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GRAPHIC WARNING: Wounds
Adele and the others suffered because of the care --- or lack thereof --- at Green Acres in Pacific City.
By the time we realized what was going on, it was too late - we just had to work to get them home ASAP. But the fact is, if it hadn't been for the wildfire, this wouldn't have been an issue at all.
Click on photo to see in entirety.
3-29-21 Blanket cutting into Adele
Very zoomed in as she was unreachable. I couldn't tell what was going on when I took the photo. Only figured it out much too late.
4-14-21 Jim pointing to wound
That's Adele, are you sure?! Now we see her wound - but it wasn't just bad rainrot (Jim was adamant about wearing a mask during CoViD).
5-2-21 screenshot
Adele unloaded. "We have some medicine for her owie."
5-2-21 Now I see
After we said goodbye to the deliverers, we got a good look at the horses' condition. I decided to give them a full day to settle in and enjoy food and being stress-free before tending to Adele's wound.
5-4-21 A crusty mess
You call that an "owie"? This is a major infection!
5-4-21 oozing
Not really painful for her, as it had already cut through all the nerves. Must have been excruciating while it was happening, though. No wonder Teri thought she was a "bad" horse!
5-4-21 checking depth
Yeah, I can't believe I wasn't wearing gloves, either :-P Just hadn't thought we needed them yet (remember, we were still living in a 19' travel trailer as wildfire evacuees!)
5-4-21 Nutmeg in background
5-4-21 Nasty friction wound
Caused by unnecessary, unmanaged blanket, sawing into her withers over days and days.
5-4-21 Maggots
Pulled off dead skin revealing maggots burrowing into her healthy flesh.
5-4-21 Haven for flies
Mismanaged wound + rain rot
5-4-21 Result of negligence
Maggots had eaten away at her healthy skin, suffocating under puss/medication runoff!
5-4-21 Solly's rain rot
Because of being blanketed during wet, warm weather, they all had severe rain rot (a fungal condition). There was absolutely NO need to blanket them, except to hide their emaciated conditions. Nutmeg's skin never did recover.
5-4-21 Proper dressing applied
You don't let wounds like this just scab over! I was so angry when I realized what these people had done to both cause the wound, and then "treat" it ... I thought they knew what the he** they were doing?!?
5-7-21 Veterinary assessment
We had an emergency vet out as soon as possible to assess and advise. He said to watch for infection - if it got to the bone, we would lose her :( Said stitching wouldn't work because of the location - they would just pull out.
5-9-21
5-15-21 Looks bad, but it's healing
Disgusting mess, but there are signs of hope!
5-16-21 Two weeks later
A full two weeks after homecoming, and Adele still looks emaciated. She had been *very* close to death.
5-20-21 Clever wound dressing
I used gauze to hold on the ointment, and discourage the flies. Changed it out every day. Worked a charm as it didn't fall - just stuck on! Had to remove it carefully as the puss would dry onto her skin. Adele and I got to be quite a team - I would wet the gauze to soften the dried puss before removing it, then cleaning it up felt good to her because puss is itchy :)
5-19-21 Healing nicely
That puss dries like glue!
5-25-21 Still bleeding, but closing up
Margins are definitely growing together!
5-30-21 Still a wound, barely!
7-19-21
Just a little bit of gapping left. For such a bad wound, it's a miracle it did this well without stitches!
8-23-21 Over 3 months
Still needed to massage this daily as it is a very difficult place to heal. But it close up pretty nicely!
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