And sure enough, last Wednesday I get a text from the barn owner: Truby's chest looks really dark and swollen. You should come check on her. Great. I had high hopes she had been rubbing on a mesquite tree, and just got covered in sap. Having spent the morning scheduling doctor appointments and other stupidly stressful adult things, I asked husband if he would come with me. Luckily he was just getting ready to take a break, and came with me.
As soon as I saw Truby, I could see that whatever had happened, she didn't have any gaping wounds and wasn't bleeding. I scolded her while I went looking for the damage. Didn't have to look far, the fence right by the gate was bent far into the next turnout, the panel next to it was bent far into Tru's turnout, and the top wire, which is two wires twisted was snapping in half. So what happened? NO IDEA. It's not like Truby to try and go through a fence, or even lean on them. Had she tried to attack her neighbor? Again, not like her. Plus she was out next to Cowgirl, whom she's stalled next too. And they've never had a problem. It looks like they were trying to get into each other's pen. But again...not really like Truby.
She smoothly took off all the hair. Her skin is BLACK!
Quite swollen, too.
She was wearing a sturdy flymask with a nose flap.
Imagine if she was naked :(
I brought her into the barn for closer inspection. Her chest was really swollen, almost like she had tried to go through a fence. She skinned herself pretty well, but only a very small knick at the bottom. We double and triple checked to make sure it was a cut, and not a puncture. She had tiny little abrasions on the skinned area, and a scrap on her leg.
Then I went to take off her flymask. She was wearing a Cursader flymask with a long nose, so I wasn't expecting any damage. But...you know, horses. The instant I saw there was an injury, I looked at the ground, took the mask off and told husband to tell me how bad it was. A nasty scrape, but it could have been worse. So much worse!
I washed her wounds with some betadine, smoothed on some handy salve, and surrounded it all with bright pink Swat. She got some Bute just in case. We decided to keep her in for a few days. Cookie Doctor was scheduled to come out the next day for annual vaccines, so I called and begged them to add Truby, just for a check.
And the next day I was very glad I did! Her chest was hot, and swollen, and saggy, and worrying me. First thing in the morning I took her for a 10 minute handwalk, cleaned and salved her ouchies, and then settled in to wait for the vet.
I don't wanna. I'm tired. This is stupid. My face hurts.
Well, mare, don't lose fights with fences!
YIKES
Ouchy #7
Cookie Doctor came out midday, and was suitably impressed with Truby's ouchies. Her chest was bruised and had some nice edema going on. I was worried he'd need to put a drain in, but no. He said it should be able to reabsorb and drain on its own with some exercise. Sure enough, Cookie Doctor was correct, and a week later, she's basically back to normal. I was doubtful at the time though. Her chest was huge and unhappy. But I set up a handwalking schedule that started as soon as her exam was over. Cookie Doctor thought that the scrapes would heal without any more care than I was already doing. His only worry was that if she did get an infection, it would start over the weekend. Easter weekend. Neither of us wanted to deal with a holiday weekend emergency, so we decided to start her on some oral antibiotics, plus Bute for a few days, since she was clearly sore.
My life for the last week has been up early, take care of Truby and handwalk her, then go to work, and back for more Truby care in the evening. She recovered a bit more every day, and is doing quite well. I'll do a few more posts of her recovery, but her new fly sheet was just delivered, and I want to go put it on her. Details soon!
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