Random weird boo boo

Poor Fleckopotamus! 25 is a tough year is some ways. He's been having multiple abscesses. Like, he was dead lame on the right front for a few days. Freddie came out and pulled his shoe and found a solar abscess and opened it up. Then we went ahead and pulled the pads on the other shoe and put the shoes back on. For two days he recovered and then he was dead lame in the left front. Buddy!!! Ugh. So then when Freddie came back out the next visit, we decided to just pull his shoes and see what happened. Freddie suggested laminasaver so I put him on that. So we'll see. Hopefully he'll stay happy barefoot because it's way cheaper. And he finally grew enough sole that Freddie thought he'd be alright barefoot again. We'll just go to trimming him every 4 weeks now and see. 

So then I went to Florida for 3 days for a K taping lab. Mike took care of the ponies. And Fleck seemed like he was hanging out in his stall an awful lot before I left... maybe foot sore.. maybe he just was enjoying the fans. When I came home he looked good, so.. yay! But again, maybe he was spending more time in the stall. The next day when I got up his front left leg was huge! It started at his elbow and went down to his knee. And the front of his knee was huge! There was a huge pop up storm last night, complete with down pours and thunder and lightning, so maybe he tweaked it? He was walking on it, though gingerly but didn't look like he was pointing or toe touching, like he does with an abscess. So I cold hosed him and linimented it and figured I'd see how he was that evening. Well, when I got home it was TWICE AS FAT! Like seriously looked like he was going to slough it was so fat. And on his lateral coronary band he had a huge lump of proud flesh looking stuff. It smelled awful, so I'm not sure if he blew an abscess or if it was just fly strike that got irritated from the swelling. I ended up bemering, cold hosing, icing, then sweating him (only on his cannon bone) with DMSO and furazone. And I started him on bute and SMZ's. The next morning.. no change. I almost took him to Keelin's instead of Dan, but wasn't sure it would be fair to haul him that far. And he was still walking on it and didn't seem perturbed other than having a harder time bending it. I did ask Keelin and showed her the photos. She sent me with a tube of something that was basically Dex, an antibiotic maybe, and lasix. She told me to keep him on the bute and the SMZ's. I did take him off previcox. 

Eventually it went down. It took 4 days and it's still swollen, but a million times better. 

Photos of the leg and some other photos cause... Flecky!

Birthday Boy! The big 25!!!!

 

Happy 25 years Flecky!!!! I had to work all day so we didn't get to play. But we snuggled. I love you man

Some Flecky Love!

 Because... Flecky!!

I did hop on bareback the other day and use him to uber up to the arena and back. The heathens came galloping up behind us so he squirted into a trot. Poor dude. His hind end got left behind a time or two, but he was trying. I love him so much.

oh, and we got "snow". It snowed/sleeted/rained most of the day, but nothing stuck. But we still go "snow" photos. :) 

Christmas 2021

 Flecky is doing just fine... just not much to report! He is in four shoes again.. with pads up front. Because he deserves it! And because his soles are too thin so he kept getting abscesses. And turns out, he's SOOOO much happier with his shoes on, so... we'll keep them on. 

He's been doing great otherwise. Just hanging in the pasture. I did hop on Christmas Eve Eve to use him to get to the arena to check it out. He was frisky! But he did trip coming down the hill twice in the hind end. I think his stifle is still giving him troubles. So.... no long trips for us anymore. But that's okay. It was nice to just sit on his back and walk around the pasture. 

And today... today is Christmas!! He's gotten shy with selfies, but... he got plenty of carrots with tops today and he got some apples. It was a nice warm sunshiney day. Unfortunately I took the two heathens to Ashland for a trail ride so he was a little sad to be left behind. But maybe he enjoyed his peace and quiet for a little bit too. :) 

Merry Christmas Fleck!!!

Flecky Uber

 So...  Shame on me.. I haven't posted any updates on Flecky in awhile. He's been doing good. Just trucking along. But he has been rather painful in his feet... he's had a bunch of abscesses and looks pretty ouchy. He's been standing around more and not moving around as much. I was going to x-ray but on the day the vet came out he wasn't too bad, so we just tested for Cushings. Negative. Yahoo! But then he got sore again. So I had Freddie peek and he thought he was super sore in his sole, so... we went ahead and put on shoes with pads. And he felt SOOOOOO much better! Yay! So then a few days later we got x-rays, and... poor guy. He has no sole. Like.... a fourth of what he should have. Fronts and hinds, although he seems so much happier with just front shoes on. So... guess he gets to live in shoes and pads all the way around the rest of his days. He's earned it. 

Which also means that since he now has protection and is feeling better, I'm okay with hopping back on for the occasional ride! Tonight I went to set jumps so I used him as my uber. Hee hee. I missed him. We got to the top of the hill and Funny came gallping up and he went to bucking. hee hee. Don't dump me dude!

  

I love him so!

Hence.. the photo dump since his last post. ;) 

Oh, and his jaw healed beautifully! So yay for that!

Flecky turns 24!!!

 How on earth is this handsome beasty 24!?!?! 

Man do I love him! I spent the afternoon looking back at photos of us through the years. He's the best! He's done so many wonderful things for me... helped me cross off so many bucket list items...  I'm so glad that I am able to spoil him and let him retire and enjoy his days. 

Love you to the moon and back buddy! I hope you had a good birthday.