Horse Sense....

 

                  

 

So I come home early evening of Day 10, and there Belle is standing at the gate, kinda moving.

It was weird.

I was like, Oh fuck, have I poisioned her?

But it didn't look bad as such, just, you know, weird.

So I stopped the car, went over and...the bloody cow was scratching herself on the fence post!!!

Fresh blood!

Fuck.  Fuck.  Fuck.  Fuck.

I booted it inside to get our bath stuff, put the Kawa Kawa on to heat up again, then back out.

Belle was in no pain, didn't seem upset at all, was just like, I'm itchy here...

So here I am giving her a hot bath, washing the blood away to see if any damage has been done and I swear, hand on hoof, bloody dead skin is coming off in chunks.  

Then she flicks her head at the wrong time and some lands in my hair.  So I've got blood red water, a cloth stained red with bits of her stuck to it and then a chunk in my hair.

It's like having bloody kids.

Anyway, no damage done, and I gave her another bath at 8pm as per usual.

Belle as I am writing this is happy as, I'm planning, at the earliest possible moment, on having a shower and washing my hair.

****

Let me tell you how this morning went...

Our lovely Vet turned up at 7.45am (uggh) spent 40 seconds taking out the last of Belle's stitches which were holding the dead skin on, and then we had a chat.

Mostly about where we fell down, what worked, what really worked and how to be cleaner, clearer, smarter and more put together next time.

So the things that worked:

1) There was absolutely no stress on Belle.

She didn't have any medication apart from sedation while she was being stitched on the morning the accident happened, and some powder antibiotics puffed in straight after.

That's it.

Because we didn't use medication, we did not upset the balance of Belle's tummy.

Belle was able to start Healing quickly, cleanly and smartly because of this.

2) Belle got to walk in and out of the stables at will.

Again, she chose how to Heal.  Did she want shade? Sun? Hang out with her mates at the fence? Have quiet time by herself?

And she was getting regular exercise, at her own pace, moving from place to place.

3) We Power Fed.

This means that I fed small mini meals every two to three hours, starting around 8am in the morning when I did the first baths, to around 7.30, 8pm at night when I did our last one.  

Consisting of a base feed (no Soy) and then one supplement or nutrient, in every feed.

Included in this feed was one of our Go to products which allowed Belle to Power Heal while being stress free.

I have to say here that Soy is not conjunctive to a positive and quick Healing process.  For a start it plays round with the hormones, so you don't want that and secondly, it gives you a False Truth.  It makes a horse look good and shiny, but I have found that horses are not strong and certainly not strong enough to Heal without help. 

Also, because we are Power Feeding if you use Soy, then you are dumping the body full of Estrogen.  You don't want this.

We Power Feed because it takes a huge amount of Energy for the body to Heal.  It's working super hard so needs constant boosting.

Also, make all the feeds up at the start of the day, therefore you know what supplement/vitamin/herb/nutrient you are you are using, and when.

I also use one particular nutrient right at the last feed, so it has about 10 to 12 hours to work. 

And you don't want to put it in twice, or take it at the wrong time of the day.

4)  We washed twice a day.

I'm a huge believer in keeping a wound clean.

Then we washed with Kawa Kawa.  That worked brilliantly and far exceeded our expectations.  We also found out (later) that it works like penicillin and is a natural pain killer, while it stops itching almost immediately (I did already know this).

At Day 10 (and it should have been Day 8 because of the flies), we did a Kawa Kawa wash also at lunch and then again very early evening.

Also, we syringed Kawa Kawa into the wound to get to the hard to reach places, but go to the Two Dollar Shop and they sell spray bottles for $2 (obviously) and they work awesomely.

5) We did not cover the wound.

For the life of me, I have no idea why you guys do this.  You're literally locking the germs in.  Why would you do that?

6) My relationship with Belle is awesome because of this.

I love spending time like this with her.  I never worry about her and her being freaky on me.  I don't know why, I should.  But I don't.

It's the same with every horse I work with like this.

It's as if they know that I'm there to help and we both go into this other place.  I can't explain it any better than: There's some other wordly weird ass Energy that happens which transcends species.

The things that didn't:

1) The Healing went rogue on us.

I saw our Healing and how well it was going, and tried to by-pass the process by using the Kawa Kawa balm instead of the wash.

That harmed our Healing process.

We believe that it also dissolved the stitches.  

And you never, EVER put a balm on an open wound.  It locks in the bad.

Which it did.

It moisturised the wound and as much as it killed the bacteria, it kept the bacteria in the wound.

That's it.

Our Vet could not believe that Belle just stood to be washed by me twice a day, and wasn't upset.  She was also surprised at how well Belle Healed after the stitches broke, she expected problems.  She also expected to have to sedate and clean Belle's wound this morning (Day 10) and was blown away that the wound was clean and it took 40 seconds to snip, while Belle just stood there.

What I would do different...

1) Stitches.

Belle did not, nor do any of my horses, need stitches in for 14 days.  That's for horses who are not strong.

However, 5 days would be the earliest, 6 days would be perfect and 7 days the latest, for us to start taking every second or third stitch out.

2) DO NOT use balm on an open wound.

****

So Mr Nobody came in and opened up the paddock by the driveway last night, hoping my horses would just accidently run out and off.

Well, that didn't work very well for him.

First off, Mumma loves living here and doesn't wish to run anywhere.

Ever.

Secondly, I was supposed to be goat sitting so I had actually gone in late yesterday and shut the gate between the two paddocks, so the gate which opened the paddock onto the driveway, was empty.

Asshole.

However, just in case all these weird things which have been happening are related and not just weird ass coincidences, security around Boo-ba-licious has just been upped.

****

Belle still Healing like a rockstar.

Actually, I Googled Horse Stitches Healing Process today and I must have done it wrong.

There are pictures of the quickest Healing which is 37 days, and it wasn't that great a Heal, with another one taking a year to Heal!  And sometimes longer!

365 bloody days.

I can't have Googled the right thing.

****

I need to stop Goggling this.

It's all so bloody depressing.

Six months to a year to Heal, wrap it, stable horse, don't let horse exercise, likely you'll get an infection...

Jezus.

I speak English, I hear English, I read English but you know, it's like we are not talking the same language.

****

Day 15 - Belle got a bit Meh! about her wash.  

She also tried to run our lovely neighbour out of her paddock later in the afternoon, so I knew she was getting better.  

But to be fair, that was not her fault.

When you Power Feed you are putting as many vitamins, minerals, nutrients, herbs etc as you can in, in as short a time possible.

So one day they do go a bit high in Energy, this is when you are almost over the hump - this is the, I'm not 100% well, but I'm not unwell either and their Energy goes a bit manky. 

This is also not the day to try and pat them for the first time.

****

Today, Day 16 - she was hot.  She was doing little head flicks and little kicks and jumps and as much as I thought I should keep her in the Welcome Paddock for another day, she was telling me in every horsey way she could, that she wanted to be with her peeps.

And they wanted to be with her too.

So I opened up the gate and let her free.

Best.  Decision.  Ever.

She had a fantastic time today, she was running up paddocks and down again, hung out with her peeps and generally had fun in the sun.

Will she be sore tomorrow?

Hell, yes! is my thought.  

But I gave her squirts from the wash bottle and then the Kawa Kawa bottle, at different times during the day, and gave her a little wash tonight, as her wound was dirty, but overall, she is bloody brilliant and it was an awesome decision to let her join her peeps.

Whooooooooo....

****

Day 17 - Belle either hooning round the paddocks or hanging out eating grass in the sun.

Best.  Decision.  Ever.

****

So that's been our week:

Man, we're crazy busy. 

And it's super weird here.  Mostly in a good way. 

I literally can't see where we're going at the moment though, it's just get up, do our thing, sleep, get up, do it again.

Eventually things will slow down, and I'll see what's still standing when that happens.

However, as I'm writing this we are proving time and time and time again, that there are other ways to work with the horses than what has always been done.  

...And a happy, healthy, strong horse can do miracles.

Big kissy hugs 

Caps, me, Spirit, Az, Ralph, Chew, Suz, and of course, my beautiful Mumma Bear, Belle and Boo-ba-licious, Pat, Chuck, Rose, Pepper, Lily, Shelley, Ossie, Marmite and Geraldine and the cows, Mickey, Mikey and Moose.

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