Alita's Story

Week Eleven

August 11th-17th

At a Stand Still

    Alita is still pretty much the same. It is so frustrating as I guess I was hoping she would progress faster. Sometimes I look outside and she seems to be bearing some weight on it and then other times I look out and she has it in a relaxed position. She seems to be trying to raise it to move it forward now. She still is gathering her back legs under her slightly to go forward however she is not throwing herself forward like before.

    The wound is doing much better now that it is left to air dry a bit and it is almost finished healing. You can still feel a slight popping if you hold your hand behind her leg when applying antibiotic cream to the still exposed part of her knee. It doesn’t seem to bother her too much she just doesn’t use it as much as I was hoping after 10 weeks.

    From a suggestion on our local message board I e-mailed Animal Planet last Sunday to ask about a farm that owns a horse by the name of Codi. He was featured on an episode of a Pet’s Story about 3 months ago. Codi had debilitating joint problems and even the vet felt that he should be put down. He laid in his stall more than he was up and moving was very painful for him. Then the lady was referred to a company that specialized in a joint supplement for horses.

    The farm contacted the distributor and he came to see if Codi would benefit from their product. They felt he would do well so they started him an it and Codi had wonderful results. Even their vet was amazed! I received an e-mail from Animal Planet within 1 day with the e-mail address for the farm where Codi is stabled. I e-mailed the farm 5 days ago and have not heard back from them as of yet. Maybe they will check their mail this week-end.

    The truck should be back early next week at which time I will be taking Alita to the vet to get more x-rays and see where she is at. We are hopeful that the news will be promising. She is still trying so hard.

    Alita will be brought out into the yard today. We will begin hand walking once every other day to try and build her shoulder muscles back up. Also called the farrier and hopefully we will get her toe trimmed up by mid week.

    Melissa came to visit today with her daughter and said Alita is looking good. I see her every day so it is hard for me to judge how she is doing. We went out and gave her some love and lots of petting. Alita truly enjoys the visitors.

    Alita is still on 3/4 Bute twice a day, her beet pulp and the joint supplement. We also have gone back to soft bracing all of her legs for support. I will leave them on for two days and then off for one day. This way hopefully she won’t baby the leg so much while having the support and I will still give her one day out of three to see what she does on her own.

    Alita and I have a busy week ahead of us with the manicurist coming out and then a trip to see Alita's favorite person the vet. Hopefully we will be able to share good news all the way around in our next update. If possible we are going to also check and ensure that the foal is doing OK as well.

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