Recovery update 3 - Brave little car

Over a month in now.

'Mr F' recovering slowly. He is quite chipper now and has a constant friend in shape of the 'Buttercup Farm' beast ... the cat. She sits on his stable wall for much of the day while 'Mr F' is chewing one of his grass cubes in the mini haynet.

'Mr F' is looking rather chipper - he gets a lot of attention from 'Fluff Chucker' and myself. I realise that 'Mr F' in fact likes being in the stable. He looks ever so relaxed and I have not seen him like this before. It becomes clear that the new place which I have yet to find, has to have a stable designated for him.

Now I have to give my little car some credit: a 14 year old ford focus zetec. It may be rusty in places but it's a great little machine with loads of loading room, as I have discovered lately.

I am not allowed to keep the dirtied shavings from 'Mr F's stable at 'Buttercup Farm' even though there is a large corner at the top of one of the fields where all rubbish is being burnt.

No, I have to transport it away. I do this by shoveling it into empty feed bags and then stuffing them into my car. Luckily someone I know who also has horses (but not at 'Buttercup Farm') has let me drop the shavings off along a remote drive in some woodland where she has her field and stables. To one side of the drive is a steep drop with loads of brambles. I stack up filled bags in a small snug next to 'Mr F's stable and each evening I put them in  my car and transport it away. I then empty each bag along the drive, put the empty bags bag into my car so I can reuse them.

But poo isn't the only thing my car has to transport. Every few days I have to fill up 2 bluk bags with hay which I store at 'Fluff chucker's home. I am not allowed to have the bale of hay (even though there is room!) at 'Buttercup Farm'.  I can squeeze two bulk bags full with hay into the back of my car.

Needless to say, my car is all but clean. I do make some effort by placing a big plastic sheet in the back  but the hay gets everywhere. One evening, it was a looong day at work cleaning, followed by mucking out, loading it into the car, soaking hay etc etc. I was tired when I finally got to my room and all could think of was this:

Oh yes, once I had a dream!

Of keeping my car sparkling clean.

Then I realised of course,

That this won’t work while having a horse.

Therefore, much to my dismay,

The inside is full with tack, carrots, mud and hay.

And as I look around inside,

I wonder where the mice might hide!

Alas it will remain like this, oh bummer,

Until the warm and dry weather in summer!

 Every evening I have to transport away 'Mr F's used shavings. 

And often I bring back bulk bags full of hay as I am not allowed to store it at 'Buttercup Farm' even though there is room.

 

'Fluff Chucker' at first offered me his woodland to drop the shavings but someone else very kindly offered me her drive where I could deposit the shavings quite out of sight. Above just a small section of the huge bank of soiled shavings ... 

Which in turn encouraged a lot of mushrooms to grow, such as this wonderful ink cap mushroom.

Recovery update 2 - Get your act together

And so the weeks go by. 

I have arranged a 'Mr F' watch. As I had to work and couldn't loose any hours, I asked a 3 people who would be reliable and had time to go and check on 'Mr F' on various times of the day. "You don't have to do anything. Just drive up to the yard, peek into 'Mr F's stable and see if he is still standing."

My two main concerns during 'Mr F' recovery where: 1) Is he still standing or has he tried lying down and can't get up? 2) Is he calm. 'Suzie' (Vet) prescribed absolute calm stable rest. 'Mr f' is not to make any abrupt movements. 

I had asked the other people at the yard if they could try and be calm around 'Mr F'. And nobody was to go into his stable unless I gave instructions. 

Needless to say, this wasn't being followed. One day I came back to find the light switch in his stable smashed up and the broken plastic and screws strewn all over his stable floor. I spend ages going through the shavings to make sure there wasn't anything that he could step on that would pierce his frogs. The last thing I needed now was an abscess or any other hoof injury.

The light switch for 'Mr F's stable was located on a beam inside his stable. Most short people, such as myself, have to use the handle of a broom to switch it on or off. Clearly, one of the teenagers just hit it with something really hard and it shattered into pieces. What made it worse was that the loose and still life wire was dangling inside 'Mr F' stable.

On another day I came back in the evening after work to find the floor in 'Mr f's stable all turfed up and him looking quite out of sorts and in discomfort. It didn't look like he rolled though, it was more a case of him having had to shuffle around in there, seemingly because something frightened him. His stable mate on that day was one of 'Jane's horses. 'Jane' had two horses and both of them benefited from stable rest due to poor foot conditions. As 'Jane' was always busy with matters she had one of the teenage girls do chores for her. And of of those chores was to feed and water 'Jane's horses. 

I instructed specifically that nobody apart from one other person namely 'Fluff chucker' was to enter 'Mr F's stable. I also said I would look after 'Mr F's stable mates as though there would be my own. I would muck out both stables, feed and water both horses. All the horses at 'Buttercup Farm' new me well over the years and I have looked after them and fed them all for years. Without sounding big headed: I knew how to keep things calm, which was the main aim.

Adding two and two together, the teenage girl must have gone into 'Mr f's stable to fill up the water buckets with a hose. I was upset that she actually entered the stable even though she was told not to. But more importantly, 'Mr F' has one pet hate, and that is the sight of a hose. To him it is probably a big snake wriggling on the ground waiting to attack. He generally steps back and snorts like a dragon. I can only imagine him trying to get away from the hose in his small stable. And the girl surely must have realised that he was spooking. It's not how you keep a horse calm. This happened only 3 weeks after the injury. At this stage it was all still in the open with 'Mr F's well being.

On some days I would come back to find 'Mr F's stable door wasn't even properly locked! He knows how to open the top bolt so the bottom bolt needs to be in place too, which often it wasn't.

The whole set up at 'Buttercup farm' was in dire need or repair / replacement. The stable doors were falling apart, in fact 'Blue' broke through it several times in the other stable by simply pushing at it and the rotten wood gave way. One morning I arrived at the yard seeing 'Blue' loose - luckily this didn't seem to have upset 'Mr F' too much. Still, 'Blue' could have escaped down the lane right into the road. What saved him was his constant desire for food ... so he spent most of the night (judging by his poo everywhere) in the yard or more: in the barn where he found the open bale of haylage.

There are many more incidents and I began loosing patience. I was furiously protecting 'Mr F'. To me, a horse is not just a tool to take out the box (field) and play with it, then put it back in the box. Frankly, I care more for any animal that I care for a human. I don't dislike humans but I don't care for them much either. Animals are innocent, humans are not. 

I wasn't pleasant and I didn't care, I wanted people to be responsible for their action rather than aimlessly and often ignorantly plodding along. I wasn't interested in people politics. This wasn't a pub, this was a yard for horses. I don't go to the yard to socialise, I go to the yard to be with the horse(s). And now 'Mr F' relied on me to keep things calm.

Recovery update 1 - Don't roll & bitter medicine

Day 3: I was glad to see that 'Mr F' was putting weight onto the injured side quite soon after the incident. 'Suzie' (the vet) also was pleased about this because otherwise he could develop laminitis in his one good back leg and that would mean more troubles or game over. At the moment it was all still in the open.

He was still covered in some muck from his fall but I didn't want to do anything to upset him. Grooming was the last thing he needed now, knowing how he sometimes gets stroppy when being brushed. I did check for other bruises or cuts on the day the accident happened but could not find anything major. There was a smallish scratch above his eye and various small scrapes on his elbows and fetlocks but I didn't want to upset him by removing the scabs. Nature is a great healer, I would  more thoroughly check him out in another few days. For now he just had to be calm, very calm.

'Mr F' with his grass cube - he very much enjoys this little treat.

It keeps him entertained for a while. Something to do while locked in.

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2 weeks in and 'Mr F' was moving already quite well considering the circumstances. It was early morning and time to muck out.  I had just put down a fresh cover of shavings when 'Mr F' began following me around inside the stable, watching me scrape around on the floor. Suddenly, he too started to scrape with his foot and was moving as though he was about to roll! "No no no! Don't even think about doing that!" I said out loud. 'Mr F' looked at me: "Oh don't be silly woman, of course I can roll!" - "NO! You can barely walk leave alone go down and get back up."

His head-collar by this point was in the tack room. This meant I had to leave the stable, dash across the yard, fetch it and run back. Every time I got halfway across the yard (its only about 10 meters) I heard 'Mr F's foot scraping. Each time I ran back immediately responding to his actions with a firm  "NO!". 'Mr F' became quite frustrated with me at this point - he gazed at me trying to figure me out "Why can't I roll?" He stood there looking rather put off but for a moment seemed distracted enough for me to get that head collar.
I ran inside, fetched it and ran back to 'Mr F' to tie him up.  I then went back inside (only place with signal) to ring 'Suzie' (VET) for advice. I had already been explained the options of cross tying 'Mr F' right at the beginning. To me that was a no no. 'Mr F' is much more fidgety when tied up, he doesn't like it. To my surprise, 'Suzie's advice was: "Just mix his new shavings with some of his old ones so he has got his own scent." - "Oh, its as simple as that?" - "Yes, distract him with some food, tie him while he eats so you can mix up his bedding." 

Phew! Ok, back I went, got 'Mr F's breakfast to distract him and threw most of his old droppings back onto the fresh shavings. "There you go, you can have it all back."  I never even considered that him not having his own scent on the ground would be a potential problem! From this day on I paid close attention to having a degree of filth on the floor of his stable. And low and behold, it worked. 

With being 24 years of age and standing in, certain parts of his anatomy do suffer from swelling, such as his legs and his sheath. While I can bandage his legs over night with stable bandages, this wasn't a solution to be applied to the other part. It did not seem to bother him though. The stable bandages work well.

It is beginning to show that he has been inside for a prolonged time, his fetlock / pastern are mildly swollen and so is his sheath. He once before had that during very foul weather when they were all standing inside the small shelter and didn't move for probably hours. As soon as he moved, the swelling would go away. I was quite sure that it was the same now and began applying stable bandages at night to stop the swelling. Just to make sure I did update 'Suzie' (the VET) but she too said that it was a build up of fluids due to standing still for a long time. I would keep an eye on it. So far 'Mr F' didn't show any signs of discomfort apart from of course the injured hip.

I have been grooming 'Mr F' very gently over the past days. He is already shedding his winter coat, slowly. Today I was once more examining his legs and the small bruises which were healing well. Although there were some quite large patches of skin coming off his knees.

When previously examining his legs for bruises from the falls I didn't find any scabs on his knees. I therefore was surprised to have his skin fall off into my hands while grooming him. He seemed also quite itchy and scratching his knees frequently. I applied some soothing aquaeous cream to hopefully stop the itchy sensation.

Again, I sent the vet a photo update so that she new what was going on during 'Mr F's recovery progress. If she would disagree with my treatments she would let me know.


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Medication - just eat it!:

'Mr F' being able to sniff out bute even if it would be covered with polo mint dust and won't go near it.

OK, Perhaps apple sauce will do it. So I tried that. With great hope I mixed 2 table spoons with one sachet of bute. I than put it into the plastic syringe. As I approach 'Mr F', he is already looking at me as though I was going to poison him. Yet he is ever so patient and quite willing to have the syringe stuck into the side of his mouth. "Open please ... it'll help you heal". I was squeezing the syringe but some of the pieces of apple where too big to pass through the syringe. Silly woman, why don't you push it through a sieve first! The next day I quickly did a hunt for smooth apple sauce but none of the local stores seem to have any. So that is what I have been doing so far and for another few weeks, sieving apple cause so I can feed it together with the bute ...