The beginning of the week I brought Becca into the barn for an overdue grooming session. Good thing I did because I found a fairly serious wound on her front right foot!

1st day discovering of wound.

Lexy and I cleaned and medicated it. We slathered the area around it with Swat to keep flies away. She wasn’t moving strange or limping, though she didn’t want me picking her foot up. I’m sure the bending motion is ouchy. I asked Becca what the heck happened… she’s not talking.

Couple days later.

The vet was out to work on Bandero so we had her take a look at Becca’s foot. She’s worried about “proud flesh” taking hold so she’s given us strict instructions. We must scrub with Chlorhexidine until it bleeds. Then we need to do hydrotherapy (hosing at a high pressure) for 20 minutes. Then it needs to be dried, apply antibiotic ointment then bandage. This must be done every day.

I’ve wrapped plenty of dog legs but wrapping/bandaging a horse leg is new territory. Dr. Christie Cichra gave me a quick lesson on proper bandaging then left me to my own devices. The next day I was able to rely on my handy-dandy-horse-whispering barnmate, Gary, to do her doctoring. Have I mentioned he’s a natural horsemanship trainer? He’s also a natural dog trainer. Check him out on Facebook – Quest Horsemanship. He got her all bandaged up, no problem… by himself.

I took the challenge. I am fully capable of caring for my own horse. So today was the day. I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. It bled as it needed to. She was a very good girl, stood patiently.

Cleaned and ready for hydrotherapy.

We did the hydrotherapy for about 10 minutes, not the 20 minutes ordered but just don’t tell Dr. Cichra! Becca was a good girl, for the most part, at the water hose. It probably doesn’t feel real good to have cold water blasting into this open wound but we have to do it. Brought her back into the barn and dried her leg and foot. We had all our supplies for medicating and bandaging set up and ready to rock & roll!

Things didn’t go so well.

1st solo bandage attempt – fail!

I destroyed 5 sterile pads, 1 bandage roll and half a roll of vet wrap. As soon as I would place the medicated sterile pad on the wound and begin to wrap, Becca would lift her foot in a bit of protest. I’m sure it hurt a bit. I think we would’ve been successful if I had one or two extra hands. The worst part was I allowed myself to get angry and frustrated. I try real hard not to let those emotions into the barn but sometimes it just happens. I collected myself, Becca realized I wasn’t mad at her and we finished by medicating and covering with an ointment that won’t wear off until it’s rinsed off. I generously fly sprayed her legs  and put the mighty Swat around the wound. She finished her morning doing what happy horses do, grazing with their friends.

Gary assured me he will get her bandaged tonight when he goes back to feed dinner. Sigh. I will accomplish this newest task! I will try again tomorrow.

Her boyfriend, Bandero, is nearby.

Right after taking this photo of Dash, Becca decided he was too close to me. She wheeled around and ran him off. I quickly scooted out of the way! It was a close call but she has taken on a protective roll toward Cass and me now the boys are living with us. It’s kinda nice but I just have to be sure to be aware of what she’s thinking! I asked her again, how she hurt herself and she’s just not talking.

Dash, the other resident gelding.