It was delayed a couple of days due to my usual vet having to take some emergency leave. They did ring me the day before to let me know and offered another vet to come instead but I felt that as I wasn't concerned about anything and it was just a check up I would rather wait and extra 2 days and have the vet that has seen him before and knows his history etc.
I was pretty sure the vet would be happy with how his 3 leg wounds were healing, if she was and as long as the vets at the hospital agreed then I was hopeful we would be able to start a bit of in hand walking/grazing just to get him out of his box for a few minutes a couple of times a day.
I have been religious, almost obsessive, in my approach to cleaning his wounds morning and night and keeping all the bowls/syringes/buckets and everything else I use spotlessly clean with hibiscrub and boiling water and applying the cream they prescribed. I've also been giving him a full muck out twice a day to keep his stable as clean as I can - literally picking out every little bit off poo! With all the effort I have gone to I was really pleased when the vet said what a good job I had done, the wounds were all healing well and she was very happy with Jacks progress. She has said she doesn't need to see him again now, unless anything changes significantly for the worse and I think I need her, otherwise he wont need to see a vet again until he returns to Oakham vet hospital on 23rd March for his follow up xrays. She was going to ring Oakham on her way back and give them an update. In anticipation of Oakham agreeing to the walking the vet left me with a tube of sedalin.
So today I spoke to oakham and Jack is allowed a very small amount of in hand walking/grazing, only a couple of minutes walking on a flat surface and straight as possible twice a day at the moment then a bit of grass and see how he goes. If he can't walk calmly and quietly then we will have to stop as rearing or jogging or dragging me about sideways/backwards etc will not do him any good.
When I arrived at the yard this afternoon I popped a dose of sedalin in jacks feed before giving it to him. He didn't seem bothered about it and ate it all up so I let it get to work while I mucked out and tidied up his stable.
He had been unsettled all day despite nothing appearing to be any different. I had been up as usual this morning and he seemed fine and I did everything I normally do. When I left he was happy munching on his hay but just over an hour later I got a call from one of the other liveries to say he was rearing and charging round his box since she had turned her mare out. As everyone else was already out he had no company although this is quite normal today he found it upsetting so I asked her to spray him with the instamag calmer and give him some more food and he did calm down a bit. For a while. Then I got a text from another livery, she had been down to ride and was going to leave her horse in as Jack was going nuts again. The calming spray didn't seem to be having much effect and Jack was rearing and spinning again when she went to turn her horse out so she decided to leave him in and hope it helped Jack settle.
When I arrived 2 hours later all carnage seemed to have stopped and Jack was just eating!
I didn't over do it with the sedalin, I just wanted the edge off him so he would walk calmly not fall asleep! 15/20 mins later I attempted to walk him round the front of the yard a friend helped and we both wore hats and gloves but I didn't feel it was the best way as with 1 on each side if he spun 1 of us would be in danger. He wasn't too bad just very keen and strong and it didn't seem much like the sedalin was having any effect so I took him back in and gave him a bit more before trying again on my own. This time he was better and we managed a couple of uneventful laps of the carpark. He was still pulling and strong but controllable.
After that I started to clean up his wounds and when I came to the back leg some of the scab came away as I was washing it. I took out my phone to use as a torch and took a look only to find where the scab had come off there was a stitch that had gone unnoticed through 2 vet visits and all my cleaning! I immediately rang the vets to explain what I had found and see if they could fit in seeing Jack to remove said stitch when they come to do vaccinations on Monday. So much for no more vets visits! At least this one will be free!
He's still not looking too bad 3weeks and 4days of box rest
The vastly improved foreleg
And the offending stitch!
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