the schmoo

Alternate Title:   Oops, he did it again!

the animal himself. and, uh, ahem, cough cough, the sorry state of some of this farm's fencing.... (no it is not hot wire....)

Gosh it's been so boring around here, guys. Poor Charlie is such a baby about all the scabs and whatnot on his hock... Plus it's just been so hot...

every wound goes through an ugly stage during healing. this was quite literally the worst of it, which really wasn't that bad

I figured I'd give him all the downtime he needed to rid himself of the swelling and let the worst of it close up... And then we'd get back in gear this week for a fun little fix-a-test clinic being hosted at our barn this evening!!!!

cute cat interruption bc more gross is coming

Alas, twasn't to be!

well goodness gracious, if it ain't the same leg with new jewelry
left side: those higher marks are new, plus everything was basically rubbed freshly raw
right side: new little fingernail-sized skin flap above existing cannon laceration

I showed up on Monday in my riding pants, determined to swing a leg over for the first time in two weeks (first time since that little jumper show at Elkridge Harford, to be specific....).

somebody was not happy about being all alone in a new field and worked up a major lather running the fence lines....

Only to discover a new note on The Board regarding a recently down fence in Charlie's pasture. Not the pasture of his last incident, mind you (that fence is still down to my knowledge). But the new different pasture his herd group moved into following, ahem, last time.

most of these new marks are just bald spots, tho some on the right side pic (back of his left hock) got a little scabby

Obviously, I knew before I even checked him over that he was involved... And, indeed, there was a collection of new wire marks all over his legs.... Blargh, wtf Charlie. 

cleaned up close up of the new skin flap

At least this time, the barn mgmt knew it was Charlie bc... uh, my sweet dopey gelding managed to get himself through a dividing fence between two pastures --- but none of his friends followed! And then they all went down for breakfast, leaving him as the very last horse in the whole wide world!!

in better news, the summer sore is healing!

Much sadness ensued, obviously, and he told me ALL ABOUT IT by the time I showed up that evening. But, luckily, not much in the way of new wounds. In fact, the barn mgmt didn't really see anything new ("no blood" was the report I got), tho obviously it's kinda impossible to distinguish one bald spot from another unless you study Charlie's legs as obsessively as I do. 

this was a dumb "band-aid" idea, but treating with the moxidectin (Quest Plus) seems to work great even without a bandage!

Really, the only problem was that the leg blew up again, and all those little crisscross hatch marks covering the hock are hot sore and itchy, all at the same time. Poor Charles!

hey, i'm sure everybody has tried this at least once LOL

After evaluating everything and getting him nicely cleaned up, I opted to swing a leg over anyway. Bc... Eh, Charlie's been a bit of a sass monster lately -- boredom, I suppose. Ooooh and also, dear lord he is getting fat tho, wow omg. Like, more than normal.

leg got all swollen and hot again from the new trauma, but vet isn't concerned -- no new drugs

Such a good feeling, too, to be back on my favorite horse! He seemed to enjoy it too, striding right on down the driveway and into the big fields all happy and relaxed and maybe even relieved to get out of his little 2wk rut. 

another cute cat intermission, bc....

It's a tough balancing act knowing when to ride and when not to, tho. Bc.... We all know Charlie can be a stubborn sullen slug at times, and it's really in my best interest to get after it whenever needed. BUT.... If he's legitimately sore, that's not exactly super fair, right?

let's get up close and personal with everything as of 8/9, yes? the laceration is about 2wks old, and the skin flap is about ~1 day old

At least as far as I can tell, he's not actually mechanically lame or anything -- his skin just hurts (sorta like a skinned knee, ya know?). But he's bored enough right now that he's happy to get out to wander and explore (as long as the bugs don't bite too hard!). So we'll keep at it, I guess. 

most of these scabs are 2 weeks old, but a few were roughed up a bit in the latest catastrophe

I shot a text off to my vet about the updated situation anyway, just to be safe -- and to see if there was anything else we could do to control his itchiness. 

the schmoo!! my vet's in-house universal topical concoction, safe for literally everything including the full thickness skin lacerations

She suggested I pick up a tub of their in-house "schmoo" -- a cream they developed for skin funk around the feet, etc, that's also safe and effective for wounds. Basically a universal "cover all."

charlie liked how it smelled, mikey actually tried to lick it off my fingers LOL
apparently contains ingredients like desitin, hydrocortisone, chlorhexidine, etc

I've been slathering Swat on everything to keep the flies off, and honestly that's been fine -- and seems to facilitate the healing process. But... Idk if it's doing anything for the itchiness. 

schmoo'd

So we'll give the schmoo a try these next few days and will compare notes. The summer sore is still getting its Moxidectin treatment bc that seems to really stick in place with just a pearl-sized squirt of the stuff, so I'll leave well-enough alone there. 

and omg, saddled too!! <3 <3 <3

And I guess I'll keep going on quick little hacks too. Might as well, the pony seems to enjoy the added attention and expansion of his daily world lol. Tho we did scratch the fix-a-test, bc, again, I'm not gonna get after him for being protective of that sore leg right now. 

just walkies with friends to get the swelling down... but damn i love this view!

So ya know. It's hot and buggy out. The horse keeps tying himself up in tensile wire fence. And there isn't really a whole heckuva a lot else goin on. 

In a way, tho, it's good enough. And maybe it'll be a little cooler by the time the horse is more healed up???