Hooves again. Mandy...

has some weird stuff going on due in part I'm sure to her confinement and work load.

A short vid from this morning, she's obviously low in the inside of the injured (right hind) leg. Correspondingly she's high on the inside of her left front. We're going to try and fix this tonight or tomorrow.

Her leg seems to be doing well.

Her sole on both hinds is doing something funky.

can you see a kind of bulge? It looks like it's wanting to slough.

She seems comfortable...

Her leg bearing full weight while we were looking at the other hoof.

Look how teeny tiny that scab is!

Angles don't look bad.

Her fronts are wanting to slough too.

Flares are [] thisclose to 

GONE

These soles look a little more normal.

The toes that she took off pawing have almost grown in.

Just have to figure out WTH is going on in those hinds...

So, hooves...yes, it's that time again. Bree

Bree first. These pics are untrimmed. Her fronts were trimmed about two weeks ago, but I think Juan left her toes too long. I'm hoping we can get her trimmed tonight. Then we'll post update pics.

She has tiny little feet to go with the rest of her.

Fronts too long.

Front right

Front view.

Hind right

Hind left

Hind view

Left Front

All in all I think she has EXCELLENT feet. Here are a couple shots of a day or two after she arrived two years ago.

Right front

Right hind.

Something NOT about Mandy. Bree got saddled...

yesterday. She was a star. Totally not phased about anything.





Today, she had her first passenger



I am so proud of her. Too bad she's such a little shit. I'd never trust her with a child.

What she needs is a smart, very small, very light, well balanced adult rider that knows how to keep the upper hand with a pushy mare.

We're not going to be doing *real* riding anytime soon. She's not quite three,(and too small for anyone over 120 pounds) but I think she's mentally ready to learn about carrying a person. We'll just do a little futzing and then leave her be to mull it over.

I'd love to be able to pony her along on trail rides with the other horses though. I think it would be good for both her mind and body.

We has a scab...

an itty bitty teeny tiny one.

I realize that this is part of why her leg is so swollen because all that fluid can't just fall out of her leg...but I am SO glad to see it close up for another reason. It is mind meltingly hot here right now with humidity to go with it and I hate keeping her leg all wrapped up. I've switched to thin cotton quilts and thin poly wraps, but...ICK.

I know no one really comes here to read my ponderings so I'll get on with the good stuff. PICS!

This is her sore this morning.

She's itchy itchy itchy and I know part of that is from being all wrapped up constantly. The doc ok'd leaving her leg unsupported every other day to allow it to get some air. What I'm REALLY looking forward to is when unwrapped means NOTHING on the leg instead of a light bandage over the sore.

Her garb this morning. It's close to 100* F and 80% humidity.

I've been rubbing her leg with bag balm the last few days to help with the itching.It won't do any good to heal up the sore and have her chew a hole in her leg because of the itching so I'm trying to get it as UNitchy as possible before removing all protection.

This morning I did something different:

I covered her leg from hock to coronet with Anti-Monkey Butt powder before wrapping it. I think she liked that. I think she liked that a LOT.

It kind of looks like maybe she's a little less swollen today.

Maybe it's my imagination...

I hope it's not.

She REALLY looks forward to her 10 minutes a day out of jail.

*laughs* God I love this mare's attitude. Personality times 100

Mandy is coninuting to improve.*knock on wood*

She's extending it farther back and putting more weight on it.

We went for a ~relatively~ quiet walk last night. (one attempted bite and one attempted rush) On the whole, well behaved considering how long she's been locked in a box.

This is her leg this morning after we iced it and before we re-wrapped.

Look at her USING those tendons!

and the cut itself. Looks a little ooky, but I've been told to not wash more than every 4 days or so. I'm keeping it covered with a maxi pad and either sulfa powder or wonder dust depending on if there's any proud flesh beginning. I only use wonder dust if I see PF.

I think it's looking pretty good.

Ahh well, I've been scared to jinx it, but it feels like we turned a corner...

in Mandy's healing process. She's been cleared by the vet... *GUESS WHAT!?!?!!!!! BELIZE HAS AN EQUINE VET NOW! OUR VERY FIRST!... to start handwalking. 10 minutes a day. For the next two weeks and a re-evaluation.

Can you tell I'm just the teeniest bit excited about that? An actual vet who went to school and studied horses? Oh WOW! I'm hoping we'll get along well. I think he has a pretty good hand with them so far.

Anyhow, off tangent. Yes, the wound has begun to shrink and was shrinking measurably four days in a row but plateaued again yesterday. The process of wound healing would be fascinating to me if it wasn't MY baby healing. :-\

However, I think it looks pretty good and here are some pictures to show the world that.

April 2nd

April 14th

It's also gotten itchy...

April 15th

I took a risk and let her out to get some sun on the leg unwrapped yesterday morning.

Sun is good.

ETA: On a lead, not loose.

and here we are heading out last night. 

10 minutes total.

and coming home.

Bree was a complete shit the whole way but understandable perhaps considering she's perfectly healthy and in jail.

We're a long way from the finish line but I feel good about it right now.