Unexpected Loss

Saturday night, we unexpectedly lost a treasured human friend.  I still can't wrap myself around the size of the hole he has left in our lives.

I don't know exactly how old he was.  Maybe in his 70s, but up until a couple of years ago, he was strong, active, & capable of working harder than I was.  The past couple years though, he has been taking care of his wife, who has terminal cancer, which has dragged on far longer than anyone expected.  I can testify that the exhaustion & stress of watching cancer eat alive the person that you love is a deadly threat.  And so it was - Richard collapsed of a massive heart attack & a relative found him in his home Sunday morning.

"Heartbroken" does even begin to describe how I feel.

The first time I met Richard was when I came out to look at this property in 2013.  He was selling his back pastures, so he was also looking for a good neighbour.  As he carried me back through his fields in his utility vehicle, his soft-spoken kindness & gentle humour immediately put me at ease.  I fell in love with the parcel which became Flying Solo Farm, but part of that was due to added feature of having Richard next door.  For two people from two very different generations, we had a whole lot in common.

We both loved horses; Richard with Buddy the Appy, last April

FSF sits on the foundation he created.  He bought this parcel as cut-over timberland & transformed it to rolling pastures edged with mature oaks, pines, & sweetgums.  He built the fences by hand, hung the gates, established the forage that my horses use today.  He could have made more money selling this property to someone else but that was never what Richard was about.

I never could have built this place without him.  He used his enormous tractor to bushhog over-grown fields for me.  He moved & re-drove fenceposts so I could make new gates & he built the entrance road.  He taught me how to repair & adjust the hi-tensile fence so it stayed safe for horses.  He helped me improve my tractor bucket skills & pitched in to any project that was too big for my equipment.

2016: Fixing my driveway culvert

What defined Richard, though, was his generosity.  He owned every tool known to man & offered any of them to me.  It didn't matter how busy he was, if I needed a hand with something, he was there for however long it took.  And it was the same for any other person he met -- he lived to help others, no matter who they were.

As is common with those of generous spirit, Richard also had a deep & open love for animals.  His quiet, gentle way with them endeared him to dogs & horses with the same effect he had on people.  Broken hearts with darkened pasts found a balm for all the sharp edges that life cut into them.  He was a quiet port in which to rest, safe for a moment from battering seas.  It was his gift to abused equines.  It was also his gift to me.

Richard loved horses above all.  An avid trail rider, he showed me the vast network of trails across neighbouring properties that he'd strung together over the years & kept maintained.  Although he had a weakness for a flashy paint, his favourite horse, his Solo, was an old-school, plain bay TWH named Big Boy.  A big-moving, big-headed mahogany gelding overflowing with energy, the two of them used to do 15-20 miles a day the first few years I lived here.

I can't find any Big Boy photos, so here is Nobody, another of Richard's TWH & this was Richard's contact photo in my phone

Big Boy died suddenly last fall -- he was found dead in his pasture, not a mark on him, no sign of a struggle.  He was somewhere in his 20s & retired & we suspected his heart just gave out.  Richard buried him where he found him, on top of a hill looking over the fields where he had lived out a good life.  It's a little eerie looking back now, that they both went the same way. 

There's so many more good things I could tell you about Richard.  He was well-loved in this community & you'd be hard-pressed to find a person he hadn't helped.  He & his wife both grew up here in this small-town county & were related to everyone by blood or marriage.  He went far too soon & I know I'm not the only person missing him terribly.

2014: Driving anchor holes for my first hayshed w/ 100 HP behemoth

One of the things he was most looking forward to was eventually getting back to riding.  He hadn't been able to do much of anything due to his wife's health needs & he always put her first.  I worried so much that he wouldn't survive the stress, because I knew what a similar situation had done to me.  My deepest sorrow for him was that he didn't make it to that goal.  He missed riding so much & he never stopped cleaning his tack in hopes that he would get to use it again.

One day last summer, I did manage to coax him out on a brief ride in May, his first in two years.  I didn't know then it would be his last ride, but it makes me doubly glad I did.  It was a beautiful day, with summer sun dappling through the leaves & he kept telling me over & over how good it felt just to sit on a horse.  I couldn't stop smiling watching him.

That ride:  Richard & Smokey, me & Buddy

I've spent the last few days aimlessly wandering the farm & sitting on the porch, alternately weeping & cursing the unfair universe.  I miss my dear friend, I miss his gentle teasing, I miss his unintelligable phone calls of southern-mumble-quiet-drawl where I had to guess at every other word.  I miss his looking out for me:  if we didn't cross paths in his yard (my driveway goes through his farm) & he hadn't heard from me in a while, he'd randomly come back to the house & knock on my door just to see if I was ok & have a chat. 

Most of all, I miss one of the biggest hearts & kindest, most generous natures I have ever known.  I owe him so much - I tried to repay him via barter whenever I could, grooming his horses when he couldn't get to it, fixing small things for him, mowing a fenceline while I was on the tractor -- but he was so dang capable, I felt like I could never keep up.

2015: Plowing my driveway with his skidsteer (part of this amusing story)

I will forever be grateful to him for this farm, which has become my quiet sanctuary, although it will never be the same without his ready smile.  I will try to do what I know he would tell me to do:  enjoy the land, enjoy the horses whenever & however I get a chance, & enjoy quiet walks on pretty days.

I would ask this of you, readers, in honor of Richard:  look for opportunities for a small (or large) good deed, which can be as simple as checking in on someone who is on their own.  Don't wait to be asked - kindness unbidden is always a welcome gift & it is one that I will try to give more often because I know what it meant when given to me.

For Richard:  I don't think anything magical happens when we die & I don't think you did either.  Nonetheless, I choose to think of you meeting Big Boy on the other side, where you calm his anxious energy with a touch just like you did in life.  May the two of you step out together on the trail that never ends, free of the aches & worries that piled up behind you, with not a single fly in sight.  There will always be a part of you here on Flying Solo Farm & I will try my best to do it justice, even though I can never do it as well as you.  I will never forget all that you did for me & I will miss you always.

Farewell, my very dear friend.  Ride free.       

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Echo's Vet Update

Before I dive into the latest installment of Echo's vet addiction, I do want to send out my best to all of you.  I went back & forth, but decided that I wasn't going to write much, if anything, about The Virus -- it was already all the words on all the channels & I didn't think I had anything meaningful to add to all that noise.  The best any of us can do at present is to follow reputable safety protocols to the best of our ability & for your own sanity, turn off the news & the facebook (if you even watch it, I do not anyway as I don't need to add to my sources of anger).

We are fine (at least as much as we ever are) here -- my job is secure & I can do much of my office work remotely to the extent that my limited rural internet access allows.  Our field work is reduced, but we will still be working on mission-critical projects; there is plenty of room for social distancing in the river though.  I generally don't go many places outside of work anyway; I hate grocery shopping so much I only go maybe once a month (basically when there is literally nothing left in the house), & as an introvert, I don't encounter other humans often.  I remain grateful to have the horses at home, so not many changes for us.  I definitely feel for all of you who can't see your horses right now & am hoping that ends as soon as possible! 

If you are in a position to help others, but are not sure what to do, you can follow this link to a summary page from Charity Navigator of groups which are accepting donations to help with everything from medical supplies to food to financial assistance.  Sending even a dollar from your living room is risk-free for you & can make a difference to someone else.

Click to find a reputable charity helping those in need

Turning back to my problem child...

Earlier this week, I took Echo back to the vet, as his shoulder was just...lingering.  I had started doing stretches & massage about a week prior to that following a phone consultation with vet.  That treatment did bring about some improvement & Echo was moving a bit more freely with a little less limping, but I wasn't comfortable proceeding without a better idea of what exactly we were dealing with.

Also..."Echo's Vet Update" should probably be the new name of this blog.

Turns out he did indeed partially tear his triceps muscle.  Good news:  that muscle is enormous, covering the entire scapula, so there is plenty of "extra" to do the job it needs to do.  Also good news:  it will heal without any functional limitations.  Also good news:  he is at the point in healing where he can start to go back to work as he needs to use it to continue making progress.

Equine shoulder; From horsesidevetguide.com

Less good news:  muscles heal slowly & giant muscles heal even slower.  It will probably 5-6 months until it is completely healed.  He may have a permanent divot to add to his existing scar collection, but at least it won't affect anything.

In the balance, while it's not great, it could be so much worse.  At least we can start doing things again, while is a huge relief to us both.  I will, as always, be conservative -- I got on a couple days ago & we just did walk work & stepping over poles.  Of course, Echo is already happily trotting & cantering around in the pastures on his own.  I'll never know exactly what happened -- maybe it was a kick, maybe he just slipped, maybe it was both.

His lump 10 days ago

I did put him back on the Equioxx, carefully, after we finished other meds, & am relieved that he is having no issues with it, so he has that mild anti-inflammatory support as we work through the physical therapy process.  He also completed a week of Ulcerguard & his stomach is much happier, so he's back to eating his meals (although still at the slowest....speed.....possible).

Farrier also put the hoof testers on him last week & he had no reactions, so it looks like the coffin bone bruise is healed up too.  At least it helps me to gauge lameness without the compounding factor of that foot on the same leg as his shoulder.

I'm sure Echo will find new things to do, but it still felt good to cross at least a couple of the more recent issues off the list.  And even though I hate any injury in my horses, it's going to happen one way or another, because horses, so I'm still grateful when it is at least something that will heal, because I've dealt with enough things that won't & that is much worse.

Shaking off gnats while regaining weight, shine, & getting less lumpy every day

Baby steps for Baby Monster, but we will begin re-building that topline once again.  It should be easier this time since he has more skills than he did a year ago - some of them are even useful.

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Bute Vs. Equioxx: Tradeoffs

Because it's a good time to learn about things, right?

I recently had the unfortunate but useful opportunity to compare the results of the two most commonly used equine NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs; bute & Equioxx) on the same injury -- Echo's shoulder.  There are pros & cons to each.  Because I firmly believe in making the most informed decisions possible, let me share with you what I learned.

Background

Heat, pain, & swelling are the result of the body's inflammatory cycle.  One of the primary mediators of this cycle is a group of prostaglandins created by cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes, which convert a substance interestingly named arachidonic acid (does it have spiders in it?).  There are different varieties in this group, referred to by number:  horses have COX-1 & COX-2, while humans have additional variants.  NSAIDs aim to break the inflammatory cycle by inhibiting the production of these enzymes, during which the body can break down harmful prostaglandins which have already formed (which takes about 12 hrs).

As you might suspect, COX-1 & COX-2 have different functions.  COX-1 plays important roles in things like maintaining stomach mucous coatings, keeping blood flowing through kidneys, & coagulating blood.  COX-2 is only found at low levels in normal tissues, but levels surge when that inflammatory process begins & COX-2 feeds that cycle. 

A simplified illustration from previcox.com; click to embiggen

Drugs

Bute refers to phenylbutazone, our old friend which has been around for decades.  It's cheap & fairly effective for pain management.  Given orally, it takes about 2-3 hrs to absorb from the belly & peaks in 3-5 hrs.  Persisting about 12 hrs, bute blocks both COX-1 & 2 production.

Equioxx is a brand name of firocoxib, a newer drug that is known in the canine world as Previcox.  It was developed for the treatment of osteoarthritis.  It's also given orally by owners, but is much slower to take effect.  It takes at least 24 hrs for levels to begin to peak & does not reach steady state for 4-6 days.  It also has a half-life of 44-46 hrs, so it takes an additional two days minimum to disappear after you stop giving it.  Firocoxib is a selective COX-2 inhibitor, which means it preferentially blocks COX-2 but still has a minor effect on COX-1.

Choices & My Observations

It just so happened that I was able to directly compare the two as Echo was on bute for the first week of his shoulder pain, then on Equioxx for a second week.  Pros & cons:

Bute Pros:

• Much more effective pain control (side note: I've heard the same from others)
• Significantly more rapid action - both to start & finish.  The latter can be especially important if you need to take a lame horse to the vet the next morning & you need the pain unmasked for an exam.
• Relatively cheap
• Easy to give -- even picky Solo will usually eat it on his food.  If they start refusing it after multiple days, I just dump it in a syringe with a little water & shoot it in their mouth.

Bute Cons:

• Blocking both COX-1 & 2 is what brings about the higher incidence of GI issues with bute.  This is why I switched to Equioxx, as Echo had already been on bute a lot for his foot bruise & I was beginning to see ulcer signs.

Equioxx Pros:

• Primary benefit is its selective COX-2 action:  this spares the GI tract some abuse, as well as protecting other COX-1 processes (cartilage maintenance is another one not mentioned above).
• Also pretty easy to give as a tablet -- Echo snarfed it up when I put it in my hand with a little grain.  I've also heard of people stuffing them in cookies or gumdrops.  Just don't let other humans eat the gumdrops.  I've also heard of that happening once, LOL.

Equioxx Cons:

• I saw significantly less pain control that definitely seemed better suited to something milder like arthritis.
• Slow action, both to kick in & withdraw.  
• Not cheap -- I did find (too late for me) that it was significantly cheaper online than through my vet.  Vet also did say that he did the math & it was actually cheaper per hour of pain control than bute was.  I believe him, but almost $2 a pill still hurts me.

Related note:  Equioxx & Previcox are both firocoxib.  Because Previcox can be cheaper, many people use it for their horses & just divide pills themselves.  However, be aware, it is now illegal, through the FDA, for a vet to give Previcox for a horse.  This is because accurate dosage for firocoxib is important to avoid adverse effects & it's very easy to over- or under-dose when manually dividing dog tablets.  This legal change occurred around 2016, when the tablet form of Equioxx became available; here is a good explanation.  I'm not going to call the drug police on you, just informing. 

One more note:  I learned from the Equioxx package insert that all NSAIDs have the potential to also block the prostaglandins which control body temperature.  This isn't common, but is something to keep an eye on if something goes awry.

Take Homes

Just like pretty much all of life, there are tradeoffs with each option, but I hope this will help you better understand which might work best for you.  I still consider bute my first line tool in acute pain control due to its strength & speed.  However, if you need to give an NSAID for a long period of time or are treating a horse who already has ulcers, Equioxx may be a more appropriate choice to protect GI tracts.

If you really want to dig in, here is a really nice paper from the Journal of the American Vet Med Association from 2017 on the COX enzymes & use of selective COX-2 inhibitors.

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Disaster Horse Votes No To Boring

Without doubt, we are in tumultuous times.  Echo the Disaster Horse did not want to be left out of this & had no interest in my plea to be boring.  Not that I thought he actually would.

Right after my last post, he galloped around the pasture like an idiot & re-aggravated whatever he did to his shoulder.  Two weeks later, he still has some lingering soreness.  Vet says it's possible he bruised a nerve, which will take a little longer to heal.  I wish that was our biggest concern.

About 9 days ago, last Sunday morning, Echo was just looking kinda sorry for himself at breakfast.  I took his pulse on a whim & it was a bit elevated, so I took his temp & discovered he had a fever of 101.8 F.  He was already on Equioxx, so I consulted vet & he said go ahead & give bute if the fever gets higher.  At 102.1 F, I went ahead. 

The bute did control the fever well & Echo perked up, but then Monday night, I went out to give the horses their midnight snack of alfalfa cubes only to find the poor kid was completely covered in hives.  As in, his whole body looked like furry cottage cheese & his neck felt hard as a rock, I have never seen anything like it -- even his butthole had hives on it.  He was extremely tolerant of me shoving my shaking hands up his nose to make sure he still had an airway while I dialed the vet emergency line yet again. 

Gee, mom, you didn't actually want to sleep ever, did you??

A few doses of dex took care of that & we never did determine exactly what he reacted too.  It wasn't fire ants (no bites), he had no changes in food (not even a new bag) -- the best guess is maybe a wasp sting but invisible aliens are equally plausible.  At this point, I had no idea what was going on & took him in to the clinic to figure out what the heck to do before I had an aneurysm.

Long story short, blood work came back showing a possible bacterial infection (origin unknown).  Even though the fever had quit by Wednesday, vet prescribed a course of SMZs, which we've just finished.  In addition, & completely unsurprisingly, he also has some acute ulcers from the on-and-off bute over the last few months for his foot bruise.

Baby Monster, you be killin' me.

I have UlcerGuard on order & will be stalking the tracking number, since Echo is now off his feed & he doesn't have weight to spare.  After the last 10 days, I'm off my feed too!  Until it gets here, I'm offering him soaked alfalfa cubes & anything else he will pick at -- at least I have grass coming in & he is grazing some. 

Alfalfa slurpies

I have been itching to get him back into work, as he has lost all that muscle & weight I put on him last fall & he just does better overall when he is doing SOMEthing.  But I don't have the heart to ask him to do anything extra with a sore belly sloshing around, especially when I can't even give him any painkillers.  I'm even afraid of the Equioxx now, which will take a whole 'nother post to get into.

I am absolutely grateful they are at home with me right now & that Echo can at least keep himself mobile since they live out.  I think Solo is also grateful Baby Monster is wayyyyy less annoying right now.  And at least I can keep a close eye on him since I am working from home most of the time right now.

I hope you all are staying safe out there & I hope all your horses stay very very boring! 

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Update On Disaster Horse

Maybe that should be his new name...

Echo's shoulder has improved some this week.  I'm leaning heavily towards it being a kick & have absolutely no doubt that he was asking for it (he basically always is).  Reason being, he has shown no protest to me extending the leg & he did a big "downward dog" stretch himself this morning, which I don't think he'd be that in to if he had pulled those muscles.

He still has a lump there, although it's reduced a bit, which I'll continue to SoreNoMore, but plan on tapering back the bute & seeing what happens.  He's moving much better, I don't see any more tightness in his walk & he trotted up for his late-night snack last night.

I briefly got on him bareback this morning, just to walk him around & get a feel for things, as that can often give me a lot of information.  I didn't feel anything from that bruised foot (granted, he was still on bute, but that doesn't hide everything), which is good, & got no real resistance from the shoulder.

On Thursday, farrier removed the glue-on boots & put him back in the flip flop pads.  So far, he's looking pretty comfortable in them, which confirms that his initial discomfort with them last time was in fact that it was a suddenly firm surface under that bruise.  He's made enough healing progress now that it no longer bothers him.  We did use race nails (thinner/lighter) in the shoes this time, just for cautious bet-hedging. 

They're back (altho this weird-angle pic is from the first round)

Thanks to the commenter on that post who gave us a perfectly timed tip:  the EasyCare flip flop boots CAN be reused!  We pried them off intact with a screwdriver (by the way, the Adhere glue worked perfectly for 5 weeks).  The adhesive stayed stuck to the hoof, so the boots came off clean & ready to go if I ever want to use them again.  If adhesive does stick to the boot, it can be easily dremel-ed off.  This at least made the price slightly less painful -- if you get two cycles out of them, that's $30 a cycle, which is still a bit high, but much closer with other plastic/rubber/polyurethane footwear.

I am happy with the boots' performance overall:  they stayed on (always critical), tread still looks good, horse moved normally (you know, for a creature with 3 functional legs).  I would definitely add the pour-in material in the toe in the future, as there is just no way to get gunk out of there & there was some moisture trapped in there when we pulled them (we've been in a rainy period).  Echo's feet were healthy when they went on, so no harm done, but pad material would help prevent that buildup.  Alternatively, you could probably cut out some sole "windows," the way we've done with the pads, because the material is pretty sturdy (caveat, I haven't tried this, but I bet someone has).  

Please, Echo, can we just be boring for a while?

Discovering spring grass a couple weeks ago

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