Diesel seemed a little off today. Almost stiff. He didn't have the sparkle or spunk he always does. Did he fall, did he get kicked, did he sleep in a weird position? What did our little guy do??? I watched him all day and he was on his normal routine. Out to the track in the morning (6:30 to 8:30) to graze, back in to have hay in his dry lot (8:30 to 10:30), then out for a little more grazing time (10:30 to 12:00), drylotted for 2 more hours and then out to graze one last hour for the day. He wanted to go out and be with the herd. He was eating, pooping, everything seemed normal except this stiffness in his forearm.
Sunday, May 8th
The same as Saturday. When I would touch his forearm, he actually flinched, so I was sure he must have taken a tumble and hurt himself. Well, we will just watch him like a hawk and hope he begins to improve.
Monday, May 9th
Diesel seems a little better today. He is moving a little looser and still eating good. Again, normal routine and watch his every move.
Tuesday, May 10th
This is the day everything changed. I noticed right away in the morning that he was shifting his front feet back and forth - that's it - RED FLAG!!! I immediately went in to call the vet.
He said he wouldn't be able to get out until after lunch and to "hose down his front legs for a minimum of 20 minutes every 3-4 hours. It sounds like laminitis." Out came the hose - Diesel does not like water, so this was a bit challenge for him. But he stood so good. It must have felt cooling and relieved some of the inflammation. I stayed home from work today, so Lea and I could take care of him.
Lea and I have been taking online equine courses, so we got out our notes and looked up laminitis symptoms. There it was, he had 7 out of 10 low-grade laminitis symptoms. How could this be??? I thought we had done everything possible to avoid this kind of thing?
We waited patiently for the vet and he didn't get out until almost 5:00pm. But, he is worth waiting for - he is a brilliant vet! He spent 90 minutes with us and could see that Diesel was already improving just from the hydro therapy. He put him on 4 doses of Banamine (pain killer and anti-inflammatory) 12 hours apart and another 24 hours of hydro-therapy.
How could this have happened? We watch our boys so closely, know the symptoms of laminitis (or thought we did), keep the grass on the track very short. What went wrong? What did we miss? How could this be?
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| Diesel getting hydro therapy on his front legs |
Getting the Banamine in Diesel was a huge relief for me knowing that soon he would be more comfortable. Like a child, when your pets hurt - you hurt!
Wednesday, May 11th
Stayed home from work today so that we could continue Diesel's care. Same routine - Banamine every 12 hours and more hydro theraphy. Diesel was clearly more comfortable today. Thank you Lord! Getting the Banamine in him was an interesting endeavor. We had to change our tactics every time to try to administer it to him. He is one smart cookie! Anyway, we got it in him - slowly and patiently. It is so good to see him feeling better. But, with feeling better comes more spunkiness.
Monday and Tuesday he didn't mind staying close to the barn - he was a hurting little pup! But now that the Banamine is kicking in, he wants so bad to go back out to graze and to play!
Sadly, he has to be dry lotted while the other boys are out. We kept Scout close by in the outdoor, so Diesel toughed it out pretty well. He always had hay and we had a big grooming session today to pass the time for him. He is a good little patient!
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| Such a good boy! |
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| Hydro Therpy and Kisses! |
I typically don't work on Thursday, so it was good to be home again. Lea and I continued pretty much the same routine as Wednesday. He is doing great and off the pain killer. Feet feel cool (versus very warm when inflammed), sparkle in his eye is back, and he even trotted a couple of steps!
Friday, May 13th
Wow, what a difference a couple of days can make. Diesel is completely off the hydro therapy and the pain killers and today he did a full out trot! He is pretty much back to normal. It has been a long and worrisome week, but I am happy to report that we have his feet stabilized and what I am calling Phase One complete.
Now on to Phase Two - what do we do with the track. It is clear that he no longer can be on the track - even as sparse as it is, there is too much grass. Plus, Scout has gained a little weight this spring and we decided that whatever treatment Diesel gets would be good for Scout too. So, we are looking for an excavator to come and completely scrape the track down to dirt. We will leave a few pockets of grass for them to nibble, but mostly they will just get hay on the track. More on "Phase Two" next week.
Diesel is having a great day, not happy to be dry lotted, but he is tolerating it well. Maybe tomorrow we will turn him out for some play time.
Saturday, May 14th
Today was a very windy day. Lea, Allison and I decided we would take everybody for a walk on the track. But, the horses had other plans. It was cold, cloudy and very windy and I think everybody was feeling pretty spooky. The horses were about to explode into a Seabiscuit moment! We immediately abandonded that plan and got Eddie and Scout back in their paddocks.
I decided to turn Diesel loose out in the outdoor arena so he could run off some much needed steam. And boy did he. Wish I had brought out the camera - he had a ball!
He ran around like a maniac, he bucked and jumped, rang his neck around, and ran all over the place. He was so glad to finally get out and stretch his little mini hinny legs and have some fun. We even let him graze a little.
So, now it is time to implement some changes in his life and make some necessary track changes too. We had a big grooming session with all the boys and even Diesel stood to be curried off - which he never does! I think he was so happy for the attention and freedom of running around. It was a glorious day and I am so thankful to our vet for all his help getting him sound again. We did two laps around the track and a nice fast pace and I think he loved the exercise. This will probably be our routine for a while!
So, here we are to today, Sunday, May 15
Well, after church I went out and turned Diesel loose for 15 minutes in the outdoor. He had so much fun taking a bite of grass here and there and chasing around. I kept him moving for about 20 minutes and then thought I would take him for a walk around the track. We almost got 2 laps in, but he was a little spooked by the wind and all the moving brush on the south line. So, we got in a good lap and a half brisk walk. After all that I let him loose to graze in the outdoor which has very short grass. He only got 5 minutes (literally), but seemed happy and content with that.
Looks like the future will be a little different for Diesel and Scout. No more lush grass or even sparse grass on the track. More exercise for both of them and hopefully that will lead to a healthier lifestyle.
I am on a diet too, so this will be great for Diesel and I to get lots of exercise together. I am committing to him a 1/2 hour to one hour a day of arena work, long walks, and a little snippet of grazing time.
Lea and I would like to try some soft line driving with him. Since we know that he was abused in the past - the bulk of it looks to be from driving. If I can convince him that line driving (that would be with no cart - just long lines) is fun, hopefully he will respond positively. It is clear that he loves us and trusts us (especially after having to give him four doses of Banamine), so I think it will go well!
I am so looking forward to the future with him. What I thought would be a dry-lot prison sentence has turned into an opportunity for him and me to bond closer, get more exercise, and have lots of fun!
I will be posting here regularly to chronical our journey of a healthy lifestyle change for a little equine guy! Hope you come back often!
Marianne and Diesel!
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