What's Up Wednesday

Horses. Ugh. This past week has been full of horses, though less riding than I would like. I'm gonna just go ahead and start by talking about Jamp and his current status. Thursday we had the vet out for the last of their vaccinations and to get some final x-rays on Jamp's front feet. The visit really went well!

His final rotation is about a 2.5% which is considered clinically normal, so that is absolutely the best news we could have gotten. Woohoo! It also cleared him to start having turnout and hand walks, and eventually get back to work under saddle. The under saddle part will wait until his brain grows back in a little so nobody dies.
Saturday he got a little ace and I took him for a handwalk.

He was more interested in staring at the woods than actually walking, but it was nice to have him outside again. It was a beautiful day too.
And then on Sunday, I gave him a little ace, and set him free in the ring. At first he was hell bent on eating any weed he could find. So in my panic that he might founder again, I put a grazing muzzle on him. He still wanted to eat any weed he could find, but he had less success, and he eventually did some walking around. I didn't leave him out too long as it started pouring. Plus you know, baby steps.

He has, however, been very picky about his hay. He really hates it steamed, and didn't eat much over the weekend at all. He put his other feed away just fine though, so I wasn't too concerned.
You know how that goes, however. One should ALWAYS be concerned.
Monday comes and he seems fine. Still not really eating hay, and therefore less poop in the stall. To be expected. But by dinner time Monday, there was no poop still. He hadn't pooped since he got his stall cleaned in the morning. That's a really long time. But wasn't acting colicky at all and had eaten most of his lunch hay by then. His back legs were a bit stocked up. So I texted the vet, just to give him a heads up that he may or may not be trying to colic. Obviously, the moment I text the vet, he poops. So that was nice. Love a nice pile of horse poo!
So per vets orders, I let him hang out outside for a bit, just in the walkout. I gave him some dry hay figuring a little cough might be better than his belly not doing its job. He gobbled that up, and I was feeling better about things.
But when I brought him in he was trembling. Granted the temp outside had dropped about 20 degrees, and he just had a lined sheet on... but that still freaked me out. Doc said he may be really chilled because he'd had ace over the weekend which can mess with their internal thermostat. Which I knew, but wasn't thinking about. So ok, I get him warmed up and tucked in and he seemed fine. I wrapped him behind too since he had some stocking up. He can do that after getting vaccinations, so again, wasn't too freaked out about that.

BUT I SHOULD ALWAYS FREAK OUT. Because horses.
Tuesday he seemed ok in the morning. I came home at lunch and he was napping.

He usually naps a little earlier, but sometimes I catch him down at lunch time. So still wasn't freaking out. (Shoulda.) He got up after I threw hay and filled the chopped hay pans. Was eating. Decided to play it safe, and let the vet's office know he should probably get a visit in the next day or two, because I just felt he wasn't right.
Well. I got home from work and went straight to check on him. He was up, but had clearly been pawing and banging on the door much of the day. He also wasn't standing on his right hind and seemed like he couldn't walk on it. Crap. He was less stocked up than the day before, almost not at all in the apparently painful leg, and just a bit in the other one. So that kind of rules out cellulitis. Maybe. I mean, you can't rule anything out when your horse is as weird as Jamp. I took his temp because that's always what you do...

Shit. Ok, text vet. He says, sounds like cellulitis, but it should be very swollen and painful if I palpate it, which it's not. He said could possibly be an abscess, he's seen them cause fevers on occasion. So plan for the evening was to give him banamine and try to get the temp down. He didn't want to pull the shoe and poke around for an abscess until the fever was controlled. I gave him oral paste, which took awhile, but did bring the fever down. It was 101. 2 when I went to bed, and was down to pretty normal at 100.5 in the morning. By morning he had eaten his food (most of his hay, all of everything else) but hadn't pooped still. Wasn't acting colicky at all, and was standing a bit better on the leg. Not perfect, but he could walk again. He did poop later in the morning. Around 9:30. So things are moving in there, just slowly, likely due to lack of hay input. Still doesn't explain the rest. And that's where we're holding right now. I'm going to check him again at lunch time and see what we have, then touch base with the vet. I think we need to do some bloodwork, because something is going on with him. I gave him dry hay a few times in the last few days, and he's not coughing at all. I can't help but wonder if he's had something brewing for awhile, and we just can't quite figure it out. Will update you guys tomorrow if there's anything to update.
As for the other guys... Rio got to have a lunge Saturday in the beautiful weather!

Unfortunately, he's ridiculously lame. So I guess riding really is over with him. At some point this spring, I will have our lameness guy out, so maybe there's something we can do to make him not ridiculously unsound? But I'm holding off until things with Jamp are settled and he's started back under saddle.
Rio sure does look good though (standing still)!

Eros had a nice weekend! I took him outside to ride Saturday since it was so nice, but by the time I got there the wind had really picked up. He wasn't bad, but he was very tense, so I decided to do our trot work out there and take our canter work indoors. It was a good call, he was a little sassy! Poor dude really needs a chance to free lunge and get the sillies out, but we have to wait for the vet to give the all clear on that. He comes Monday, so cross your crossables for that please!

Sunday was cold and rainy, so we rode inside, but the sun was trying to come out when we finished so we went for a nice walk outside. And then I finally tackled the wild mustang mane he had grown over the winter. Looks much less feral now.

I haven't ridden this week, as my stepmom is home for a few days. She'll ride today and tomorrow, but I get Eros back on Thursday. That's probably for the best because I want to stare at Jamp until I know he's feeling better.

And that's about it from here, though honestly, it's about all I can handle. I'm trying to patiently await the warmer spring weather, and maybe healthy and sound horses? I know it's a lot to ask.

How were your weekends? Do anything fun?