This a long story. It all started yesterday morning.
This morning I went out to feed and found Vanny in distress. He was holding up his right front leg and not putting weight on it. His back legs were very weak and he was stumbling around. He was sweating and somewhat breathing harder. He tried to move around but his rear end was not co-operating. He did manage to move from one stall to the other and try to eat his mash grain. I went into the house and asked Ron if he noticed any little thing wrong with him last night at feeding time and he did not. I called my normal vet at 5:55 am but at that time, it is the service that picks up. I got a call back at 6:30 am from the assistant whom informed me that Bonnie could not make it out but gave me the number for Genesee Valley Equine. Needless to say, they are about 45 minutes from my house. I put a call into the service for them and the on call vet called me right back but she was going out on a foaling emergency. She said she’d call the office when she got done to see if they were gonna send anyone else out. In the mean time, I tried Perry Vet clinic because they are much closer. But I was told all the vets were in their morning meeting and as it was at that time, the equine vet would not be able to make it out until the afternoon. Around 8:40 am I was told a vet was about ½ hr from my house. From GVE. She got there in about 15 min from the call. She said it did not look good because Vanny has a dropped elbow. More than likely it would be from a broken bone. Or it could be neurological from either a broken bone deeper in his neck/shoulder area or EPM or some other condition. So she called in a assistant to bring her some of the x-ray equipment. The good news is after numerous x-rays, it does not seem to be broken anywhere that she can tell. As it is a very hard area to get a good picture from. She did give him 2 doses of pain meds. When we got him back into his stall, he stumbled and fell in the doorway, landing on his bad side. We tried numerous times to help him up, but all he could do is support himself with his good front leg and the rest would collapse. We did manage to get him in enough and swing him around so we could flip him onto his good side. The vet was amazed at how well behaved he was during all this and how smart he was reacting. He never once panicked. We got him on his good side but he could not get his footing good enough to get himself up. We worked him to the back door to the outside. Each and every time, he tried with all he had only to fall again. We had him outside and let him rest. The vet gave him one more steroid shot and said if we could not get him up this time, we never would and he’d have to be put down. We let him rest and get the shot into his system. We tried one last time and he got up and was alert. We spent 45 min trying to get him up. He is now in a small paddock with his buddies next to him in the stalls. He is on some meds and steroids. The next 2 days will tell. He has an uphill battle right now. I am very worried about laminitis in his good front leg at the moment but the vet said with the soft outdoor footing, meds and steroids he should be OK from that. But if he doesn’t improve by tomorrow night, he more than likely will not improve and I will have him put down. The vet is some what optimistic because he is tolerating the pain so well, he is being very sensible and not panicking or acting out. Only time will tell right now.
Day 2 5/6/08
I had Vanny locked up in a small area yesterday and when I got home from work, he was about the same. I think his elbow was more swollen than from the morning but since he fell on that side numerous times, I’m sure that had to be why. I stayed out and watched him for a long time. He seemed depressed but alert. He did not eat all his dinner but again, he went through a lot so I didn’t think that was out of the ordinary. But I went to bed early and by 9:15, Ron came in and woke me up because he had heard a lot of banging going on in the barn and when he went out to see what it was, (Scout hitting the door cause he HATES to be stalled), he found Vanny down. So I got up and went out to see him. He was laying flat out and when I got closer and called his name, he did lift his head. I stayed and just stroked him and spoke with him. He was quivering so I covered him with a blanket. I was so sure that I was going to loose him. He was breathing deep but not in distress. I truly don’t think he was in pain at all. But his body was weak and just couldn’t keep him up anymore.I decided that we should let the other horses out and let them see Vanny from the other side of the fence so if and when he passed, they would know. Scout was very concerned about Vanny being down out there. But when we let them out, they took off like jets and Vanny started to stir and try to get up. But since he couldn’t, all he did was move himself around. He ended up getting under the fence that we have to keep the others separated from him. So we grabbed the others and put them back in the stalls and took the fence down. While we were doing all that, I don’t know how he did it, but Vanny got himself back up. Once he got up, he was alert and started munching on hay. But he was still close to the perimeter fence so I got his halter on and moved him so he was facing the barn. We left him there and the others seemed happy. This morning I could not see Vanny out in the pasture. I have a 3 acre pasture. He was all the way on the other side of the pasture standing in his favorite spot. He had to cross a ditch to get there. I gave him his meds this morning and he dove right into his grain mash. But he still is not putting weight on his front leg. The swelling had gone down some. I didn’t try to move him so I don’t know how his back end was. I told Ron that he could let the other horses out when he got home but to keep an eye on them so they are not running around Vanny or pushing him around. So needless to say, even though he seemed fair this morning, he is a long way from being better. He will need to be able to bear weight on his bad leg or it will be just too much for his good leg to take. I have to call the vets this morning with an update and see how they want to proceed.
I just got off the phone with the vet. We will give him 1 more day to see if he will put weight on his bad leg. If he were a dog or cat, hobbling around on a bum leg would be fine with me. But seeing how he is not, I cannot risk him getting laminitis in his good leg and suffering like that.
If you don't want to stand behind our soldiers who are in danger zones, please stand in front of one.
VanHalen 25 yr QH Stallion R.I.P. 4/11/82 - 5/8/08
Scout 19 yr Paint Cross Gelding
Dandy 13 yr QH Gelding