A Light at the End of the Tunnel..........maybe.......

Part 1

The last couple of days I haven't been all that comfortable with how things have been progressing with Solidare's colt. Mostly, I guess, my discomfort comes from not really knowing what to expect. Having never dealt with this kind of issue before I have no frame of reference and just "not knowing" is a very uncomfortable place for me.

I have been doing the hot compresses as ordered by the vet. However, other than the first day, not much is coming from those open wounds. Still the heat seems to feel good to the colt and this treatment is part of the doctor's orders so I persist despite the fact I can't really tell if it's doing any real good or not.

By yesterday evening I was pretty sure that the swelling in the hock and that around the highest wounds was changing. I was not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. The only thing I was sure of was there was a noticeable difference although nothing about it looks normal if you ask me.

I'd decided if these changes continued into today that I was going to call the vet to give him an update. Not knowing is the pits and I do not want to make any kind of mistake.

Before I'd even gotten to the barn for our first soak session, I'd received a message from the vet wondering how the colt was doing so I prepared my hot water and headed off to the barn to see what today had to bring.

When I arrived at the stall, Solidare's colt was down. Laying in the center of the stall, right where his mother always used to lay, he looked up at me with those huge eyes but didn't budge. I laid that warm towel over the wounds on the inside of his leg and he still stayed down. I wasn't sure what to think.

I called to the house to ask Lindsay if she'd seen him on his feet at all today. She told me he didn't get up when she cleaned his stall so she just cleaned around him. That didn't do much to quell my fears. He'd refused to rise last weekend when this whole thing had started. I didn't know what to think.

I decided to tempt him to his feet. I got him a small scoop of grain and he still wouldn't rise. That really worried me.

Talk about perfect timing. My cell rang and it was the vet wanting an update. When I told him I really wasn't sure, he said he was just down the road so he'd come right by. I went to open the front gates for him. When I left the stall, Solidare's colt was still just laying there.

By the time we were back at the stall, the little bugger was up and eating the grain. He had both front feet in the feed tub and was chowing down. As I walked in the stall, he glanced over his shoulder at me as if to say, "Oh, it's you again." Then he went right back to eating his oats.

The vet thought the hock looked much improved even if there was more swelling some places than there had been before. He also told me the additional swelling above was caused by the muscle being irritated by the swollen tendon. That was a normal response, just one I've never seen before.

The fact there isn't any puss coming from the wounds when I use the hot compress is also normal. The sheath to the tendon has sealed up and that's part of the healing process too.

The vet dis so probing inside the wounds to get a better idea of what was going on. Solidare's colt was a good boy and the vet commented that most colts would not tolerate such inspection without drugs. This little guy is definitely a good patient.

The final lab tests came back and a total of five different bacteria were found growing in the cultures. None of them was a dreaded
pseudomonas and all are very responsive to the antibiotic we have been using so we should be on the right track. While there is not as much progress as the vet would like to have seen, we are progressing in the right direction. The next dose of antibiotics will be administered on Wednesday and hopefully things will keep moving forward.

As for the colt laying down when I came into the stall, it looks like he's finally decided I'm OK after all. He's done that for months for both Lindsay and Dave but ME, I was the bogey man or some ugly troll. At least this illness has put us on better terms.



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