Vet's Verdict

Today was vet day!

Peanut was walking so much better today, but still not 100%.  His ankle and the bottom of his cannon are swollen a little - just enough to make you say, hey, that ankle is larger than the other one.

The vet, aka Mary, looked him over, and did a number of flexion tests.  He passed the high one just fine, meaning his stifle and hock are doing just dandy.  Hoppy must have done her usual magic with that hock.  :)

The bottom was a different story, and he was very ouchy to the hoof tester.  Still no heat, but he has a digital pulse and the swelling.  Mary suspects that there is a deep abscess in there, and the swelling is not due to his tendon sheaths.  Instead, the swelling is more internal to the leg.

Joan came out for a bit during the lameness exam, and mentioned that she's going to dig out the abscess, right?  No, said Mary, she didn't like doing that.  I was grinning to myself, and I'll have to tell Dawn.

Mary also didn't like the white line separation (more like a white line travesty now) that is in that toe.  Her prescription?  Just what Dawn would say: be aggressive with the roll at the toe and soak that beast in White Lightning.  She's very pleased with the way his front foot is healing, and asked me what I did to "cure his white line disease".  Simply short walls and White Lightning, baby!  So, I must do exactly the same in the rear, and seeing how much he's deteriorated in that wall in the past several weeks I agree.

I asked if malnutrition has anything to do with his current state of affairs; if being on a strictly unsupplemented grass/hay diet could be leading to any of this.  She said that no, that's the kind of diet that horses are made for, they will usually find what they are lacking somewhere, and that some people really go overboard with supplementing.  I told her that I had the hay out for analysis, but I may reconsider how much I supplement now.

She mentioned that Peanut looks fabulous and healthy, and his fatass self is actually the perfect weight that she likes to see as we head into winter.  I just need to find out if they are utd on their botulism shots.  I suck... I don't even know what they got at their spring vaccinations.

Next up was Gene.  Yep, he saw her too to get his vision looked at.  Even before she walked up to him, I saw it: it looks like he has a row of peppercorns in front of his pupil, completely obscuring the middle of it when he's in bright sunlight.  Oh yeah, it was bright and sunny today.  It was odd to see that yellow lump in the sky.

It turns out that those are corpus nigra, and they are just very large in him.  He has three in his right eye, and two in his left, attached to the upper pupil edge of his irises.  They can be lasered away, but most horses learn to adapt.  We are to watch when he seems to get very spooky - changes in light?  One side more than another?  We should try to find a pattern.  She didn't seem very concerned, though.

His corneas are slightly cloudy, but nothing that's unusual for his age.  His retinas look faboo, and he shows no sign of uveitis (that occular disease that Appys are prone to).  The only problems are those corpus nigras.  I'll have to get a picture or two if I can.  They're pretty trippy.

So, all in all, I feel a lot better.  It was also confirmed on Tuesday night that I am holding steady at 20/20 vision, and my eyes look so damn good that I can skip the 6 month appointment and come back at 9 months.  :)