He decided he was done with the therapeutic shoe phase of recovery...

Look at those pretty gold dapples!

Nox looks good, doesn't he?  He's healthy and happy, he hasn't had a nosebleed in a month (he had 3 total, still no idea why), and he's a pleasure to be around.

He's also torn off two of his four shoes in the past week.  Nox needed a lift pad on his right hind leg to ease the pressure on his torn suspensory ligament, and to make sure he was balanced, he had lift pads on both hind hooves.  He also had shoes on the front for support.  Well, he stepped on the right hind shoe and tore it off, along with most of the hoof wall.  My farrier couldn't put the shoe back on because there wasn't enough hoof wall to nail it to, so I had him take off the other hind shoe (no point wearing it if the injured leg doesn't have one).  Two days later he stepped on the left front shoe and tore that off, so I had the farrier remove the other front shoe.  Now he's barefoot.

Nox has his lameness evaluation next week Wednesday.  I've already told Dr. Meg that he's barefoot and she was a little concerned.  It's almost been a year since he was diagnosed with the injury, and when I walked him around the ring today (just a short slow walk), he was still limping.  I didn't even need to trot him to see that he is still off.  Dr. Meg is going to do an ultrasound this time and look at the ligament - is it healing?  Did it heal wrong?  What the heck is going on?!?  It can take a VERY long time for these types of injuries to heal - a year is typical and more than a year is not uncommon - but I'm not seeing any improvement.  It could be that the paddock, while good for Nox's mental health, is not good for his ligament tear.  I'm guessing... speculating... expecting... that the vet will want him back on stall rest.  I'm hoping that stall rest in his new stall won't be as dramatic as stall rest in the old place.  In this stall, Nox can hang his head out into the barn aisle and play with his neighbors and the various barn critters.  He can also hang his head out the other door and look outside.  Hopefully, if he must go back on strict rest, this stimulation will keep him from going crazy.

I'll keep everyone posted and wish us luck at our vet appointment!  For now, enjoy these lovely early fall pictures...

Seriously, how does he have this much muscle after 11 months of stall rest?

Nox has a pet cat named Hutch.  She hangs out on his paddock fence and stall door, and she likes it when he nibbles her neck and back.

 

They are adorable together.

Recovery and Relaxation

Nox is doing well after his health scare.  Penny is always out and about doing work on her farm, so she passes his paddock and checks on him constantly.  She sent me this adorable photo of him napping in the shade the next morning after he returned from Cornell.  Poor boy must have been exhausted. 

Nox was even snoring a little!

Penny has also noticed that he's drinking more water than usual - she fills his bucket 5-6 times a day, whereas before the trip to Cornell, he was drinking 3 buckets.  The sedatives he was given make him sweat profusely, so we think he's a bit dehydrated and upping his water intake.
 
He hasn't had any more nosebleeds this week, so hopefully we're finished with that particular drama.  The coffin bone fracture and torn ligament are much easier to deal with emotionally - the emergency events are so frightening.  I've been through horse emergencies before, but this was the first time it happened to MY horse.

In any case, Nox is healthy and I'm spending plenty of time with him this week, since I'm off work.  Best Husband Ever has been coming with me and took the silly photo below: 

Cheese!

      

Update on Nox

Nox is home.  After 24 very scary hours, we have a diagnosis: nothing.  The radiographs yesterday morning were examined by several veterinarians and radiologists, including a sinus/nasal/throat specialist and they didn't find any masses, tumors, or anything suspicious.  To be sure they weren't missing anything, Dr. Hill and her team scoped his nasal passage and throat again.

The good news is they can't find anything that would cause a nosebleed and there is nothing life threatening going on in Nox's head.  The frustrating news is they can't find anything to fix.  Dr. Hill said that the next step, if they had found something suspicious in the radiographs, would be to put Nox under general anesthesia and perform CT scans.  However, since they haven't found anything worrisome, the risks of putting Nox under anesthesia are too high to warrant that step.  I agree.  Horses as a species are very risky to anesthetize - their huge body mass makes it difficult for them to lie on one side for too long without injuring organs, tissue, and bone; and the awakening process is fraught with hazards, as the sedated, confused horse attempts to stand up.  Some horses develop colic days later and can become very sick.  Sometimes anesthesia is unavoidable and the vets must weigh the risks with saving a horse's life.  Since we have ruled out all life-threatening issues with Nox, Dr. Hill doesn't want to take these chances.

So, at this point, Dr. Hill has to guess that he might have bumped his head just right to rupture some blood vessels in his nose.  It happens.  My Dad theorized that maybe Agnes the Goat head-butted him while they were sharing grain.  It's possible, Agnes does love to play the head-butt game.  He also likes to play "nip the nose" with his neighbor Ellie over the stall doors.  Maybe he got too excited and banged his nose.  He is a klutz.  Who knows?

I'm grateful that there is nothing seriously wrong with him.  I can't express how terrified I was on Sunday, thinking he might have Guttural Pouch Mycosis and I was going to lose him.  It brings tears to my eyes now, reliving that fear.  I haven't had enough time with Nox; I'm not ready for him to go.  But, a small part of me wishes I had a concrete explanation and something to fix, but... it is what it is.  Dr. Hill told me that if he has another nosebleed in the near future, I can give her a call, but it won't need to be treated as an emergency (unless the bleeding won't stop after 20 minutes or so), since we've ruled out the fatal conditions.  It takes months for horses to develop the damaging fungus that causes Guttural Pouch Mycosis, and we've seen that his guttural pouch is clean and clear.  However, if he has another major nosebleed next year, we might have to do all this again.  In the meantime, I can hold his head at shoulder height, wait for the bleeding to stop, and wipe his nose.  There's not much that one can do for a horse nosebleed.  Hopefully, he won't have another one.

The other positive outcome of this whole experience is the horse trailer.  When Penny, Best Husband Ever, and I arrived at the hospital yesterday to pick up Nox, he nickered as soon as he saw us.  He looked so happy that we were there.  Dr. Hill gave the technician a syringe with a sedative in it, because he needed to be sedated to get on the trailer to come down.  She asked me if I wanted to try to load him without the sedative first, and I said, "Sure, why not?", but I didn't have much hope that he would load.  I hooked up his lead rope and walked him out of the hospital and into the parking lot.  Penny opened the trailer door, I walked Nox up, and he just stepped into the trailer like it was no big deal!!  We were all so shocked that nobody said a word for about 5 seconds.  I could not believe he just did that!  I patted his neck, told him what a good boy he was, and tied him up.  My guess (and I realize that I anthropomorphize a little too much) is that he did not want to stay another minute at the place where they kept sticking things up his nose and when he saw me, he realized that he could go home to his paddock, grain, and sunshine - so he just stepped into the trailer because it was the easy path to freedom.  No more pricks and prods, just get me home!

So, Nox loads into trailers now.  That was an expensive trailer loading lesson.  Silver linings.      

Vacation to Staycation

As I write this, I am supposed to be sitting on a plane somewhere over Ohio on my way to visit my sister for a week of relaxation and auntie/niece bonding time in Santa Cruz, California.  Our plans have changed.  Horses often have impeccable timing.

Yesterday, just before noon, Penny called me and said that Nox was having a terrible nosebleed.  She told me that his stall was covered in blood and it was pooling at his feet in the paddock.  I abandoned my suitcase packing, asked her to call the vet, and jumped in the car to head over.  By the time I arrived at the barn, the bleeding has slowed and Penny had spoken to our local vet, who recommended that we call the Cornell University Equine Hospital.  I talked to a vet at Cornell named Dr. Hill and she recommended that we get Nox on a trailer and get him to the hospital as soon as possible.  Penny already had the trailer hooked up to the truck.

Nosebleeds in horses are a symptom of a couple of different conditions.  One is very serious and fatal, called Guttural Pouch Mycosis.  This is where the horse develops a fungal infection in the guttural pouch, which contains arteries and nerves, and the fungus erodes the arterial wall and causes bleeding.  Sometimes the horse has a few minor nosebleeds before the artery is completely eroded and the horse eventually has a catastrophic nosebleed and essentially bleeds out and dies.  The only way to know if a horse has this condition is to put a scope up their nose and into their guttural pouch to see if there is an infection. 

A screen shot of my frantic Google search for Guttural Pouch Mycosis. 

Nox, as I recently related in the post about moving him to Penny's barn, refuses to get into trailers these days.  I asked my local vet to come sedate Nox so we could hopefully get him into the trailer.  As she was injecting the sedative, she told me that a few months ago, another one of her clients ignored a nosebleed and her horse ended up having a catastrophic nosebleed a few days later and died on the trailer on the way to Cornell.  This may be a rare condition, but it does happen.  I tried to stay out of panic mode as Nox slid into a drugged state and I hoped we could get him on the trailer quickly.  After a few minutes of tugging, pushing, and pulling, Nox drunkenly stumbled onto the trailer.  Best Husband Ever was able to get the day off at the last minute and he accompanied us on the 2 1/2 hour drive to Cornell, driving my car while I rode in the truck with Penny.

Dr. Hill and a whole team of veterinary students met us at the door to the state-of-the-art hospital.  The facility is amazing and the staff are so incredibly nice.  The floors are all covered with rubber flooring, but the flooring changes colors from room to room.  Nox did not want to step on the different colored flooring and I ended up having to back him into various rooms and hallways, even after he was sedated again.  He is so stubborn.  We weighed him first and he weighs 1,325 lbs!  I had always guessed 1,200 lbs... he's a big horse.  Dr. Hill and her team scoped Nox's guttural pouch and to everyone's extreme relief, everything looked clear and normal.  Nox did not have a guttural pouch infection.

However, we are not out of the woods yet.  He was bleeding heavily and there are other conditions, though not as life threatening, that cause nosebleeds.  Nox is scheduled for radiographs this morning to see if there are any masses or tumors in his sinus cavity that may be hemorrhaging.  These masses and tumors are treatable through minimally invasive procedures.  I'm waiting now for a phone call to see what Dr. Hill has found and what our next steps will be for treatment.

I canceled our vacation to California.  I'm not sure how long Nox will be at the hospital and what kind of decisions I'll need to make over the next couple of days, and so I had to stay close.  We were able to get credit for our next booked flights, so all is not lost, but I'm terribly disappointed to miss seeing my sister, her husband, and my beautiful niece.  Best Husband Ever and I are scheduled for another trip to California in November for a family wedding, and now we are looking forward to that trip even more.

I will keep everyone updated on Nox's progress and in the meantime, please think positive thoughts for him and throw out some good vibes for his speedy recovery.    

   

Show Time!

Yesterday, I rode in a horse show!  Since Nox is still on rest, my friend (and owner of the new barn we're boarding at) Penny has graciously let me ride one of her horses for fun and for lessons.  Baya is a 4 year old warmblood mare (warmblood means she's part draft horse/part Thoroughbred) who Penny rescued a few months ago.  Back then, Baya was thin, sick, and recovering from having twins too young.  She was in need of some love, attention, and exercise.  Now, she's cute as a button and an absolute joy to ride.  We only started jumping her about 6 weeks ago, and she's a natural.  Penny and my trainer Beth suggested that I show her at the next horse show and after a week of mulling it over, I agreed.

I haven't shown a horse in 14 years.  I remember always being so nervous and feeling enormous pressure to do well for the horse's sake.  That nervousness always transferred to the horse I was riding and I never placed very well.  In fact, the last time I rode in a show class, the horse and I were so out of control that the judge actually had to jump out of our way to avoid being run over.  Needless to say, we came in dead last - I'm pretty sure the judge muttered something about the ring gate hitting us on the ass on the way out.

Over the years since, I lost interest in showing.  I didn't really have any opportunities to show anyway.  I was moving around the country, galloping through sage brush in Wyoming, and riding friend's horses sporadically when I had the chance.  It wasn't until I adopted Nox that I started thinking about horse shows, but I wasn't convinced that I'd have fun doing it again.

Through all the moves (I've lived in 5 states since graduating college), I kept two things with me: my riding dress boots and my stock pin.  My mom bought the boots for me with I was 14.  They fit perfectly and made me feel like a real rider.  I've kept them with me because classic riding boots never go out of style and I always thought I'd wear them with jeans or something.  It turns out that my 14 year old calves were much slimmer than my twenty and thirty something calves and I could never wear them with jeans - but I kept them anyway because just looking at them made me me feel like that 14 year old rider who felt special in her boots.  The stock pin was also a gift from Mom.  I've kept that with me for the same reason - it's a nice memento from my horse days that made me feel better about not having horses to ride.   Who knew that 14 years later, I'd be able to wear them in a horse show once again?

When I decided to show Baya, I pulled my boots out of the closet and my pin out of the jewelery box.  They both needed a good cleaning and shine.  Best Husband Ever offered to do a Marine Corps spit shine on my boots.   They came out perfect and wearing slim riding breeches, I was miraculously able to put them on!  I bought a second-hand show coat, a pair of breeches, gloves, and a show shirt, and I was all set.

Baya has never been in a show before and she's very young, and after my long hiatus from the ring, I went in to the show with no expectations.  My only goal was to stay on my horse, get her over the jumps, and have a good time.  I just smiled and rode for fun.  Once I saw that Baya was calm and responsive, any trace of nerves I had disappeared.  Baya and I placed 2nd in a jumping class - her first show and she earned 2nd!  Best Husband Ever and our barn buddies cheered wildly and clapped when our number and names were called and I couldn't have been prouder of this sweet little horse.

2nd place!

By the end of day, Baya and I earned 6 ribbons - mostly fourth and sixth places, but we beat a few people in most of our classes and frankly, I was just ecstatic to be out there.  I had so much fun and Baya performed beautifully.  We have a few things to work on before the next show in a few weeks - jumping over flowers boxes (she was a little worried about the flowers and hesitated a bit), picking up the right lead at the canter (I had to correct her a few times), and I need to make sure I keep my eyes up and shoulders back.  All in all, it was a great day! 

Best Husband Ever cheered us on and buffed my boots between classes (he really is the best). I received lots of compliments on my shiny boots!

Horse cuddles and more ribbons!

Oh yes, and my trainer volunteered me for an interview with the local news:

http://www.wwnytv.com/news/local/Horses-Jump--268805381.html

Oh boy. I don't have much to say about that, except the happiness and excitement were real.  And I'm kind of a dork on camera. 

Nox had to stay back at the barn, of course, but he's happy to stand in the sunshine, snort at the pigs, share his grain with Agnes and the chickens, and play with his neighbor Ellie.  After the show, I returned to the barn to unload horses and tack, and spent some time grooming and sitting with Nox. I've got the show bug again, and hopefully in a year or two I can show Nox.  He'll look so pretty all braided and tacked up.

Nox and Ellie

          

      

What a Difference!

Nox is thriving in his new stall/paddock combo.  I'm pleasantly surprised and amazed at his quick transformation.  I feel like I have my sweet, wonderful, goofy boy back.  Last year, I often sat out in the pasture with him as he grazed and he'd walk over occasionally to check in with me and nuzzle my shoulder.  He was a pleasure to be around.  The past several months he's been too high-strung and aggressive for me to really chill out with him.  Being locked in four walls was making him stir-crazy and I understand how difficult it was for him.  It was an almost constant fight to keep him under control and not biting, bucking, or trying to run from me.  There were moments of calm, but they didn't last long.  He was always like a shaken can of soda - ready to burst at the slightest bump.  Now that he has some freedom and fresh air, he is relaxed, content, and calm.  All the things he used to spook at - loud noises, tractors, the wind - aren't affecting him at all.  The farm tractor rumbles right by his paddock and he barely flicks an ear at it while he continues munching on his hay.  Five days ago that would have sent him into a tizzy. 

He is quickly charming the all the new human friends he's meeting with his good looks and sweet personality.  He nickers at Penny in the mornings as she feeds the pigs and hams it up for anyone who stops by his paddock.  This morning he was eating his grain outside with a bunch of chickens who were snatching up whatever he dropped.  Penny told me he was moving his feet very carefully and watching them with intense interest between bites of grain.  He sleeps outside in the cool night air and retreats into his stall when the heat and the flies get too much in the afternoon.  I love arriving at the barn after work and seeing him enjoying the sunshine.  He still nickers for me when he hears my whistle. 

I groom him in his paddock and he stands quietly.  I like to sit with him while he eats his hay in the paddock, and he nuzzles my shoulder and lets me kiss his nose.  I trust my horse again.  Despite the freedom and space in the paddock, Nox doesn't run around and Penny says she hasn't seen him act up at all, so he is getting the rest he needs.  I'm very hopeful that if we keep this up, his September vet check will show an improvement.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying my sweet boy once again.

Best Husband Ever made the beautiful stall sign for me.

 

The Good News

Nox has moved!  He is now enjoying a much larger stall with an attached paddock.  He can walk outside and enjoy the sunshine and breezes any time he wants!

Dr. Meg really wanted me to find a stall with an attached paddock for Nox.  He was going crazy in his stall and when I did let him out in the ring, he'd just explode from the pent up energy and boredom.  The stable only had stalls or large group pastures and neither was suitable for Nox on stall rest.  I felt so bad on beautiful sunny days, knowing that he was standing in his stall, waiting for me to come to let him out.  It just wasn't working out.

I talked to my friend Penny, who owns a stable just down the street from where I was boarding Nox.  She has stalls with paddocks and I asked her to please let me know when one opened up.  Penny's place is like Disneyland: lots of horses, ponies, pigs, a mini donkey, chickens, cats, a guinea pig and rabbit who live together, a huge dog, and a goat named Agnes.  Penny and her family live on site and they are very dedicated to their farm.  The trainer that I really like started working at Penny's stable a few months ago, and Penny had a horse that needed to be ridden.  So, a few weeks ago, I started riding Baya, a cute buckskin warmblood, and taking riding lessons.  I'd ride and then go over to the other barn to see Nox.

Last week, Penny told me a stall was opening up!  I've been so excited to move Nox, but I've also been dreading it.  I haven't trailered Nox since he arrived at the barn 2 years ago.  In his old race horse life, he was trailered often and I imagine that he must have been pretty good at it.  But, it's been 2 years.

Today was moving day and Nox did not get into the trailer.  We tried for an hour and he simply refused to get in.  He wasn't scared, he just flat out refused.  We tried walking him on.  We tried standing in the trailer with grain.  We tried picking up his front hoof and putting it in the trailer.  We tried cracking a lunge whip behind him.  He just stood there at the entrance to the trailer, refusing to step up into it.  If I pulled on the lead rope, he'd snap his head up and hit it on the top of the trailer doorway.  It just was not happening.  Finally, I decided that struggling with him for another two hours was going to do more damage to his ligament than just walking him the mile and a half to the new barn.

So, that's what we did.  Penny's son and I each clipped a lead rope to Nox's halter and walked on either side of him down the road, with Penny following us in the truck and trailer.  We were the goofiest parade ever to march down the road.  He spooked at the first three mailboxes we passed, but was surprisingly calm for most of the walk.  As we neared the new barn, he whinnied to the other horses.  They called back and the horses in the pastures came running over.  Agnes the goat met us at the property line and escorted us to the barn.  I turned Nox loose into his paddock and he immediately rolled, looked around, and spooked at the pigs.  An hour later he had calmed down and was walking in and out of his stall and paddock, meeting his neighbor horses and making friends with Agnes.  His stall is very open, so he can hang his head out into the barn aisle, and his paddock has a view of the pastures, the riding ring, and the pig pen.  I was so happy to see him so entertained and engaged!  He was so isolated in his old stall.  By the time I left a few hours later, he was eating hay in his stall and playing "nip the nose" with his neighbor Ellie.

Hopefully, this little bit of freedom to be outside whenever he wants will be just what the doctor ordered.  After he calms down a bit and gets used to his surroundings, this new arrangement should make the next few months of stall rest much more tolerable and help his ligament to finally heal.  In the meantime, I can keep in shape riding Baya and taking lessons, and see Nox at the same time.  It's a better situation for both of us.  Good news!

Nox standing in his paddock.

Nox standing near the doorway to his new, larger stall.

Nox making friends with Agnes.