"Sunny" Times (update, 8/9, new pics)

Sunny celebrated her first birthday on May 30th. Yay!  :)

Sunny has been in need of a bath so today she had her first bath! Bath went great, however, there is a new development with Sunny that isn't so great. She has what looks to me like the worst case of thrush that I have ever seen. I have not been diligently picking out her feet as I don't want to add stress to her fractured carpus by making her stand on 3 legs and she skipped her last farrier appointment due to her knee. Picking her feet today, I have discovered that all 4 feet are infected. She is worst in both back feet. I feel TERRIBLE!   >.<    Like, how could I let this happen on top of her bum knee? Seriously. Ugh! 1 frog is so infected that it started bleeding. So, after Sunny's bath, I put a foot wrap on it. Sunny' next recheck is Friday of next week but I will be calling her vet Monday to move the appointment up earlier in the week. I have started treating all 4 feet with Betadine solution. The nightmare continues...   *sigh*

After all she has been through in her short life and now THIS? Poor Sunny can't catch a break.   :(

On a good note, I did get some pics of bath time. She was very good for her bath and now is squeaky clean!   :)
(Excuse the ribby look, Sunny is going through that gaucky teenager growth phase.)

         

Getting her bath, sun drying, sun dried with foot wrap applied (near hind) and Sunny, back in her stall for the evening.

I am expecting Sunny's recheck of her carpus to go well but I am now worried about the condition of her feet. Hopefully our wonderful vet will give us the green light on Sunny's knee and get her little feets on the road to recovery as well! Thank goodness for Sunny's quiet nature!  ♥

Thanks for reading! Have you had any run ins with any terrible feet infections? You know what they say, no hoof, no horse!

Last edited on 2020-08-14 at 09:50:41 by ᏋᏉᏋᏒᎷᎧᏒᏋ

Sorry about all the drama! She is such a cutie! How your checkup is great and your feet issues resolve as painlessly as possible.

What a beautiful little girl! 

Wishing you all the best for her carpus check up.

And don't beat yourself up over the thrush issue, at the end of the day, you were doing what you thought was best for her (with her carpus etc) and even due diligence cannot prevent everything.

Friends of mine are with the mounted SES (state emergency services), the horses are cared for so well that I want to come back as a mounted ses horse! 

But one of the horses managed to develop an abcess in his near fore hoof, that blew out, he currently has a massive hole in his sole, and its extremely touch and go with him at the moment. 

Another horse, ran into a branch, that while it didn't penetrate the skin, has left him with some heavy swelling to his quarters, and another horse had a mysterious lump come up on her off hind leg near her hock, that even the vets have checked and cant find any reason for it. 

Awe what a cute little horse! Sorry to hear about her knee and feet! My sister’s horse gets thrush a lot during certain seasons because it rains a lot here. My old horse had it once but I use diluted bleach and water and scrubbed his hoof with a tooth brush for a few days and it disappeared. His also wasn’t as bad as my sister’s horse gets.
But, I wish you luck with your mare. She looks super adorable

@Bonnie, thank you! Sunny did seem more comfortable today, so I was pleased with that.    :)

@Black Raven, thank you for sharing about the SES horses.    :)   It is hard because in the end I am responsible for Sunny as she is in my care, but it is true, sometimes things still happen despite best intentions. And some horses are accident prone, no matter what we as people do. Still feel bad but I suppose there isn't much of a point of beating myself up too mucb about it.

@Siren, thanks much! I have an old tooth brush. I didn't even think to scrub her frogs but I will try that tomorrow, too! When I was a kid, my dad's horse loved to get foot abscesses in the winter. Every year. But none of the other horses living with him in the same pen had his foot issues. Funny how some are so susceptible compared to others.

Sunny was more comfortable today. Yay! Calling the vet first thing to try to bump up her appointment to the beginning of the week. I will share how it goes!

Well it looks like the birthday bath was a total success lol!! She's definitely gleaming as she dries...and in the next one I can almost feel that warm velvety coat! But of course it's the last one that melts your heart...that sweet face...and all the sweetness that lies underneath that is just Sunny. And what a year for both of you!!

They always say that everything happens for a reason. I don't know if I believe that or not, but I do know one thing. In what seems like AGES ago now, you and Sunny started out to form a partnership and friendship. You could never have known what lay ahead since life has a way of directing and redirecting our paths...but in the end you two have a stronger bond than perhaps you even imagined. I think there's something really special about it...

I have no doubt that the vet will come sooner, and truly believe her feet will clear up quickly. And unless those pictures are deceiving, her leg looks terrific! So here's hoping that he is super pleased with her healing. I'm so looking forward to the day you get pictures of Sunny out kicking up her heels...and I can only imagine the joy that will be on your face!!

Crossing fingers for a great checkup and happy feet!!

She looks great!! I hope her feet get better!! She is such a pretty girl

@Crescent, thank you so much!   ♥

@Paint, thank you for your kind words. Indeed, Sunny's bath was a great success! Sunny is quite the horse. It is funny, when I was a kid, my first horse was a bay mare. She, sadly, suffered a terrible injury, but miraculously, recovered from it.

It was Valentine's Day some 15/20 or so years ago. My dad asked if I wanted ice cream after my orthodontist appointment. I always did, but that day, I just didn't. When we got home  my mare, her name was Checkers, had caught her leg (in bizarre fashion, as is special to horses) in the top wire of the fence. She severed an artery and had greatly damaged the tendon in her leg. There was blood every where; it was a wonder and nothing short of a miracle that she hadn't bled out yet.
The vet arrived and suggested euthanasia. We decided we would rather try to save Checkers. The vet put her leg back together as best he could. She had a very high chance of being permanently lame with all the damage done to her leg (left hind).
Many months later, Checker's healed, thanks mostly to my amazing mother who was in charge of bandage changes and over all care of Checkers' leg (I was in grammar school when this happened, so about 9 or 10?).
And wouldn't you know it? Checkers recovered to soundness. I took up competing in gymkhanas on her again. She was the most wonderful, bravest horse!
If everything happens for a reason, than I am most glad that I said no to ice cream all those years ago. I would not have had a horse to come home to if I had said yes....

I'd like to think that maybe Sunny is Checkers reincarnate. Maybe Checkers has come back to teach my amazing daughter Indigo all the valuable lessons she taught me when I was growing up?

That is just an amazing story! The fact that it went the way it did IS nothing short of a miracle indeed. What else was at play you wonder...your intuition perhaps? Children are often very intuitive! And then the decision to try to save her...what wonderful parents you must have. Because we all know that vet bills can be enormous, and when there's no guarantee of the outcome as there often is not...it seems everything worked together that day.

I LOVE the idea that perhaps Checkers has found a way back. And could help explain the reason Sunny has always seemed so special, beyond how special we think all our animals are of course. I've thought it about a few of mine as well. And if that is true, then your daughter will reap the rewards! As it is, she seems very animal oriented already...you said she loves Sunny, and we've all seen her walk the dog lol!! Here's hoping they grow up together and share what you did with Checkers!

Sunny had her recheck today! Good news or bad new first? Let's go bad so we can end on a good note.

Bad news. Sunny is very sore on her right hind. I have treated for thrush and that has cleared up quickly. Yay! But she is still very uncomfortable on that foot. It does seem to be a foot as she has no trouble holding the leg up and has no indications further up the leg of any issues. However, she isn't sensitive to hoof tester. Our theory is she is brewing an abscess high up in the foot. She did that in the same foot in Feb./March so I suppose it is possible. So, the vet put a soaking pad on her foot and wrapped it.

The left hind is her foot with the cut frog. She is surprisingly not very sore on that foot but it was a bit tricky to exam that foot as Sunny didn't want to stand on the right hind. I ended up holding the foot for the vet (my vet is fantastic but sometimes a horse will do things more willingly for the person they are familiar with, which was the case with holding the foot) to exam. Her frog is basically cottage cheese on her left hind. Eww... The cut did bleed some. She does have some residual thrush but the thrush itself doesn't seem bad. My vet is shocked that thrush would cause such an injury. Even if a horse looses most of the frog, it is highly unusual for the frog to bleed. So, Sunny has somehow, once again, magically gotten some mysterious oddness going on (granted I did cause the cut but all I did was pick her hoof with a pick, not a knife, a horse hoof pick...). I opted to have to foot x-rayed as I am concerned about the foot itself. The cut doesn't get to the bone but it is fairly deepish. Prognosis is to keep it cleaned and wrapped until it heals. Treat a few more times with thrush relief, clean with betadine. Antibiotics for a week, 10 days if little or no improvement.

So, not only does Sunny have a chipped carpus but she now has somehow (hopefully?) delveloped an abscess in one hind foot while her other hind has become very infected for some reason to the point it has jeopardized the integrity of the frog, making it so weak that a hoof pick could cut it. And did, and now her frog looks like cottage cheese....   >.<

Oh. My. Flipping. Stars......

Ok, deep breath. There is some good news!   :)    The vet is very impressed with how Sunny's carpus is healing. Her chip appears to be totally fused. The vet thought she may need 2 knee injections but (thankfully) decided Sunny only needed 1 due to the fairly localized fluid pockets on her carpus (which are a normal occurrence with the inflammatory response). Sunny did not have to be sedated either to have her knee injected. Such a good little girl!!  ♥

If her feet heal up, she has the green light to start taking short hand walks!!!  In theory, her next recheck should be in about 6 weeks. That is exciting! (Future injuries or worsening of current ones pending.)

Honestly, I am still reeling from the vet appointment. I am happy that Sunny's knee is doing so well and that she was so well behaved for her appointment but I am so mystified by her latest round of injuries. I try my best to take care of Sunny so when she keeps having issues, it gets a bit wearing and disheartening for me. But hay, bad things happen in 3's, right? Well, we are there and it can only go up from here. Right? I hope...

I meant to snag a picture of Sunny with both of her hind feet wrapped and a temp bandage on her knee. But totally spaced it. Oops! Will try to grab an updated pic to share with you all tomorrow.   :)    

Thank you all for reading!  ♥

I'm so sorry your going through this! As an animal lover I'm thinking your blaming yourself and you shouldn't be! Your doing your best to deal with what seems like the worst luck. I'm so sorry her feet are doing bad but very relieved to hear that her carpus is healing! Sending good vibes 

@Bonnie, thank you, my friend. I wish this wasn't happening either but I suppose such is life, eh? I appreciate the good vibes!   ♥

Sunny seems much happier and significantly improved overall today. She appeared less sore on her right hind and even got up to some shenanigans a few times in her mini turnout. Some jumps and mini rears. Silly girl! She even started prancing after hubby shut the shop door and I was leading her back to her stall for dinner. Seems like she is feeling much better, which I am very pleased about. Maybe she has popped her possible foot abscess? Doing foot wrap changes tomorrow so we shall see!

As promised, I am going to leave this eye candy for my fellow EV'ers here to enjoy.   :D    Anyone think she looks wild bay? I initially thought that when I got her but then assumed she would shed out bay. But now in full summer coat, her legs are really light for a bay and the black doesn't reach anywhere near her knees.

    

Awww no problem and energy is a good sign glad its chugging forward :D

Yippee and Yay??? I think so!! Considering that yesterday the bad just piled on and today she seems much better, a mini celebration is in order. Not getting ahead of yourself to do that, just savoring the good. Perhaps the wraps and antibiotic combined has made her feel better and more comfortable? By now even your wonderful vet has got to feel invested in this baby girl lol!

You must get up every day holding your breath. But a six week checkup seems like the vet is hopeful her feet will heal...and talk of little walks makes it seem even more hopeful. You take such tremendous care of Sunny...you both deserve those walks! I've learned a lot from all your explanations too. And of course we can NEVER have too many pictures lol!! Eye candy indeed! Could she be a Wild Bay?

Tonight I'm going off to dreamland with visions of one little horse with softly flaring nostrils and a glimmery coat... prancing
her way to dinner. Good thoughts abound!

@Paint, yes, the vet loves her. She is a great baby to work on. She says Sunny is better behaved than a good few of their adult patients! Plus, she is a sweetie.

Had her out a few minutes this morning. She felt so fresh that she popped up her hind end and followed that up with a rear. Wild girl!

It will be interesting to see how her feet look when I change her wraps this afternoon...