ONE MONTH post arrival

It has been one month since Vegas arrived. His personality developed for the better. This morning when we went to spread hay he was very respectful and moved off quietly when asked. He moved off of Daas and Beta's space with no ear pinning or swishing tail.

We saw him walk up to a pile and actually wants to 'share' it with Jet. Jet actually pinned his ears and used his body weight to push Veggie away. Veggie moved off a bit and then started to share the pile again. Jet was fine with that too and then Rico joined in later. They all shared together.

Today I also trimmed Veggies feet ...more on the RF heels than anywhere. The trot is getting better, he is reaching with his shoulders a bit more and has a bigger stride. Less than a month ago...he was so TIGHT everywhere that he preferred to RUN everywhere and act like he was hopped up on explosives... :)

The RF frog looks like 'gristle' for lack of a better word. It's 'dieing' and looks like a big scab.

His body cracks SO much less now. Only occasionally instead of 5 times per step.

Backed up the toes on the hind feet again. I remember the vet saying that the hinds were fine...just needing a good trim. They are so run under and have been for 'ever' it will be amazing to see them 'normal'. His poop however...IS normal now. :) :)

Today he preferred to trot with the others and wasn't showing any favorable shortness between one leg or another. He stayed in 'formation' for the evening run and ran as a part of the herd instead of racing or lagging behind.

We did some fun pedestal training with him. He was the quickest one to 'get it' out of all the horses here. He LOVES cookies... :) ;)

He 'did' the pedestal and also some ditch jumping today. We will continue to 'play' with him to strengthen his mind and body connection.

A week of firsts...20 days later

We took a lot of video this week.

At the beginning of the week...we detached the other side of the rogue frog on the RF. It was hanging on by a thread so to speak. It was at the heels. The frog is still there...just not holding the foot in a contracted state any more. It's 'free' from the heels...detached.

His stance and posture continues to look to me like he is experiencing heel pain and not a typical 'founder' stance or walk. After detaching the frog he weighted his heel better and did a stance change. Instead of RF point and LH rest...it was the opposite. First time we seen that.

This whole frog looks like it will peel off...we will keep watching it.

It began as an abscess and now looks like the whole frog will go. Hopefully a new baby frog will come and be 'plump' under it. You can see the abscess hole on the inside bulb. One side of the foot 'let go' and plumped out a bit, opened up a bit...the other side is still locked in. I guess it has been for 'ever'.

Vegas is much calmer after this. Grazing stance is much better after this. Instead of pointing the toe on the leg that is forward he stretches and reaches with his neck and places full weight on the forward leg. He is grazing better, nuzzling Jet, eating with Rico and the rest too.

He moves willingly away from Beta and Daas but sports a face that is NOT impressed. Ears pinned and swishing tail...but moves off. He sticks with the 'babies' and stays with Jet and or Rico.

Rico tries to play with him a lot. He tries to do the lip grabbing game but Vegas takes this as aggression and not play. I'm not sure if he has the social skills to know the difference yet. Rico keeps trying and then Vegas pushes him off with ears pinned and aggressive body language.

I approached him with my whip in hand when feeding time and kept him away from the hay until it was spread. Then went to pet him while he was eating and all was well. Hopefully this food aggression will disappear soon ...but it's getting to be less frequent.

He is probably considered 'pasture sound' for most people now....or very close to others. Some might say that he just 'needs conditioning'. Some look at his color and are completely blown away by his beauty. Some people don't notice the shorter strided 'limpy' RF after seeing him and standing beside him but they can SEE it on the videos. Some don't notice the wobbly hocks and 'upside down' neck...and they look at his expression and 'zest' for life and think that he is fine! His weight is good and his appetite is good and fulfilled. He is learning to live in a social order and to be accepted he must be within it's heirarchy. He is 'fine'.

The thing IS... he really IS 'fine' right now.

It took LESS than ONE MONTH for him to be OK to most people. ??? Why?? It's so Frightening to think that he passed through the hands of many 'top' vets and 'top' farriers.

It is so sad that the owners loved him truly and tried hard to do the right thing by him.... they were under the guideance of the 'top' professionals and followed it right to their end!

I understand that...but I don't understand the vets and farriers and our view of the metal plate we brilliantly named a 'horse shoe' is the best cure all for every ailment. I don't understand why this community is NOT open (for the most part) to the 'facts' of the prevention approach which is what 'equinextion' (to me) is all about. Education and empowerment and global change.

Anyhow...off my soapbox now...

Thought to post a couple pics too. The first one is Vegas (Veggie for short) ;) approaching the rock bed and the second is him on arrival. He totally knew what was coming and chose to try to communicate that he would rather not. Of course he did when asked to and stepped shorter with a tighter body hold until on the other side which is pasture grass again.

Grooming Vegas

Grooming is a big part of recovery in my humble opinion. There are a few ways to groom. One is to simply brush the horse to remove dirt...another is a spa treatment with mane and tail conditioner and thorough grooming and another is 'therapeutic' type grooming. Massaging the body with a soft rubber brush and with the palm and fingers to move larger muscles and stimulate circulation and cleansing.
Vegas' neck is soooooo stiff and has been since he arrived. He does NOT like it touched or massaged. Pins his ears and turns to bite. I try to be soft and just move the muscles a bit and then leave it alone. He stands quietly for the most part and looks distant in his face...like he is shutting us off and dealing with the situation. Not happy, not sad...just there.

We call him 'Fabio' with that mane flowing in the wind! The kids think he is so beautiful and came to see him. He stayed distant. Nick gave him a carrot and he woke right up. FOOD!! :)
Then we let him go and threw in a couple of carrots for him to find. Didn 't seem to know that game....so we taught him to search for the carrots. He liked that.

Of course after the Full spa treatment...he rolled. Good for cracking his back anyhow... :)

Sept 12th 2007

Vegas was more friendly today and was not so hard to catch in the field. Leaving him totally alone to chill and relax for a couple of days does wonders. He feels no threat from us and no return to the building. No other feed other than all the grass hay buffet you can eat...friends and sunshine and moonlight did wonders.
We caught him and took him to the shelter to feed him some carrots and boss and to groom him. We gave him some 'love' in other words. :)

While cleaning his feet and examining them we noticed a sore looking spot on the back of the frog/bulb on the RF. There was a flap, ready to come off. The more we moved it with our hands the whole bulb frog looked like it would peel off....soon. Not today, but soon.

When we fed today...there was NO food aggression towards us or the horses. He respects our 'bubble' and waited for the piles to be placed...like the rest of the herd.
On free lunging (bag flaggin') he kept his place in the line up and ran as a herd. Well he tried to.
On tighter corners...he doesn't get the whole moving like a flock of birds thing and gets bumped by the others...but is trying hard. Every time he tried to pass and Beta gave him the 'face' not to, he listened and hung back.
That's great progress for herd living!!

Because Vegas is chewing ALL the time...eating hay, grazing on small grasses, twigs, leaves...etc...his face is changing. His cheek muscles filled out and his eyes don't look sunken. Part of that is the fat and fibre coming out of his system. His poop looks more normal now...almost there. Less smelly too and more 'diluted' so to speak.
His feet have a much better texture and not so smelly. I trimmed a bunch of horses at another farm today...that were being fed BUCKETS of sweet feed. Boy their feet were smelly!!! Yuck.
Vegas had better feet in texture and smell than these horses.

Just arrived home

Just arrived back from a clinic for four days. Because the horses had a round bale and the help only puts hay in the feeder tires...Vegas was a lot stiffer today that when I left. I went to push them around at a walk for about 20 minutes. He loosened right up and they all decided to go for run too. He looked good...and took the lead several times to the dismay of the rest of the herd who keep their position when being bag flagged. Beta tried to tell him several times to stay behind him, he's the leader in bag flag...he'll get it eventually.

Sprinkled hay all over the field again to get things moving and not 'stalled' haha.

Vegas is a bit of a 'pill' to the others and pins his ears at Jet and Rico when there is new food coming in...even if there is some left over. He feels the need to fight for it...although not as stong as he once was. He's cooling his engines a bit. :) (I think ;) It's only been 11 days.
He doesn't want to be touched. I respect that and stay away from him and just talk to him and walk and pet the others. He doesn't look our way at all still...and if he does it's with an 'evil' look in his eyes. He's probably still hungry in a sense.
One set of horses I had in for rehab...never looked up for weeks from the hay. His system is not feeling satisfied at this point.
I would susect as abscess brewing by the looks of his walk and his face. :(

Filled up the tires and went into the house because it was getting dark.
Daas and Vegas were up at the front with plenty of hay to eat....and as I was 1/2 way to the house when I heard a scuffle. I turned around to see Vegas (15hh) (glowing in the dark) rearing and wrapping his front legs around Daas neck (17.1+hh) and biting him in the neck. :-0

Daas seemed to throw his weight forward to get him off and then turned to kick him when he escaped his hold. He looked insulted and then moved to another place to eat...with a bit of a discussted look on his face.
Uh, perhaps he doesn't feel the peace yet.. haha. Mine, mine....MINE!! is still on his mind.

Life in the pasture...week one 10

Vegas is already acting like part of the 'group'. He will not take no for an answer and is feeling really dependent on being with them. A little separation anxiety. :) He is staying close to the herd and following along with them.
He is not social towards humans right now. He wants to be left alone. He pinned his ears and charged me when I walked in with them all. Because he is new to this whole outside herd and life thing...I carry a whip to keep him out of my bubble. He respects the whip and stays at a safe distance away. He is still angry and hasn't yet come to realize that there is abundance here and that there is no need to fight for every scrap...like a hungry dog.

This kind of behavior does usually only last a couple of weeks when a previously stabled horse is transitioned to natural lifestyle...if it happens at all. I suspect it will be gone soon...can't wait. ;)

At the end of the week, I got in a big round bale because I'll be gone for 4 days on a clinic. Hopefully he'll settle in more without being touched for a while.

The Xray 'report' from the vet 9

Well the vet called to tell that the x rays came out well and that he didn't hold up much hope for Vegas to recover.

He said that he has 10 degrees rotation in the LF and 18 in the RF. He said he has pedal ostitis on both fronts really bad and that the tip of the coffin bone is slightly remodeled in a 'ski tip' type shape.

After looking at the x rays...the vet said that he was much worse than he thought originally on seeing him in person.

Here is the LF x ray... After I looked at both x rays...I could see what the vet was concerned about.

I also see the total misalignment of the bones, not only in the foot but up the leg as well.

I'm sure that after one trim...Vegas was more aligned and able to weight his stay apparatus more evenly.

Another pic of the vet taking x rays to see how he was stood up. In the x ray pic you can also see the frontal wall marked as well as the apex (with a thumb tack)

Sept 1st...Meeting the Boys 8

Today was the day. The day that Vegas needed to be out with the others. He had been in a smaller paddock and not moving as much as he should. He squeeled with joy when the horses approached his fence...and then pinned his ears and acted 'studdy'.

We closed the gate to the back field with the horses out there and let Vegas into the front field again.
The first one in was Rico. They snoofed and Vegas squeeled and then Rico went for water. Vegas followed him...and Rico let him drink out of the 'watering hole' with him.
Next in was Jet. Same kind of thing happened. They went back to the water and drank together again.
Everything was quiet and nice and the young horses were fine with each other immediately.

Next to come in was Daas. He is one of the herd leaders....Beta's body guard. :)
They snoofed and then Vegas turned around and sucker kicked Daas. Daas was a might surprised by the aggression and left him to go and have a drink. The look on Daas' face was shock and disbelief that he was just kicked.

I knew when Beta would come in that there would be words. IF Vegas kicked Beta...Beta would not back down. He would not take this behavior without an intense discussion. I have owned Beta since he was 4 months...and at 23 I have never seen him back down from an aggressive horse.
I was nervous to put him in...but the time came. In comes Beta and right to Vegas who was just kicking out and squeeling at Rico. Beta sprang to action and charged him off of Rico and split them up. "His" herd on one side and Vegas on the other.
Vegas came back for more and charged Beta...who this time spoke to Daas to step in and be his body guard. Daas charged but didn't know what to do when Vegas didn't move off and stood there and screamed and kicked.

By the afternoon the established herd was close nit and kept the pretty boy out of the loop.
By later in the evening...and after spreading hay out all over the place...they were more spread out and eating.
Vegas has to learn that food /hay is abundant here and there is not a need to defend it...it repleneshes itself in cycles. His 13 new 'war wounds' are all bite marks...some deeper than others...all are superficial and will heal up with no scarring.
We take him later and use the 'majic potion' to put on the most open ones.

One weird thing that happened after all this chaos of new introductions was...we got a bunch of hay delivered and went to take the bale wagon down to the field to knock off some loose hay. Beta spun around and kicked Vegas who was trying to attack him.
About 1/2 hour later we went to the field to just hang out with the horses and fed some more loose hay. Beta then nickered at Vegas...twice. It was like he was making peace with him.