Vet's report

I am still stewing about Ms. Wench's behavior for the vet. I think the thing that really gets me is that I had her ground tied while I groomed and examined the leg myself and she never moved a muscle. And then she proceeds to kick the friggen vet. Grr.

Anyway. The vet was worried it might be a "summer sore" (Click to read more.) -- which I had never heard of before, but I guess it makes sense. After looking at it, she decided it probably wasn't that, after all. But the lack of obvious healing definitely has her worried. I mean, it's been 6 months. It's more than long enough.

She gave us more oral antibiotics and an antibiotic cream to apply under a bandage during the day, when she's inside. She recommended no bandage when she goes out, to decrease rubbing and let it get air. Luckily, she goes out at night when the flies are less. She also recommended Granulex spray for when it's not wrapped and to then coat it in SWAT to keep flies off of it.

She also suggested worming her, even though she isn't due for a couple more weeks, and gave us some extra-strength oral worming thing (no clue what it's called) to give 2x a day for 3 days in addition to that.

If it's not obviously improved in 14 days, she wants to come back and do an x-ray to make sure there isn't a bone chip causing the trouble. Also something I had never heard of.

Hmm, learning all kinds of things lately.

She did agree that putting her on Pergolide was probably a good move and when I mentioned some of the symptoms, thought it was definitely a good possibility. So, 2 vets are with me. And I do think it's making a difference, even in terms of how bad this heat cycle is.

It's hard to tell if it was the last round of antibiotics or the Pergolide that made the difference in this cut, but unfortunately, delaying one or the other wasn't possible without stopping her other supplements or delaying the antibiotics. Catch-22.

The good news is, she's feeling better. The bad news is...

...that made her an incorrigible, insufferable, hormonal, raving lunatic Wench for the vet this morning. Oh, wait. She's in raging heat like I have NEVER seen before on this mare. Never in all the years I've owned her, have I had to clean her back legs or seen her flash at the boys quite so much. Disgusting. 


There, I think that covered it. 


Oh yea, and I did a face plant into my front porch the other night and thought I broke my foot. After x-rays, it turned out to just be a sprain. But, my gimp of a mare was walking better than me today. Go figure.


Anyway, after speaking with the vet the other day, we agreed on an exam. Plus, she was slightly overdue for her coggins, so needed an appointment anyway. The barn owner and I brought her up to speed on everything that has happened since the emergency call back in February.


She goes to examine the right hind. Ms. Wench (as she will be known from here on out) kicks her. Yes, I'm serious. The vet smacked her a few times, although IMO not quite hard enough. Ms. Wench-Drama-Queen proceeds to freak out like she's never been smacked for bad behavior (let's be honest, I would have kicked her back and have, on several occasions in years past). She backs up, dragging me into the barn and almost knocks herself out on the top of the door frame when she tries to rear. 


Sigh. Alrighty then. 


Shank goes from her nose to her mouth. She knows I'm mad because I don't put it there anymore. She licks and chews and settles down enough for the vet to examine the leg, put antibiotics on it, etc. We talk about a plan of action and then the vet gets ready to draw blood for the coggins. At the sight of the needle, Ms. Wench starts flipping out. I tighten the shank a little bit and release when she stops. When the vet gets close enough to stick her, Ms. Wench shifts into reverse and starts pulling and threatening to rear...again. 


Nuh-uh. We're NOT playing this game. You're being ridiculous and exceedingly dangerous. Not to mention the fact that I've had MORE than enough of the attitude. So do us all a favor and lose it.


I stop her and move the shank from her mouth to her upper gum, under her upper lip. My disclaimer is this: putting a chain there is a last resort on any horse. I hate doing it. I don't pull or tug, I tighten it enough to release the endorphins and release. Unless they pull back, in which case, they're pretty much doing the same thing a pinch collar does to a dog when the dog pulls.


She immediately stops. Now there's no question she's in DEEP trouble. (In fact, if I could recreate this scenario, I'd be doing it over and over and over until she stood there like she's supposed to.) She eventually puts her head down for me and calmly lets the vet stick her and draw blood. I remove the shank as soon as the vet removes the needle and give her a handful of alfalfa pellets then lead her back to her stall, where she proceeds to flood the place.


Charming, mare. Absolutely charming.

Improving? Cushings? I think so.

Reference August 14's post, Psst! Check this out! to see the improvement. The difference in her coat and topline is really starting to show. Her hips are still pretty bony, but it takes a while to fill in the spot behind the belly.

I think she needs another round of antibiotics, so I will have to save up the $100 to get another bottle from the vet in the next week or so.

A little more about Jazzy

Drakkar (or Drake, left) and Jazzy (right) on July 24.

Since Kate over at The Adventures of Lucy asked about the Plott Hound breed, I thought I'd give a little more information about the little monster!


Plott Hounds are the state dog of North Carolina and are primarily used for hunting bear, mountain lions and boar. They are a coonhound that was originated in Germany as the Hanoverian hound and then brought to the United States by the Plott brothers in the 1700s, where they continued to refine their lines. They are the only UKC hound breed that does not trace back to the foxhound. And are one of the only breeds to be considered American.


Females weigh up to 65 lbs, have fine, short and smooth hair that can be any shade of brindle or black. Many of the brindles have hazel eyes - which is pretty cool.

Jazzy at the dog park, July 24.

Since they are "scent" hounds, when we agreed to foster, we decided to name them after scents. And so, they became Drakkar (as in Noir, the cologne) and Jasmine. We hadn't intended to keep either of them, but when an application came in for them, we started to get really bummed out about the thought of NOT having Jazzy. Also, the application was for a family with two children under the age of 7, and while Drake was more easy going and would be a good fit for them, we felt that Jasmine would not be. So, we told the rescue (which is run by a good friend of my mom's) and decided to keep her.

Jazzy, July 13.

This puppy is incredibly smart and makes our rather genius rottie Harley look like a slacker. At 12 weeks, she was already sitting on command, responding pretty regularly to "leave it" and was very quickly catching on to walking on a leash. 


Although her nose sometimes takes over the rest of her brain, at just about 5 months, she will do ANYthing for a cookie or praise. She heels well, knows she should sit when we stop walking (but gets lazy when she's tired!) and has a great recall for her age -- even at the dog park, she'll at least head my way if I call her! If she is uncomfortable (like another dog playing too rough), she'll come check in. 


She can sit, down, heel on leash or off 9 times out of 10. And at the park this weekend, on the third cookie, I had her going back and forth through an agility tunnel like she'd been doing it all her life. Sometimes, if I ask for something, I swear I can see her thinking about it and then she'll give it a really good guess.


I think the best thing she's learned so far is to ring a bell on the doorknob when she needs to go out!

Jazzy, September 4.

You can see that in a few short weeks, she has just about tripled in size.


The plan is to do beginner obedience starting in a couple of weeks, then depending on where she is, either repeat beginner or go straight to intermediate. I would like to do obedience and agility with her. My mom is contemplating doing scent trials of some sort, so we're going to see if we can get her to differentiate between equipment - i.e. collar and leash for obedience and agility and a harness for scent training. It'll be interesting. I figure if horses can understand the difference, so can she. 

This pup LOVES to work and part of the reason we didn't want her going to a home with kids is (we wanted her!!) but also, she NEEDS a job to do.

Therapy and A New Addition

Sometimes, climbing on the back of a horse and walking around is all the therapy I need. 

It's even better if it's my own horse. We walked around on the buckle for 10-15 minutes and just enjoyed each others' company. I had intended to mosey down the trail a little, but when we got down to the river, I was concerned by how muddy the other side looked. So, I made her walk in a couple of steps, stand there calmly, and then let her go back to the arena and called it a day.

The ears don't lie :)

She was not as sound as when I posted on August 14, but she looks really good at the walk. And, she no longer has "cankles" for hind legs - they look normal! (I did not realize how bleached out her tail was at the bottom until I looked at this photo -- I guess she IS still a redhead!)

Still battling that cut, but it looks a bazillion times better. 

Her topline still leaves a lot to be desired, but to be fair, she's not in work and she's a senior citizen. 

I do think that her belly is not quite as large, however. Here's the photographic proof -- (That's her boyfriend Ruler hanging over.) But I also was able to get her girth to 4 and 4 without even trying, and am pretty sure that if we'd actually been working, I could have easily gotten another hole on either - or both - sides. 

And finally, we have a new addition to the family...we were fostering her and her brother, and decided that we weren't letting her go because she reminded us too much of Harley. Meet Jasmine -- aka Jazzy or Jazz -- the 5 month old Plott Hound.