...a check-up...

...today the vet comes back to check Tom.  Fingers crossed...

It's windy today, very...and the horses are out in restricted grazing still, but they're finding the small space simply a challenge which they meet face-on.  They are speeding about, but I am keeping an eye on them.  Tom is not supposed to be leaping around, he has stitches, but I guess he's feeling better?  Off the anti-biotics by yesterday, but still a sachet of Bute morning and night, for it's anti-inflammatory properties more than pain relief now.

I decided to add some happy photos to remind us all why we go through all this worry, just look at their pretty little faces, and that's all you need to know.
 

 

The plan is for Tom's stitches to come out next week, you can see here the swelling has lessened.  Then I am hoping things can get back to normal around here. Out again at night and free-range to graze.  Tom will get some well-earned rest alongside Henry and because his scar sits under his saddle area, I'll need to be extra careful he is ready and pain-free before I ride him again.
 

Fingers crossed.

The vet actually used the word WOW when she saw Tom today, which is good news.  happy with his recovery and on-track for next week.

Single dose of Bute only a day.

Henry is making his feelings about Bute quite clear!

 

...stay calm, and carry on...

...aftermath...

So, you've got a horse that has a massive healing wound on his side, with twenty stitches sitting proud of the swollen area. 

 

Your good friend Lesa has made you a special batch of red velvet cupcakes to cheer you up, and they definitely help.

 

OK, so the area doesn't need now to be kept sterile because the surface has sealed, we just need to keep the flies away, especially from the still open tiny drain at the bottom. 

So you buy a fly rug, the type horses who suffer with sweet itch wear, and customise it by sewing a dressing inside that sits over the stitches.

























Here I have a layer of dressing suitable for contact with the damaged skin.  Over that a layer of gauze dressing, sew-able.  I lay the pieces on the back after marking the area to be covered with a marker, and stitch the pieces together.  Outside it looks like quilting, not particularly pretty, but the job gets done.

Brilliant, no more dressing and worrying.
 

 

Next, your horse needs to move, the yard is no longer large enough to keep him occupied and of course Tom can see Henry enjoying the summer grass and quite rightly wants some.

 

So I have been grazing Tom up the driveway on a lead rope, here you can see him and Henry pruning the hedgerow.  But then John had another cunning plan: a corral.

 

So, John has constructed a small area of turnout for Tom.  A totally flexible electric tape area, to address living arrangements for emergencies, and we all have them from time to time. Unless of course yours is a horse forced to stay indoors so these accidents don't happen, but then your problems are likely mental rather than physical.

 

Tom is happier now, I have moved a Haybar so he can eat with Henry, friendship is important for horses.
 

 

The vet will return next Wednesday to check him over, make sure there's no problems, re-evaluate his drug intake, then a week later out come the stitches, and that, I'm hoping, will be the end of the matter.