The Healing Process - End of Week 5 (& Attack of the Chicken)

The steady progress is continuing. The antibiotics seem to have done their job. The heat from the left hind and right front that has been intermittent is, I think, completely gone. You can see she's a bit stocked up (which has always been normal after standing around), but overall, I think it looks really good. 

The cut-that-might-have-been-an-abscess looked great. It was completely scabbed over, and the scab was so secure I couldn't pick it off. Yay! I pulled a little, I scratched at it some, and got nothing. When I pushed on it, it squirted quite a bit of puss at me. Gross. So, I went and got some surgical scrub and water, and rinsed it and pushed on it until I got solidly red blood from it. Then I scrubbed it pretty good. This good sign of infection/healing seems to be all that is left. It isn't sore anymore at all. 

Left front.

Left front from the same angle as the photo taken on 03/06/11.

As for the left front...there is still some swelling toward the back, but as I mentioned, the heat is gone. And, from the front, it looks pretty normal! 


When I took her for a spin on the lunge line, she looked about 85-90% at the walk to the left, and about 90% or better to the right. Her right hind isn't stepping as short, she's not dragging the toe. The lameness seemed to be coming from the stifle again (unfortunately, I think we way have cancelled out any benefits of the injection with this whole episode happening two days after it). At the trot, she looked absolutely awful - but in a good way. I know. What? 


Even at the faster pace, it seemed the lameness was coming from high-up again, as opposed to being influenced by whatever stiffness and ouchiness she was feeling from those cuts on her lower leg. I think this is good, even though I really hate that she's so lame! 


Just for the record, she started her new joint supplement yesterday. 


When I brought her back to her stall, I stuffed her full of mints and spent some time scratching her and loving on her. I talked with the barn owner and one of the volunteers for a bit when they came over to see how she was doing. And then, when it was just me and the volunteer talking, the strangest thing happened. A chicken came over and started pecking at the scab on Promise's leg. I tried to shoo it, but I wasn't in the stall anymore, and by the time I got through the gate, the scab was gone, and all of a sudden, Promise was bleeding freely. 


Is this weird? Anybody have experience with chickens? lol


I guess it's a good thing, it enabled me to clean beneath the scab pretty thoroughly, and treat it with more Wonder Dust, etc. But I couldn't believe what I'd seen! My horse got attacked by a chicken!!


Anyway, I think overall, she's doing a million times better. I'm glad I got the extra round of antibiotics for her, and I'm secretly hoping for a small miracle with this new supplement.