharge is more worrisome than I thought. It could be that he is just DONE with everything. He’s been on stall rest a little over three weeks now. He has 4-6 weeks to go. This is the longest he has EVER been in a stall. While he is still a gentleman to handle (for everything except wrapping) and he is showing no obvious signs of sourness or frustration, I’m sure he’s bored and ready to move on.
I’ve made arrangements with the barn to get him his antibiotics tonight, as we are getting as much as 18″ of snow today (happy spring!) and I might not be able to make it out tonight. Even if I could risk it – maybe – it might be smarter for us to take a little bit of a break from each other.
Below, two close-up pictures of the foot at two weeks out from surgery. Scroll down for them; I’ll put some space in case anyone is squeamish.
Spring is still far away..
Not much to report. Healing continues. Two week checkup is tomorrow, and fingers crossed we’ll be cleared for a bit of handwalking – I think we’d both like that.
In bad news, it’s meant to be -5 overnight, and we are getting a blizzard on Tuesday. Ugh. Tristan’s blanket was laid out and waiting for night check when I went to give him his evening antibiotics – have I mentioned how much I love the staff at this barn?
Just Keep Swimming
Though last night was to be my first night off from wrapping, I rewrapped anyway, because I was worried about him having stood in his dirty stall.
He had a little but of blood and discharge, more than I wanted, but not enough to go through the small square of gauze that was in the hole itself. The hole also smelled a bit funkier than I would have liked. I’ll keep a close eye – he’s still walking fine and in good spirits – but I can’t help but feel it’s a bit of a setback.
I think when they told me 6-8 weeks of recovery I was mostly excited about how short that was, how I’d be back to riding in May, possibly. I didn’t think how long that was if you’re worried practically every second of every day.
I took a picture of the gauze from his foot in the interests of disclosure; if you’re at all squeamish, don’t scroll down.
Onward…
We’re now a week and two days out from the surgery; one week ago was his first full day home.
After Tristan’s escapades on Monday in getting his boot and wrapping off, I checked on him first thing Tuesday morning and again last night. I flushed and rewrapped last night and it looked the same. The same stale betadine/hoof crud smell was present, and there was maybe a teensy bit of discharge on the gauze, but not much at all – if any.
He ate his antibiotics again with mints and a little bit of grain, and stood quietly to have his foot flushed and re-wrapped. I also got to explain his injury to some barn kids, who have their freaking adorable little dun pony named Petticoat across the aisle from Tristan for a few months while they put her back in work after the winter. They do short stirrup hunters with her and are smart, nice kids. I explained things in as non-graphic terms as I could and then explained how I was treating it.
Moral of the story: I need to find a Pony Club. I don’t have the time to commit to weekly meetings, but I can do judging and occasional teaching for sure. I’ve emailed the Regional Secretary for the Western New England Region and offered my services; we’ll see what happens.
In conclusion, here’s the vet’s write-up of Tristan’s Monday appointment:
Surgical site dry and clean with only the faintest smell that indicates very mild infection. Wound open and draining. Owner has been keeping it immaculate. Horse is standing on leg better than I have seen him do since I have known him, with the LF planted squarely underneath him vs pointed a bit. Plan to go to EOD bandage changes. Recheck 1 week. Owner to continue to monitor for drainage, foul odor, lameness, etc.
And then Tristan gave me a heart attack…
I went out to the barn at about 6pm last night to, in theory, get Tristan’s evening antibiotics into him and check on the bandage to see if there was any drainage/bleeding after the poking around we’d done that morning.
He ate his antibiotic pills when I mixed them in with some dinner mints, and then when I pulled him out of the stall I saw that he had managed to shed both his hoof boot AND the dressing on his foot and was standing barefoot, surgical site exposed. I yanked him out of the stall, wrestled the bandage back on at least over his toe, and heated up water to start flushing ASAP. I had left my sterile bucket & syringe at home (we were supposed to go to every other day!) and rinsed out the clean bucket we’d been using to mix his antibiotics, as well as the syringe from the antibiotics.
I picked out 2-3 shavings and a small piece of hay that had gotten into the hole, carefully brushed the shavings away from the rest of the hoof, and then flushed probably half a gallon of dilute betadine down the hole. Then I gently scrubbed at it with several iodine swabs, and then squirted straight betadine in, rewrapped with clean gauze, vetwrap, and elastikon, and pulled the boot back over.
I tried to get the smaller size boot on his foot, but it just wasn’t going yet – still a little bit too much padding. I latched the larger boot as tightly as I could, and wound the elastikon over the hoof as tightly as I could, but still worried about him all night. I went out about midnight to check on him, and then again this morning at 7am before work. Boot was still on both times.
I checked his temp and felt for heat in the leg this morning; both normal. I’ll flush and rewrap tonight and do so daily for the next week, and keep an eagle eye, but I think things are ok. I’ve got a call in to the clinic to make sure there’s nothing else I should be doing…but I caught it quickly, flushed it out thoroughly, and he’s still on his general antibiotics. I think we’re ok. I’m still sick about it, but hopefully it won’t impact his healing.
One Week
We saw our local vet this morning for the one week checkup to make sure his healing was looking on schedule. Overall, very positive!
The vet liked how it’s starting to granulate in with new tissue. She smelled a teensy bit of funkiness/infection but since there was no discharge, she wasn’t particularly concerned. She gave the thumbs up to my borderline obsessive wrapping procedures, which go like this:
- Sweep area around crossties hard, until I can’t see a speck of anything resembling shavings/sawdust/anything.
- Boil water, pour about 2″ into a bucket (that I bring home each night to scrub out thoroughly with soapy hot water), mix with betadine, let to sit and cool off.
- Set out wrapping supplies on top of a bucket for easy access: one roll of 2″ gauze, one roll of vetwrap, one roll of elastikon, bandage scissors.
- Cut two small squares of gauze off the wrap (to place gently in the hole).
- When the water has cooled, draw up a fully syringe and place it on top of the betadine bucket.
- Bring him out of his stall, take off both boots, sweep around again to get any bits that have come away.
- Cut down the bandage on his foot, two long cuts at about 8 and 4 (if the middle of the heel is 12).
- Pick up his foot and slide the bandage off down toward his toe.
- Resting his pastern on my knee and cupping the hoof with my left hand, squirt about 5-6 60cc syringes full of the dilute betadine into the hole.
- Soak one of the squares and place it – not stuff it! – gently into the surgery hole.
- If he needs it, let him put his foot down and rest on a clean white towel that I put down on the aisle. (He needed this every time the first few; now he will usually keep the foot up the whole time. This is why I cut two squares, now: since the small piece of gauze is in there only gently, it’s not uncommon for it to fall out when he puts his foot down.)
- Wrap the whole foot with a whole roll of 2″ gauze.
- Wrap the whole foot with about half a roll of vetwrap.
- Wrap all around the foot once with a length of elastikon, then cut a smaller piece and reinforce the toe.
- Let him stand on the towel while I wipe out his boot thoroughly, digging out any small shavings that get in there, drying out the pad with a towel.
- Put the boot back on his bandaged foot.
- Pick out and dry off the LF. Every other day or so I squirt a small amount of anti-thrush treatment into the frog area, because it gets quite moist in there.
- Wipe out the LF boot, shake out the pad, dry everything, etc.
- Put the boot back on and bring him back to his stall. The first few days he got treats back in his stall; now I hold off because he was getting bratty about pawing for them.
- Clean everything and put it away; repack the small bucket I use to hold wrapping supplies with more supplies for the next time; dump the remaining betadine solution and bring that and the used towel home to clean out very thoroughly.
The whole process takes about an hour. Add in medications, picking his stall if necessary, grooming him, cleaning up everything afterwards, and it’s about 2.5 hours each night.
Anyway. Vet approved of everything, and gave the ok to continue with every other day wrapping. I’ll still pull the boot off and check the bandage each time I see him, but my next full rewrap will be Wednesday night.
Vet was also pleased with the way he was bearing weight on that foot, standing with it much more fully under him than he had before the surgery – a good sign that he’s already doing way better!
On my way home, she called me and said she’d checked in with the clinic. They were even less worried about the funky smell than she was – surgeon said that it was a small wound that wasn’t getting any oxygen exposure and was staying moist, a little funkiness was 100% expected. They were thrilled to hear that he was looking sound and weight-bearing, and said that was the best indicator for now.
So – we’ll check in again next week. In the meantime, it’s something of a relief to know that I’ll head out tonight and tomorrow night only to do his meds, and not the full 2.5 hour process.
beljoeor.com 