fluid retention, and a barn tour
I think enough time has passed to say that Finn and I are very happy in our "new" home. No place will ever be home like our trainer's old barn was, but it's good enough. So, since I can safely say we'll be here a while and I discovered this place has trails, I thought I'd post pics.
Well I'll get to pics in a sec. Finn has had mysterious leg swelling problems lately. We all know his left rear is scarred from his "incident" last year. It likes to retain fluid around the scar. Finn is now on MSM and fish oil, but it takes a while to work. He's only been on it a week. I researched joint supplements like crazy, and that's what I decided to try first. Anyway... So the other day his left rear was completely swollen. The whole thing was a little warm, but he was totally sound. After 2 days of cold hosing, a bit of banamine, DMSO, and turnout it's much better. Most of the swelling remained around the fetlock when we got the rest of it down. However today he was in a stall for all of 6 hours, and his leg swelled up again, but not as bad as the first time. I rode him (and he was awesome), and cold hosed it afterwards, and there was still a tiny bit of swelling around that fetlock. He's notorious for stocking up in a stall, but never this bad. I'm hoping the MSM will help over time, but it still makes me go... WTF horse?
Most people told me to leave him in with a poultice wrap when his leg swelled, but I've learned with Finn that stalling only makes it worse. I polo wrapped his leg when I rode today, to see if I could "sweat it out" so to speak. It helped, but there was still that teensy bit of fluid in his ankle and his scar. Any thoughts?
So yes... a barn tour!
Our haven. Good job there Finn.
Finn and his bitch, Rookie.The barn is on a very small, narrow property behind a house. Their turnout is in the arena. He gets a lot of hay, and I try to hand graze him as much as possible. Plus he gets sand-clear once a month.
The side door, the wash rack, extra crossties, the back paddock, a pony cart and a very dirty Benji Mazda.
From the driveway, to the back paddock. Slightly inadequate fencing but... my horse is in the arena.
Horrid pic, but... you walk in the side door into the feed/tack room and into the aisle. This is looking back into the feed/tack room. The ladder on the left goes to the hay loft.
Buckets, stall, arena
Arena!
You know I actually didn't realize all my stuff plus my car was electric blue. Huh. That's Finn's stall & my tack trunk.
Looking into the back paddock to the woods
Mr. Finn in the in-barn crossties.
Salty. The most annoying, yet adorable barn cat in the history of all barn cats. So apparently if you take a feral teenage kitten, have him fixed (hence the notch in ear), stick him in a large cage for 3 weeks, and feed him awesome food, he will no longer be feral when you let him out. I thought it was crazy too. This cat has no idea he was ever wild. He demands food and attention whenever you are within 50 feet of him. And he is SO cute.
Trails! You have to lead your horse all the way to the back of the property (which really isn't very far at all), find this tiny pathway through some piles of mulch, follow said tiny pathway for a bit and suddenly you step out into this. A perfectly manicured trail. You can't ride through the little path to get here, but thankfully someone left a mounting block for un-flexible folks like myself. This trail winds around in the woods for a good ways, until you get to this...
You see this and you start to get excited because...
It opens up into a nice little grassy area. But there's a little ditch on the side there... So you ride around the ditch and it opens up to...
holy gigantic, perfectly manicured field Batman!!!!!! It belongs to a nursing home and we totally have permission to ride there!!!!! Woooo!!!!
Yeah he was stoked.
We went on a nature walk so I could take pictures. It was fun. I enjoy walking my horse like a giant dog.
Looking back into the woods.
You know I love you guys. I totally made you a map.
In closing, the view across the marsh from the end of the driveway.
Yeah... I like this barn.
Well I'll get to pics in a sec. Finn has had mysterious leg swelling problems lately. We all know his left rear is scarred from his "incident" last year. It likes to retain fluid around the scar. Finn is now on MSM and fish oil, but it takes a while to work. He's only been on it a week. I researched joint supplements like crazy, and that's what I decided to try first. Anyway... So the other day his left rear was completely swollen. The whole thing was a little warm, but he was totally sound. After 2 days of cold hosing, a bit of banamine, DMSO, and turnout it's much better. Most of the swelling remained around the fetlock when we got the rest of it down. However today he was in a stall for all of 6 hours, and his leg swelled up again, but not as bad as the first time. I rode him (and he was awesome), and cold hosed it afterwards, and there was still a tiny bit of swelling around that fetlock. He's notorious for stocking up in a stall, but never this bad. I'm hoping the MSM will help over time, but it still makes me go... WTF horse?
Most people told me to leave him in with a poultice wrap when his leg swelled, but I've learned with Finn that stalling only makes it worse. I polo wrapped his leg when I rode today, to see if I could "sweat it out" so to speak. It helped, but there was still that teensy bit of fluid in his ankle and his scar. Any thoughts?
So yes... a barn tour!
Our haven. Good job there Finn.
Finn and his bitch, Rookie.The barn is on a very small, narrow property behind a house. Their turnout is in the arena. He gets a lot of hay, and I try to hand graze him as much as possible. Plus he gets sand-clear once a month.
The side door, the wash rack, extra crossties, the back paddock, a pony cart and a very dirty Benji Mazda.
From the driveway, to the back paddock. Slightly inadequate fencing but... my horse is in the arena.
Horrid pic, but... you walk in the side door into the feed/tack room and into the aisle. This is looking back into the feed/tack room. The ladder on the left goes to the hay loft.
Buckets, stall, arena
Arena!
You know I actually didn't realize all my stuff plus my car was electric blue. Huh. That's Finn's stall & my tack trunk.
Looking into the back paddock to the woods
Mr. Finn in the in-barn crossties.
Salty. The most annoying, yet adorable barn cat in the history of all barn cats. So apparently if you take a feral teenage kitten, have him fixed (hence the notch in ear), stick him in a large cage for 3 weeks, and feed him awesome food, he will no longer be feral when you let him out. I thought it was crazy too. This cat has no idea he was ever wild. He demands food and attention whenever you are within 50 feet of him. And he is SO cute.
Trails! You have to lead your horse all the way to the back of the property (which really isn't very far at all), find this tiny pathway through some piles of mulch, follow said tiny pathway for a bit and suddenly you step out into this. A perfectly manicured trail. You can't ride through the little path to get here, but thankfully someone left a mounting block for un-flexible folks like myself. This trail winds around in the woods for a good ways, until you get to this...
You see this and you start to get excited because...
It opens up into a nice little grassy area. But there's a little ditch on the side there... So you ride around the ditch and it opens up to...
holy gigantic, perfectly manicured field Batman!!!!!! It belongs to a nursing home and we totally have permission to ride there!!!!! Woooo!!!!
Yeah he was stoked.
We went on a nature walk so I could take pictures. It was fun. I enjoy walking my horse like a giant dog.
Looking back into the woods.
You know I love you guys. I totally made you a map.
In closing, the view across the marsh from the end of the driveway.
Yeah... I like this barn.