Thundering Skies and the Missing Updates

As I sit here at the computer listening to all the booming fireworks when it isn't even dark yet, I can't help but think it's going to be another one of those long, long nights on this Arabian horse farm. Dave had to work (which has been the usual for him for probably 30 years on this American holiday) so Lindsay and I are holding down the fort and keeping an eye on the horses. Not much of a liberty celebration if you ask me.

The horses seem to be doing ok with all the noise even though the neighbors are setting off their hoards of fireworks way too close to my barn for me to be comfortable. The only exception would be Scarlet who really hasn't a clue what's currently rocking her world. She keeps looking at her mother, who is quite calm, and shaking her head. By next year, Scarlet will be an old pro to this fireworks thing but for this year, I think the poor girl is rattled for the first time in her short but illustrious life.

The cats are really not happy about all this loud noise. They are behaving very erratically. This celebration of our freedom doesn't seem like much fun to my feline friends. Both of them are the neediest I have ever seen them. So chalk up any typos or huge grammatical errors to Squeaker and Jasmine.

Ann reminded me in the comments on the last post that I have yet to do an update on Andy's condition since I first posted about his accident right before I left for the Arabian horse show in Salem. Friday the Thirteenth...........Oh My! http://risingrainbow.blogspot.com/2008/06/friday-thirteenthon-my.html I didn't mean to leave you all wondering but there really wasn't all that much to tell.

Having never dealt with an injury quite like this before I wasn't really sure what to expect as far as the healing process. Changing the dressings I could see that much of the stitched together tissue had died just as the vet had predicted. No proud flesh had formed as of the last change and the skin didn't seem to be attaching back to the coronet band. What all of that meant would be up for my regular vet to explain when he came to take the stitches out.

The usual timing for removing stitches is two weeks. For me, I tend to hold them over just a bit longer. I've never had much luck with removing stitches right on time and having the wound pop open is really, really frustrating. So instead of removing the Arabian colt's stitches last Friday, we waited until this Wednesday.

I knew immediately when Jack removed the dressing that things were not good. In the brief three days since the last dressing change a mound of proud flesh had developed and even more tissue had died. My poor vet was muttering about wishing he'd been available so I knew he wasn't happy with the way things looked.

The stitches that were still intact were more of an illusion that doing any good. As soon as Jack pulled them out, the skin popped open and blood poured out. At least it didn't squirt like it had been doing in the first place. The only thing that looked like it had mended well was the cut artery. The rest of this wound was a mess.

Jack applied a debreeding pad, followed by some gauze to hold it in place, topped off with Elasticon. He left me with enough supplies to do three more dressing changes at three day intervals. Jack also instructed me to make sure that last two wraps of Elasticon were stretched as tight as it could be. That snugness will discourage any more development of proud flesh.

Once we're through those dressing changes we'll have to see what we've got. If we haven't succeeded in removing all of the proud flesh, Jack will have to cut it out because it's interfering with the skin reattaching at the coronet band. Also it's possible we'll need to do more stitching at that location to help encourage the reattachment process. We won't know about damage to the hoof until we get that skin growing back like it should be.

In the meantime, poor Andy is confined to a stall without even any hand walking. The less movement the better for this healing process and the colt is not happy with this. Can't say as I blame him, I wouldn't want to be cooped up in a 12 X 12 stall either.



On another front, I don't think I ever posted the final outcome in our attempts with shipped semen. I'd posted in Rachel & Grandma and Arabian Horses Go Show in Salem about our delayed departure due to Mother Nature's timing with Dare's biological clock.

While that whole production was very stressful for both me and the mare, we did come out the other side of it with Dare checked in foal. So sometime next April, Rising Rainbow Arabians should see its first birth of a half-Arabian.

I can't believe I've done this! I am such a purest when it comes to my breeding program. The thought of a foal that doesn't look like an Arabian makes me break out into a sweat.

I'm sure that Dare will love it no matter what it looks like but I'm sure hoping for a half that looks like a whole. lol The sire has a very pretty head so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping..........nope, I'm counting on the best............ a really, really pretty half-Arabian reining horse. I'm OK, if it turns out to be gray although it could be chestnut or bay. So stay tuned........you never know what's coming next on this Arabian horse farm.
Any predictions?????

Pictures are Andy with his mother last summer (sorry having no camera really sucks) and then the other picture is Dare.


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