Roller Coaster

Well. Thanks for coming along for the ride- we are having some serious ups and downs! After getting some "answers" Tuesday and having his temps stabilize, I opted to sleep Tuesday night. I needed to get some sleep so Beau went unchecked 11:30pm-6:30am. I needed the rest, and felt confident that he was going to be ok. When I went out for feed and meds yesterday his temp was still down! Yipee. Then I looked forward from my thermometer insertion position to glance over a small boo-boo and noticed that the leg looked puffy. So I bent down, and yup- tree trunk Right Front. Humm, look left- CRAP and look back... triple CRAP! All three of his other limbs were swollen. I took a deep breath, and felt each one. They were cool and not at all tender. So, I was safe to bet they were just stocked up- but now what?! He can't have turnout or too much hand walking due to the restriction on the left hind. So, I was left with quite a cluster to deal with. I hand walked and cold hosed as per our instructions, and then locked Sonny up. I put Beau and Squeeke out with a bunch of hay and let him have an hour of supervised turnout. He was very good- he did walk around a bit, but mostly ate and stood in the sun. He did roll, but that was about it.

I spoke with the vet, she wanted me to just do what I had already done- hand walk our normal 10mins, cold hose and focus on the left hind but also address the other legs and get him to move around if at all possible to keep him quiet. Plus she wanted the legs support wrapped when feasible. Yeah, like I need more wrapping to do! With the heat and humidity and buggy conditions, it made it hard, but as the sun set we had a small shower pass thru, so I put him out to graze solo for an hour last night. He wore polos on those legs for the night, and I went back to night checks- and he seems better today. There is certainly still some fluid there- but I can also see the tendons. I'm not willing to say they are 100% tight (especially RF which has the boo-boo) but I am much more comfortable with them today!

We have a friend who has experienced 2 cases of anaplasmosis in her big barn. I called last night to pick her brain. It seems like stocking up is par for the course, and she said it's at least a week of doxy before you see good results. So, I'll have to just keep waiting, and watching and worrying. It's going to be a long and bumpy ride!