Husband Doug and his ground Squirrel

It has taken about a month for Doug to get the Squirrel to trust him enough to do this.

All is good so far

 Pictured is King Karrot as a youngster

 I can't say Karrot has improved but he is not getting any worse. Bute helps keep him comfortable. He enjoys going into turnout and wither rubbing with his bestie Coco. I have added some high calorie performance horse feed to his diet, gradually of course. For the past few days we have been having very high temperatures here in S California. on average 101 F with 53 % humidity. Karrot got heat distress on the first day and was showered with cool water and a cold towel put over his back. He is a roarer so when he breathes out rapidly, as in heat stress it sounds very alarming almost like a donkey braying. The weather will cool off later this week. To tolerate the heat I have to wear a wet bandana and then take off my shirt and soak it in cold water and put it back on. We do have a big shade tree to sit under and the horses have what are called shaders to be under, and lots of cold water to splash their heads in.  Thankfully very hot weather like this happens for only a few days every year.

Karrot so far

Has not had any significant improvement from his acupuncture and laser treatments.  That's Ok I gave it a go and now have other ways to see if I can help him.  One is to feed him turmeric with black pepper added. He loves this and has eaten some twice now with just a bit of water added in his grain. He gets bute when he looks as if he is in pain. I am trying light massage in the hip area and Reiki healing there also. He fell down a few days ago and seems none the worse for it. So all in all I am happy that he is stable. Next is really tuning in to his weight loss. I am thinking that the senior feed he is eating that is formulated for Cushings and horses prone to laminitis is too low in carbs. I will be getting some regular feed for him at the next visit to the feed store. Plus more shavings to cushion him when he falls.

So far

 So far I am pleased to say Karrot has not fallen since July 28th. That is 10 days ago. That also means he has gone that long with out deep sleep. I am hoping so much that he is using the pad that I made for him to lean against and go into a deep sleep. I have seen him in the videos from the wild life camera leaning on it in conjunction with putting his nose down to the ground to balance himself. I am thinking that the longer he goes with out falling the more his leg will gain strength again.Then he will be able to get up with out too much struggle. I only have footage of him falling and not how he gets up again. On Tuesday Joan is coming again for the last acupuncture, laser and electro therapy. So far it has cost about $600. I really do not see any great improvement. I do give karrot bute when he seems to be in pain. Joan wants to try a new drug called Gabapentin a pain killer specifically for nerve damage. Here is a picture of King Karrot Morgan Horse age 33 from June.

What are horses for

My husband Doug has five grand children. This is Milo aged 7 and his first time around our horses at this age. "Keep your hand flat to feed Coco an apple" Grandpa says. Later Karrot got a bath and Milo had a great time, it was a hot day. Earlier Milo and his dad had been out with Grandpa Doug who rode Coco, and they had incredible fun on our quad bike, a first time there too.