Boys and their toys-a Bruno story

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Exechorseluver

It is now somewhere around the 60th day that Bruno has been locked in a stall approximately 16 feet by 12 feet. That is a relatively large stall by stall standards but not so much based on Bruno’s enormous size. I saw Mary Lou post a picture today of the famous Clydesdales that are in Houston for an event this weekend. I cannot be sure but it looked as though they were being stabled at the Katy Equestrian Center. Big horses in small stalls, respectively, but then that probably happens to those horses a lot unless they are in their home space. So, we have given Bruno a big stall but nothing much to do as the days pass by. I recently read a book available on Amazon by Lynn M. Mueller titled My Little OTTB. It is the story of the first year after she purchased her first OTTB and the series of medical, training and other misadventures that befall them. I enjoyed the book and recommend to my OTTB friends and also my friends like Amy who have been leasing horses for some time and now, maybe are looking to get their own horse. Ms. Mueller also has an OTTB that ends up on stall rest and she outlines some ideas to keep him happy. I tried all the things she suggested.

An ad for the Jolly Ball.

First, she suggests the Jolly Ball seen above. I have seen a lot of these sitting unused in stalls over the years. They are a large (like 18 inch diameter) ball with a handle. Supposedly, the horse is going to want to grab the ball and throw it or kick it around his stall. I have never seen it happen but its Bruno, so we ordered one. At first he was scared of it. But he is a mouthy guy, liking to grab the handle of your pitchfork or a brush out of the grooming tray so it didn’t take long for him to decide it was fun to grab the ball in his mouth or smash the ball around his stall in a sort of soccer, football, la crosse game that he invented. Lauren has come out to find the ball on the outside of his stall as well. His walls are almost seven feet high so maybe there is some basketball component in his new game as well. So far he has not crushed the Jolly Ball.

Ms. Mueller also suggested a Himalayan salt block on a rope (I am not kidding-they make these-they look like soap on a rope only it is a block of salt). There is a similar product on the market but Ms. Mueller recommended against the ‘Lik-it’ which provides a flavored treat on a rope between two metal pieces. Her horse destroyed that quickly and I figured Bruno would as well. Horses need salt. Normally, I provide that by placing a large (think 40 pound) block of salt in the pasture where all the horses can lick it at will. It occurred to me that neither Bru or Kid had access to the salt so why not try the Salt on a Rope? Well, another point to Ms. Mueller and her advice. We tied the salt on a rope (why it has to be Himalayan salt-and is it really I have no idea) to Bruno and Kid’s stall walls. Wow. Bruno LOVES his Himalayan salt. He chews on it, covers it with slobber, bangs it against the stall wall and entertains himself endlessly. It is just one fun game after another.

But then he just had to go too far. Lauren was cleaning other stalls today and heard a crash and a big splash. Not what you want to hear if you are on a campaign to keep your horse’s foot dry. Rushing to Bruno’s stall, she found he had successfully ripped his water bucket off the wall, proceeding in dumping all the water in his stall, and then enlisting the water bucket as a second member in his Jolly Ball team. Except-the water bucket did not hold up to the kicking, smashing and throwing like the Jolly Ball. I guess they just don’t make buckets as tough as they used to!

Bruno destroyed and then ejected his water bucket from his stall.

Six Week Check

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Exechorseluver

Dr. Marsh getting down on the ground to get up to date pictures of Bruno’s hoof. Bruno was pretty interested!

I think it was author Jon Katz who said something to the effect of the abnormal is the norm for a day on the farm. Once again in the category of what were we thinking, Lauren and I, under-estimated what would happen when we got ready to take Bruno back to Texas A&M Vet Hospital for his six-week check up. This horse who has for the most part calmly stood in stalls for over 45 days, accepted numerous strangers into his realm, endured tropical storm strength rain and wind, and happily watched the world go by from the inside of his stall came roaring out of it this morning. So, mistake number one, we were not ready for how strong and powerfully he would leave his stall. But we also under-estimated the other side of co-dependent relationship we had created between Bruno and Mr. Kid. As Bruno left the paddock, rearing, spinning and bucking, Kid was following suit in the stall area behind. My 31 year-old horse was running, kicking and bolting to try to stay with his BFF- Bruno.

As I locked Kid in a stall, Lauren with the aid of some horse treats and tough love got Bruno calmed down enough to load in the trailer. Bruno was pawing and neighing while Lauren started driving the trailer around in circles waiting for me to let Kid out and get the gates shut. As I opened the stall gate, Kid came out of the stall like he had just broken the barrier on the race track starting gate. However, with his 31 year-old eye sight and coordination, instead of flying out to the paddock he got caught up in his own feet and fell heavily to the ground. For a paralyzing moment, I thought he had broken his leg but he bounded up seemingly unhurt and I ran for the trailer.

Once we got a few miles down the road, Bruno settled in and trailered like a champ. At A&M, Dr. Marsh’s first orders were to see how Bruno was moving-how lame he was before he unbandaged the hoof.

Sorry it’s so small-but Bruno trotted the A&M hallways with nary a limp. It was amazing!

In a lameness scale of one to five, with five the worst, Bruno was barely a one! It was amazing to watch the big guy trot down the hallway. Dr. Marsh’s vet student helpers unwrapped the hoof and everyone seemed to be pleased with the hoof growing progress he had achieved.

Then we moved off for the second stage of day’s events, to have his feet trimmed and his horse shoes re-set. This was a serious undertaking by one of the top horseshoers in Texas and he was definitely dressed for the part with slouchy felt cowboy hat, chaps, jeans and boots. This was old-school hot shoeing like you used to see on the old westerns. He would trim up each hoof, heat up the horse shoes and apply them to Bruno’s feet. Just like a Japanese restaurant, the sizzle and steam would be heard and seen. But the smell was more burning flesh than delectable food.

When his three other feet were done, we returned to the treatment room. Dr. Marsh wanted to cut-away some of the tissue that he felt was impairing the healing of the healthy flesh. He warned us there would be blood. I think we almost lost Lauren at this point as she huddled in the corner, her ‘Hello Kitty’ sweatshirt covering her nose and mouth (to what end, I do not know).

After Dr. Marsh was satisfied that only healthy flesh remained, a tourniquet was placed on Bruno’s leg to stop the bleeding. In the understatement of the day, there was a lot of blood. Then Jason the horseshoer was back to place the shoe on this hoof.

But in the end-after over three hours, the shoe, the surgical plate equipped with new screws and a bunch of gauze padding was all wrapped up for the ride home in elastic bandage. We will change it tomorrow. Bruno was pronounced as “doing well” and we were told-see you in six weeks. He will remain on house arrest locked in his stall twenty-four hours a day.

At the trailer Lauren and I waited as two of the vet students brought Bruno out. Much quieter than his riotous ways of this morning, he calmly and easily loaded up into the trailer. The vet student looked at me and said “I love these thoroughbreds, they always know how to load”. Lauren and I love this thoroughbred, too!

Lauren and I were both exhausted after the long day. I suspect my friend Bruno and his best-friend Mr. Kid will sleep the long sleep earned by both of them tonight.

Have Your Picture taken with the Giant Horse!-A Bruno Story

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Exechorseluver

Lauren had new stock panels delivered this week. We are hoping that we get the okay tomorrow at A&M to allow Bruno to go out in a confined area. Also, Mr. Kid, Bruno’s babysitter has been sneaking off behind the barn to eat the fresh spring grass that is growing there. We thought it best to fence in the paddock.

The guys from the feedstore showed up with the six-foot high panels and proceeded to put them up for us. Lauren and I had stressed over who was going to help us with those. Dillion and Eric just hauled them out of the truck and proceeded to configure the panels. What did they want in return? Well, beer probably would have been a choice but all I had was Jim’s Blue Moon beer and that was not to a small town Texas man’s liking. Instead, they wanted to go in and take pictures with Bruno.

Jordyn on Feather and Mackenzie on Mick.

Saturday a friend from work came with her daughter. She is a little older than Jordyn but had never ridden before at all. She and Jordyn had a great time with Mickey and Feather. But before they left they went to Bruno’s stall to get pictures with the “giant horse”.

And so the weekend went. Roland, our farrier, came to do the horse’s feet (he did not want a picture with Bruno but did look at his hoof and said he thought it was doing well). Ally and Luke came back with the kids and some family friends. Roland had quite a time shoeing while visitors tramped in and out of the barnyard headed to… you guessed it… Bruno’s stall. I think I could start charging admission to see the giant horse and make a respectable second income.

This morning Amy and her daughter Meagen came to get hay. But first they, too, had to take pictures with the big horse.

Meagen and the giant horse. Is that anything like James and the giant peach?

Meagen also rode Mimi for us. Mimi is for sale and we wanted to see how she would do with a non-adult rider. She was great. I think she is turning into a special little pony.

The giant horse returns to Texas A&M for his first follow-up visit since his dismissal from the hospital. He will get new shoes (which will cost way more than any shoes I will buy this year) and have his progress evaluated by Dr. Marsh. We think we will get praise for our care of the big guy and are hoping for a confirmation that the hoof is growing healthy and strong.

We have new tires on the trailer, Bruno has his foot bandaged in maroon and we should be good to go on the road to A&M.

Bruno-Post Operative Day 31

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Exechorseluver

Apparently, the supplements we are using for Bruno’s hooves are working on his coat. Pretty Boy!

I guess it is just a time of milestones. I published my 200th post the other day. That was a big milestone for me-and I guess some of you are still reading along so that is great as well.

Bruno went in for surgery to cure an infection in his front hoof one month ago yesterday. Although my vet, Lynn Criner, DVM., thought the infection went to the coffin bone, none of the vets consulted agreed. But when Dr. Chad Marsh got into the hoof, the infection did in fact spread into the bone. That required more cutting and more down time for Bruno. I said from the beginning that I was good at growing hoof (I have a special mixture of biotin that makes hooves grow and coats shine) so I felt like if we could get the infection out, we could succeed at growing new, strong hoof in its place.

A quick look through my posts of the last month will tell the story of Bruno’s recovery so far. To summarize:

He spent nine days at TAMU.
He has been confined to his stall for 31 days except for a few brief moments when he escaped, rolled and ran.
He has been quiet and reserved for his long confinement except for the one night his buddy Kid took a walk-about and he almost went nuts trying to find him.
Lauren has changed his bandage ten times using miles of gauze and tape.
We have cleaned his stall a minimum of four times a day since he came home using pounds and pounds of shavings.

Above- the crack in the hoof when we first got him-prior to his diagnosis with an infection in the coffin bone. All anyone could tell me was this crack would not go away. (Nov. 29, 2012)

Shortly after surgery when they were able to get a shoe on him. Still big gap between the shoe and any hoof.

Okay, this is not pretty but look how much the new hoof has grown down and how the new flesh is filling in. It was probably an inch or so from his hairline above and now (look for the white hairs of his leg) it has probably grown an inch plus filling in the old crack. Lots of work left but WOW! (Jan. 20, 2013)

About a week after surgery, you can see daylight through the bottom of his foot. (Dec. 31, 2012)

Sorry for the shaky photo but what is clear is that the hoof is growing and filling in. No more daylight to be seen.

We go back to A&M on January 28th. I am pretty sure that Dr. Marsh will be happy with Bruno’s progress. The best news is we are now 31 days closer to Bruno returning to the ring!

Too dumb to own horses? And other tales-a Bruno Story

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Exechorseluver

As the ground was starting to dry out, I made my way home from the nursing home last night. I was thinking about the weekend ahead (another Texans play-off game) and also that I was tired from all of our trials with the flood but sure that the worst was past us and things were looking up.

Lauren was off with the boyfriend and Friday night was stretching out ahead of me. I pass the barn before I get to the drive-way to the house and always look over to check on the horses. The first thing I noticed was that Bruno was dancing around his stall and I could see even from the road he was sweating so much that he was lathered. Then I saw that his baby-sitter, Mr. Kid, was standing in front of the other barn, in front of the pony, Mimi’s stall. I knew Bruno would be frantic without Kid (and he was).

I raced in the house, not changing out of my work clothes, stopping long enough to don my muck boots and flew out to the barn. Kid greeted me at the gate. I grabbed a fistful of his mane, dragged him across the barn and through the open gate back to Bruno. While this certainly was a good plan and one that should have never needed to be enacted if Lauren had shut the gate between the two corrals, Bruno was so agitated and over the edge that Kid’s arrival back in stable yard did little to calm his nerves.

Horses are herd animals. They want to be part of a herd. In the wild it is extremely difficult to cull a horse out of the herd. They will break down gates, jump high fences and go to extreme lengths to remain with their herd. When Kid left to go visit his old herd mates, Bruno was in the worst of situations. A co-dependent horse without his best buddy, without any buddy.

I called Lauren and begged her to come home now. I am sure she thought I was over-reacting. In Bruno’s frenzy to get to Kid he had destroyed his stall. We had placed 4 foot by 6 foot mats in sections to cover his entire stall. Then he had shavings on top of the mats. This had worked effectively for the last 30 days. As Bruno spun, reared and ran around his stall he caught the edges of mats and the entire stall was trashed. Mats had been pushed four feet up the walls, others were sideways on top of one another. But worse, the bandage on Bruno’s hurt foot was filthy. The tape dressing that covered the bottom of his hoof had been worn off and his shoe was exposed. Both of his back legs were bleeding.

Not a good sight. His leg is white. The bandage should be white. But it wasn't.

Not a good sight. His leg should be white. The bandage should be white. His surgical shoe is visible on the bottom and should be covered.

I got a little feed (which was probably a stupid idea because he was so hot) but I thought he might focus on it and Kid and start to settle down. Then I got really smart. We had been sent home from Texas A&M with a tranquilizer drug. Bruno has done so well we have not needed it once. But now I was assembling the syringe and drawing the drug from the vial. It was definitely time to get Bruno calmed down. I tied Bruno in his stall and waited for the drug to start working. I was also waiting for Lauren to get home. Of course, it was doing this misty, nasty rain that just made the whole thing more unpleasant. Still in my work clothes, which were now covered in horse lather and sweat, I started to strip out the shavings from the stall so we could get to the mats and re-arrange them.

Lauren showed up a few moments later. By then I had moved Bruno (with a stud chain) to Kid’s stall so we could get working on re-doing his bandage and re-doing his stall. I could have done it without Lauren but was glad I didn’t have to. The re-bandaging was difficult as Bruno, in spite of the drugs, was still moving and turning. I was holding his head and Lauren his hoof but it was a rough time to get the old, nasty bandage off and the new one put on him. I have to say again, though, his hoof looks good! It is like you can see the growth each time we re-bandage it.

Together Lauren and I dragged, pushed and pulled the big mats back in place and got fresh shavings. Bruno was dry now, his sweat soaked body was starting to get chilled in the damp, cool air. Lauren placed a clean blanket on him. We got fresh water in his buckets which he had collided against and emptied onto the walkway. We got dinner made for Kid and Bruno.

Lauren walked Bruno back to his stall and he was limping hard on his sore foot. She administered some anti-inflammatory medicine to ward off the pain that would be coming.

So, twice in a week each of us had left a gate open that caused serious trouble for this brave horse. Between us, we are out to his stall to feed, water and clean at least six times a day. The bad weather does not encourage one to hang out at the barn. We are always running, always a little stressed, always a little behind. It begs the question above-are we just too dumb to care for this horse? It certainly feels that way. One of daddy’s favorite sayings, “we are our own worst enemy.”

Well, Bruno made it through another one of our crazy, stupid mistakes. We are trying to mentally slow down and not cut corners. Double checking each gate and door before we leave the barn area. Another one of my dad’s sayings was “if you have to ask yourself if the gate is closed, it isn’t.”

Today we made our bi-annual pilgrimage to South Texas Tack in Brenham. If you need supplements, supplies, or gear this is the place. We got Bruno new shavings, more tape for his hoof, bandage scissors and lots of hoof supplement.

Sneaky, excited to support the Texans with her great shirt!

$BrownDog in her Texan shirt. Note-both of these are action shots because the dogs were so excited to have their new shirts!$

BrownDog in her Texan shirt. Note-both of these are action shots because the dogs were so excited to have their new shirts!

Tomorrow the Texans will face a tough away game against New England, but with my dogs and family outfitted in Texan attire, we should provide the boost they need. Bruno needs a giant Texan’s jersey. Lauren and I will repeat last week’s visit to the nursing home with wine and appetizers. Mom had a great time then and the Texans won-might as well keep the tradition going!

Bruno to Dry Ground-A Bruno Story

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Exechorseluver

Lauren as we headed to the barn to assess the water level in the stalls.

I didn’t think it was possible but now I know that even in the middle of the winter, without a tropical storm or a hurricane in sight, mother nature can drop six inches of rain on you in south Texas in just a quick afternoon.

Lauren called and said we had been hit hard and the rain was still coming. I headed home knowing I was driving my low to the ground Volkswagen directly into the line of storms. I didn’t feel like there was much of a choice. As bad as being home in the storm was, being home alone is much worse. Situations arise fast and it is overwhelming and bleak. I wanted to be home to be with Lauren as we rode out the storm.

About 60 miles from work, I hit the Wharton County line. I saw the crop rows filled with water. I saw houses and trucks surrounded by water. I prayed I would not hit a deep patch of water with my car and I was lucky not to do so. My mind wound anxiously around what we would do with Bruno. How would we get him out to the trailer without getting his hoof wet, ruining his surgery and the subsequent recovery days we had already endured? Like your tongue over a chipped tooth, I went over and over the situation without any apparent solution. Okay, I was freaking out!

As I made the final turn for home, I saw houses isolated like islands amid the storm waters. I saw cars with water up to the wheel wells. I kept driving. My little house was surrounded by water. Typically even in the worst floods we have had our driveway stays above water. The flood waters had crested the drive.

I just couldn’t believe the water that had fallen. I know, I know, I had been told, six inches of rain. Six inches of rain is crazy. It lapped around the base of my house. There was a current in my front yard. The trailer (seen in pictures yesterday on an island of green) was now in the water which was quickly approaching the trailer floor.

A trailer standing in water is difficult for a horse to load into, even with four good feet.

I was out of ideas and afraid as we headed to the barn (which just as a point of clarification, is not a barn but a giant run-in shed with stalls). Our evacuation plan was to cover Bruno’s hoof with the nifty duct tape boot the staff at Texas A&M had taught us to make. Then we would double bag the leg in heavy-duty trash bags over the duct tape boot to keep the hoof dry. No doubt in moderately muddy, slightly wet conditions this would have been a successful plan. When you can go fly-fishing next to the trailer door, loading a horse while trying to keep his feet dry is impossible. And those of you that know horses, know that no matter how well this horse normally loads, he may completely object to “water loading”.

As we got to the barn, I was pleased and surprised to see the dampness stopped just a foot or so from the stalls. Every stall was dry but the outside stall belonging to Kid had taken some airborne water (it had rained into his stall) but the floor was still mostly dry. The flood waters had not reached the stalls.

More rain fell this afternoon but finally some weak winter sun edged its way over the horizon around dusk. More rain is predicted for tonight, but I think we have seen the worst of it.

Each time we make it through one more trial on this farm, we come up with another new plan to make things better. We now will try extending the shed’s roof line out about ten feet and add more of the rock sand that has proven effective in thwarting the water’s advance.

I am thinking that the arena may be rideable again in March or so (I am sort of kidding about this but not sure). We are okay with that. While we want to work Mimi and Feather the clock is not ticking and we will accomplish what we can, when we can. This evening Lauren changed out Bruno’s bandage again. The new hoof and flesh look healthy, pink and vital. Wow, this is not easy but we are making it. No one ever said it would be.

From the corner of Kid’s and Bruno’s stalls looking out to the arena and hay-field beyond where so many of you have driven in to pick up hay.

Please send us some prayers and wishes for sunny days ahead. God bless you and thank you to the many of you that called, texted and messaged your support. It helped us make it through.

And Some More Rain

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Exechorseluver

No riding in this arena for a while.

I couldn’t believe it when I saw the forecast. For Wharton, it was forecasted that we would receive up to six inches of rain between this morning and tomorrow night. Who gets six inches of rain? Maybe with a hurricane or a tropical storm but in January? Again, maybe six inches of snow but not of rain, not of water. Of course, this unlikely weather event comes along with the doctor’s order that Bruno cannot get his hoof wet.

We got through today. Maybe two to three inches of rain fell on the farm. More is forecasted for tonight and tomorrow. I remember when my friend Gaylyn told me that this winter was going to be wet. We made changes to the barn, the walkways, and the arena. We were going to see if my project improvement plans were really worthwhile.

I texted Lauren late this afternoon. I was 70 miles away-I hadn’t seen what it looked like “in the country”. She said we had been hit pretty hard. The trailer was sitting on an island, surrounded by water. Then I asked if Bruno’s stall was dry. (We had an evacuation plan where we would cover his leg in plastic and move him to Gaylyn’s barn if the water got too high.) I waited anxiously for her reply, scared that I hadn’t been able to keep Bruno’s leg dry.

Lauren replied, “Bruno’s stall is dry. They are all dry.”

I gave a sigh of relief and headed for home.

Bruno Stages an Escape!-A Bruno Story

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Exechorseluver

Safely back in his stall-but covered in mud!

Dawn came up on day 15 of rain and overcast skies. After an early breakfast feeding, Lauren and I huddled in the house until 9 am or so when the temperatures edged past 45 degrees. The horses (all of them, not just Bruno) had been in their stalls for over 36 hours as we waited for the rain to end.

We hauled three wheelbarrows of dirty shavings and manure out of the stalls. Then we started to dress and re-wrap Bruno’s hoof. We ran out his dressing, (we can get more at the vet tomorrow), had to sweep a clean spot to dress his hoof, had to bring him some alfalfa to distract him while we worked, had to get fresh water and clean his buckets, the point is we were in and out of his stall million times. We finally got his hoof re-done and headed to the house-chores complete!

I sat down at the computer to start my blog about watching the Texans game with my mom yesterday. She had so much fun. I glanced out the window as the site was coming up and saw a large black horse rolling in the mud. It took a second, I looked to see where Kid was (he was the only horse out) and he was standing watching Bruno roll. I looked at Lauren and screamed “Oh my God, Bruno is out loose in the mud!”

Bruno has not been out of his stall since he left for TAMU 20 days ago. He is not under any circumstances to get his hoof wet. It has rained for most of the last two weeks. There is standing water and mud everywhere. Lauren and I scrambled out of the house at a run, crashing through the dog gate, sliding into our boots, grabbing our coats and heading toward the barn. Screaming instructions at one another, “Get the first halter!”, “Grab some alfalfa!” After completing his glorious roll in the mud, Bruno had moved onto pounding the ground behind the barn, running and bucking, happy to be free. (I would like to point out that his new hoof was holding up pretty well and he was not showing big signs of lameness.) The other horses in the barn were reacting to his rampage by racing in their stalls. Lauren got past the fence to his stall area first. I arrived at the gate just as Bruno came blazing in, sliding to a stop in the deep mud in front of the gate.

Lauren tried to get Mimi’s little halter around the broad neck of the giant Bruno, all the time yelling at me, “it’s too small, it’s too small!” Of course, this all had to be my fault, I had to have been the one that did not fasten his gate correctly (and it probably was). I grabbed the wrong halter as well.

Bruno was wound up, thrilled with his escape, romp through the mud and decidedly uncaring about his bandaged foot being wet and muddy. He was trembling with excitement and blowing hard from his nose. Kid had chosen this moment to mosey on into Bruno’s stall and was content to just stand by Bruno’s feed bowl. I hurried to get Kid out to make way for Bruno to come back in.

Lauren continued to yell at me. Finally, securing the little halter around the narrowest part of Bruno’s neck, Lauren was trying to impress the big gelding that it was time to get back in his stall. It was like the Keystone Cops try to wrangle a horse. We really need a barn cam ready to record our idiotic exploits as they occur. Hundred and something pound Lauren convinced thirteen hundred and something pound Bruno to go into the stall. Then we started to assess the damage.

Bruno’s filthy back legs!

Thankfully we had just re-bandaged the hoof and we had been out of our normal elastikon bandage. We had substituted a heavier weight, waterproof tape and covered Bruno’s hoof in it. When we got the muddy bandage off, water had not seeped through to the hoof. We re-bandaged it, took off Bruno’s blanket that was now covered in mud, brushed him down and re-blanketed him with an old stable blanket that barely fit him. Lauren gave him some anti-inflammatory meds for when his little romp starts to feel like a bad idea.

We double checked the gate chain before we left this time. We counted our blessings that I had seen him when I did before he had time to really soak the hoof.

Newly bandaged and clothed in a clean blanket.

And on my original idea for today’s blog, Lauren and I went to Nanny’s with wine in sippy cups, various appetizers and watched the first half of the Texans play-off game. Mom said it was the best day she had in a long time. I don’t know if it was our company or the wine, but it almost seemed like old times, cheering on the winning team. For a little while we could forget that anything was unusual about drinking “forbidden” wine from children’s sippy cups in a nursing home in Texas.

Bruno Comes Home-A Bruno Story

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Exechorseluver

Due to the graphic nature of today’s photos-please use caution in allowing children to view pictures.

Today on day nine of Bruno’s recovery, we went to Texas A&M to pick up Bruno. He had new tissue growing on the bone and the healing had started. Here are some photos of the hoof as it was cleaned out prior to having a custom shoe fitted on Friday. The new shoe has a plate that screws in and out so we have access to the “defect” (as the vet called it).

Sorry its sideways! Lauren calls it him bloody stump.

With his custom shoe!

Today-cleaned and ready to come home.

Bruno will need to be stall bound for four weeks at which time he will return to A&M. He will not be happy but he will have Mr. Kid as his constant companion. Dr. Marsh was terrific.

Jordyn was singing “Santa Claus is coming to Town”. Ally told her yes, he was in 363 days. Wish I knew how Bruno will be doing then. We are happy to have him home and happy to have been able to give him this second chance.

Day Five-A Bruno Story

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Exechorseluver

The Aggie Leg.

Lauren and I made the Sunday drive up to see Bruno today. He had gotten his hoof re-dresssed this morning. The surgeon was happy to see that there is granulation which means new healthy tissue is growing. Likewise, there is no longer any infection and for the first time in who knows how long, Bruno’s foot is disease free.

There was no sign of blood this morning which was a bonus for us as well. Although I am to receive some of the pictures from the hoof during surgery so if you are squeamish you might want to miss out on tomorrow’s post. He was re-wrapped and also had his leg half-way wrapped to help support it and keep the swelling down. Coincidentally, it was wrapped in A&M maroon. I am not sure they even order any other color here.

Lauren loving on Bruno.

We spent some time in the stall with Bruno. He was in great spirits and ate about 20 carrots, some apples and horse treats. He is obviously feeling better. I wish I had a 20 foot high, cinderblock stall to put him in when he gets home. He certainly is feeling no pain today, which is great, but we don’t want him to get excited and hurt the foot.

When we got back home, we did the last of the grocery shopping, a lot of cooking and had a quiet afternoon. We will not talk about the Texans. Merry Christmas Eve Eve to all.

Exechorseluver

The life and times of modern day horse woman

Category Archives: A Bruno Story