Broken Horse Haul
Yeah, I'm doing another one of these.
Things haven't exactly been the pinnacle of excitement in Runkle Land. He's still on stall rest, with brief stints of hand walking intermixed with ice. He continues to improve, as he took his first sound(ish) trot steps since October 2nd this week. It's an exciting time. And I totally did not have a vivid nightmare about him dying. Nope. Not at all.
Despite the astounding amount I've spent on vet bills in the past couple of weeks I still went on a little tiny 'spree' of rehab goodies and I figured I'd share them here, just because I bought the stuff on good advice or got some really sweet deals. I know a lot of you own Thoroughbreds so you should probably consider buying all of these things because I know your struggle.
Splintex Gold
I got this at the recommendation of Runkle's old race trainer. Apparently it is actual gold for splints, and who am I to argue with someone who probably sees five splints a day. It smells kinda foul but it's no worse than DMSO/Cortizone. Runkle also hates DMSO so this has been a nice compromise. I'm going to keep posting updates about using this product because apparently it can help shrink the size of Godzilla and since Godzilla is... well, Godzilla, this is a very good thing.
But so far, in just healing the splint it seems to be working. After just one week of use he's sound. Now whether that's because it was week four of this nonsense or it's sped up, I don't know. But I'd like to think it helped. He still palpates sensitive on it but I think that's because he's a little baby.
Either way, if you have a young horse I suggest keeping this in your toolkit.
Rap Last
Runkle hasn't been allowed to have standing wraps on in a bit because he is a jackass and rips them off. He tangles himself up in them like an animal, because he's the worst. I poured over several types of anti-chew sprays and decided on Rap Last. The reviews on this are pretty freakin' brilliant.
It was dark so I didn't apply it outside for my first trial, and I didn't use the right spray setting. It said on the bottle 'do NOT (emphasis theirs) use spray setting, use stream setting only.' I thought well that's going to screw up the surface area I cover so I ignored it. And I figured the barn was well ventilated enough.
At first spray I immediately created a Chernobyl type situation. I'm glad it had all night to dissipate because it took three days for me to stop coughing. On the plus side, the next morning when I walked into his stall all four bandages were still on!!! It was a Christmas miracle! Or police grade pepper spray.
So uh, yes. It really works. But for the love of all things sacred follow the directions on the bottle.
Flannel Standing Wraps
My standing wraps stretch. A lot. Probably because they were cheap, but they are purple so I let it slide. But I now hate it so I bought flannel ones. When I was a kid this was all I used to ship in, except I secured them with bandage pins and THESE HAVE VELCRO. We are truly living in the future, people.
Cordura Ice Boots
Uh, this one was the one item that accidentally fell into my cart seconds before check out and I clicked submit before I could question myself too much. The Muck Tub Ice Method is my favorite for icing. You can use whatever fancy boots and gels you want, but nothing beats plain old ice.
You are then free to go do other things. It's amazing. And actually he's gotten so used to them now that I think I could probably just chuck him in his stall and let him eat hay while he soaks. Beyond injury care, this will be great for horse shows. I won't need to bring 40 bags of ice with me. All I need to do is slap the boots on, tie him to the trailer (we'll have to work on that) and live my life!
Heal Quick
A full and thorough review will be forthcoming because I need something to fix the ten million scuffs and scrapes he has. So far, since he's on stall rest, he's not super cut up except for his face from sticking his nose through the treat hole in his stall. Oi, this horse.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed this riveting first aid haul. Now open a new browser tab and buy those ice boots.
Things haven't exactly been the pinnacle of excitement in Runkle Land. He's still on stall rest, with brief stints of hand walking intermixed with ice. He continues to improve, as he took his first sound(ish) trot steps since October 2nd this week. It's an exciting time. And I totally did not have a vivid nightmare about him dying. Nope. Not at all.
Despite the astounding amount I've spent on vet bills in the past couple of weeks I still went on a little tiny 'spree' of rehab goodies and I figured I'd share them here, just because I bought the stuff on good advice or got some really sweet deals. I know a lot of you own Thoroughbreds so you should probably consider buying all of these things because I know your struggle.
Splintex Gold
 |
| Before on the left, after on the right. I know the after probably looks bigger, but trust me, IT'S NOT. |
Either way, if you have a young horse I suggest keeping this in your toolkit.
Rap Last
Runkle hasn't been allowed to have standing wraps on in a bit because he is a jackass and rips them off. He tangles himself up in them like an animal, because he's the worst. I poured over several types of anti-chew sprays and decided on Rap Last. The reviews on this are pretty freakin' brilliant.
It was dark so I didn't apply it outside for my first trial, and I didn't use the right spray setting. It said on the bottle 'do NOT (emphasis theirs) use spray setting, use stream setting only.' I thought well that's going to screw up the surface area I cover so I ignored it. And I figured the barn was well ventilated enough.
At first spray I immediately created a Chernobyl type situation. I'm glad it had all night to dissipate because it took three days for me to stop coughing. On the plus side, the next morning when I walked into his stall all four bandages were still on!!! It was a Christmas miracle! Or police grade pepper spray.
So uh, yes. It really works. But for the love of all things sacred follow the directions on the bottle.
Flannel Standing Wraps
My standing wraps stretch. A lot. Probably because they were cheap, but they are purple so I let it slide. But I now hate it so I bought flannel ones. When I was a kid this was all I used to ship in, except I secured them with bandage pins and THESE HAVE VELCRO. We are truly living in the future, people.
Cordura Ice Boots
Uh, this one was the one item that accidentally fell into my cart seconds before check out and I clicked submit before I could question myself too much. The Muck Tub Ice Method is my favorite for icing. You can use whatever fancy boots and gels you want, but nothing beats plain old ice.
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| He's not a huge fan. Too bad. |
The problem is muck buckets themselves are not horribly effective. You cool a LOT of water for not that much surface area of leg. What I really want is those whirlpool boots which I will eventually justify buying, mark my words. But in the meantime, these are $40 at Big D's, so what's the worst that could happen? Side note: I bought all this stuff from Big D. It might be my favorite horse shopping website.
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| sux 2 b u bro |
They are my favorite purchase since I bought Runkle himself. And I have bought a LOT of crap in the past year. I usually wet the leg to start, and sometimes put a wet paper towel around the splint just to double check that it's getting cold. Then just zip them up and dump ice into the top!
You are then free to go do other things. It's amazing. And actually he's gotten so used to them now that I think I could probably just chuck him in his stall and let him eat hay while he soaks. Beyond injury care, this will be great for horse shows. I won't need to bring 40 bags of ice with me. All I need to do is slap the boots on, tie him to the trailer (we'll have to work on that) and live my life!
Heal Quick
A full and thorough review will be forthcoming because I need something to fix the ten million scuffs and scrapes he has. So far, since he's on stall rest, he's not super cut up except for his face from sticking his nose through the treat hole in his stall. Oi, this horse.
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| Also the packaging was ADORABLE. |
Anyway I hope you enjoyed this riveting first aid haul. Now open a new browser tab and buy those ice boots.
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| I need to get him his own stall guard. He loves it. |
I have the Roma ice boots like that, with the suspenders that go over the shoulders. I love them too. Only takes one bag of ice and minimal supervision!
ReplyDeleteyeah there's another with the suspender, but I've only been doing the one leg and it stands up fine on its own so I hadn't bothered.
Deletebut SO AWESOME.
also I found them in other colors in some places. but not purple :(
I also have the ice boots and I love them!
ReplyDeleteThose boots! I've thought about buying some off and on but since they are a necessity at the moment I decided not to tempt fate. I'm sure if I bought them he would give me a reason to use them...
ReplyDeleteIce boots are awesome! I did read the bit about the anti chew spray and think "someone should buy Meg a Taser". Mostly because I want to read about the results
ReplyDeleteThose ice boots are awesome! My frequent icer however is a ninny and would never wear it. Also fellow Big D lover over here! They ship so fast!
ReplyDeleteLove Big Dee's! When my horse tried to destroy her eyeball they had the best options for creepy hoods with goggles that made her look like a giant housefly 😂 glad to hear you're making progress with Godzilla!
ReplyDeleteHe is certainly in good hands!
ReplyDeleteI'm very interested in how the splintex works for you. I've been thinking I'd try it myself.
ReplyDeleteso far, I freakin love it. He palpates ALMOST normal (if I poke real hard he still gets mad). I'm a believer.
DeleteDefinitely investing in the Rap Last! I've always used chili powder in the past, but that's a hot mess express to apply. Also then Bobby smells like a taco.
ReplyDeletei mean... tacos are good :P
DeleteOne day those ice boots will be mine too. But damn Runkle for real tho, hurry up and heal!
ReplyDelete