That was easy!

As you can see, one of my patients is healed!

Although he is still wearing a diaper and some duct tape on one of his feet (the non-abscessed foot, which has a bad crack) he is certainly pounding around on all fours just fine.

Zippy never quite got the hang of the bucket soaking the way that Pookey Bear did, so I drew out his abscess using those wonderful Animalintex pads, and followed up for a few days with a sugar-dine solution.

Hopefully by this time next year we will be posting some bucking-and-running video of Pookey Bear!

What is wrong with this picture?

What is wrong with this picture?

If you guessed that it is Pookey Bear's hiney hanging out, then you guessed right!

Yes, somebody has outgrown their expensive winter blanket.

Of course I can't imagine that: weight gain as an adult? How shocking!

I have actually lost a few pounds this week, hauling two horses' worth of manure in the wheelbarrow. My fabulous 'machine' is in the shop, so I am hoofing it to the back pasture twice daily, dumping load after load of soiled bedding.

When I finally get my machine back, I am going to hit the Web and search for a size 80 blanket for Mr. Wonderful, to keep his backside warm.

At least his feet are doing great: he continues sound on three feet and constantly improving on the fourth. He is still enjoying his twice-daily walks, and is re-learning how to pivot in his stall--something he has not been able to do for a long, long time!

We are at the five-week mark, post-surgically, and getting better each day.

Whoo-hoo!

Zippy follows suit...

Somehow, as a horse owner, I managed to make it from 1967 to 2010 without ever dealing with an abscess.

So far this year, I have dealt with three: Pookey Bear, Rita, and Zippy, pictured above.

But being an Appaloosa, and tough as a boot, Zippy has gone from three-legged lame to nearly sound in 24 hours. A few meds and a soak and poultice, and his swelling has gone down 50%, his abscess is draining nicely, and he is feeling fit as a fiddle.

I'll take that!

A brighter future!

The sweet bay face you see in this photo is not Pookey Bear (who is fine, BTW).

But had life taken a slightly different turn for him, it could have been.

The sweet bay face belongs to a lucky horse at a sheriff's auction I attended yesterday. The dark side of the photo represents his old life; the bright side, the new.

This horse, along with 24 others, was seized from his breeders by animal control. The stallions in the group had been locked in their stalls for months, standing in piles of their own waste up to eight feet high. Their hooves looked like genie's slippers. Their coats were dull and their manes and tails hopelessly matted. They were emaciated.

The mares were found huddled together in a small outdoor enclosure, competing for small particles of low-quality hay.

I will not even discuss the young horses.

But for most of these sweet horses, the future now looks bright! Most of them were sold at auction yesterday to knowledgeable, kind-hearted horsemen who have promised to give them a place to live out the rest of their days in comfort and happiness, with clean, dry footing and full bellies.

A happy ending!

Pookey Bear is working toward his happy ending, too.

After finally getting the best of that nasty abscess, he is feeling much better! He visited the doctor earlier this week, and got a new set of x-rays and a new pair of shoes. His x-rays looked kind of funky--his bony column is kind of 'listing' in his right front. But with a little farrier magic, he is once again standing up nicely, and walking nearly sound.

Today's footage was shot of him on his morning walk.

Doesn't he look great?

His future is looking brighter and brighter!