Success!

Pookey Bear is doing better today!

It appears we were dealing with an abscess, as expected, and it is beginning to drain, providing him with some much-needed relief.

Check back tomorrow for an update.

And thank you for praying for Pookey!

"PPPPP"

Remember the 'PUSH' bracelets? Pray Until Something Happens?

I am borrowing from that tradition and making myself a 'PPPPP' bracelet--'Please Pray for Poor Pitiful Pookey.'

Yes, I am afraid he has take a turn for the worse. We suspect a bad abscess in his right front. The pain is so severe he is three-legged lame, even with the mega-NSAIDs he is now on.

We are praying that poultices will do the trick and pull out the infection--so I guess I could add another 'P'-- 'Please Pray for Poor Pitiful Pookey's Poultice'!

Thugs

No new pics of Pookey today--he is doing great!

Just a SOC (that's 'straight-out-of-the-camera') shot of a band of young thugs.

With Pookey on the mend--and thus no more hay soaking, ice-water sponge baths, or lymphatic massages--I had been wondering what on earth I was going to do with all my free time.

The young thugs answered that question for me.

Having just been weaned, they are all pining for mama, and are very resistant to staying inside their temporary enclosure. That electric tape works really well until a bull gets tangled up in a section and drags it across the drive, between the truck and trailer, and around the corner of the house.

Strangely, after just one such incident, the microscopic wires somehow separate, and the tape becomes more suggestive in nature, rather than punitive.

As in, 'we would really like for you to stay in this enclosure,' as opposed to, 'Z-a-a-a-a-a-p-p-p!'

So I am spending several hours each day chasing calves, much to Pookey's amusement.

He hangs his head over his stall door and watches for hours.

It's better than TV.

Learning curve...

Today, we changed Pookey's bandage.

And I am happy to report that his incision looked fabulous!

However, because this is a family-friendly blog, and graphic photos of incisions and sutures are not universally suitable for the under-18 crowd, I decided to substitute a 'pretty' picture for a more scientific one.

While searching for a 'pretty' picture I came across this head shot of Pookey Bear, in which his head looked just fine, and part of the background looked great, being naturally blacked out already, just like in those lovely TB track photos. But since this is not Hialeah, unfortunately there was a good bit of distracting debris in the background: a ladder, some old dog crates, a few gas cans, an oxygen tank, a couple of hay bales (Put away the extinguishers, boys! No fire danger here!) and at least half a dozen half-empty range cube, Equine Senior, and old fertilizer sacks.

So I gleefully imported the picture into Photoshop, where I have worked on it for the better part of the afternoon. Well, in between runs to WalMart, holding patients for The Boss, and doing laundry, that is.

I am very happy with the result! Except that I cannot quite get the line on the far side of his face smooth. When other people do these, the result looks natural. Mine looks like the poor horse's face has been gnawed on by grasshoppers.

There must be a learning curve!

Movin' out!

If your curiosity got the better of you, and you have already clicked on the little triangle and played the video, you might very well be asking yourself, 'Did they get a stand-in to play Pookey in this video?' Because given the events of the past few months, it is rather hard to imagine that Pookey could be looking so normal, so forward-moving, so frisky...

In fact, if you promise not to tell his doctors, I will let you in on a little secret...

Moments after this video was taken, he actually trotted!

Now, we of course are having none of that in the future, as it could be very detrimental to his healing. We will be walloping him with some high-powered drugs to quiet him down, or at least tying some lavender tussies around his stall. Or is it raspberry leaves that are supposed to calm them down? Or Vitamin B-1? And do they need to eat them, or can they just inhale them? I can never remember.

At any rate, we will be doing something to slow him down a bit.

What a fun new problem to have!

Not another diet!

A sight for sore eyes greeted me as I rounded the corner of the barn this morning: a bright, alert, engaged, sleek, lean, happy Pookey Bear, peering out of his stall, waiting for breakfast.

Thanks to a near complete absence of pain, Pookey is once again feeling grand. Combine that with his carefully managed diet, and it seems that the metabolic problems that led to his laminitis last June are finally under control.

Huzzah! Huzzah!

However, because of my innate cautious nature and attention to detail (okay, and my OCD as well) and thanks to the good folks at Land O'Lakes-Purina, who treated me to a lovely weekend of nutrition CE in St. Louis, I am once again reviewing Pookey's diet. And believe it or not I suspect that I might have hit upon one small flaw in my thinking, which hopefully can be rectified with one small tweak to Mr. Wonderful's diet.

(READER ALERT: If you have zero interest in equine nutrition, please stop here! Pookey is looking healthier and happier than I have seen him in ages (thanks, Dr. Wilcox, Joe and gang!) and we anticipate excellent continued post-surgical healing. However, if you just love dissecting your horse's diet, keep on reading...)

For the past few years I have been a firm believer that a 'forage first' diet is superior for horses. In their natural state horses are wide-ranging, selective spot grazers, and while researchers differ on whether to classify them as constant or intermittent grazers (or even foragers), most agree that a feral horse will graze for 16-18 hours daily, spending the rest of the time sleeping, migrating, or engaging in various social interactions. So it seems reasonable that the horse's digestive tract is designed to manage small amounts of high-fiber vegetation nearly continuously throughout the day.

Of course what most stalled horses get is large amounts of low-fiber concentrate, fed in discrete meals, often with a hay 'chaser.' It is no wonder that we deal with a lot of digestive issues in stalled horses!

Various medical conditions further complicate the picture: ulcers, PSSM, HYPP, chronic colics and diarrhea, Cushings and insulin resistance all create specific dietary needs and problems that must be addressed, often on an individual basis, given the wide variation in horses' living conditions.

I thought I had arrived at the perfect diet for Pookey.

Even a quick glance at his 'glamour shot' above and you would conclude that he is in the very pink of health.

But one of the speakers this weekend exposed the flaw in my logic, which I will now confess...

Back in August I had Pookey's hay tested, and found that it contained about 12% crude protein, which seemed perfectly adequate according to the National Research Council's nutrient requirements for horses. However, I had forgotten one small factoid, which Dr. Kelly Vineyard reminded us of: the horse does not have a protein requirement. Rather, he has an amino acid requirement, specifically for lysine and threonine. Feed those amino acids in adequate levels and the horse will thrive. Reduce them below acceptable levels, and the horse may experience muscle wasting, poor coat and hoof quality, and impaired tissue healing and repair.

Now, I would have no reason to believe that Pookey's hay was deficient in those essential amino acids, except for one small thing: for months I have been soaking his hay to reduce the sugar content. Soaking has been proven to reduce sugars by up to 30%. Unfortunately, the soaking also has an unwanted side effect: it washes away protein and possibly certain minerals as well.

So in 'fixing' one problem, I may have inadvertently created another!

I am sure that most idle, mature adult horses can survive very well on minimal quality protein. However, in Pookey's case, we need to optimize nutrition to maintain lean body condition but to maximize post-surgical healing, and by all means, we need to focus on hoof quality!

So guess who is no longer getting his hay soaked, and is going to be treated to a little supplemental protein?

No Bull!

Pookey Bear is back home.

No bull!

Well, okay, a little bull.

A little six-month old bull, to be exact.

A little six-month-old bull who has been making himself very useful in Pookey's absence!

Number 66, aka 'Tuffy,' was staring wide-eyed at the trailer as we wheeled down the drive this afternoon, bringing Pookey Bear back home from La Mesa Equine. During the week that Pookey has been hospitalized, Tuffy and his buddies have been doing their part for the war effort, mowing down the grass so that possibly, hopefully, ideally one day Pookey can be turned back out in his little pasture again.

Of course when that day comes--if it comes--he will be wearing his grazing muzzle and wrapped in head-to-toe bubble wrap.

But it is amazing that I am actually starting to hope again that the day may someday come!

I am allowing myself to hope a bit because he is doing fabulously well at his one-week post-surgical benchmark, having received 'the nod' from Dr. Wilcox to head home, sans NSAIDs, to continue healing in the comfort of his cozy little barn. Pookey's good friend Joe gave his feet a good inspection before sending him merrily on his way, recommending that he return in a few weeks for a trim and a reset and, hopefully, a good scratch behind the withers as well.

Leigha: as a former monitor of Pookey's digestive health, you will be glad to know that our current Chief Manure Inspector, Tex, reports 'all is well' with Pookey's droppings. Amazingly, despite a short course of NSAIDs, he seems to be completely free of any ulcer-related pain, and in fact is no longer nipping at me when I brush his belly, as he had been doing for the past several months.

What a joy it is to see him so relaxed and happy! I am confident that his tenotomy has relieved him of the chronic pain he has been battling for months, pain that rendered him out of sorts and even a tiny bit grumpy.

Now, his expression each time we walk into the barn says, 'Oh, hello there!' instead of 'Help me!' or, even worse, 'Leave me alone!'

Tomorrow, a pic or two of Pookey on his therapeutic walk. We will be very, very careful not to take him by Tuffy's pasture--he has WAY too much Poco Bueno blood to stroll casually past a cow!

Headed home!

Another stock image from the files, this one of the lovely Miss Susannah...

No new pics of Pookey, but maybe we will have some tomorrow: he is being discharged from the horse-pital this afternoon, and will be continuing his convalescence at home! Check back tomorrow for an updated Pookey report...

Pookey Report

I would like to lie to you and pretend that I am an artist, and sketched the above portrait of Squarehead sort of absentmindedly while I was booking appointments, loading the dishwasher, or hanging the towels out to dry.

The truth of the matter is that like everyone else on the planet, I am creating an alternate reality with Photoshop, and just pretending that I am an artist.

So, behold! A charcoal 'portrait' of Squarehead! Filling up space today because I have no new pictures of Pookey, who is progressing very nicely, thank you, as he recovers from his tenotomy.

His doctor reports today that he is continuing to walk nicely, and that he is scheduled to finish up his antibiotics today, and to begin tapering off of his NSAIDs.

We are praying that he will continue to motor around well as he drops back to a half dose, and--in a few days, if all goes well--gets weaned off his meds entirely.

So far, so good!

"Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed"

Exactly four years ago today, while visiting Oklahoma State University, I snapped this photo of 'Bullet,' where he stands guarding the entrance to the equestrian team offices.

It was one of those glorious October afternoons, the kind where the warm rays of the sun bathe everything they touch in a lovely golden glow, colors look deeper and richer, and the air feels sharper and crisper--without question, a 'glad to be alive' kind of day.

Today, we had another one of those here in northeast Texas: perfect blue skies, perfect cool temps, perfect golden autumn sun. And while I was certainly glad to be alive, I imagine that Pookey Bear was even more so, having struggled for the past few months with chronic, nagging pain, and finally--thanks to his surgery Monday!--experiencing some much welcome relief.

I visited him today at La Mesa Equine, where he has been since Monday, mending under the expert care of the doctors and staff. I could hear him nickering before I even walked into the barn, and was delighted to see him looking 'bright-eyed and bushy-tailed,' as the saying goes, and very much 'on the muscle.'

With permission, I slipped him out for a short walk. And while he tip-toed very carefully down the concrete alleyway, walking sort of like I do when I am forced to wear high heels, once he hit the driveway he actually pushed ahead of me, for the first time in months.

And on the grass?

He was nearly sound!

While we realize that Pookey has a very long recovery ahead of him, and many milestones that he must achieve before we can celebrate, at this point we are delighted with his progress, and are going to do a quick little 'happy dance' before we put back on our somber founder faces.

Happy dance!

Tap, tap, tap!!!

All is well!

Believe it or not, we finally got up the nerve to go ahead and schedule Pookey Bear's tenotomy. And we are happy to report that the surgery went off without a hitch, with the patient now happily recovering at the 'horspital.'

The doctors at La Mesa Equine performed the procedure on his stubborn right front, which had experienced initial improvement after his acute founder episode, but then sort of 'stalled out' (no pun intended).

His right front had always been problematic for him. Even as a healthy youngster, he had battled club foot, and subsequent abscesses. During his show career, he had required a vigorous stretching regimen to keep that leg as supple and elongated as the left.

So it was no great surprise that his right front failed to respond as well as his left, as the super-taut deep digital flexor tendon kept pulling down and back on the third phalanx, tearing it away from the laminae much quicker than the laminae could heal. The expectation now is that with continued rest and supportive care, the third phalanx (P3) can be maintained in a more normal alignment with the hoof wall and with the ground, allowing the laminae to build back functional strength.

Over time, the tendon itself will heal as well. In some horses, it apparently regains enough function (and tension) that it needs to be cut a second time. We are of course hoping that Pookey will be a one-shot wonder, and will only require the single surgery!

The surgery itself, much to our delight, went beautifully. And while considerable time was devoted to carefully positioned pre-surgical x-rays, extremely high-tech shoeing by Pookey's friend Joe, and incredibly thorough pre-surgical prep, the procedure itself took just a few minutes, the subsequent suturing not too much longer. Pookey stood through the entire event with just moderate sedation, and--thanks to the analgesic effect of his meds!--no signs whatsoever of discomfort.

Immediately following his surgery he walked easily back to his stall, sporting his newest corrective aluminum footwear on the right, and a 'normal' shoe on the left. He'll be hanging out there for awhile with his friends at La Mesa, as they keep his leg snugly wrapped and scrupulously clean, hoping to minimize scarring and to reduce any chance of infection.

Meanwhile, we are staring at his empty stall here at home, missing his frequent whinnies when we step outside the back door, his trumpeting demands for food and water, and his soft nickers when a client's child walks up to pet him.

Get well soon, Pookey Bear!