|
|
Post by adcooper on Mar 15, 2009 18:52:26 GMT -5
My old mare is offering sort of a parade of issues these days. The latest is sores on her knees. It happens when she's in her stall at night. I've gone back to leaving her in the indoor ring at night, assuming the ground in there is a bit softer. Her stall has rubber mats and sawdust/shavings for bedding, but it think as she rolls forward to stand, she still rubs the knuckly areas.
I suppose that older horses, like older people, are more vulnerable to pressure on thin-skinned areas. She is not being at ALL cooperative about my TLC. It's nearly impossible to clean the sores, much less put any healing ointment on them. She may be old....but she's not giving in!
Anyone had good experience with particular care for this sort of thing?
|
|
|
|
Post by Goalie on Mar 16, 2009 12:31:19 GMT -5
The only good experience I've had is that Goal doesn't mind if I cover his in bag balm. that ws the only thing he wouldn't try to lick off. Thankfully they don't seem to last tooo long.
|
|
|
|
Post by adcooper on Mar 16, 2009 15:37:12 GMT -5
I could try that. I don't think she'll try to lick anything off. I've never seen her do that. But the bag balm would be healing. How do you prevent it, Terrie?
|
|
|
|
Post by Goalie on Mar 16, 2009 18:42:51 GMT -5
I don't know. What comes to mind but I know wouldn't work, is good old-fashioned knee pads. Maybe deeper bedding in her stall. I know that Goals goes away when the weather warms up and he is sleeping outside. That doesn't help the Babe much though.
|
|
|
|
Post by MapleShade on Mar 16, 2009 21:32:08 GMT -5
I knew a horse a long time ago that wore knee pads in her stall. It really worked for her! ;D
|
|
|
|
Post by adcooper on Mar 17, 2009 6:05:50 GMT -5
I've thought about knee pads, but I don't think the Babe would keep them on. You should see what she does to an easy boot! I wish she was a little less princess-and-the-pea about those things. She's incredibly stoic about pain, but not too tolerant of unnecessary touch. She'll define "unnecessary" thank you very much.
|
|
|
|
Post by Goalie on Mar 17, 2009 10:19:28 GMT -5
She'll define "unnecessary" thank you very much. somehow I can picture The Babe saying that.  |
|
|
|
Post by juliab on Mar 17, 2009 11:58:44 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by TeachU2Ride on Mar 17, 2009 21:34:36 GMT -5
She may be losing the locking ability in her knees. My George is pretty sleep deprived these days... doesn't like to lay down due to stiff knees, but they won't support him to sleep while standing either. He was really knocking the hell out of his front legs... he's turned out all the time now and is doing better, but when he was in a stall I kept the bedding deep. (When I had him at home with me, I bought extra-thick and spongy mats like they use in vet hospitals. I'm sure he still wiped out now and then, but no bruising or cuts thanks to the extra cushion.)
|
|
|
|
Post by adcooper on Mar 18, 2009 11:42:29 GMT -5
Teach, I think you are onto something there. She's always been over-at-the-knees, which has never been a problem, but I suspect that as they age any conformational quirks could become more significant. She's always at her best when turned out 24/7. Our barn won't start that for a little while yet, so I can compensate by giving her the indoor ring at night. It's not a grassy field, but it's got to be better than a stall. I am sure the spongier mats could help, too, but as long as I have this (cheap!) option, I think I'll skip the purchase. Same with those cool knee pads, Julia. I bet they would be great, except my skinny-legged TB has never been the one-size-fits-all type! When I used to use boots on her, I had more trouble with them rubbing because they never fit her just right. She's a puzzle, but she's MY puzzle! LOL!
|
|
|
|
Post by Deb on Mar 21, 2009 10:23:18 GMT -5
I hope the Babe's knees/bed sores are better. Give her a big hug for me!!
|
|
|
|
Post by adcooper on Mar 21, 2009 19:26:45 GMT -5
Thanks, Deb. Yes, she's looking better. I think she just does so much better in so many ways if we can keep her out of a stall. She doesn't object to stalls, though, so they'll always be a good option when we can't manage an alternative.
|
|
|
|
Post by jenarby on Mar 21, 2009 21:57:27 GMT -5
Addie used to fall down when she'd fall asleep. The vet called it narcolepsy. You could watch her even while turned out....her head would slow go down, down, down until her nose was on the ground and then she'd collapse to her knees. It would take her a few minutes to really wake up and realize where she was. Then she'd hop back up and either walk off and graze, or fall asleep again.
It took me a while to firgure out why she had rubs on the fronts of her ankles and knees. Then she did it one night while I was on foal watch. Scared the poo outta me but I had my answer!
|
|
|
|
Post by adcooper on Mar 22, 2009 8:34:22 GMT -5
Jen, I never imagined that! I wonder if Cypress is falling down when no one is looking. In all the years I've had her, I've never seen her do this, but maybe she does. Good grief.
|
|
|
|
Post by TeachU2Ride on Mar 22, 2009 8:41:01 GMT -5
That describes what George goes, minus totally falling asleep. I used to watch him from my living room window in IN... Hootie and Sam sleeping on the ground, George standing in the middle. Head lower and lower, knees buckle... sometimes he'd bump down onto them and sometimes he'd catch himself and wake back up with a stretch and twist of his neck like he was saying, "Aaaack! I just want to sleep!" Not narcolepsy, which is rare in horses, but a failure of the locking mechanism in his knees.
|
|
