Stall rest and horses
The Amazing Miss B (aka Breezy) earned her nickname while recovering from the surgery to remove the bone chips from her front left fetlock. She has to be confined to a stall for 6-8 weeks. We’re allowed to hand graze her as long as she remains calm.
When Isis was on stall rest after colic surgery, she was not a happy camper. She only threatened to jump out of her stall when she felt better. You do what you have to do to keep the horses happy, but being in a stall isn’t where they want to be.
Breezy has been incredible. She adapted to being inside with her faithful entourage of visitors and other horses keeping her company. We’re doing what we can to help her by giving her Vita-Calm, a calming supplement that contains L-Tryptophan, and hand grazing 2-3 times per day. Thankfully, the people at my barn have been helping. They take her in the morning and then I take her out in the evening.
She does not like to pee in her stall. In fact, she makes a fuss when she sees someone. She gets your attention by biting things within reach and tossing them on the floor, nickering, and letting it be known that She Has Needs. As soon as she’s taken out to the grass, she urinates.
When we’re headed back to the stall after grazing, she also pees before going back to the barn. This happens almost every time. She keeps a tidy stall, too. She rolls in the fresh shavings and ends up with shavings dust all over.
That’s a wrap
Wrapping her foot has been a learning process. This is the first time I’ve had to do a standing wrap which consisted of a gauze bandage over the suture site, sheet cotton wrap, brown gauze wrap, cling wrap, vet wrap, and then Elasticon at the top and bottom. It takes a while to do and learn.
The first time you take off the bandage and you see the sutures…. Three small incisions to remove two bone chips. The hospital did an excellent job and thankfully we didn’t have any complications.
See that chunk out of her hoof? That’s because on top of everything else she also had whiteline disease. The farrier removed almost 25% of her hoof because of that. We’ve been treating that on top of everything else.
I’m so happy with how Breezy has handled everything. She gets a little goofy and silly but that’s okay. She’s usually well-mannered about things.
For a horse that’s been confined to a stall for a few weeks, she’s been amazing.