Progression of Jinx's Healing

His leg is FINALLY healing, so I thought I'd put a few pictures together to show what the progression of his healing has been like...

Here is the first, initial injury:

Here it is after the stitches, and after he had ripped out said stitches:

After healing for a quite a while, and things still not looking "quite right" a blood vessel burst, which can be seen here:

And here is it is, after all the trouble, money, and heartache, FINALLY HEALING!

And it is even smaller than this photo, but I have no had a chance to take pictures of it. The area is finally starting to get smaller, there is no swelling whatsoever in that area, and it is finally starting to look like a happy, healing pink.

At least 2 more weeks of wrapping, then ultrasounds, and we are good to go with lots of fingers crossed and lots of knocking on wood!

3 more weeks?

3 more weeks of wrapping.

Last week, there was some complication with his existing injury. A blood vessel, naturally created by the healing process, and aided with the use of SSD ointment, busted, and created a scene out of a horror movie:

Ridiculous.

And in the meantime, I wrapped his leg too tight (in an attempt to stop the bleeding) and created a small bow in the left hind tendon. It seems that the swelling as all but subsided, but he is going to require ultrasound in that leg before "returning" to training (if you can call it "returning").

So now I am wrapping every other day, and alternating Biozide cream and Entederm. And counting down the days until the next vet appt on 10/19.

It's been a long road to recovery...

The long road to recovery has been full of its ups and downs. Jinx is NOT a happy camper in a stall. We have had to keep him on Ace almost every day since his injury. I know that you really can't expect too much cooperation out of 2 year old, but he has been absolutely bonkers. A week after his injury, I turned him out into our indoor ring so he could stretch his legs and be free from a stall for a while. Oh yeah.... he was FREE alright. He went CRASHING through a board to escape the ring and go see his buddies. He escaped injury-free other than a scrape or two (which I might add, I think he deserved a little bit).

Then about a week after that, I was hand walking him, and he spun around a bucked out, hitting my hand. I thought he had broken it from how hard he kicked it, but I could wiggle my fingers and regained feeling in it a few minutes later. He has since learned that spinning and bucking on the end of a lead is NOT okay.

He has also learned that kicking out at me when I am trying to re-wrap his leg is not okay either.

So onto the up side of this story....

The vet came out and checked his wound yesterday. It is healing well, and we should only have 2 more weeks of daily leg wrapping. She also x-rayed his big knee, and they came back clean with no issues! She also said his growth plates in his knees are almost done closing, and that from now on he will be gaining height from his withers and other structures.

And a photo and a few videos...

We had to get "creative" in our training... here is little Jinx wearing a tarp, which he also walked over. He was quite good about everything.

And here are two videos of his turn out "celebration"...

And let the vet bills begin...

I went out to the barn Sunday evening to check on Jinx and Izz and give them both some cookies. I came upon Jinx and noticed that there was something wrong with his left hind leg.

So $774 later...Jinx is on lots of drugs, stall rest, and has stitches in his left hind leg. He's got a wrap that needs to be replaced every other day.  He's not too happy, but I guess to look on the bright side, it could have been worse.

Already Spoiled

Jinx had an exciting week after his first ride. He made a new best friend!

Justy and Jinx were side by side inseparable since the moment we put them together.

Jinx has also been busy learning that breaking the velcro cross ties is not OK, and that getting hosed and fly-sprayed is not going to kill him. He has accepted the hosing/bathing part, not so much the fly spray part.

Today, he went out with his herd for the first time. The first thing he did was find a nice, big, lovely mud puddle. This was the end result.

He was COVERED in mud on his left side.

I went on a little shopping spree today and bought some black SMB boots. I lunged him in them today, and he didn't seem to care too much about the boots. After some pulling, and my deciding to put the chain back on his nose while I lunge him, we did manage to pick up a canter both directions. Tracking left, he first picked up his right lead canter, and then successfully picked up the left lead canter with ease. Tracking right, it took him several tries to pick up the right lead canter. He cantered a few strides to the right before I paused and brought him back to the walk and praised him up and down.

I picked up a Bates saddle w/ an interchangeable gullet that I am going to try on him tomorrow. It might be a bit too wide in the rear panels for him, but I imagine he has plenty of filling out to do still. We sticked him today...15.2 at the withers and 16.0 at the butt. I imagine he will easily mature to 16 hands, considering he is only 2 years 3 months old.

First Ride!

I was SO proud of the little boy last night! First I applied some MTG to his legs, and formaldehyde to his hooves. I showed my mom how to handle him (he really is easy). His only issue handling is that he has NO respect for your space, which for a 2 year old, I'm thankful is his ONLY leading issue. He doesn't like to tie very well, and keeps busting out of the cross ties (good thing they are safety velcro ties). I imagine that will come with time and a lot of patience. I also lunged him in tack for a short while, and he did fine. He got the hang of that right away. After all of that, I got my mom to lead him around while I sat on him. He did not care one bit. We walked around for a lap each direction of the ring, until I could feel his little 2 year old mind starting to have a boredom meltdown, so I hopped off.

I am so proud of my little boy. I don't think I will get on him too often. Maybe once a week or so just so that he doesn't "forget" that it's okay to let people ride him. I am waiting until he is 3 to actually start any real training.

The vet is coming out on the 23rd to do a full workup on him. I'm going to have her check his teeth before I put a bridle on him. I imagine that having a bridle on will actually HELP with Jinx's boredom issues under saddle...he'll have something to play with.

But fly spray IS the devil!

Jinx's only vice right now (besides normal 2 year old behavior) is that he HATES fly spray. He spent a good 20 minutes making me dizzy circling round and round me while I just lightly tried to spray NEAR him. That session ended well though...he was taking cookies out of my hands while I sprayed his butt. He's not 100% sure that fly spray won't kill him. Hell, he's not even 50% sure, but that's better than nothing! I suspect it will all come with time.

We also learned the basics of lunging (aka, yes, it IS okay for you to circle around me). He used this to his advantage when I was trying to fly spray him, I'm sure of it. We also walked over ground poles, trotted in hand (lord he is SO lazy).

We got hosed off, because water, too, is the devil. And we ended the session with a saddle on his back! I even laid across him, and he didn't care at all! I bet he was, however, wishing I had the stature of a jockey. Another picture!