Pond Play

Sigh. I just thought Chrome had given up on playing in the pond. This is why I can't get rid of the rain rot lol. It is really cute watching him play in the water though. :D I bet it feels so good. And he's so gorgeous when he looks so black. Enjoy the pictures and videos!



I wish I'd had the camera with me and hadn't had to run inside to get it. They played for a lot longer, but I only got the end of it on tape. Oh well. I'm glad I got to watch them play. :D I love in the video where he caught sight of us in the trees and actually sat there for a minute watching us. I've never seen him sit before hehe. He's always really quick to get up. So cute!

Faran Update

It's hard to tell if the swelling has gone down because it's dark and Faran is scared of flashlights, but the good news is that there is no heat in his leg at all! I still don't feel any scratches, cuts or punctures either. We'll keep giving bute, cold hosing and checking on him. We opted to let him stay out tonight because when he's kept up alone he's paces and is anxious. I'm afraid to keep them all in the round pen together all night because I'm afraid they'll get to playing roughly and he'll get kicked or trip or something. So out they go and I'll keep my fingers crossed they graze quietly all night. :) Thanks for the advice and well wishes guys. It's very much appreciated.

P.S. Faran is still a very skittish horse, but his confidence in us is growing. He was an angel for his bute. He was terrified of the water but with a little coaxing he stood and let us run water over his leg. He's letting me walk right up to him and feel his leg all over without trying to step away or leave. :) He's being a good boy.

Faran's Leg is Swollen

What the heck is up with my accident prone horses? When Faran came up for breakfast this morning I immediately noticed his leg was swollen from the hock down. It's almost the size of a tennis ball on the back of his hock (keeping in mind his legs are enormous anyways because he's a draft). He walks a bit weird going downhill, but walks mostly normal on flat. He doesn't seem to be in horrible pain and has no problem bearing weight on it. We gave him some bute and cold hosed the leg. My husband wants it give it a couple of days before going to the vet because with him being unemployed due to his back injury things are kind of tight . . . I'm worried about waiting. We're going to give him a tetanus shot if it's possible to get them OTC because we don't know if he's had one. Is there anything else I can do while we "give him a couple of days"? There are no obvious scratches or puncture wounds or anything that I can fine. It's soft, a little warm and he doesn't seem bothered when I mash around on it. The pictures turned out like crap so here's a video. Please let me know what you would do.


P.S. Keep in mind when my husband is leading him that the hesitation is not because of the leg, it's because he's still not 100% sure about humans.

Chrome's Monthly Progress Report

Date: 8-19-11 (a couple of days late oops)
Age: 27 Months
Height: 15.1hh
Height Gain: No height gain. Now that he's two his growth is slowing way down. Most sources say he will grow another hand (four inches) from two to three years which would put him at 16.1hh which would be perfect. There is also an old trick where you can measure their leg from the middle of the knee to the coronet band right where the hoof starts. The measurement in inches equals hands. His is 16 inches, which means he should mature at 16hh. Let's keep our fingers crossed. :D
Weight: The weight tape says 900lbs.
Weight Gain: So his weight has slowed down too. He's really butt high though so I think he's headed into a growth spurt. I find it funny that my 15.1hh colt finally weighs as much as my 14hh Appy mare did that I had growing up. :D

Progress: Progress? What's that? LOL Between his mysterious rain rot and now he has another swelling on his neck (at least it's further down and not on his throat this time) from a cut I feel like we're not making any progress. I haven't been doing any clicker training at all. The rain rot (and the fact it is taking a lot longer than normal to heal) has me so stressed out that I haven't felt like doing anything. I'll try to start working with him again soon. Sigh.

Goals: I want to get his rain rot and cut healed. I want to find where he's putting his head through the fence and cutting himself because I know that has to be what he's doing. Also I want to start clicker training again. I don't want to let this lapse drag on.

I don't want to sound like a downer (that's the stress talking lol). He's happy and healthy (err . . . aside from the rain rot and cut lol). He's not in pain. So everything is awesome. :) Sorry the pictures suck. It was getting late and the light was bad. I'll get some more tomorrow when I give him his weekly bath.

Oops

Oops I didn't realize it was the nineteenth until I'd already gone to work, then after work I went to a friend's house to work out and now it's dark . . . I'll take a picture and measure/weigh him tomorrow. :)

Frustrated

Chrome's skin is still a yucky mess. The first treatment seems to have healed his rear legs because there are no bumps and the hair is growing back in his bare patches. The fronts are still covered in bumps and scaps. It's only on his cannons, forearms and shoulders. It's not on the fetlocks, pasterns or his back. I gave him another bath with his soap and betadine rinse. I'll use the MTG as soon as he dries. I just can't figure out what this is! It looks like rain rot (referred to as dew poisoning when it's on the legs), but I've just never experienced it like this. Of course Chrome would figure out how to completely baffle me. He's so good at it hehe. I called the vet and I'm still waiting on a call back. I think the big problem is because we can't get anyone to brush hog the pasture. It's getting really tall and the dew is heavy in the mornings which keeps his legs wet . . . anyway I'll update when I know more. Sorry I've been so quiet.

Apples!

Chrome had his first apple and he loved it! He ate the whole thing and slobbered happily. :D Faran and Zeppelin enjoyed theirs too. Sorry I haven't been posting. Things are kind of crazy right now.

Not Doing Much

I haven't been doing much with the boys. I've been incredibly busy training new employees at work, rebuilding the chicken coop (bank won't give us the insurance money until damages are 60% repaired - if I could pay for it out of pocket I wouldn't have insurance you stupid people) and trying to find ways to cut living expenses so that I can afford to make repairs to get the insurance money. So yeah, I haven't been doing much with the horses. Of course the time I spend with Chrome is spent bathing him and treating his rain rot. Sigh. It's looking much better though. It's already drying out. I'm going to continue treating it and since the MTG didn't burn him I'll use it to get the hair to grow back in sooner. So I'll try to update soon.

He's Still Gorgeous

I just wanted to take some pictures today before I treated Chrome's rain rot so you can see that he's still a gorgeous boy. When he's dry and clean you can't even really see the rain rot. The reason he looked so awful in those other pictures is because he was wet and I'd been scrubbing scabs off. :) I took these pictures about an hour ago.

I love when he trots up to see me. Or gallops like yesterday. I haven't see him move that fast since it was cold outside. The heat usually makes him lazy, but he's been feeling really full of himself the last couple of days. :)

Sorry he's in the shade so you can't see his shiny coat, but I didn't have anyone to hold him this time. He looks great though and he was very well behaved while I had him tied up.

In this picture he was relaxing and had his neck pressed against the tree (see his smooshed mane) like he was going to rub his mane but knew I'd get on to him so he just leaned against it lol. I hate getting tree sap out of his mane lol.

When I was growing up I always thought rain rot was a fungus, but now I'm reading that it's a bacterial infection . . . so not sure if that changes anything. MTG works for both, but I'm so afraid of burning him that I found something else to try. Basically I mixed 1/4 cup bleach, 1/4 cup betadine and several squirts of antibacterial dishwashing liquid into a gallon size bucket (maybe slightly bigger) and sponged it onto the affected areas. They said to not rinse it off and to let it dry completely before turning him back out. It's supposed to kill the bacteria and dry out the scabs. I probably won't use it too often though because it's very drying. I figure that formula will help to prevent a secondary bacteria or staph infection too. Apparently that's more of a concern in the summer too. Chrome didn't act like the bleach stung at all. So what do you guys think? Use that for a couple of days? Keep trying the MTG? I'm open for suggestions. I've never had to deal with this in the summer before. In the winter MTG works great because it doesn't freeze and it won't burn when it's cold. I'll keep you all updated.

Dang it! *Pouts*

Chrome has rain rot. :( I think it's because we used his brushes on Zeppelin. I didn't notice any on donkey, but his hair is longer than Chrome's so he very well could be hiding it (now to figure out how to treat wild donkey lol). Of course it really shouldn't be a surprise since Faran has taught Chrome how nice the pond feels when it's so hot outside and most of the time they look like this . . .

I've been meaning to bathe him for a week now and just haven't found the time, but the rain rot pushed him to top priority. I feel bad because I noticed tiny bumps a couple of days ago, but I thought it was bug bites because there were no scabs or tufts of hair. It's on all four legs and up the shoulder and hip, mostly in his sweat spots. I took some pictures after I rinsed him off (which makes it look way worse than it is), then bathed him, combed out his mane and tail, took him for a walk and let him graze until he dried. Then I applied MTG. I was a little conservative with it because I'm afraid the sun might burn him tomorrow since the base of MTG is mineral oil. I'm just going to apply it late in the afternoon everyday and hope it doesn't burn him. I hope I applied enough to do the job though. Anyway here are the pictures. He looks awful, but doesn't seem sore or tender.

His drowned rat impression.

Down his entire front leg on his right side.
You can click to enlarge any of the pictures.

A close up. This is the worst spot. It's also the spot I noticed first, but there were no bare patches or tufts of hair. It was just small bumps.

His right hip. He's so relaxed his leg is cocked. :)

His left hip. This looks way worse than it is. I'll have to get more pictures tomorrow lol.

Left shoulder and forearm. It's all down the insides of the legs too.
I can't believe how fast it spread. :(
Of course he'd been playing today and was all sweaty too.

After his bath and scrubbing all of the scabs off he looks a LOT better than these pictures. I wish I'd remembered to take some after he'd dried off. His coat was almost glistening it was so shiny and pretty. :) I put a touch of MTG in the roots of his mane and tail so they were shiny too. He looks so pretty after a bath and he's so soft. I just want to hug all over him.

After I put him up I put all of his stuff in bleach water, put my clothes in the washer and took a shower. I need to figure out something to do with Zep too. If he really does have it I don't want to leave it untreated. Anyone else have any suggestions or advice? Chrome's had rain rot one other time when Galaxy gave it to him, but we treated both of them and it never came back. Anyway I'll keep you all updated.