Author Topic: ?? Kechi ??  (Read 4392 times)

Offline Ryan

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #15 on: August 11, 2016, 01:07:18 AM »
How has she been Paula ? Hope shes on the mend :)

Offline paintponylvr

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #16 on: August 18, 2016, 12:48:03 AM »
It's not been an easy or pleasant ordeal. She is still with us - most of the raw places have healed but she's lost even more weight (didn't think she could until I compared the pic from the 2nd day in slings to the look of her the other day)...  She was doing so good in the slings, that I took her out of them on Saturday afternoon and w/o thinking - left her out of them all night.

After "talking to me" Sunday morning, she curled her legs under her and carefully laid down while I was feeding.  Once again, I didn't think anything of it - STUPID me.  I couldn't get her up by myself, but w/ help, she is back in the slings a couple of hours later.  She's fighting them, but can't support herself longer than a few hours w/o them.  We may take them off of her for a couple of hours tomorrow.  I'd like to try leaving them off in the late afternoon/early evening and then put her back in them (preferably while she's still standing on her own) before full dark.

So... it's a day to day "thing"??  If she didn't have such a bright and responsive attitude, I'd have given up on her some time ago.  AS is, I don't know what to think.  A vet has been out to see her and liked what I was doing right now.  She is well hydrated and is still eating all her feed - she is getting substantially more now than when this started as I've increased the amounts she and her filly share.  The two hottest days - she didn't eat as much (clean up) feed as other days - always the mid-day/lunch time feeds.  She is getting straight alfalfa right now for hay - very little coastal as she was not eating that.

She's getting Mare Plus right now with her feed and a generic stomach soother (pink pepto type stuff - but made for horses) right now.  This is the best and most consistant she's eaten since she came home in February...
Paula Hoffman
LP Painted Ponys
Cameron, NC

Offline dcwolcott

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #17 on: August 18, 2016, 06:17:13 AM »
Well, I'm a strong believer in pure Alfalfa.  Fed all my horses straight alfalfa for years.  The tummy soother sounds good, and you know alfalfa is a tummy soother too.

So, still praying for her and you, and all the time and love you're putting in to her. 

Perhaps just some short walks while you have her down, will help return some strength to her leg muscles. Just an idea. Poor girl, but her will is strong!   ;pray ;pray
'Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.'

Offline Ryan

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #18 on: August 18, 2016, 06:12:12 PM »
Glad she is hanging in there Paula , shes lucky a girl to have you.

Will be sending good wishes your way. She sounds like a fighter  ;pray

Offline paintponylvr

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #19 on: August 27, 2016, 12:46:03 AM »
Well, on the 21st we took the sling off and left it off overnight again.  She was doing great, then I stepped out onto the porch and could see her laying down.  Had no idea if she could get up or not.  I headed out, she didn't seem stressed at all, and I stopped long enough at the pump/spigot to turn the water on - too hot not to do any watering while out there AND might need it to hose off Kechi when we get her up.  When I turned around to head to her pen - she was on her feet, walking the fence line and pinning her ears at the other ponies who'd come up to see if it was their turn to eat, too.

Tomorrow marks a week that she's been out of the slings.  She looks "god-awful" but she IS starting to put weight back on.  She's definitely stronger and is passing plenty of manure and urine!  I went to a tub on Monday for her to drink out of - could no longer keep up with her water intake with just 1 bucket...  LOL.  That's actually a good problem to have.  She's cleaning up a very large, heavy flake of alfalfa 3x daily and I will probably have to increase her to 2 flakes per feeding time soon or put them in hay bags and hang them out where she can eat it free choice but it's not completely on the ground (don't want it there).

I've only taken a few pics of her...  They are not good and I'm not ready to post any of them.  Maybe when she's really gaining weight and doing good, I will post them in order?  I didn't actually take any the first few days when we didn't know if she'd make it at all. 
Paula Hoffman
LP Painted Ponys
Cameron, NC

Offline Chanda

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #20 on: August 27, 2016, 01:12:31 AM »
Yeah!  Glad to hear she's making strides in the right direction. 
Chanda
HC Minis

Stallions: Little Kings Cat on Top, Paper Mache`
Mares: Misty, Tana, Sophia, Bliss, Bonny, Dolly and Baybe
Geldings: Dakota, Monte and Manny, Spotty
Donkey: Tilly

Offline Anna

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #21 on: August 27, 2016, 02:59:16 AM »
Brilliant news! Praying that she continues to make steady progress to a full recovery. Well done to you.   :)

Offline dcwolcott

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #22 on: August 27, 2016, 08:11:24 AM »
This is great news!!  And nothing could be better for her tummy and weight than the added protein that alfalfa gives!!  I am a true believer in the powers of alfalfa!
'Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.'

Offline Lnight89

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #23 on: August 28, 2016, 08:47:02 PM »
This is so great! Keep it up girl!

Offline Ryan

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #24 on: August 29, 2016, 07:36:29 PM »
Great News Paula, so happy to read of the improvement she is making :)

Offline paintponylvr

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #25 on: September 23, 2016, 07:36:46 PM »
So sorry guys!  It's been almost a month since I last posted. 

Kechi is doing better - steadily, slowly putting on weight.  Her ribs aren't covered up yet, her hips still stick out like a cow's - but she's definitely doing MUCH better.  She is still producing milk and nursing Jynx, too, who is looking great.

Kechi was always a hard pony to catch and this is unbelievable!  She tries to run from end to end in this feed pen when I want/need to tie her up to feed her.  It's wonderful to see her moving but soo, so maddening!  Silly, crazy, darned, unicorn mare!

Cat, our farrier, was out again today.  We did Jynx's hooves 2 weeks ago, but chose not to do Kechi's at that time again yet.  Then we did both Kechi and Jynx today.  It's been exactly 8 weeks since she was last done and she had had a bit of growth.  A bit disheartening here... 

There has been growth - but there is now an obvious bulge just below the coronet bands on both of Kechi's front hooves - showing the stress that she's been under in the last few months (change in living qtrs, change in feed, pregnancy, living arrangements, giving birth, losing weight/almost dying).  There was also a somewhat major/noticeable "ring line" about 1/2 way down on her hooves (I'm not sure where that puts her in the timeline - think that may correspond to right before foaling?).

Then, while doing her right fore hoof (she was on that side, so did that hoof first), Cat was pretty excited - Kechi "released" a piece of her sole.  But it was almost like she "hit blood" at her toe - i did a double take and had to look again to grasp the significance.  Kechi had a good white line from heel to about the middle of the front quarter of her hoof.  Then it's as if the white line disappears and "jumps" forward an 1/8 to 1/4".  Then, at the toe center itself,  between the white line and the laminae, there is red.  And it was so red that it looked like fresh blood.  It wasn't, more like crumbling hoof shreds that had had blood in them.  Where the sole had "shed/released", you could also see more blue/purple area that Cat says will be red as her hoof grows out.  She states that this was, at one time, a MAJOR laminitic event.  Probably while she was on corn at the previous owners property?  She stated that she shouldn't have had that much growth in her hoof since she came "home" -so it really had to have happened previously.  The very first time Cat trimmed her in February, Kechi had several abscesses growing out - they opened with trimming, but were not infected or an issue at that time.

The left fore hoof had the same issue - mirror image!

The hind hooves did not.

The bad news is that she also now (at the time her hooves were trimmed today) a bounding pulse.  So Cat also feels that there is something going on now, too.  Kechi was not sore at the time she was trimmed - actually trotted out pretty nicely - we took her out of the pen, on flat & firm sand (well drained even with the deluge we've gotten this week) and did some lounging to see how she is moving.  NICE.

Then it pointed out something to Cat (or I did) that I'd noticed the other day.  Her left hip has "dropped".  We don't know if it was an injury that didn't show while she was originally "fat" when she came home, if it was an injury from the other young mares running/kicking her; if it happened when she "went down" or at some point in the recovery (like when she got out of the slings or while she was "hanging").  It is currently very noticeable, maybe more so to me right now as I've got a problem with my lower back at L4/L5 and it's being worked on 3x a week right now (OMG, don't go there, currently on ice while typing this).  None of my previous pics show this issue, so think it may have happened since May OR even after she went down in July.

SO, on top of the care for her hooves (to include hand walking in straight lines - I will be getting my walking in too; and lounging w/ the left hip to the outside of the circle), we are now talking about an equine massage therapist (for now) and in the future an equine chiro appointment (get her better first?)...  THEN we'll see how she's doing. 

Her face has healed, her sunburn has healed and the hair has all grown back in (though w/ rain & humidity we are probably looking at dealing with rain rot now, too) and most of the other raw/scratched places have also healed and grown over with hair.  She is DEFINITELY on the mend!

I promise!!  I will take some pics tomorrow of her in the day light.  Today, I did get a couple of Jynx that turned out, but didn't get any of Kechi.  I will also see if I can get some of her hooves - I will need to clean them  up tomorrow and we want to also check to see if she's sore...  I don't think she will be and the last 4 ponies that Cat swore would be - weren't - so it's a kinda "pseudo" bet.

Pics of Jynx on her thread.

Paula Hoffman
LP Painted Ponys
Cameron, NC

Offline dcwolcott

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #26 on: September 23, 2016, 08:16:03 PM »
I saw the pictures of Jynx on her thread!  So cute!

I'll be looking forward to pictures of Kechi, and praying for a quick recovery with no bad side effects.  Keep us posted!!
'Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.'

Offline Chanda

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #27 on: September 24, 2016, 01:18:50 AM »
Thank you for the update.  Poor Kechi, but glad to hear she is slowly heading in the right direction.  Sounds like you and your farrier are on top of her hoof issues.
Chanda
HC Minis

Stallions: Little Kings Cat on Top, Paper Mache`
Mares: Misty, Tana, Sophia, Bliss, Bonny, Dolly and Baybe
Geldings: Dakota, Monte and Manny, Spotty
Donkey: Tilly

Offline Ryan

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #28 on: September 26, 2016, 06:41:59 PM »
Thanks for the update Paula , she is certainly a fighter :)

Glad to hear that she is mending slowly , she is lucky to have you guys :)

Offline Chanda

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Re: ?? Kechi ??
« Reply #29 on: September 26, 2016, 08:08:15 PM »
Paula,
  Did you happen to test her for West Nile?
  I just read an article the other day about how bad the WN carrying mosquitos are this year, so just a thought.  It also mentioned some of the many varied symptoms, and her symptoms/issues just rang a little bell when I read the article.  I may be way off base, but just thinking out loud.
Chanda
HC Minis

Stallions: Little Kings Cat on Top, Paper Mache`
Mares: Misty, Tana, Sophia, Bliss, Bonny, Dolly and Baybe
Geldings: Dakota, Monte and Manny, Spotty
Donkey: Tilly