My 'Skye'

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I'm going to caution all my readers who are a bit squeamish. There is a picture of a wound on my little miniature horse's face that is quite ugly......

This is a picture of the morning sky from my porch a few days ago, Saturday .
A beautiful sunrise...Take warning, is the saying...



This is a picture of my miniature mare, Skye. She had a really swollen face that morning, and I assumed one of her fellow mini's had kicked her, probably deserving it, as she is an agitator.. I watched her and she was eating fine, and didn't seem to have any obvious discomfort from the swelling, and I promised myself I would inspect the bump daily.


This was what it looked like (actually worse) the next morning! She had rubbed the hair off, I imagine to release the pus and swelling. I got out my horse bible and then got hydrogen peroxide to clean the wound, and then antibiotic ointment to appy, all this in the frigid weather. Bob was home (Sunday) to help me confine and hold her head. She seemed ok, was eating well, but darn it looked nasty! By Monday morning she had rubbed the ointment off on the salt block in her barn, and I figured, well, salt is good for cuts...

My friend and neighbor, Becky Mushko..http://peevishpen.blogspot.com...
came by to go over something for her newest book to be released soon called "Ferradiddledumday", so I asked her to look at Skye, since she is a horse person too. She suggested I call the vet, which I had entertained, but was trying to avoid yet another vet bill...(the dogs go tomorrow)...but she made me think about the inner infections that could be going on, and after she left I called my vet for the horses, Preston Thornton at Southern Hills. He came out the next day, Tuesday, and said what everybody else does, 'Wow, thats a mess!'
Skye was very brave, he cleaned the wound, and palpated it, and with SEVERAL cookies, she co-operated. (He's a kind man and very gentle. Calls her sweetie, we both like him).
Doc gave her a shot, and left a tub of powdered antibiotics for me to dose her one scoop a day. I got a plastic bowl and put the scoop in, and since I don't grain my horses, he suggested I add molasses. I did. She wouldn't touch it. I added cookies. She ate them from the mess, but still didn't have most of the medicine. I added warm water, a chopped up carrot AND an apple. She messed with it, but I had shopping to do, so I left it in the grain tub, and locked her in the small barn. By the time I returned she had eaten it.
Today was the Sunshine rescue( see Becky's blog), and Becky gave me a small bag of horse pellets. I came home and mixed Skye's medecine with a little applesauce and some pellets, and she scoffed the whole thing up pronto!

Her buddies are not happy with all the attention going on for Skye, so they are each getting a cookie when she has her medecine.That helps, but I am still keeping her segregated while the antibiotic's are being given..

So to all my horsey friends, pay close attention to bumps, because they can go awry quickly!

Skye seems better each day, and Doc thinks her hair will grow back by summer and she shouldn't have much of a scar...I hope not, she's so darned cute!!

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