Bo Update

Fingers crossed that December is an easier month than November. I'm still reeling from November (and some of October). It's been a month since we found out that Bo's health issues are all due to heart failure and less than a month since losing Ivan to colic. And then there's the worry over Brego.

Even with death, life must continue but I've been struggling this month. Add to it that the paying job has me buried to my eyebrows in work that I can't keep up, I'm struggling. I've missed the mark on a number of activities and  I'm going to pay for it I'm afraid. And now that it's December and Christmas is right around the corner, there's more of my time taken to get everything ready. Although I do have to admit that I am back to enjoying Christmas. I forgot what excitement surrounds Christmas. My 5 year old is reminding me daily to enjoy the holidays. :-)

I'm not sure if I posted it before or not...everything has been a blur lately. On Saturday evening, we discovered that Bo had cut his right front leg open and it was deep. I called the vet right away to find out what to do. I didn't want to put any sprays on it in case I could haul him to the vet and get the wound stitched up. After taking pictures and videos we all surmised that the stitches would simply rip out so I was to treat it like an open wound. Wash and pack it with nitrofurizone. Well, I'm a weiny and couldn't pack it. I tried. So instead I did the spray method which seemed to do better because I could actually get the meds all the way into the cut. Bo has never offered to bit but with this wound, he's thought about it.

He's been on antibiotics since Sunday night and he's turning up his nose to the grain and meds. He's very picky about what he eats. I've even risked his ulcers and added senior grain just to try and get something into his body. I think the wound is healing nicely, for as deep as it is.

Bo is in a pen right next to the big herd so he can see everyone but not get pushed around. Wednesday morning I walked out and found Bo down. I paniced. In the 6 years we've had Bo, I have never seen him down. I sat next to him for awhile and he was struggling to breath. I thought maybe this was the end. He was feeling frustrated and tried to bite my foot. Not biting to be mean but that's his relief mechanism to bite (...it's more like cribbing but he doesn't actually crib unless he's trying to relieve stress. I saw it when my friend came out to do body work on him in early October. Keep in mind, Bo has never offered to kick, bite, or do anything mean to me...other than run me over to avoid getting hurt so I knew his biting my foot was the only solid material for him to put teeth to, to relieve stress). I put some straw around him but that must have annoyed him because he got up. Wednesday morning was a bad morning for Bo. His breathing was much more labored. I thought I was going to lose him but he pulled out of it. He's going to start having more bad days.  And when I say bad days, I mean not being able to breath. Having asthma, I know what it's like to not be able to breath. Probably why I have a fear of drowning, not the water but not being able to breath. So I wasn't sure what to do other than to leave food, water, and some grain and wait.

I'm not sure if he had a reaction to the banamine, or the antibiotics or if he was just having a bad day. By Wednesday night, he was better. We will have to take each day as it comes with Bo. I'm not ready to say goodbye and neither is he. But the cold weather is right around the corner and I don't want him to go down and struggle. So I evaluate him every morning and every night to see how he's doing.

He was mad at me yesterday and off his grain last night. I'd let him out to wander the yard and eat grass but had to put him back when I went to pick up the kids from daycare. I'm not sure if he's just sick of the uniprim powder in his grain or if he was off. But I threw some alfalfa for him to eat and in the morning it looked like he'd eaten everything. A good sign because he's been turning up his nose at the hay I've been throwing. I guess it's alfalfa and Ramona feed for him from now on.

I called the vet Monday morning after discovering an air pocket in his right wither. I thought it was just at the wither but I was wrong. It's his entire shoulder, from the wither all the way to the base of his leg and into his neck. When you pat his shoulder, it sounds hollow...it's the same sound as when you pat your dog's belly and it's empty. It's all poofy but it's not hard. I read up on it and I think it's benign. The vet wasn't worried. Give him banamine and let his body reabsorb it. The problem is, Bo's body is so compromised, I doubt it'll reabsorb. I guess we'll wait and see. It doesn't seem to bother him. And what's worse, I can't give him banamine. Anything oral that I have to administer and he' will try and stop me. For being sick and not feeling well, he still had enough strength to lift me off the ground and wrench my hand. So unless it's absolutely needed, I'm not going to give him any meds orally. Although, I did take it as a sign that he's feeling better. There's a definite will to live in that boy.

His right leg is swollen but that's to be expected with the cut. I was hoping that letting him out to wander the yard would take the swelling down what with him walking more. But that wasn't the case. I wont' put him back with the big herd because he still needs time to heal.

After we brought him home from the vet's to say he had heart failure, I noticed that his back legs had swollen. In fact his left rear had swollen before that so I was keeping an eye on him. But I guess that's just fluid all from the heart failure. It's something more to watch.

 

I've been keeping an eye on Brego as well. He doesn't seem as depressed but he does seem lost.

I caught Brego, Chaos, and Lightening all curled up this morning sleeping. Of course I had to ruin it when I went to get Bo's alfalfa. I'm glad they feel relaxed enough to sleep all curled up.

Oddly I'm making progress with Lightening without even trying to. He and I haven't clicked but that's no one's fault. There simply hasn't been any time to work with him. All the others, except Jim, come up to me or I can walk up to them to say hello. Lightening has to come up to me on his terms so I haven't been pushing the issue. We need to click if he's going to be my drill team horse. Slow and steady. Even if it takes a year to come down from a previous life, we'll give them all the time they need. But it's nice to see the slow progress finally coming to fruitation. Each has a history and a past that even though I might not know or figure out, I need to learn the quirks and know what they like, don't like, and what they can handle.