Some things bring people together

As I check my stats on this blog site, I find myself in wonder at the number of people in different countries around the world who are researching this condition.  I notice that this condition does not recognize borders or geographic locations.   l see that people around the world care deeply for their horses.  I see searches from as far away as Russia, South Korea, New Zealand, Ireland, Columbia, Germany, Canada, and Switzerland.  I would love to hear from you.  We share a common bond.  We love our horses and they are sick.  Our languages may be very different but grief is similar.  I hope that this blog has given you hope in knowing that you can get through this but it does take swift action and time.  God Bless you.

All's well that ends well

Things are going well.  I put Truffles through her paces today in the arena.  We trotted and loped, side passed, backed, changed leads and did all manner of things. She performed without a hitch.  We even took a little trail ride. (she hates trails) She is back to normal and that makes me glad I went through with the surgery.  She could probably be shown again after she gets back in shape.  I am  still riding her in a hackamore and she seems to like that a lot.  I don't know if I want to try her bit anymore.

CHOW TIME

Truffles decided to be a little camera shy as well as a little dirty from rolling around in her shavings, but I wanted to add a new post.  She is wearing a fly mask because the flies get a little pesky around this time of year.  Her legs are wrapped because, when she lays her large frame down, she scrapes up her front fetlocks a bit and I hate that. I keep her legs wrapped to keep her from having scabs all over her fetlocks.  With that information out of the way, I can give you the update.  It has been a little short of a year and my vet pronounced her 100% sound.  No more MRSA, no neurological damage, her eye blinks, she makes tears, and her ear swivels.  She lets me ride her bareback or with the saddle and everything is as it was before all this happened. Actually, she has gone from a silly filly to a mature mare.  She is a little more serious about life, now.  We have all noticed that change in her.   It was a terribly long road. It was one of the most stressful things in my life.  It was worth the work and worry. It was expensive to treat but my horse is not just a horse, she is family.  I am glad she is back.

Still standing

So far everything is going well.  There is nothing new to report.  I would love to hear from those of you who have contacted me in the past to tell me how your horse is doing.  I pray that you will also have good news to report.  Please share with me your struggles and trials so that they may be shared with others.  I am glad that we have come this far and would love to hear your story, too.

Seven months later.......

I like to ride my horse alone. I ride as an escape from "the world."  So... when I want to take pictures, I have to take them myself. I guess you will have to trust that we went riding this day.  Everything is working well on the pretty princess.  Her lip is straight, her ear swivels, her eye blinks, and she walks steadily. You can see, here, that I have been riding her in a hackamore and I don't fight with her head set so if she wants to carry her head a little higher, I let her because after all this, what's the big deal where she carries her head.  I notice a little twitch in the side of her mouth after we work and that may be permanent.  I doesn't seem to bother her very much so we just ignore that.  I give her a little massage to help relax the twitch but I don't know if it really helps. It is the middle of February and she looks a little rough.  She is still a bit furry and not groomed to show quality, but after a 7 month lay off she still looks pretty good.  I can't wait to see how she looks by May.

This site has a good explanation

More people have come across my blog because they have had to encounter this ugly problem with their own precious horses.  I am humbled to be able to help you know what may lie ahead in your journey.  I am adding in a wonderful site that explains the problem and shows some good pictures of the problem.


http://www.roodandriddle.com/2011/09/my-horse-has-what-temporohyoid-osteoarthropathy/

this is why I wrote this blog....

I received this comment today on the blog.  This brought me to tears.  This is the reason that I started this blog in the first place.  


I've never met you or Truffles but I came across this blog when I found out my horse also had temporohyoid osteoarthropathy. Your story gave me so much hope, and helped me decide to go through with the surgery. If I hadn't found your blog, my mare would not be alive right now. Thank you so much, and I wish you and Truffles all the best. 


I ask God, in Jesus' name, to help you through this terrible time.  Please give your mare the time it takes to help her to get better.  Do what you can to make her comfortable.  If you find yourself having to get up every 4 hours to medicate her, do it.  She may be left with some residual symptoms or make a complete and miraculous recovery.  Please contact me any time to ask how I got through this.  Be watchful for that nasty mrsa infection in the wound area, as it is actually common in horses.  It makes the recovery time longer.  God bless you,  stay strong and remember it has been about 6 months so far in this journey for me and I think it will take 6 more but we are getting there.

We've come a long way....

For the past week she has not worn her mask that covers her eye with the plastic cup.  I was nervous about leaving it off but I had to find out if she could do without it.  Her eye has been moist and it looks like she is making enough tears to leave it off.  I just picked up the last of her antibiotics, too.  We are going to stop giving her these after this last batch.  So ten more days and we will see how she does without anything but her normal vitamins.  I hope that her own immune system is now strong enough to keep this infection from coming back.  This has been a long road.  I hope we are at the end of it. We will know in a couple of months if everything is back to normal.  Her lip still gets a little crooked when she runs around in the bullpen but it goes away after an hour or two.  It may be a forever thing but we sure have come a long way.