New Pictures - As promised!

Beau - out on pasture, watching over his "woman"







Here's the rest of the "kids"... You know you're a good "mom" when you can't get decent pasture shots because they keep walking up on you to get their lovin'!

Bright Eyes Angel (aka Angel, Spotted Donkey)



Caddis Cool Dorado (aka Bullwinkle)


Honey in the Money (aka Honey Bear)

Jazzy and Jinx

Jinx

Meritable Millie (aka Millie the Fillie)


JNJ Classy Poco Gal (aka Squirrel)

OMG!!! OMG!!! OMG!!! HE DID IT!!!

I've been watching of signs and until this morning, I've seen none.

Initially, I thought perhaps he'd been out standing in the sprinklers, but the wet hair pattern was wrong for that. Looking him over, the dried hair on his neck, belly, and hip, I came to the conclusion...


BEAU LAID DOWN!!!

For the first time since he came to recover with me, BEAU LAID DOWN!!!

To me, that means he is now strong enough to get back up! I'm SO excited!! This is a MAJOR milestone for him!!

Now for pics...

I still have to take them. The "kids" are all in the barn eating breakfast, but once they're done and head out to the pasture, I'll go take pics of everyone.

I PROMISE!!! (It'll be a new post)

A little scare...

Sorry...no pictures yet...

I've been watching Beau closely for the last week or so. I've been concerned that he hasn't been peeing as much as he should. Or at least as much as I THINK he should.

So this morning I watched as he sort of gimped around, raised his back leg and lifted it up toward his belly and I decided it was time to call the vet.

She came at 11:00 (FINALLY!!), watched him walk, lifted his back legs, stretched him, palpated his belly, tested his bad front foot (no response). Basically she stood there looking at him, scratching her head, then pronounced that he was lame on the left front and stiff in the hips. (Well DUUUUHHH!!! I already KNEW that much!)

I took off his halter, grumbling to myself that I'd left work and just paid $50 for a vet call for her to tell me what I already knew, when all of a sudden, he "ran it out" and pee'd. A good, strong stream! It didn't last very long, but THAT convinced me that there was nothing blocking "the process".

So, Beau DOES pee! That is great news! And she confirmed that he's lame in the front left. But then, we already KNEW that. The encouraging part, though, is that there was no reaction to the hoof testers. I believe that it is due to the fact that there is no real support at the toe, and though he has a shoe on that foot, there is still be pressure put on the the sole across the toe. I'm not so much concerned about that because that front foot is a work in progress and until we get the hoof wall grown out still conected to the sole, we really won't know the final prognosis.

I'm such a worry wart!

BUTT SHOTS (sorry...)

When I was working on this post, even I said "WOW!!"











Beau went to the Beauty Parlor this morning. I took the braid out of his tail, brushed him from nose to tail, and just got him gussied up. I noticed that he is also putting his "winter jammies".

Since he came here, I've been feeding him Orchard Grass Hay pellets. (It's a personal preference thing) Anyway, the feed store was out of Orchard grass pellets so I had to choose between alfalfa pellets and timothy grass pellets. I didn't want alfalfa pellets - they are really hard and I didn't want to soak them. So I bought the timothy grass pellets.

O M G !!! They are very soft, you can crumble them with two fingers and a thumb, and will be MUCH easier for Beau to chew! Cathy - I should have listened to you sooner!

Beau's sheath is still swollen, as is his belly. The swelling on his belly is like a very dense memory foam...if I push on it with my finger, it compresses and retains the impression. Exercise will help this BUT Beau's feet are in such bad shape, I don't want to push him too hard. So I'm hand walking three times a day, and while I'm at work next week, my daughter will do it twice a day.

And I also have to thank..

Early, I thanked a bunch of folks who sent money to help defray the costs of restoring Beau to health. Here are a few more:

KARLA CLEMENT
Jill Graves
Beryl & Vertin Koenen
Candice Pearson-Bloom


THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!

Your kindness and generosity is very much appreciated.

This weekend marks the end of Week 4 and of course, there will be new photos. But you'll have to wait...

Beau's sheath looks better but the part on his belly is still swollen. Lacey told me there was probably one or more beans still "up there", so I'll be checking again. (oh goody)

I wish I could figure out how to take videos and upload them here. (It's not the uploading, it's getting the compatibility right) Beau is SO funny at feeding time, just a little chatterbox! Then when I come out of the feed room, he "assumes the position" - stands next to the corner feeder, nose poised, ready to dive in. Once I dump in the feed, he goes "nibble, nibble, GLOMP!" stuffing his chops full of the Senior Feed.

I'm adding Purina Amplify starting Thursday. It has 30% fat so he can start using the hay pellets and Senior Feed for whole body nutrition, and the Amplify for fat storage.

I also need to order a gallon of Necessity with Glucosamine and MSM. This has extra vitamins and mineral and other good "stuff". (Unless someone wants to order some for him... it's about $112/gallon, but it also comes in 1/2 gallon jugs)

I've given him a bucket of free choice loose minerals and though he's tasted them, he hasn't shown much interest in it. Oh well, I suppose he'll eat them when he wants.

The Deed is Done!

Lacey came over and helped me with Beau. I somehow survived the whole experience! The hairy little pervert seemed to enjoy the cleaning and massaging. He never did "drop", so we had to do a blind extraction of the bean. I will be getting some oral ace for next time to help him relax.



Below are pictures of Mr. Bean, extracted by Mr. Hand. Poor little dude!




(please keep the snickering down to a dull roar, will ya?)

Feeling Feisty!

Yesterday, I turned the girls out on pasture, and let Beau out in his own run. To my surprise, he made an attempt to graze, or at least appeared to try. At evening feeding, he came up to the barn, ate his grub, then returned to the pasture

So this morning I put his feed out and one by one, the girls started up to the barn. Not the usual race, just a meander, knowing there hay waiting when they got there.

As I was heading out to the arena to feed the two living there, Beau realized that he was alone and started calling, "running" up and down the fence. He doesn't really "run", more like shuffles due to the condition of his feet. He did break into a lope for a few stride...

So I was watching him and it looks like he stumbled. I thought "uh oh! Watch out , dude." Then, as I watched he BUCKED! OMG!!! LOL!!!

He actually threw in a feeble little buck! It sort of looked like how a newborn foal would buck who still hadn't really found his "feet" and was trying to figure it out.

But it was a BUCK, none the less!

Lacey is going to come over and help me "get fresh" with Beau's "unmentionables". (OK, ok we're going to clean his sheath and search for a bean. We can be adult about this, can't we? Oh GOD! I'm going to die of embarrassment)

Let's talk about Beau, Baby!

Below are some photos taken today. As one thing gets resolves, something else pops up. He is still losing hair on his back. And now, his sheath is swollen (as seen in photo #1). I'm going to put out a call for help with the sheath thing - gotta admit I know NOTHING in this area. Maybe one of my friends with geldings can come over and help me out...


















Before


After

Welcome Mr. Graves

I'm assuming that it was you who posted the following:

"Anonymous said...
YOU SHOULD NOT POST FALSE INFORMATION ON YOUR SITE. I WILL GIVE YOU SOME FACTS! BEAU IS OVER THIRTY. BEAU WAS OWNED BY A WOMAN WHO CAME TO VISIT YOU AND BEAU A WEEK AGO SUNDAY.SHE DUMPED HIM OFF AT MY HOUSE TEN YEARS AGO.NEVER PAID FOR ANYTHING IN TEN YEARS. IFED HIM AND PAID VET BILLS FOR TEN YEARS. I TRIED TO GET HER TO DO SOMETHING WITH HIM FOR TEN YEARS. I WAS WELL AWARE OF THE PROBLEMS WITH HIS TEETH AND HAVE FED HIM PELLETS, GRAIN AND SUPPLIMENTS FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS, BUT I DON'T HAVE THE TIME OR MONEY TO DO IT ANY MORE. IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE SHERIFF CALLED ME AND I THREATEND TO PUT HIM DOWN THAT SHE DECIDED TO FINALY DO SOMETHING. PUT THESE FACTS ON YOUR FRONT PAGE AND POINT YOUR ACCUSING FINGER IN THE DIRECTION IT BELONGS! P.S. APOLOGY ACCEPTED."

Let me address some of the points you made in your post.

"BEAU IS OVER THIRTY" I can only talk to information I'm given. Three different people have given me three different ages. When the vet came out last Friday, she said she would estimate that Beau was 25 years old. So, I'm going with that age. Quite frankly, I fail to see how age matters as this point anyway.


"BEAU WAS OWNED BY A WOMAN WHO CAME TO VISIT YOU AND BEAU A WEEK AGO SUNDAY. SHE DUMPED HIM OFF AT MY HOUSE TEN YEARS AGO." Are you seriously trying to tell me that this horse has been starved and neglected for TEN YEARS? Or just since you divorced?

"I WAS WELL AWARE OF THE PROBLEMS WITH HIS TEETH AND HAVE FED HIM PELLETS, GRAIN AND SUPPLIMENTS FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS..." What about his feet? You could pop for a $30 trim?

"BUT I DON'T HAVE THE TIME OR MONEY TO DO IT ANY MORE." So what? You just decided to stop feeding him? Tell me how it is that you can sit at your table every night, watch your tv, drink your beer, LOOK AT YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR EVERY MORNING while a horse slowly starved to death out your back door? At what point did you decide to stop being a human being? At what point did you lose your empathy and decided it was ok to let an animal suffer? Here's a hint - real men don't starve horses because they are angry at an ex-wife.

"PUT THESE FACTS ON YOUR FRONT PAGE AND POINT YOUR ACCUSING FINGER IN THE DIRECTION IT BELONGS!" You got your wish. It's on the front page now. The horse was on YOUR property, therefore it was YOUR responsibility to take care of him.

"IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE SHERIFF CALLED ME AND I THREATEND TO PUT HIM DOWN THAT SHE DECIDED TO FINALY DO SOMETHING." As I understand it, the sheriff was called out by the neighbors on abuse calls. Not once, not twice, but MULTIPLE times. And to be honest, putting him down would have been kinder than letting him starve to death slowly.

There are abandonment laws in Benton County. After a specific amount of time, you were well within your legal rights to sell the horse or give him away. You could have done this LONG before Beau ended up in this condition.

APOLOGY ACCEPTED??? I think NOT!!! I will be in court on the day of your trial, with photographic evidence PROVING that Beau's condition was totally preventable.

You chose instead to stop feeding him. That is neglect. THAT is abuse. THAT is a crime!

Poo poo nuts and throwing a fit

Funny, huh! I get so excited about Beau and his poops. Just have to share.



The vet came this morning and gave Beau a West Nile shot. She also checked his teeth and figured he is about 25 years old. After she left, I turned all the other horses out on pasture and he proceeded to throw a fit for about 15 minutes. So good to see that he DOES still have some spunk!

Before and After (14 days)

BEFORE



AFTER




BEFORE




AFTER



If you look below the point of the hip, you can see filling in of the flank. He's still got a long way to go, but he's doing so much better. I turned him out on pasture next to Angel for some exercise.


Where are the ads?? I got a message from Google Ads that said "While going through our records recently, we found that your AdSense account has posed a significant risk to our AdWords advertisers."

Hmm...how does a blog about the recovery of a starving horse pose a significant risk? The ads I saw (though I couldn't click on them) looked to be something that the advertisers would WANT to be on this blog. Whatever!

The epoxy has set. Let's have a look, shall we?

You can see that the hoof is mis-shapen. There's a lot of heel here, but we'll take care of that a little at a time as we go.



The white line shows about where the hoof wall is separated from the sole. Pretty much the whole front of the toe. The upper red dot is where the hoof wall actually ends. The lower red dot marks the toe of the shoe. The grey stuff is the epoxy we used to fill it and seal the void. The void actually goes all the way around the side, as you can see.




Looking a little better. I don't know what the deal with the lip is all about.