Life in a Stall

Maddy is pretty content. I am really surprised. So far, she seems to be dealing with the stall rest better than me:) She got her expensive shoes on last week. I need to post some photos, because it is an interesting contraption. It is a circular shoe with clips and there is a mold piece of rubber that is fitted to her foot and on top of that is a flat piece of metal that I can remove once a week for cleaning. Summer is slipping away and my goal of getting out on the trails this Fall is on hold.
I am hoping to start riding some other horses in the next couple weeks. I am posting a picture of the kids that keep Maddy entertained out at the barn. They keep her mind busy all day long and that is a good thing.

Adjusting

This shows what Maddy's injury looks like. Her wing bone is not completely broken away, but instead cracks half way down. The prognosis is good. This is a fracture that usually heals quite well. My vet has told me many horses have had this same injury and gone on to do great things. At this point, I just have to try to stay positive and hope for the best. I was out at the barn yesterday and she was quite content in her stall. They put the pony next door and the window is open in the next stall so she can see outside. Lucky for me, the barn is very active. There are lots of kids, dogs, four wheelers, and people in and out all day long. We changed her diet. No more oats and she gets eastern hay at three different intervals throughout the day and beet pulp at night. The farrier will be out to put shoes on her with 6 clips. This will help support her foot. I am just going to focus on working little projects in her stall with her. Working a lot with her feet and flexion. I want to maybe try some clicker training with cones and I have even thought about teaching her how to paint on a canvas. I am lucky to have a very supportive network of horse friends that have called and emailed me. Everyone is pulling for her to get better. I need to look into stall toys. I am just focusing on keeping her mind active. If anyone out there has ideas or suggestions for me, I would love to hear them. Also, I would love to hear from anyone who has gone through stall rest with their horse. Horse ownership poses so many challenges, this one will be tough for me.

Devastated

I am still in a bit of a fog. Maddy went to the see Dr. Mark Revenaugh today and we discovered that she fractured her left front coffin bone wing and also has a bone cyst on her phalanx bone. She was going through the surface tests and Mark kept telling me he was liking what he was seeing. We got to her flex test and she hopped a 3 on her left front. It was not pretty. I opted to get that leg x-rayed as long as we were there. When her coffin bone came up on the screen, I saw it immediately. A big, dark, angry crack down the outside. We were all pretty shocked. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I went into the office and we went over everything and really I don't remember much, I just kept looking at the x-ray.
What I do remember is that she has to stay in her stall for 4 months. This is going to be pure torture for her. I don't know if she can do it without being medicated. He also said the injury was older than eight weeks, but it could be a really old injury that never healed and it just re-cracked. When we got back to our barn, I hated to put her back in the stall. She was so good today about the trailer and her leg wraps and the tests. I just wanted to turn her out with her buddies. The doctor advised that I don't even take her out to graze, as little movement as possible. My poor girl. I am heartbroken. She is such a free spirit, it will be torture for both of us to see her standing in that stall. I just have to take things day by day and see where we go from here.

Head Bumper

Maddy is doing well. The bump on her tendon has gone down, but I am still not working her for the week. Lots of "sweats" and quality time together. We are still planning to take her next Tuesday to the "Leg Doctor." Just because this guy gives a full diagnostic and recommends how to trim/shoe/pad them effectively. On Friday I have a trailer loading session with her to see how she deals with them before our Tuesday trip. I will have to work with her accordingly over the weekend. Just in case, I bought a head bumper. I read this horrible story once about a horse that reared or bumped his head in the trailer and cracked his poll. Brain fluid was seeping out of his ears when they arrived at their destination. That story has always haunted me, so I don't want to take any chances. I paid the $22.95 for the cool Cashel Head Bumper. It is nice and thick, but very flexible and has good clips to clip onto the halter.

Tendon

The consensus is that I need to have a vet take a look at Maddy's left front tendon. My trainer, Michelle Merkin noticed a small rise on her tendon just below the knee. My gut tells me she is just heel sore and just needs pads and shoes, but I would rather be safe than sorry. Unfortunately our "leg" vet is gone and I will not be able to get in until the 14th. I have to take her to the vet where he has three different surfaces to watch her move on. I feel pretty drained. What started out to seem like a simple problem with an easy recovery now seems like it could be a career ending issue. I don't want Maddy to become a broodmare. She wants to be a dressage horse. I am just worried and sad.

Deadly Collapse

I really try to keep posts on my blog about horses, but tonight my heart goes out to the families in Minnesota that are dealing with the tragedy of the 35W bridge collapse. I grew up a half hour west of Minneapolis and my whole family is there. I was standing in the newsroom where I work and I saw the video on Fox News and I was just in shock. I stood there and just kept saying "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh." I got on the phone right away because my boyfriend flew to Minnesota this morning to do some fishing. I got a hold of everybody and just felt relieved. I am still concerned about many of my friends. Many work in Minneapolis and St. Paul. So after my post here, I have to start emailing everybody. My dad was worried because Canterbury Park gave out 100 free tickets to the Minnesota Twins game tonight. Briannah, the young girl he mentors, headed there with a bunch of other people from the track. They did go over the bridge, but the group she was with was ahead of the collapse. It is just so shocking. I have been over that bridge a hundred times and I just can't believe something like this could happen without an earthquake.