Chaos's Scratches

I may have just bought a horse. I'm not sure. $100 seems to buy a lot these days at least in horses. I'm hard pressed to pass her up as she really needs the care/help. I'll post more about her later.

I woke up thinking today was Wednesday already and was (and keep getting) disappointed to find out it's still only Tuesday. Luckily I'm taking Friday off to help park cars at the Prairie Village Threshing Jamboree this weekend. Unfortunately Chaos is out of commission. He'll be out of commission until further notice.

We've had such a wet year that I didn't notice it until too late that Chaos had scratches. Everyone with white socks has scratches but for some reason, he got it really bad. Of course it would be one of the "good" horses. But luckily he's a very good patient and willing to put up with a lot.

I started administering my Desitin, hydrocortizone, triple antibiotic cream last Thursday but the swelling was so bad and when I walked close to his hips I could smell the infection. I started applying my cream concotion on Rain too since he went lame last year because of scratches.

On Thursday my farrier came out to say he could trim Thor and King on Saturday (which would make for an intersting day). I'll have to tell that story some other time.

I did call the vet on Saturday while we were in Madison and picked up some Uniprim for Chaos so that he could get over the infection faster. We also picked up bute and more nitrofurizone. The vet suggested using Nitrofurizone instead of my cream as the Nitrofurizone also had special ingredients to help heal up the scratches faster. I haven't been able to use the surgical scrub yet on Chaos's legs. I've come close to getting my head knocked off a couple of times. I'll wait until some of the swelling goes down and the bute kicks in (and he's distracted with his grain/meds).

But all in all Chaos seems to be getting better. The swelling is still there but it's going down and he seems a bit happier. He's also able to walk around a bit better. I'm not willing to risk anything by taking him out for this weekend's adventures.

I've had to drylot the entire herd since Sunday night, much to the entire herds dismay. I'm not sure how long I'll get to drylot them as there are a few things I need to take care of that may require them to be "self sufficient" for a few days. I will keep my fingers crossed that the swelling goes down quickly for Chaos and things can get back to normal.

If all I have to do is administer nitrofurizone on everyone's legs, I can handle it. Chaos, Rain, Zeke, and Dude have scratches. I'm warding off scratches on King and Jim by applying cream just in case. I'm worried that drylotting will cause Sam to drop weight. I'm trying to figure out how to put Jim and Sam in a pasture so they can eat but leave the others in. The one left over pasture I'll need for that new mare if I get her. Although I'll need to do some serious fencing.

And the mares's pasture is about dried up. I'll need to move them in the next few weeks. I was hoping to wait until October but there won't be any grass by that time. I'm thinking of putting up some extra electric fence and running Sam and Jim into the trees where I had the ponies last year (and a portion of where they were at this year...and I have stories of the ponies too). The grass has come back very lush and after seeing Joe put on weight these last two weeks, it gives me hope that Sam could pack on the pounds before we lose all the grass in the pasture. It's something I'll have to work on these next few days.

I'm starting to wonder, why does it always feel like I'm coming up with some plan or "scheme" to put weight on my horses? Oh for an easy keeper (and no scratches)!