March 26, 2024
In the last missal I spoke about vaccinations. Tetanus was one of them. Today I used my last booster dose on Phillie. Phillie came into the barn with a bad laceration on her pastern, just above the coronet band, which is at the top of the hoof. The coronet band could be compared to the cuticle we have the top of our finger nails. The wound was bleeding when she came into the barn. Thank heaven she did not slice the artery. We performed our usual protocol. Washing the foot and area, then we did a saline wash, flushing the wound, in, around and under the flapping skin. It seemed we were fortunate that the artery was not cut. We got it as clean as possible. Then we pulled the flaps of skin as tight as possible, no vet no stitches, it would be a difficult place for stitches to hold anyway. We gave her a good bit of Bute orally (this is petty much the same as aspirin) to help her with pain and it also will help keep inflammation down. Then we gave her Depocillin to counteract any infection. We applied an antibiotic salve and bandaged. Clean gauze and gauze wrap to apply pressure, some vet wrap to make it pretty and then duct tape to make sure everything stays in place above the hoof. Then we wait and keep our fingers crossed. My worry is always what did we forget to do? One of my barn heroes is a nurse. So there is a discussion as to how to treat people/horse wounds, how often a dressing is changed and the why. She drew the meds and gave the injection with a great technique. Trailblazer Lucy administered the Bute. There is always a chance to learn something different. Now we have to keep the dressing clean and dry. The winter paddock is pretty muddy, Phillie will be in the barn for a few days. Her manger will be full and she will get lots of attention. I will be giving her pain killers and antibiotics on a regular basis. Horses are pretty stoic when injured, we do a lot of work with the legs and hooves. She didn’t mind placing her foot into a bucket of warm water for a good wash. She fussed a bit with the bandaging, nothing too serious. The next question was?? Where and what did the damage?? Luckily, we had 5 barn heroes on deck, off they went to the field, great detectives they were, they followed the trail of blood and found some broken glass. This land was a farm and a shale pit at one time. Long ago there was no waste management. The horses and I seem to find all kinds of things in the spring. Frost heaves us many gifts, wheels, wire, glass, cans. This time it was a bottle of some sort. It just adds to the joy of horse keeping.
It is so important to check our fields for debris that rise with the frost heave. We were a day late this this time. We always take a waste bucket with us when we are doing fence repairs. The magnet is the most important tool. It never fails when you are pulling a nail or hammering a nail they decide not to cooperate. Nails and staples hide well in the grass and soil. Although my heroes have sharp eyes, the pesky things are difficult to find. Our magnet seems to find them when sharp eyes do not. Trailblazers are planning a sleepover the last weekend of March. The bunkhouse will be full, I hope their body heat will keep them warm in their sleeping bags. It is fun to listen to them plan their activities. Thanks to our neighbour Melissa, they will be decorating Pysanky Eggs Saturday afternoon. A lovely way to end a couple of days at the Sanctuary.
The health clinic for April 6th is still on the calendar. The vet students usually arrive around 9.30 or so. If you are interested, come at 9am and tour the barn, meet the herd, read the postings on the walls, learn to measure horses, education is free at the Sanctuary. Ask questions, the students love to share their knowledge and it is a good refresher for them just before exams. Kindness is contagious when practised often. Love and hugs from Yogi and the herd.