Questions Answered!

I am so relieved today. I've gotten some answers to some much needed animal problems around here!

1st - Jack is about 6 months old

2nd - we are probably ahead of mare foaling, she should wax more, and bag get bigger, HOWEVER Vet did agree that she is showing signs of being more advanced, and that first time mares dont always have the waxing or big bag..it could be a sign that her milk wont come in.

So she is back out of the barn for now with a watchful eye on her in her lot.

3rd- Called Vet to come out and tend to King, his lameness is NO better and I was worried about permanent lameness. And his pain was painful for me to see!

A. He is MUCH younger than we thought - Vet guessed 10 - 15 years old, maybe 18 - 20 but he didnt really feel he was that old! WOW!!!!!

B - He is in perfect health (except for hoof which I'll go into in a minute) and perfect weight.

C. He has an abscess in his front right hoof. (and NO he isnt club footed like the dentist said, he probably turns that one foot in more but not a problem, should wear boots when exercised hard)

The vet dug and dug and dug in my boys hoof....finding his frog has just overgrown majorly, said thats not uncommon and will maybe just be an issue with him. After we (and yes I got to help him the whole way!) cleaned his hoof, shaved down to the white, we used that big thing that looks like something you'd pull a giants tooth with, to check pain with pressure. We went all around his hoof, and the pain all through out. We started with the right side of his hoof, found a black line indicating an abscess (that was my guess and I was right!) but couldnt get to the bottom of it...I checked the pain with that doomahicky again and found that the left side was more sore, got to digging there and the abscess showed itself and immediately began to drain! WOO HOO we found the problem! His hoof was packed with some tarry meds, wrapped with Vet wrap (trust me that Vet knows how to wrap, it aint coming off or going anywhere until I need to cut it off), given a tetanus shot, and a big dose of antibiotics. He was given some bute paste....he really needed it for the pain. I talked to him about that article that you read to me Kacy and he said that really the benefits outweighed the cons. If his abscess was worse then he wouldnt use it he said, he'd go to something else, or nothing even.

He will get a penicillin shot once a day of 25mg, and bute paste 2x a day for a week (both) until antibiotic and bute gone. Boot can be removed after a week, and after that, he should be good to go! It wasnt bad, but it was all through out his hoof...so that makes it bad in one way, however the abscess wasnt a huge hole, rather a long narrow hole like a worm does to an apple.

I learned also how to keep a horse from leaning on you (like he tends to do) when you work with his feet..You lean into and take a step forward, making them take a side step back and forces them off of you and their mind off of leaning, for a few minutes anyway! LOL King eventually saw the Vet wasnt going to tolerate his antics, and gave up on the leaning!

I'm so happy! I wish the foal would have been coming this weekend...but at least its nice to know what to look for (thanks guys a bunch) and to have the Vet look her over and tell me not to worry just yet!

And I'm SOOOO pleased to learn that I'll have many more years with my boy!!!!

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

~*~RAE~*~