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 ...