He wont be able to get at them, because it blocks his chin/mouth. This is the product; https://greenhawk.com/wdItemDesc.asp?strilhID=Web&strmdNumber=HOR5018&stricSKU=HOR5018
Yes they have to wear a halter, but it could be leather, and really if it helps his legs might be worth it.
I, personally, would still do a few days of fast acting ulcer meds, but, that would be my experience speaking, and not knowing your horse, I canāt say for sure, but Iāve seen different reactions/behaviours to ulcers in different areas ā¦
Anyway, the itchiness could very well be allergies. Itās a bad time of year for all the evils blowing around and getting up sensitive noses and causing respiratory and skin bullshit. If youāre going to change to bagged bedding for a trial and can get flax - do it. I went through the allergy testing and shots with my mare and it was recommended that she go on flax. It worked really well. After the round of shots I went back to kiln dried bagged pine shavings and sheās been fine. No more (KNOCKING ON WOOD REALLY HARD HERE) ventral midline dermatitis and far less overall itchiness than she used to have during coat changes.
But still ā¦ as itchy as she was, and she was hella itchy, she never damaged a leg from scratching herself or rolling or whatnot.
Camera-wise - there must be something you could set up. I mean hunters manage to do it without wi-fi, right? Or some sort of CCTV thingy where it records onto a card and you can FF through it to look at any interesting bits? Thereās got to be a not too pricey way to do it, Iād think.
RapLast for him eating wraps. That stuff is like straight pepper spray. Use in a ventilated location.
How long has he been in Colorado? Has he been tested for Lyme disease? (which can turn up a false negative)
Heās been in CO since early 2015. He was tested ā¦ I think it was in 2017? He always has some mystery something or other. Negative at that time.
I would hate to do Raplast to myself or the barn staff.
Unfortunately, I think heād still get the quilt pulled out with those on. Horse is smart.
I wound up stripping his stall yesterday, readjusting the mats again, and switching him to bagged shavings for the time being.
Ugh well left hind doesnāt seem to be an issue even though that dorsal squshiness is sticking around. But now horse is off on left front. Which we scanned the snot out of last week. Blocks to PD block. Due for shoes tomorrow, so took some rads, and his angle does need to come up (this foot has more of a tendency to run forward than the other front). Vet is thinking that he had a mild hyperextension strain when he did the initial thing and now we are trying to work him a little bit, itās showing up sore. But he has barely had any rides since the ultrasound at which time he jogged and longed and was flexed on LF and was fine. Swelling has been resolved since that time too on the LF. Ugggggh! That was his one leg with no history.
And just to make matters worse, heās starting to show some mild changes in the fetlocks, some increase in side bone here and there (especially on RF where he has the PO), and overall making me all the less hopeful this horse will ultimately hold up for low level flatwork, which is basically all heās done the past year and a half or so of being in somewhat regular āwork.ā He can be such a nice horse when the stars align. But the vet is hopeful that some tweaks by the farrier and a little more rest and heāll be fine. If he has to be on stall rest over the winter, I will need therapy.
Can you pop some anti cast rails into his stall to help eliminate the potential for getting cast when he gets really tucked in? Iāve used 1x4s fairly successfully. Removes one of the risksā¦maybe!
Ugh. Sorry about all youāre going through and the recent vet visit.
Back to the itchiness. I have an allergic horse with an overly active immune system. I did the allergy testing and the immunotherapy shots. A year plus after that plus flax with extra DHA plus IBH (insect bite hypersensitivity) spray as soon as I even saw bumps from gnat or other bites plus a few days of hydroxyzine if it got a bit worse, and things are mostly pretty good. I recently got some Coat Defense powder which a barn mate recommended and at least looks like you could use it at a show. I think it is helpful, but not as much so as the IBH spray. My horse also ended up getting ACS for the aftermath of stepping on a rock (*) and my vet says thatās supposed to help with allergies, at least respiratory ones. Kind of expensive as an allergy therapy though.
(*) Seriously. Bring on the bubble wrap. One rock (admittedly of many at the show). Bone bruise plus a tiny collateral ligament strain and the end of our show season in May.
You say he takes a lot of naps and naps hard - could he just be giving himself rugburn-type abrasions on his legs when he gets up and down in the stall? Iāve cringed before watching horses stand up from a nap or roll while they scrape and slide and grunt all over the place trying to get up. Some are more graceful than others. Earlier this summer one of my horses was coming up with outside ankle hind end swelling for no apparent reason, then I watched him roll in the hard dirt one day and he was really scraping that area of his legs. (time to add sand, which I did, and no more swelling) You might try adding lots more bedding or banking the stalls
Ugh, heās still off in the foot. Cue tiny violins. But no new weird leg swelling since switching the bedding. Iāll keep him on bagged bedding till the next load of sawdust comes, which shouldnāt be too much longer. I donāt think heās getting any abrasions. He tends to do more of that kind of thing rolling in turnout because the ground is typically hard out thereāhe will still get hock sores from rolling outside even when I have bedding adequate inside. No scrape on the hind leg ever. The scrape on the front leg (now the lame one) was inside of the mid-cannon area like an interference. Canāt see how that was possible from the ground.
Fall is officially here, so aside from shedding related itching thatās just starting (horse transitions his coat late), I am hoping most of the skin craziness will be gone, but thanks @Peggy for the tips.
Chiro vet did another checkup, and heās still sore from poll to tail on the left side with some extra soreness in the shoulder area of the lame leg. Other side stiff but not so bad. So my theory is still some kind of getting stuck sort of train wreck thing but it is sooo frustrating that I just paid CSU $$$ to check out the left front, which was given the thumbs up, and then he goes lame. Based on how he is to circle, I am thinking (hoping) no collateral ligaments. Not that something like a DDFT strain would be good news but perhaps it would be the least bad?
IPEsq, does the barn have Wifi and would they let you put in camera? You can get a good wifi camera for about $80 and maybe solve this mysteryā¦
This barn does not have WiFi
So, brand new sawdust arrived. Started mixing that in with the bagged shavings left in the stall yesterday. Last night, legs looked fine. This morning, right hind tendon sheath is puffier than normal. I just canāt with this horse anymore!
Next week the vets will work up LF more thoroughly and tell me if we need an MRI.
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