Accidents happen vol. 2

Vallu with his icepack on his front left leg

What a day, again. Both the vet and the chiropractor visited today.

Basse managed to open up his stitches so badly that we needed to call the vet to come out again. I wondered whether it should be stitched closed again, or whether to cut the flesh away. Stitching would mean that we would probably have the same problem again within a couple of days when the stitches would start to become itchy, and Basse would open the wound again. Cutting the flesh away would result in Basse having one nostril a bit bigger than the other one, but there would be no stitching, just an open wound that would easier to look after. After some discussion with the vet, we decided that the best option would be to cut away the dead flesh.

Before (L) and after (R)

The wound is now clean and should be fine within a couple of weeks. This time he didn't get any antibiotics or painkiller, the only thing we need to do is to spray Vetericyn® 3-4 times a day on the wound, in order to clean the wound and kill any bacteria. Vetericyn is a great product because it has a pH neutral solution, which means that it doesn't sting at all.

After this, we had chiropractor Sybil Moffat come take a look at both Vallu and Rama.

I think Rama was such an interesting case. According to Sybil, Rama has his L6 (6th lumbar vertebrae) bent the wrong way. Although this doesn't hurt his movement or biomechanics, it just affects his appearance. 

L6 shown with arrow

Rama also has a twisted pelvis, with the right side being more crooked, but it causes the left side to be weaker. This was probably caused by a trauma, such as a bad slip etc.

 Sybil suggested doing walk and trot work over some poles to get the SI (sacro-iliac) joint to move more, since there was slight stiffness there. However, because Rama doesn't do pole work - he will jump over the pole at least a meter (neither mum or me want to try this out after seeing Ville trying to trot over a single pole and Rama jumping as if it was a 1.3m jump) Sybil suggested exercising him in the deep snow, as this would also be good for the joint.

Rama will now have a couple of days before having a week of light work and then going back into work.

Vallu was apparently quite good. He had the normal tightness that Erika also finds, when Vallu has used the muscles behind the saddle too much, causing stiffness in the SI joint. Sybil worked him all over gently, and also paid some attention to AO (antlanto-occipital) joint. Like Rama, Vallu's legs and neck felt good.

 

Vallu also got acupuncture! I have heard great things about equine acupuncture, and when Erika has done it on our other horses, it has really helped. I was really excited when Sybil said that she wanted to use acupuncture on Vallu. Acupuncture is used for treating many things, but for Vallu the idea was to reduce muscle soreness. Inserting acupuncture needles stimulates tiny nerve endings that carry impulses to the spinal cord and brain. This results in responses within the nervous and endocrine systems, leading to the release of neurotransmitters and hormones. Acupuncture increases the release of natural painkillers such as endorphins, and serotonin which act on the pain pathways in the brain and spinal cord, and can block the transmission of incoming pain signals.¹

Vallu was having fun during his treatment with his lead rope in his mouth!