hoof wars: the abscess strikes back!

Remember last Tuesday way back when I said Charlie had a minor abscess that took him out of the action for a couple days? But that he had come sound again? Gosh. I have such fond memories thinking back on saying those words.... lol

drinks. i need them.

Apparently the sucker just went dormant or whatever the right term is for that. Which is like, a known thing that abscesses do. Such a tricky thing tho, as it had even evaded his new farrier, who had her eye out for anything suspicious while shoeing him last Friday. Elusive sonuvagun!

flash back to better days - hacking around with Riley in her natural element

Since this is my space for documenting all things Charlie and his associated care, here's the full play-by-play of the events leading up to current time:

-    Charlie warmed up for a ride with a few very intermittent funky steps (most often while turning left). This isn't necessarily the most unusual thing in the world in a horse who had a lengthy career on the track and has had inconsistent work for the past month. We took note, kept going, and were relieved to see he improved as he went.

-    The following day, the funky steps persisted as the norm rather than the exception. And Charlie did not work out of it following a focused and purposeful warm up at trot. I called it and headed back to the barn expecting to find the horse fully crippled the next day.

-    Day 3: horse is fully crippled. Suspicions of an abscess appear confirmed. Slightly elevated digital pulse on outside of LF fetlock isolates the quarter in which we believe the abscess is brewing.

this dog actually might be a better eventer than some horses i know haha #99problemsbutaditchaintone 

-    Treatment options are limited bc Charlie was wearing full leather pads on his fronts. So we basically gave him some bute and tossed him out in the field to recover.

-     He appears to improve rapidly over the course of the next few days - culminating in a routine farrier appointment during which no signs of an abscess were detected. Sneaky little bastard, we should have known when there weren't even any tracks to be discovered!

current state: laaaame ponehhh walkin back to the barn :(. will insurance cover ichthammol ointment?? 

-    Fast forward a couple days as the horse is coming back into work. Third day in a row of working, those same intermittent funky steps are back - esp during left turns (recall, we had found signs of an abscess in the outside quarter of his LF).

-    Next day, horse comes out to work and rapidly progresses to fully crippled again after beginning to warm up. This time, the hoof itself (in that same quarter) is actually warm too. 

-    We treat with ichthammol slathered across entire coronet band, no bute this time, and toss that pony out into the field to do what he will. Timing is terrible bc I wasn't able to go see him the next day, but Trainer P offered to slap an epsom pad on him when she stopped by in the morning.

distractions :D and in case you're wondering: the left side is a super neat concept for a 6-pack cooler, it's basically just one giant zip up coozie. doesn't keep the cans super duper cold, but it's plenty sufficient for our tailgating purposes! and on the right side: the freshly bedazzled shirt that goes along with all those tutus i wrote about for an upcoming team adventure!!

Thus we arrive at the current state of things. And now we wait, I guess. I'm not overly keen on the idea of having the farrier back out to start exploring - as Charlie's very short shoeing cycle means he doesn't really have a ton of hoof to sacrifice in digging around for gold. But perhaps should we still be waiting around by tomorrow, I'll ask farrier to take another look?

me, just wonderin when my horse will be sound again....

In the grand scheme of things, an abscess isn't really a big deal. Just another notch on Charlie's belt of "dings." This horse, I swear. The title of "King of the Dings" suits him so perfectly bc he's always got some tiny little stuff going on.

So far nothing major - in the year I've owned him, we've had exactly one non-routine vet visit. And that was only bc the vet was already coming and I was panicky about cellulitis. Had the vet not already been visiting, I would have waited (per my usual habit). Considering the leg was better the next day anyway, my cellulitis fears would have been assuaged and we would've carried on sans vet. (Tho in retrospect I'm glad I called bc the splint benefited from Surpass treatments).

at least the weather is pretty?!

It's still annoying tho. Especially because the timing makes me a little uneasy. Fall season beckons!! Oh well. We will do what we can and in the meantime I'll just try not to worry about the stuff I can't control.

Surely I'm not the only one who has been sidelined by something seemingly minuscule? Or had some little pesky aggravation keep coming back and refusing to heal??? Or been down to the wire for an event, competition or other outing, with no real clear guarantee that the horse will be ready to go?