"let the tigers take me!" -- charles, probably

Hokey dokey, folks. Come and join me for a nice little review of Charlie's most recent hoof trauma, and the continued fallout!

houston we have.... another hole

You may recall, the horse got a bit of gravel stuck in his foot right around New Year's, and really did a number on himself. Suspected deep bone bruise, plus an abscess at the site of the trauma. 

We *hoped* (tho didn't really believe) that would be it, that we'd just wait out the bruise and he'd get better in a more or less linear fashion. To THAT, however, Charlie said "Ha! Hold my beer!"

that special sort of feeling when your horse's foot blows bubbles

Everyone who works at Charlie's barn has been taking his condition on a day-to-day basis for 4 weeks at this point, and generally they've made pretty good choices about whether to turn him out or keep him in. But... The funny thing with abscesses is... They get VERY acute, VERY fast. 

And poor Charlie... He might not have made the best choices of his life upon being released to the wilderness anyway. And then, by the end of the day, found himself unable to keep up with the herd when they migrated back down to the gate for dinner.

full notes for the curious

In other words, Charlie allowed himself to become separated from his group, and basically just stayed out in the far reaches of his pasture... hoping for the best, I guess. 

Generally, I tend to think of that sort of behavior as... a very very bad sign. Basically a horse has to have given up, possibly even accepted death, to willingly be left behind. Tho. Let's not get dramatic here, guys, LOL --- Charlie is that certain sort of Sir who just KNOWS he will be rescued, of course!

she was a ripe one, y'all

And rescued he was, by my poor beleaguered barn mate who was scared half to death that she'd have to get a trailer out into the pasture to transport his lame ass back into the barn. Because naturally.... the one day Charlie goes DEFCON 1 was the first day I couldn't go to the barn in like... ugh, a while. 

Luckily, tho, he eventually accepted my barn mate's hand-delivered invitation to walk in under his own power on all four legs. Slowly, sadly, clammy and sweating and frankly exhausted from pain. 

So... My extremely pragmatic and practical vet, upon hearing this news, determined that it was time for x-rays just to be sure. Like... Yea, we kinda already knew he might abscess again. And this was probably an abscess.... But, ehhhhhhh let's just be sure, yes? 

believe it or not, this stance is actually an improvement -- he's actually putting some amount of weight here vs holding the whole thing afloat

And ya know. It IS an abscess. Bc it turns out, critical injuries like broken bones or ruptured tendons don't generally have "good" and "bad" days. Abscesses do, tho. And this abscess, confirmed via radiographs, is a real doozy. It's basically the whole foot, with every expectation that he'll end up with that bizarre "false sole" situation before the whole thing sloughs off. 

the abscess is basically everywhere, and he'll eventually slough off his entire sole

Charlie was super relieved too, when we got the shoe off and the thing instantly ruptured, spurting out blood and puss and all manner of ooey gooey rank nastiness. 

Like he's still super lame and super sore, and super disinclined to do much in the way of moving... But you could literally see the quivering tension in his muscles and posture melt away as the thing started draining. Poor guy, honestly not sure I've ever seen him in this much pain :( 

plz stay clean!!!

We'll get through it, tho, following the protocols outlined in the notes above. And hopefully avoiding any complications like infection along the way. Bc ya know... We do what it takes for this sweet pony. 

It's funny bc one of our newest barn mates has only really been around since this summer -- since right after Charlie got caught up in that high tensile wire fence. Meaning, she's seen a lot of Charlie being out of commission, and requiring high maintenance care, etc, and.... Not a whole heckuva lot else from him (tho as you know, we did squeak in a couple shows last fall!).

flashback to just a couple weeks ago <3 <3 <3

And this friend, who knows her stuff, has good judgement, is a trusted, valued resource.... Basically said to me, "You're spending a lot of money to not be riding." Charlie's new farrier hinted at a variation of the same thing, riffing on folks who turn themselves inside out for a horse that isn't really even great to ride.

Another long time horse friend, Charlie's chiro / acupuncturist, who herself breeds horses, suggested that maybe I need a second horse, or should at least think about succession planning -- and would I maybe want her to breed something for me? 

Which... Ya know. Yea, obvi I wish I could ride right now. It would be awesome to have a second horse. And... Ok, agreed, I probably *do* need to think a little bit about succession planning for Charlie, who is 14 this year. And maybe a homebred bebe would be fun?

But damn, guys. Charlie is kinda the best, ya know? He's my favorite horse, he's the animal I describe when I talk about "what I'd want to breed for" or "key criteria in a young horse" or whatever. Sure, it's been a rough six months for him... but I'm pretty confident he's got more to do, more to give. 

It's just an abscess lol. He'll be fine. Probably lol. Might just take a while haha, plus a few pretty pennies along the way.... But c'est la vie, right? So if you need me, I'll be shopping around for appropriately sized hoof boots, and NOT for fancy baby horses haha... (probably).