Garnet continues to do well after her arytenoidectomy- the surgery that cut away part of the inflamed and infected area around her larynx.
We have been slowly weaning her off of the steroids, and she seems to be comfortable at rest in her stall. When we took her in a few months ago, her breathing was labored even at rest- now her breathing is quiet and she seems much healthier. The area around her surgery sites has been healing well and is only a little swollen now, so that unless you looked closely you wouldn’t even realize she had a surgical procedure there.
Garnet wants to run! All in good time.
The original discharge instructions stated that we were to hand walk Garnet for a few months before we let her exercise- Garnet is feeling better, however, and sometimes she gets very frustrated when we don’t let her do more than just walk! She has been known to literally leap straight up in the air and kick out while Elizabeth is walking her. Thankfully she and Elizabeth have had some discussions about who is the leader, so she doesn’t do much more than that, and Elizabeth can continue to walk her around after her little tantrum.
The vet is coming out on Friday to scope her again to see if it is indeed safe to let Garnet be turned out and work her a little. We are hoping that the swelling has gone down enough so Garnet can start running around a little! Elizabeth is hoping that Garnet can start running around and release some of her pent-up energy so she is easier to walk!
Practice loading in the trailer.
Besides hand walking, we are also working with Garnet on trailer loading. When we loaded Garnet up to go to and from the hospital, it became obvious that Garnet was afraid of the trailer, so over the past several weeks we have hooked the trailer up and have been working to help her get used to the trailer and less fearful of going near it.
Garnet’s fear response to the trailer is pretty strong- obviously she has had some negative trailering experiences. While she was not thrilled with getting into the trailer to and from the hospital, we were able to get her in without too much trouble- now that she’s feeling better, she’s being more vocal about things, including her dislike of trailers. Still, it’s important to work her through these things so she feels safe around the trailer and will walk in without a problem. Spending the time now to work her through her fear response and let her know that the trailer is not scary will help if we ever have to evacuate or trailer her to another facility.
We have been able to get her to walk in a few times without a lot of drama, but we want there to be zero drama and have her be completely comfortable with the trailer.
We will continue to keep you updated on Garnet’s progress.
We want to continue to thank those people who donated for her surgery, and who continue to sponsor her. Garnet will continue to need medical care for the next several months, both in medication and vet check ups to make sure she continues to heal and get better. Without your help, Garnet would not have been able to receive the medical care that she needed. We are hopeful that the vet will soon give us clearance to let Garnet start running around and be a normal horse again!
Click here for a link to a post about Garnet’s first gallop in three years!
Did you know you can sponsor Garnet for as little as $10/month? It’s true! Click HERE for more info.