Flower Update

Not much new to report today. Flower is still not out of the woods. We soaked her foot last night and administered her antibiotics. She really is such a sweetheart. I think she spent most of the day down because her back legs seemed really stiff and she seemed to teeter on two legs instead of four. We are switching to banamine for a pain med. The vet only wants me to use bute for five days. Because Flower is still in so much pain, I want to keep her as comfortable as possible. Luckily we have banamine on hand. She’s not drinking anything so we are also keeping a very close eye on her to make sure she doesn’t colic. Hopefully the banamine will help too.

I decided that I would start haltering and tying Mayhem because she’s gotten naughty. She didn’t want to be caught at first but I wasn’t going to give up. Once haltered and tied, she stood for hours. After all the chores were done, I thought I would mess with picking up her feet. I know, it’s something I should have worked on when I first brought her home. She listened pretty well when working on her left side but her right is going to be tough. Not only did she decide she was going to pivot on her front right, she also wanted to take a chunk out of me. Of course, I let her know in no uncertain terms that biting is out of the question. I missed out on teaching her at a young age. I guess now that she’s 1 ½, we’ll have to simply work that much harder.

While I was messing with Mayhem, Flower got upset. She wanted to make sure that Mayhem stayed in her line of sight. I’d taken Mayhem around a tree and Flower became really distressed. We walked back to the fence line and Flower settled down. I guess Flower is attached to Mayhem now.

We are supposed to get a rain/snow mixture some time Monday. The weatherman has no clue if we are only getting rain or getting snow and if we are getting snow how much. I’ve heard anywhere from one inch to six inches of snow. That’s a big difference. But I don’t want to leave Flower out if it’s going to rain/snow. She is spending more and more time lying down so I don’t want her to get chilled or soaked to the bone. I wasn’t sure who I was going to put in the barn but I guess last night sort of decided for me. I hate to put a 1 ½ year old in a barn all day, but that’s just what’s going to happen Monday. We’ll see what happens Monday evening. I may put someone else in the barn (someone like one of the boys but not Skippy. Skippy figured out how to get under the gate and get in with Flower, much to Flower’s dismay).

I’m going to take advantage of the nice weather and soak Flower’s foot every day. I’m not sure what to do next week when the weather is supposed to be snowy. I may just keep her in the barn and soak her foot there instead. She’s pretty good but will only stand in the water for so long before enough is enough. I just hope that she pulls through.

I still haven’t decided if I’m going to the horse auction tonight. I’m already running on empty with very few and very raw nerves. I guess it’ll depend on what I feel like after I get home and get Flower’s foot soaked. She may very well be my deciding factor. It’s not like I can bring anyone home. I’m looking at Jim and Thor’s vet bill from last month, Flower’s vet bill from this month, and spring shots are on the horizon.