Ain't Nothin' Gonna Break My Stride

I am very happy to report that Gogo, by some miracle, checked out totally fine at the vet yesterday. I was up at the horrible hour of 4am in order to clean the barn at home, pick up my roommate's horse, pick up Gogo, and collectively shuttle everyone up to see Dr. C by 8:30am. After they looked at Hootie, we pulled Gogo off the trailer and watched her go.

She, as usual, looked totally awesome.

And, of course, the legs looked great.

We went over the scenario about why the legs were big and what on earth there was to be done about it. She probably had some fill from getting banged up, and probably had some from standing in a much smaller stall, but Dr. C said that as long as it goes away when she moves, and stays down and normal even if just for a little while, then she wouldn't be worried about it. If she's not lame, and they are doing the same thing they've always done (fill together, go down together, go away with movment, NOT go away with bute/wrapping/icing/etc) then it's all right. By the end of the evaluation, some of the fill had come back, and we talked about her body temperature and the fill, two things that seem to go hand in hand. Her great hairy self runs very hot, and the warmer she seems to be, the bigger the legs seem to be. (I also have a front leg that has one spot that fills too for whatever reason, so if that bit is filled as well, it is more temperature related than anything.)

One thorough evaluation later, and the prognosis, diagnosis and prescription was as thus: "Stop worrying. She's fine."

Thank god for that.... I was considering trying a tube of Ulcergard for myself.



I also made the comment in my last post that I was going to do some sort of outrageous clip on her if she passed muster at the vet, because I needed to do SOMETHING to cool her down. Even naked, she was still too hot and hairy, and the legs are just too ugly to ignore when she's roasting like that. So, out came the clippers, and the creative side in me just got rolling.

Voila!:






I'm going to tell you it was easy and you can do it too, but actually it was mildly complicated and took about two hours. WORTH IT, however. I apologize about the awkward pictures.... trying to take comformation pictures by yourself on the grass with a hungry horse is kind of hard.


Gogo looks shocked...



"Mom. WHY YOU DO DIS."