chipping away (puns)

It's a relief that Charlie's moved on from the most critical phase of his gargantuan gravel-induced subsolar abscess.... 

oooh look who graduated to long walkies around the farm!!!

He's reliably pretty sound at the walk now, even as we've introduced time out in the paddocks and walking around the farm. Plus, the drainage from the abscess finally cleared up. 

ooooh and sometimes his friends have to be in paddocks too, so he gets company <3

Which leads me to believe that we're firmly into the "false sole" phase of recovery. If you recall, Charlie's abscess took up the whooole underside of his foot; effectively separating the sole from the rest of the structures. Thus.... basically kinda killing it, if I understand correctly. 

presently the layout for a maximally reduced wrap that still meets my tolerance for risk
components: scissors to remove old wrap; hoof pick for evaluating sole integrity (more on that later); betadine in a curved-tip syringe for flushing; fluffy cotton padding for Charlie's heel bulbs; one roll vet wrap; duct tape patch (this exact layout every time) for sole coverage + 4 short strips to adhere to the wall; extra duct tape as needed

The result is that Charlie has to form a new sole underneath the old one, which I'm imagining is like growing in a new toenail. Our sense, based on where Charlie is in his soundness and comfort, is that the new sole is already pretty well along the way into fully forming. 

the wraps are looking solid after 24hrs of wear. i feel confident enough to attempt 48hrs now.

This significantly improved Charlie's overall comfort, and mine! Not gonna lie, having a gigantic hole in my horse's foot was just a bit stressful.  

hoof straight out of the wrap. see how chalky and pale the sole has become, compared to when it was black before?

But we think there's a new sole underneath that hole now, which means Charlie still has protection against infection etc. if one of my wraps should fail. 

i know this is hard to see, but the false sole is literally crumbling off in powdery chunks

The old sole is definitely changing in color and texture too. I had kinda imagined that maybe it'd peel off in one go sorta like an old toenail. But actually, it's coming off in chips and chunks and almost powdery toe-cheesy kinda consistency. Gross lol. 

i scrape over the whole sole with the hoof pick, then squirt some betadine up in the defect to keep things flushed up. drainage is completely over at this point, tho, so this step probably isn't necessary.

Charlie's also coming due for his regular trim, but my vet advised trying to push him out another couple weeks just to avoid being too aggressive at a seminal moment in recovery. 

bottom view: heel bulb pillow, vet wrap, and sole patch (lol puns) applied

The optimist in me hopes that maybe we could even consider putting a shoe on the horse by then.... But honestly I have no idea how likely or unlikely that is. Might actually give my vet the option to come take a look at the hoof herself to determine whether he's ready or not when the time comes. We'll see. 

top view of the same

In the meantime, we finally hit another huge milestone in Charlie's recovery: he returned to his full-day group turnout this weekend! You might recall I had hoped to do this last weekend, but there was still drainage and he had a few setbacks related to soreness, so we put the plan on ice for another week.

final slipper, with pressure-relief snip down past the coronet, plus a few extra pieces of tape

I wanted to do this over the weekend just to give myself maximum control. I got to take him out as one of the first horses in the morning, and walked him and a buddy all the way up into the field to the round bale, vs releasing them at the gate. Obvi I can't stop the horse from galloping around, but at least this way he didn't START in gallop lol!

experimenting with foam shims inside the Zip boot

He gave me a heart attack, tho, when I went to bring him back in that evening. Like, the fact that I didn't video this should be as clear an indicator as you could get that my heart was sinking a little bit. But, in retrospect, I am SO SORRY there isn't video, so you're going to have to use your most cinematic imagination to see what happened.

first test got all crumpled up and didn't stay under his sole

Bc at first... All the boys were down at the gate (as opposed to up on the crest of the hill at the round bale, or over the hill on the grass) waiting to come in for dinner. All, but Charlie. And I instantly started to worry. But! Lo! There he was, just barely over the crest of the hill by the round bale, just his star-face and floppy Eeyore ears were visible. Hmmm, why the sullen ears tho?

trimmed it down a bit, but likely will just abandon this idea if this doesn't work

Then he started walking tho, and here's where I should have pulled out the camera. Bc I was like, "Oh ok he looks fine walking." 

Then he trotted! And I was like, "Omg Squee loookie at him!!" 

And, then, uh, this mother fucker TOOK OFF GALLOPING STRAIGHT DOWN THE HILL TOWARD US, all snaking neck and flying mane, looking exactly like his best impression of a wild stallion lol. 

all packaged up!

Like, you can kinda see the crest of the hill in the gif below, top left. And then imagine him galloping like a fool straight down to the gate, and cutting sharply right before hitting the fence, skidding and mud flying, snorting and prancing and looking supremely pleased with himself omg. 

and omg ---- peep that starry face + giant ears mid-crowd???

So. Ya know. That was reassuring haha. Obvi I had hoped to recreate the magic last night, but he was already peacefully ensconced with his herd down at the gate by the time I got there. So. Sorry, I kinda feel like I robbed you of some epic Charlie footage LOL. I guess watch this video if you wanna imagine what it looked like? 

link to video here

So. Haha. I'm feeling hopeful. Two full days spent out, and the horse looks good. I am honestly a little concerned we might see a slight increase in soreness, not least bc... Homeboy still doesn't have a shoe. Attempts to pad out the Zip boot haven't been super successful, so I'm not ruling out upgrading the boot to something with a little more support if needed. 

so happy to be a free horse again <3

For now, tho, I'm just so relieved! Maybe someday soon I'll actually get to ride again? Maybe?? Pretty please??!? Lol...