The home stretch

 

 So.... Finally!! Funny's leg swelling went down and stayed down. Despite some antics. Despite taking her off bute and then taking her off SMZ's. Yay! She is doing well with having her stall and her run and we even opened it up to her stall, her run, Dan's stall, and Dan's run. Although she did get a little sassy. Then yesterday... I was grazing her in the pasture and she got a little frisky. She kicked out a few times and the last time was awfully close to me, so I got after her. And then I lost her. Whoops! She went off like a rocket... bucking and bolting! She galloped, bucked, and farted about 5 minutes... although some of that was the power floating trot. She looked sound and lovely though! Luckily she let me catch her and then mostly behaved after that. And today she was still not swollen and wlaking on all four legs. Yay. So I decided that since I was home and it was raining... rather than walk her in the rain.. I would open up her "grass paddock" area too. Seriously.. my farm is soooo cool. It has made stall rest so much easier. So she got to go out in her grass paddock today and she did great! I didn't see any shenanigans. She mostly ate a bit and then went back in out of the rain. But... when I came back later she had managed to break my scrub brush handle off and then chewed the netting off the fishnet water trough scoop. I did manage to put the heated water bucket out of her way since she was messing with it too. 

Oh, and we had a glorious sunrise the other day! 

 

Rollercoaster

 Good gravy!! What a rollercoaster. So, Funny came home from UGA with her abscess drained and was walking MUCH better by the next day. That first night and next morning she was a little bit stiff, but then the bute and antibiotics kicked in and the drainage helped I guess, because she was dramatically better! We walked, we warm hosed, we flushed (although she is NOT a fan of that, which made it tricky, but I figured out the best plan of attack). And the good news is that she's feeling lots better. The bad news is that she is bouncier again. But luckily not too terribly bad yet. 

So then... her hock started to swell. And then her lower leg did. I thought it was just gravitational, like her other leg, but.... it wasn't the same. And then she started to get a little sore again. So I watched it... and we kept up with the antibiotics. And then it started to look like it was super tight... and then she wouldn't bend that leg very well. She was sound at the walk, but... when she got bouncy, she went 3 legged again. And then it started to look like cellulitis. Ugh. So I emailed Dr. Eggleston and we discussed and decided to put her back on bute. He suggested turning her out in the round pen for 2 hours a day, "even though it was a bit premature" in an effort to help it circulate out. I had thought ahead and already opened up her stall to her run so she had the extra room. I had also started cold hosing and we were walking a bit more already anyways, so... We tried that. I also added the bemer. Luckily... that seems to be doing the trick. Tonight it seems to be going down a tiny bit and... I made the mistake of letting Fleck loose while Dan was loose. He went to Dan's stall so I ran inside to pee. Well apparently he wandered off with Dan and they both left Funny so she went bonkers and was bucking, kicking, spinning, rearing, and freaking out in her pen. Yikes! I grabbed Fleck and brought him back and she settled, but... she's feeling better!!

Good thing too as I'm about to go out of town with Dan to horse show! Eeeks. And speaking of eeeks.... we went on a walk today and ventured further into the neighborhood. The other neighbor has Halloween inflatables. But Funny didn't even hardly acknowledge these. Hee hee.. I love her brain!

  

Kite Flying!

 So... some bunny is feeling MUCH better! Even without bute today. Her leg is still puffy but getting better.  She's still draining a little bit but much less. And she's more or less sound. Not even stiff starting out. And she was a little bouncy this morning. It was a bit chillier than usual but not too bad. And a bit windy. There was some bounces. So yay.. I'm glad she's feeling good, but... 

And then.. today the temps are dropping. Dramatically. And the wind picked up to a hefty 12-15 mph today. So our mid day walk was VERY exciting. We were a little bouncy. And then I went into the pasture to let her graze. And... she got very bouncy! There was some leaping. And one massive huge buck. She literally sent both hind feet flying straight up. Okay baby girl... EASY! No wonder my shoulders, arms, and neck hurt! I managed to keep her from getting away and mostly kept her contained. She's trying very hard to be good, but.. it's so hard. :) 

We did another evening walk and... she doesn't even want to graze. She just wants to do things. I'm hoping that in a few days I can put her in her run out too. Maybe that will help her be a little less bouncy. And a little less wild. Oh, and she also bit me tonight! We were walking along and she actually was doing really well with stopping when I stopped so I was praising her. And trying to keep her mind active. And then she reached over and bit me. So I had to smack her. Which sent her bouncing. Jeesh. Like I've said before, stall rest is NOT for the faint of heart. 

This is her sweet and innocent face. Ha!

Setbacks

 Ugh.... So, after her shenanigans yesterday.... She was fine all day... but this morning... Funny was lame. That right hind was pretty sore. And super puffy. Ugh... She was toe touching and didn't seem to want to bend the stifle. I took her out to graze and she was reluctant to walk at all. And wasn't even real interested in grazing. Ack! But she did eat breakfast and was munchin on her hay. I called UGA and Dr. Eggleston called me back pretty quickly. He told me to put her back on bute and see how she was tomorrow. He said it was too late to be a septic joint so maybe she just inflamed things during her antics. So I gave her 2 grams that morning. Then I left her to go to my lesson. I came home and she was about the same. Sigh... But much perkier and willing to eat at least. But then she started pawing and started to roll. I managed to move her into the pasture because at that point, we were in the lane and I didn't want her to roll into the fence. She went down to her knees and then got up.. then pawed a bit more and then went down. I couldn't tell if she was colicking or just glad to be outside and wanting to roll and itch. She rolled and really dug into the ground, like she was itchy. And then she got up. And when she got up, she realized it was a bad idea and was 3 legged. Like... holding the leg up in the air for a minute 3 legged. CRAP!!! And then she pawed some more. So then I panicked because I didn't know if she was colicky AND lame... or just mad that she was hurting.... or what. And then I decided that I wasn't going to go to dinner with my friends because... I was running out of time and I didn't want to leave her in case she was colicky. But luckily she wasn't. She was just mad that she hurt. 

  

So then Wednesday morning, she was worse. More lame and more swollen. She was standing on it some and walking on it, but seemed reluctant to go back and forth between up and down. I texted Dr. Eggleston and he suggested bringing her in. He said it could wait til Thursday so I didn't have to rearrange patients. So then when I got home late Wednesday, and realized that she was even worse, I felt terrible. I should have just taken her in... I was all paranoid that it was in fact a septic joint and she was currently rotting what little chance of an athletic career was left in that stifle away. And then I noticed she was actually dripping pus from the incision, so yeah... really feeling guitly now. I cold hosed it and she was unhappy but let me do it. And then... if that wasn't enough. Dan managed to poke himself in the eye with his haynet and was pouring tears and squinting. sigh... 

So finally... Thursday morning arrived and I was able to get her fed and her stall cleaned. I called Dr. Eggleston to see if I could bring Dan too. And I could, so I loaded him and then went and got her. Poor baby. She was NOT a happy camper and it took awhile to get her to the trailer and then a lot longer than I thought to get her on the trailer. But we finally got her on, with the help of a carrot, and off we went. I tried to haul very slowly and steadily for her sake. 

We got to UGA and they took Dan first and then Funny. They went to different wings so they were both calling. But luckily both got sedated pretty quickly and were looked at so I just sat and waited. But at least I was feeling better about life because at least they were being taken care of. Dr. Eggleston came back and said that it was good news...  she did have an abscess associated with the portal tract but it was focal and not associated with the joint. Phew! So they opened it up a bit and drained it and flushed it. He said to put her on SMZ's for a week, continue the bute for 2 more days, and keep it flushed for a few days and she should be good. He even said I didn't need to alter her rehab protocol. And sure enough she was walking much better already. 

  

They finished with Dan, and he had a small ulcer. So I got him loaded up and then... Funny wouldn't get back on. She was just saying No... and then trying to nap. No baby girl..we gotta go home. I didn't want to fight her. I didn't want to pull her on. And I was out of carrots. She was not interested in a peppermint or the licorice treats. So I was just going to wait her out. I was being super patient and not fighting her. And then some cowboy pulled up to get his horse I guess. He offered to help. I tried to politely decline but he kept helping. He tried bribing her with an apple. I told him she didn't like apples.. but if he had a carrot. He insisted she would like an apple and basically put it in her mouth. She spit it back out. So then he tried to tell me about pressure and release. Dude... I know. I know.... but at this moment, I know my horse. I know she'll just fight and I don't want to pull on her head and neck. I'd rather just pick my battle and let her decide to come on. We can do "training" later when she isn't half drunk with a super sore stifle. But he was making my anxious by hovering and trying to chase her on. He finally picked up the pitchfork and swung it around a bit and she finally got on. Not how I would have done it, but... definitely not as bad as it could have gone, so... thank you. I mean, I'm glad we got her on and I'm grateful he offered to help, but...

Anyways... so we got home and she was already walking better. She had some serious nasty discharge coming out though and her foot was spattered in blood so I rinsed her off again. Also, she was feeling good enough to splash in the water trough, so she flung water all over herself so I figured it was smart to hose her off and make sure there wasn't any funky water funk in that wound!  Luckily she eats her antibiotics like candy in her grain. 

 

Then this morning, she was SOOOOOO much better!! She started off a little stiff after being still all night, but within 30 seconds she was walking soundly and even a little sassy. I sent Dr. Eggleston an udpate and thank you text! Still a good bit of discharge too. Then tonight she had very little discharge and was not real thrilled about me flushing it. I didn't get much discharge even with that, so... hopefully she hasn't sealed it back off again. Her incision is still good and open but... there's a lot of inflammation in those tissues. So I'll keep an eye on it. Tonights walk was after dark and she didn't even spook at the dragon! Though she did spook at something in the woods. A squirrel or a cat I guess. She was good though. Just a little jump. No major shenanigans. Ahhhhhhh....  Hopefully it'll be all smooth sailing from here.

 

Crazy pants!

 Funs is a weirdo! This morning I ran out of time to do her walk after breakfast so she stayed in. But at lunch we walked. We ended up going into the dog pasture and she lost her mind. She was spinning, bucking, rearing, and trying to bolt. I managed to keep a hold of her and she settled. We finished our walk and our graze and back into jail she went. 

Then I ran some errands and when I got back I realized that Jean had moved the inflatable dragon down to the culdesac. It was up by the bunkhouse. Sigh... That's where we walk! So... time to learn baby girl. So off we went. And... she didn't even spook. She barely looked at it. Weirdo! But I'm glad she behaved. She was a much calmer girl for her second walk. Although we were walking down the gallop lane and Dan came galloping up, so she did spook, spin and try to bolt again. Goober! I know you love her, but.. that's not helping! 

But she was a good girl and we're another day down. I need to take her stitches out tomorrow. It's only been 10 days but they are getting tight. I meant to do it today but wasn't sure how well she'd behave. 

A week in and WE WANT OUT

 She's being Sooooo good but she is over it! She is being a little bit sassy. And a lot bit needy. 

But Dan and Fleck are being awesome babysitters. They are being so good in their stalls taking turns hanging with her. Even Dan isn't freaking out or banging his gate. And half the time, the one that is free... is hanging in the stalls too. Awwww... so sweet. Minus the fact that I'm now cleaning 3 stalls multiple times a day. But still.. sweet.