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THERE’S MORE TO OWNING HORSES THAN TRAIL RIDING IN BIG SOUTH FORK -PART 2

By
Real Estate Agent with Tennessee Real Properties

All you agents out there might wonder why I'm blogging about this horse and his surgery.   Well, in the Big South Fork area, we all have horses and follow the progress of our friends with their horses, be it problems, progress with a horse, trails we've ridden or where to get hay.  As with a sick child, your mind is always wondering how long this will take to get over.  And your time is certainly impacted by the care it takes to get through an episode like this.  Maybe it is good that most of my real estate activity right now is on the phone.

Another aspect to my effort here is my hope that through the web, others with horses may stumble upon this site and see a sort of step by step progression of healing this kind of wound.  There was an extra trip to a weekend vet to check on a stitch that surfaced.  Turns out it was a subcutaneous stitch and will be absorbed over time - but another trip down the road in the trailer was needed.  Now, back on the farm and turned out with the three other horses, we are in the change the bandgae everyday mode.  Needless to say, I had to make a trip to purchace copious supplies of vet wrap and telfa pads, etc.  And this isn't even my favorite horse.  He's a good patient, though.  He stands quietly for all the doctoring.  Here Jim Little, our vet, sedates RB before removing the stitches.

 

Before stitches removed.

During stitch removal.

After stitches are out.

Three weeks after surgery.  The wound had opened some after treatment for "proud flesh" and his normal walking around, but it is clean and pink and starting to heal at the edges.  The rest will be just a matter of time, daily care and...well, more time.

Now RB gets a new style bandage. This is shorter and up off his pastern where he was starting to get some irritation.  He likes the new one - "much cooler", he says!  End of story for now.  As with EVERYTHING that is difficult and seemingly never-ending, patience: the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties - IS THE KEY.  And aren't we all in that ballpark right now as Realtors?  In fact, as I think about it, PATIENCE and alot of PERSISTENCE are what separates successful Realtors from "part-timers." 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sue Neff
Tennessee Real Properties - Jamestown, TN
Principal Broker, Jamestown, TN

RB thanks you for the well wishes.  You are exactly right.  Novice "horse interested" people ask me all the time what it costs to have a horse.  When I tell them the expense in shoeing every six to seven weeks, the annual shots and coggins test, hay and grain, bedding, pasture maintenance, etc., etc. they invariable say:..."I had no idea..." 

Jul 15, 2010 08:01 AM
Leslie Helm
Tennessee Recreational Properties - Jamestown, TN
Real Estate For Trail Riders

Hi, Sue. One of the good things about horse ownership here in the Big South Fork area is that it is so horse oriented you have a vast pool of knowledgeable friends and neighbors, supportive and always there willing to help.

Jul 22, 2010 10:51 AM
Sue Neff
Tennessee Real Properties - Jamestown, TN
Principal Broker, Jamestown, TN

Russel - stay tuneded there is more...although not yet posted.

Aug 10, 2010 01:53 AM
Susan Haughton
Long and Foster REALTORS (703) 470-4545 - Alexandria, VA
Susan & Mindy Team...Honesty. Integrity. Results.

Awww, poor guy.  Hope he enjoys his cool new bandage and heals quickly.

Aug 25, 2010 02:09 AM
Barbara Birinyi
Quitman, TX
TX Real Estate Broker - Horse Property Specialist

Sue,  Hope the patient's doing well.  Congratulations on the "patience and persistence" it took to get him healing. 

 I too have a "problem child" horse...spent lots of time and money on his capped elbows...but he's a sweet heart.  Happy Trails!

At the Vet Clinic

Sep 28, 2010 07:46 AM
Sue Neff
Tennessee Real Properties - Jamestown, TN
Principal Broker, Jamestown, TN

Thanks, Barbara  He is still healing, but looks like just a scab over a cut now.  Trouble is, he has come up lame on his other foot.  After 2 visits by the vet and two by our farrier, he seems to have a strained or ruptured suspensory ligament on the medial (inside) side that connects to the navicular bone.  No fractures that we can see using our vet's protable machine.  He was nerve blocked and it is definately in the hind 1/3 of his foot.  He is in stall rest now and the farrier put 6 degrees of pad under his shoe to help him rest the ligament while it heals. Very slow if any progress. He hops to avoid weight on the foot.  We are giving him 2 weeks to see if he improves, then if not we'll take him to Univ. of Tenn vet school (where he had his surgery) to have him ultrasounded to pinpoint exactly what is giving him so much pain.  Long slow process.  One step forward, two steps back kind of thing. But we love him in spite of his problem and are giving him thick bedding and keeping a babysitter horse in the barn with him.

Sep 29, 2010 04:02 AM