The Long Week of Ouch

The first day of Truby run in with the fence I wasn't too concerned. Sure, she was skinned and swollen, but she was also cheerful and nothing looked really bad and she wasn't too painful. The next day she started looking bad. Her chest was huge and droopy and swollen and firm...not soft squishy swelling. She was a pretty sad pony. (Refer back to my first post here.)

The sun sets on another Truby filled day

While I was off the first and second day of her injury, the third day it was back to work. Back to extremely busy busy work! It's finally settled down a bit, but for the last 3 or 4 weeks it's been CRAZY. So my week looked a lot like: get up, go to the barn for at least an hour, go to work, take an extra dog or two, go home for an hour or two, then back to the barn for another couple of hours. Go home, be half asleep then collapse into bed.

 Checking for cookies in the first aid drawer

I'm lucky that I live close enough that I could take care of Truby twice a day. I'd have liked to do three times, but her injury wasn't so bad that I though it would be worth the wear and tear. It was an intense week, but I really did enjoy it! I got to spend lots of time with Truby, and it was satisfying to watch her heal.

Saturday morning my awesome massage therapist came out to work on Truby. Jenna very kindly fit us into her crazy busy weekend and had some techniques to help reduce the edema and make everything go back to where it belongs. I met her at 7:30 am and she was already hard at work making Truby feel better. It was neat watching, because when she was working on a sore part and Truby was resisting, Tru would snatch hay out of her haynet and gobble it quickly. Stress eating at its finest. But once she started to work it out and it started to feel good, Truby ate slower, and slower, and finally just put her head down and closed her eyes in bliss. The massage really helped reduce the swelling and we had our first dramatic edema reduction that day. Anything for Princess Pony!

Speed eating while Jenna worked on a tender spot

Realizing this feels good

 A break for kisses

Enjoying a jaw release

I took pictures every day so I could track the changes, and thankfully, everything continued to improve steadily. After 4 or 5 days, the skin on the chest finally gave up and started to slough off. It had been too badly damaged. This led to the next challenge: flies. The barn has A TON of flies. I'm not really sure why, but we are Fly City. Her face wound is easy to cover with a flymask, but her chest was difficult. I tried putting Swat around it, but the area was too large and the flies had no problems landing in the center. I ordered a cheap fly sheet that arrived in two days, problem solved! 

 Not so sure about these daily face washings

 Day 1

 Day 2

Day 8

So with a lot of time, walking, and care, Truby is pretty much recovered from her fenceline injuries. It's been a long few weeks, it happened on March 28 and today is April 17. Her chest had a downy layer of hair grown back in. The edema is gone. She has a scab over the one actual "wound" on her chest, just a jab from a twist in the wire fence. Her face has lost all the scabs and damaged skin, but no hair has grown back. At all. The skin is a happy pink...but no growth. I don't know if it's just slow or she'll never get it back. It's kinda cute, my Lucky No. 7, so I'll be okay with it either way. 

Feeling sassy! So good to see her playing.

Moonrise over the Rincons