11/4/14

Update on Shalom

Wow, I meant to have this post up last night but honestly I was emotionally drained at seeing poor Shalom all doped up and yeah, it was depressing. The vet said he believes that the sore on his withers started out as a saddle sore. When we got him and medicated it, it began healing really well but the hole closed up too quickly and there wasn't enough room to properly drain the pus and etc, causing the disgusting'ness. He also said that sores on the withers are by far the most painful and any horse will be very mean at times with this sore because of it's placement. Especially with him being as thin as he was.

Just a warning before I get in too deep, I'm including photos of the wound and while it's not too disgusting or horrific, it is pretty saddening. If you don't do well with injuries and some blood, I wouldn't recommend viewing the photos.


He started off by sedating him (a lot more than he normally would've, he said, because the pain is so bad on the wither.) then shaved and cleaned the area. He created another hole on the wither for it to drain, then drained it himself quickly and placed a drain in it. He has a little plastic thing in both holes to keep them opened long enough for it to drain properly. He's coming back tomorrow for a recheck. He did say that we have no idea who this horse is or how he'll turn out because of his wither pain. He said that he could go two ways - he could be a terrible, dangerous horse when he feels good, or he'll be absolutely perfect.

Before.


He said that it looked fairly clean and that we'd done a good job with medicating and etc, but was very happy we had the vet out so soon to look at him and seemed happy with his weight and etc. He explained a bit on what the plan was now, and prescribed some stuff for the pain (like Bute) and antibiotics. Shalom is going to be stalled for the next few days so the other horses don't mess with the drain or hurt him further. He'll probably be taking x-rays tomorrow and then we'll know more about what's going on and how long he needs to heal, if it's treatable and if he needs anything more than the medication and etc. For all we know, he could be totally fine now as long as we make sure it drains and is clean, or he could need a procedure to fix something. We're praying it's not in his bone.

After


The hole was seriously so tiny, around the size of a pea. We were expecting something totally huge and disgusting but it wasn't bad. It was really hard seeing him all doped up and going through this, though. He's living a good life now, so we have peace over that, but it breaks our hearts to see him having to continue going through hard things like this just because people are jerks and don't bother taking care of their horses. :P


No smoking, Shalom!


When mom went up to clean it this morning and check on him, he did wonderful with letting her mess with it which made us all sigh in relief and it made us think that maybe, he's going to be a sweetheart even after all of this. ;) She said he grated his teeth a lot and you could tell it was very sore, but no pinning ears, no nipping, and before we drained it he would pin ears at you if you got near his back. She groomed him out afterwards and he actually enjoyed it and was totally content and loving. It's good to see him feeling better now.


Sleepy Shalom.



So now, our plan is lots of rest of him, lots of check-ups with the vet, and some good TLC for the mister.

Vet comes out tomorrow, farrier should be out on Thursday. Busy, expensive week for us, haha. Hopefully riding this weekend, we haven't had time at all this week and last weekend was freezing cold :P

Also, Red is a flamingo now.


And he's still cute.

10 comments:

  1. Poor Shalom! I hope he heals up fast.

    And just as a side note, even sick horses have to behave :) Suzie was a grumpy pants with me when she was sick/sore, but she still got a smack for trying to kick/bite because I had to help her and I wasn't going to leave her alone to get worse.

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  2. You know what it looks like (and gosh please take this with a a grain of salt because god knows I'm not a vet!!!!)? It almost looks like fistulas withers...it's pretty rare and I'm only saying that based on the one picture. Have you guys really been riding him much (just wondering with saddle sore theory)?

    Like I said, definitely grain of salt, your vet would know better! But thought I put that out there...

    Hope you guys get it figured out! He's lucky to have you:)

    *hugs*

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    1. I actually thought the same thing! The vet is checking for fistulas, he said he doesn't think that's it but will double check. And oh no, we haven't ridden him at all! :) He said that this is an older injury, possibly started around 2 years ago but no one let it heal until we got him, thus creating all of the built up junk that couldn't drain out. We haven't even worked him at all because we've been worried about hurting him further and he probably won't be ridden for another year now.

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    2. Fistulas withers is pretty much the same this as what is commonly referred to as poll evil. Like I said, it's pretty rare. Both are bursitis and can go on for a long time before it's noticeable and even drain, scab over and then start draining again...really just a thought because we were discussing it in class. Glad you have a vet on board!

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  3. You're doing a really good thing for him. Think if you hadn't had taken him or if he had ended up somewhere else and not with someone who'd give him the chance like you did. I think he'll turn out to be an awesome horse for you guys.

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  4. Wow poor Shalom!!!! How could someone do that to a poor horse?? I'm so glad you guys got him and that you are helping him. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it heals up perfectly fine and that he's a total sweetheart and that he never has to go through anything like that ever again. *hugs*

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  5. Poor Shalom. I hope it heals up quickly! On a side note, I can already see a great improvement in his weight just from these pictures!

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  6. He is lucky to have ya'll! Prayers for a speedy complete healing for him!!

    Cute flamingo Red :)

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  7. Ouch, poor guy. Hope it clears up quick!

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