Missing pictures

Some photos I meant to include but got distracted. These are from a couple of weeks ago.

June 4, 2008

Granulation tissue appearing. There has been some in the past, but it is raised a bit and before it seemed flush with the rest of the leg.

There was a small amount of blood when I picked off a dead bit of scabby skin. It stopped very quickly.
She still, understandably, favors the leg when standing. I think it's habit at this point. She doesn't seem to be in pain at all. It's uncomfortable for her when I pick at it too much (my bad), but she certainly hasn't been cranky about it in any way.
I forgot the bands, but did braid her mane!
These scratches are interesting to me. I don't know what they're from. When I noticed them a week or two ago, I thought my irritable mare, Pie, had raked her with her teeth. Upon closer inspection, I don't know how that could be possible. Pie's teeth wouldn't make those kinds of marks, spaced that way and that skinny. Plus, she kind of likes Dani.

They look like a cat. Too big for my barn kitties (like they would ever attempt a horse, though they are prolific hunters). Too small for anything but the most adolescent of cougars. One was spotted in our neighborhood last year. He/she could still be around, and that would be like a cat to target the "lame" one.

Bobcat? Could be. Thoughts? It's only on the left side, but we were thinking it could be that the cat jumped on her back and tried to grab around her but couldn't reach both sides. She did have some minor scratching higher up on her rump on the off side. Nothing that looks like these though.

*She's such a good girl.

Dani's leg continues to improve. Here are the recent photos, taken May 27, 2008. The wound actually looks a little larger, but the surrounding areas look better. I don't think it's digressing. I think it's healing elsewhere around the leg and next we'll see progress in the open section. The rest of the leg looks like a more normal size and shape that it has in the past.




She continues to be a character. When turned out today, she reared and raced and was a general mischief maker among the other horses, causing a stampede from one pasture to the next. The leg is perfectly sound (apparently!) and she is not off on it. Perhaps a bit short-strided, but I certainly expect that to be true until she feels she can trust it 100%. Horses take better care of their injuries than humans do, I think.

*Dani's leg looks amazing!

Dani's leg seems way better to me today than it seems it should from the last bandage change. Obviously, this is the right direction and I'm so pleased that the wound is not only closing without too much goo and granulation tissue, but that it is closing so cleanly. It's not ragged and horrifying anymore. It's just a big, sticky scab that looks like it's healing just fine. I'm just so pleased.

(Please ignore the boat in the first picture. So White trash...)


















Her leg is so light colored in these pictures because I was picking away at that loose hair that has been stuck in there for awhile now. I ended up using a rubber brush with soft, nubbly things to get alot of that old hair off and it worked up some dust too.

I think it felt really good to her to get scratched there. She hasn't had bandages off for longer than it takes to change them since February.

When it heals a bit more, and I don't feel like I would risk infection, she's going to get a bath. It would probably be fine now, but I've had horses that have taken a wrong turn with leg injuries for less reason than getting water and dirt in it, so I'm being cautious. Soon though. Very soon.

*Improvement is improvement. Training or otherwise.

Dani is a lovely three-year-old filly who tore her right hind extensor tendon in February of 2008. She came to me on April 4th, 2008 after her previous owner had done all the surgery needed.


Previous owner, Cassie, is a great lady who is now a trail buddy of mine. Many good reasons for being in the right place at the right time. Cassie is also a barrel racer and, while Dani will heal and be sound, Cassie was concerned for her future as a barrel horse and decided a good trail home (with me!) would be her best bet.


This blog will be about Dani's rehabilitation and eventual return to active duty as a trail mount.


April 7, 2008. First bandage change with me.

May 1, 2008 Many changes in between of course. Just the next time I had the camera.

May 9, 2008







































She's pretty cute!