Superpowers

In the excitement of trying to put the gate back on the hinges I completely failed at taking any photos during my last visit. The boys had spent the day in stalls on Tuesday while it rained and Cody was less than appreciative of that arrangement. So when I got there on Wednesday they were back in their old paddock with the shelter. And the mud. So much mud. Not that their other pasture didn't have mud. I let Axel wander around in the arena for a while in hopes to dry off his feet a bit before I started grooming. He's down to mostly random spots of red/brown hair with shiny black in between. But I think we still have a ways to go before he's back in his summer outfit.

I didn't spend a lot of time on his scabs since it's supposed to keep raining. I did get a few big ones off easily and coated him in MTG again. As much work as it's going to be since he isn't too fond of the procedure, I'm looking forward to a warm sunny day when I can hose him off really good, work as many of those scabs off, disinfect the area, and cover him in something medicated. Common sun, where are you? (you know what will happen, it'll be cold and rainy and then it'll go straight to 90F heat, ug)

When Axel was done I grabbed Cody to get him some time in the barn away from friends. Though now that they were back in their old paddock he didn't seem to care too much about being separated. Apparently he just really likes Dolly. I let him run in the arena for a bit. First thing he did was roll of course. I free lunged him for a few minutes to get him moving since it's pretty hard to get around in the slippery mud and rain. He stood decently enough for grooming, a little pawing but that was about it. He must have gotten himself a little worked up in the stall on Tuesday, his chest was all full of dried sweat and hair. Poor nervous horse.

When I went to put him back I lifted up on the gate to unlatch it and pulled it off the hinges. I managed to get Cody back in the paddock and then tried to get the gate back on but I could only ever get one hinge, never both at one time. So I had to suck it up and tell J&J that I broke the gate with my super human strength ;)

New Pasture

The boys have been moved to a new pasture for a while. J&J are hoping to get something done about the massive bog that seems to be growing in their original pasture and until then they thought it'd be better to move them. This pasture doesn't look a whole lot better as far as mud but I'm pretty sure it dries out a lot quicker than the one they were in. If the weather gets bad they will go back in their original pasture with a shelter until J has a chance to make a new shelter. Needless to say Cody is very happy having some new neighbors to talk to, one of which is a mare.

Ironically he was giving Dolly the "hey baby" knicker and she walked away to go visit with Axel. Axel could care less and was more concerned that there was a little bit of grass for him to try and eat. Cody and Logan seem to be keeping close company but that might just be competition.

Axel's legs aren't worse but they aren't better yet. I'm not really getting my hopes up for a while since it's been raining and is supposed to rain a bunch more this coming week. Until we see some sun I've just been brushing off the dry mud and any scabs that want to come with and then putting as much MTG on him as possible. I *think* that's at least keeping the scabs from getting too huge, I think it loosens them up a bit so they fall off on their own. And hopefully it's keeping the mud fever from spreading up his leg too far.

So far I have about 1/4 of a horse again (the rest being buffalo). His neck has shed down to shiny black hair. Now if only the rest of him would follow. And it looks like his belly/swelling is starting to go away and his sheath is almost normal sized. Pretty soon he's going to look like the fancy black horse again.

Is it Spring yet?

I forwent a nap so I could visit the boys last night. Lots going on this week so it was my only chance to check on Axel and make sure he wasn't completely miserable from the mud fever. Much to my surprise he was doing pretty well. Still scabby of course but the scabs seem to be contained and of a smaller variety than last week. He's still sore and standing around with one foot in the air but at least it's maintaining for now. If we could just get a good week's worth of sun and warm to dry up their paddock it would really help. Not to mention if it gets warmer out I'm more inclined to hose him off and try and get some of the scabs removed. J said he had been sleeping all day, out there completely laid out on his side. She called to him a few times to make sure an ear would twitch. He's pretty round and laying down I imagine he looks a bit like a dead bloated horse. I'm surprised no one calls or stops by to tell her about the "dead horse" in the paddock! I cleaned off as much dirty and mud and hair as I could. Luckily the mud on his legs was dry so I brushed it off and tried to soak him in MTG again. I didn't feel like being hunched over with the hose and the MTG usually helps loosen things up anyways. Hopefully I can make it out this weekend and it'll be nicer out.

Cody was very sad that not only was Axel in the barn but both his neighbor horses were in the barn so he was ready to bust through the fence to find them when I brought Axel back out. He spent quite a bit of time in the cross ties calm but started to paw as I finished up grooming. For once he wasn't a ball of sweat. I left his legs alone as he had trampled through the wet mud before I haltered him. Since N hadn't been out to ride the past weekend I took him in the arena for a few minutes just to do some circles and get his brain working. He was calm and fairly willing to listen even though his neighbor was being lunged as well though he kept looking outside at some mysterious invisible thing. And of course he had to ruin a good evening by grabbing a whole bale of hay on his way by and spreading it all over the barn.

A New Tactic

So Tuesday the scratches were in full effect. The scabs on Axel's legs are huge and he's very sore. I even resorted to giving him some bute to hopefully take the edge off. J had the warm water turned on so I hosed down Axel's legs, in retrospect a cold hosing might have felt better but the warm water helped work some scabs off and wasn't quite as shocking. I couldn't get all the scabs off, some were on there to stay. After I soaked him for quite some time we went in the barn and I scrubbed him up with the chlorhexidine. While I waited for that to dry I removed another horse's worth of hair from Axel's winter coat and convinced him to eat some bute. He didn't eat all of it so I'm hoping he got at least a decent amount to make him feel a little better for the day. Since he's so sore I decided to try some tri-care on the spots where I picked the scabs instead of the MTG. At this point I'm just kind of pulling at straws to find something to make him comfortable until the pasture dries. My initial thought is that having less scabs should help at least a tiny bit.

I did a little research and it seems like perhaps Axel could have a copper deficiency. The symptoms of such are mud fever, dull reddish coat, swollen joints. All three things Axel has. So now I'm looking at finding a copper supplement and seeing if he'll eat that. I probably won't have J&J feed it to him every day but between N and I we can probably get a decent amount in him a few times a week. I know J&J would offer to feed it but I think at 4am feeding time the last time a person wants to do is deal with more supplements. Considering the month's worth of joint supplement Axel gets lasts several months, I'm thinking it gets skipped once in a while. I am looking forward to having the horses at my own house and being able to make weird diet changes without putting someone else out. Another reason I'd rather not send them back to the farm when the Baby gets here, who's going to pamper my spoiled horses?

I did bring Cody in for a few minutes to do a little ground work and let him run around a bit. I could tell he really wanted to roll while I asked him to circle but because of that he had a really nice long and low trot, good back stretch! When I was done on the lead line I let him roll and then I asked him to move out a bit and stretch his legs. I did scrape about a half a horse's worth of hair out of his winter coat but he's got a ways to go (and he gets groomed twice as often as Axel)! Lucky boys get the weekend off. I wanted to make it out to the barn one more time before the weekend to tend to Axel but it rained yesterday and it's supposed to rain Friday as well and we have to get the house cleaned up for some guests so it's probably not going to happen.

Still Fighting the Mud

I managed to make it out to the barn twice last week. The weather was great and I had more or less unlimited time so it was a nice break. I dealt with Axel's feet for as long as my back could stand being hunched over. Put a lot of cold water on and scrubbed a bit to get some scabs off. I figured the cold water might feel good on sore legs. Axel wasn't terribly happy about the whole situation but he was manageable. I ended up scrubbing with Chlorhexidine first and then letting his legs dry while I chiseled the mud off the rest of him. Then I soaked him in MTG before I sent him back outside. So we'll see the outcome when I make it out there this week. I don't expect miracles but it'd be nice if the scabs were at a minimum. I brought Cody in as well and tried to get off as much mud as humanly possible. I am looking forward to everything drying out which I don't think will be too long. Rumor has it, the boys might go out back with the bigger herd. It'll be interesting to see how Cody reacts to being taken out of that herd to be ridden. He might be a bit of a pill for a while until he settles in. But I guess time will tell!

The weekend report for Cody was pretty good. N and Cody made it down the road further than usual. N usually dismounts near the end of the road and walks Cody a bit further then remounts and rides back. She's going to be gone this coming weekend so hopefully I can get out there a couple times and lunge him a bit just so he doesn't forget that he's not retired quite yet.

Mud Fever in Full Swing

Sounds like Cody was feeling a little goofy on Saturday when N went out to ride. I'm hoping it's just a little Spring fever. Though we do have an appointment for the chiropractor in May, just too bad it's so far off. I guess they got as far as they usually get down the road and back, then a car passed by and he went a little bonkers so N dismounted. And as it has been lately, this occurred right in front of the driveway. Here's hoping a little nicer weather, more riding, and the chiropractor can get Cody back to earth.

Monday was our usual farrier visit and other than Axel being a bit of a pain in the rear everything went as usual. I brought Axel back in after everyone was done so I could attempt to remove some of his scabs. He's mostly okay with me fiddling around but tends to yank his feet up as high as he can. It's not too big a deal if I'm ready for it and don't get in the way but occasionally he loses his balance and I don't want to be pinned between him and the stall or the floor if he falls. I did manage to get off some pretty large scabs, they were pretty loose so it wasn't too hard to do between his little dance moves. I decided to go with the MTG this time so I did my best to get his legs good and soaked in that. I figure at the very least it might loosen up some more scabs. J offered to share some of his sulfur mix he makes for the clydesdale and hose down Axel's legs and what not for me. I still have my doubts that the sulfur mix or the MTG will actually kill anything but it's worth a try. Luckily the pasture is now roped off so they can't get to the low spots and the area they are confined to seems like it might dry out pretty quickly. Apparently when J was putting up the temporary fence he took a step and ended up over his muck boots in mud/water. The low spot of their pasture is basically like a bog. He thinks there's something up with the tiling that was done by the county a couple years ago. It'll be nice when it dries and they get some of the footing (read: manure) packed down a bit. Axel is pretty sore right now so I might see if I can find some tea tree spray, someone mentioned that it has a bit of a numbing affect and being able to spray it on from a distance is always a nice feature. After all of this including being a real bugger for the farrier, Axel was actually walking very soundly on our way back out to the pasture. I should have taken some time to work him a bit in the arena but with sore pasterns I don't really want to put boots on him yet. Maybe next time (famous last words).