Ethan

So, I have made the terrible decision to euthanize Ethan due to his ethmoid hematoma. I don't feel the need to go into great detail as to my decision, but it is what it is and I've given it a lot of thought and talked to friends and family who's opinions I respect and value. Right now he is happy and comfortable and we'll keep him that way as long as possible and then I'll let him go. I am all about quality of life, and once that quality isn't there it's time. But the hematoma is continuously growing so I believe it will be sooner rather than later that we'll be down to just one horse on the farm. I've dealt with one other Thoroughbred with this and his owner at the time, in my opinion, kept him going far too long. He should have been put down months before he was; he was to the point where he was scratching the hide off his face because the bloody (no pun intended) thing was itching or hurting so badly. So I will NOT let Ethan get to that point.

The thing that really stinks about all of this is that I REALLY like him! The Thoroughbred I had before Ethan just didn't have the personality or the talent so I was attached but not like Ethan. Unfortunately I lost him in a trailering accident, which is a whole other story we don't need to get into, but I'm sure you're all thinking I shouldn't get another Thoroughbred because I apparently have NO luck with them. But I will get another one because I love the breed but I have to accept that this is what God has planned for me in my life right now.

Thank goodness CB is healthy! He's my rock right now! He's not allowed to die. Now I know one day I will have to say goodbye to him but hopefully not for another 20 years. Jamie might kill me if he has to trim a 44 year old Hanoverian! So I will start the process of looking for a new prospect. I would really like something that walk, trots, canters, and hops over cross rails, but on a tight budget I'm not sure I'll get that lucky. Fall is coming though and people don't want to feed horses over the winter so I might get a deal. So who knows, never a dull moment around here! Onto happier topics! School has started back so that's taking up some of my time, but thankfully it's just one class, twice a week. Until next time, go hug your horse!

Quick Update....

Unfortunately it's not a good update. Ethan has an ethmoid hematoma, basically a tumor near his sinuses....can't talk much about it right now but I'm afraid we're going to have to let him go. More later....

When it rains it pours...no one likes a bloody nose!

Well it's been a while since I've posted anything. First off I was dealing with CB having broken off a huge chunk of his foot and subsequently being lame of weeks! We finally tried a newer product called Magic Cushion in a hoof pack and I believe that stuff helped us turn the corner towards soundness. I'm happy to report that he's 100% sound now and enjoying the cooler weather we're experiencing in Kentucky right now. Totally not typical August weather but I'll take it while I can get it.

Now on to the bloody nose situation. I came home from work last Monday, in a hurry to get chores done so we could go to the Mercer County Fair Beef Show (exciting times I know). I think I'd rather watch Training Level Dressage all day, but that's not the point of the story. I was in a hurry so Jamie went out to feed the Beagles and I took care of everyone inside. He horses were in the run-in shed so I didn't worry too much about them. Until I took the Russells out and noticed blood on the salt block, now not just a little blood, a lot of bring red blood. So I kicked it into gear to figure out which horse was bleeding and from where. Thankfully my boys come when they are called (generally) and Ethan had a nasty bloody nose. Great....so put dogs away, get rubber gloves, a wash cloth and a bucket of water. I pull him out of the field and at this point I think, ok you're a goofy Thoroughbred and have punctured your nose with a stick or something. So we clean him up, it's still bleeding but it's bloody hot outside and I think it will clot when it cools off and he takes a nap. So off to the beef show we go to sell Pedal Tractor tickets. Again, not really prudent to the story at hand.

The next morning I go out to check on him because by the time we got home Monday night it was late and I wouldn't have been able to see anything anyway. Unfortunately it was still bleeding, not as much as the night before but definitely still active. So I get to work at text my vet. She calls back and is concerned as well that it's still bleeding and is afraid he's got a fungal infection in his Gutoral Pouch...meaning he could bleed out! So now I am at working panicking. She says to call another vet friend that has a scope and have him scoped ASAP. The other vet could do it late that morning, so I leave work at 10:30, leaving poor Brydon stranded to meet the vet. Brydon got a ride home FYI ;-) The scope showed a clean Gutoral Pouch but then the vet didn't know where the blood was coming from. She suggested keeping him in a stall until the bleeding stops. If it stops and doesn't start again then we can assume he's hit his head on something that caused the bleed. So in a stall he goes, now this is Tuesday, Wednesday night I got home from work to a clean nose. The bleeding had stopped and stayed stopped, great news! Well, we were going out of town for the weekend so I asked the vet if I could turn him out so my dog sitters didn't have to clean a stall and come over twice a day. She said fine just keep an eye on him and if it starts again get a head xray. Unfortunately the bleeding started again on Saturday. (boo hiss!) So back to a stall he went, did I mention I love my dog sitters/friends for taking care of all of my critters and coming over to check Ethan twice a day even thought they didn't have to.

So Wednesday night my usual vet came out to do the head xray. We found some fluid in one of his sinuses, but she wanted to send the xrays to someone who looks at heads more often than she does to double check there wasn't anything else going on. I haven't gotten those results back yet but we've got the boy on SMZs (antibiotics)  to treat it like a sinus infection. The drainage he's got now is more mucousy than the bright red blood we started with so that makes me feel a bit better. He's in during the day and turned out at night, I'm hoping the turn out will help the mucous drain some. This morning I felt like it looked somewhat better, maybe now that we've had 4 doses of SMZs we're starting to fix this. Granted, there goes my plans to do Team CEO's Mini Trial on the 26th. I'm hoping maybe we can do Octoberfest  now. The best laid plans of mice and men right? So it's never dull around here. Everyone else is happy and healthy, thank goodness!