Rehab shopping
First round of purchases:
- Size L burgundy SMBs. Gold star to the RW staff: I took measurements of her leg before I left, presented them with measurements and breed, and they all agreed that we should go with large. I was dubious, but trusted that they knew what they were doing.
- Lettia sparkly dark pink polos. I can’t link to these since they were on clearance and I think I bought the last pair. Yay me!
- Equifuse Gleam and Shine.. because if we’re going to be putzing around for a while, I might as well play princess pony.
“I want stuff to fit a Haflinger.. in pink. Discipline? Functional.” They delivered with both the SMBs and the polos, and didn’t try to upsell me on the 4-pack of pink(er) SMBs since I only needed 2. Cannot recommend these folks strongly enough!
Initial conclusions: Confetti dislikes things on her hind legs. I realize as I’m writing this that I’ve worked her once or twice in the open-front boots from Maddy and I don’t remember such a reaction. However. SMBs? Stomp stomp stomp kick. It’s not all the time, it’s not even half the time. Nonetheless it’s a clear response to the boots. I put polos on one day thinking maybe she’d like those better. Same thing except the polos take me longer to put on and off.
Maybe the boots are too big and I really needed a medium, I thought to myself? This is what happens when I have too much time to mull over possible options! I snagged a pair of medium red SMBs off local craigslist for super-cheap. They sort of fit, but barely. Larges are a better fit. She’s probably halfway between sizes as usual.
I emailed Megan. Help the pony is broken I will take all the advice please! and also stalked her archives. Those of you rehabbing horses and writing down the process, you are fabulous and someone else will thank you later. I ordered more stuff.
Second RW order:
- Lettia Coolmax no bow leg wraps, set of two. Why did I pay extra? Are they better quality? I don’t know and maybe, mostly I think it made me feel better.
- 9ft standing wraps, set of 4, in red. I could have gotten pink if I went with 12ft, but then there would have been another 3ft of wrap to deal with, and that seemed possibly excessive. So far? Happy with 9ft. AKA: I really have no idea which size is standard and it seemed like maybe 9ft was standard, so I went with that. Running blind here!
- Vetericyn Plus Hydrogel, because my previous regular Vetericyn bottle wasn’t spraying very well, and it’s been getting a lot of use.
- Pink rubber bell boots. Inexpensive experiment.
I came back from vacation and noticed a bite/swelling at Fetti’s elbow. It presented like a determined tick bite. We’ve been applying Vetericyn regularly.. on top of doing everything else with her legs.. and it has finally gone down to normal in the last few days.
As seen on table: waterbottle (for human), headlamp (because it’s usually dark by the time I’m done), red SMBs, standing wraps, hock boots with extra sheepskin, fly spray, vetricyn.Bonus pony problems: her hock boots were rubbing at the front of her legs. I tried using just duct tape on her hocks. I like the theory. She wore through the duct tape. After that experiment failed, an order was placed for a set of 3 halter sheepskin fuzzies from JMS on ebay, and two of those are now on the front of the elastic for the boots.
Bonus pony problem #2: slight sores/rubbing at the front of her fetlocks on front legs. The upside-down bell boots are a proactive experiment to see if I can head that off before it turns into anything. Bubble-wrapping the pony, indeed!
She starts back on Previcox next week (my decision) in hopes of managing the arthritis given her low activity level right now, too, since I’m sure that’s playing into it. I may end up bedding her stall super-thick for the first time ever.
Idea snagged from Megan: leg soakers. Photo from the first time we tried them.. in the dark. Doesn’t everyone do new things by headlamp? They’ve been used several times now and hold up to being stomped on and yanked around. I do think one could leave a well-mannered horse alone. Fetti is well-mannered most of the time, but she is also smart. She steps on the hose(s) with great intent and knowledge that it turns off the flow of water. Thus, she is not a good candidate to be cold-hosed without a mindful eye. Ahh, ponies.
We’re up to 35 minutes daily hand-walking and averaging three spooks per walk the last couple days. Poor mare is bored out of her mind, really tired of walking, really tired of being polite. Up until this point I kept hoping we could avoid needing to ace her. Ha. Haha. Hahaha.. um.. that’s not looking so likely. Fingers still crossed, but I’d like to stay on top of the horse during rehab, thanks.
My vet recommended putting super glue on the hock sores. I have yet to try it myself though.