I told you so!
He's back on his feet and back in his box. He looks a bit cross and grumpy even though he's still sedated. They said the operation was absolutely straightforward. They had also told me to expect him to be back on his feet at lunchtime, but I walked to my lorry, parked outside the recovery box (which is fully enclosed and padded floor to ceiling) at 11 o'clock and he heard my footfall and stamped his feet and called me, so he was already up and ready for a fight!
He's got stitches in a small wound on the side of his neck, and I think what they have done is cut a line to bury the outside of the tieback stitch in, so that they can knot it on the outside instead of having a knot inside his throat. That wound will heal over the big stitch and the small stitches come out in 2 weeks.
I had a long talk with the local anaesthetist vet and with the international surgeon (who's completely Chinese looking, and called Chan, but with a cut-glass educated English accent - quite an odd contrast, particularly as he wears his jet black hair gelled upwards at the front. (It suits him!)). The local vet said of Jazz "he's feisty, isn't he?" with which I had to agree of course :-)
Then later, one of the nurses, sort-of slightly embarassed, admitted that first thing this morning, (after he had been starving all night), they took him out of the barred box and put him in another one while they mucked out - and bless my boy if he didn't go ballistic and try and get out over or through the door (I don't know which, probably both!) They got the top door shut and he didn't hurt himself, so I am grinning to myself now. They were SO complacent and SO convinced that I was just one of those fussy, silly owners and now I can say "I TOLD YOU SO!!".
Tomorrow they will sedate him and stick a laser up his nose and burn away a flap that causes the air turbulence at the back of his throat. There's practically no risk in that. Then he comes home either Thursday or Friday, depending on the amount of swelling and how he seems to be coping with it.
Zip is very lonely and endlessly walking around the field, into the croft and into the yard and round again looking for him.
Me? I'm off to catch up on some sleep now all the dangerous bit is over with.
C
posted by cptrayes @ 4:33 PM
17 comments
17 Comments:
HOORAH ! Great News! So they found out about Jazz's "feisty" behaviour then ?
Better late than never. But you cannot really blame them. Knowing the UK, they must have so many soappy female owners over-protecting their babies !!!
I am glad he is okay !
great to hear he's already calling the shots!
I'm not entirely sure he ever stopped calling the shots Mandeigh - he was probably saying "you're not doing that right" as they set up the operating table :-)
Oh Muriel I am so frustrated by the number of English women who think horses are never naughty and that it's just owners who don't know how to train them :-)))) I went to see a friend of mine yesterday with a yearling she was trying to lead in a rope halter. He was standing on his back end flashing out with his front feet. She asked what I thought and I said "I'd put a bit in his mouth, that behaviour is totally unacceptable" She explained that she had had a bit on him but that someone else had told her that was cruel and that she shouldn't need it if she was training him right. Ha! This creature is at least 15.2 already and nearly a full thoroughbred and he is full of himself! He was dangerous and someone thinks it's unfair to bit him, even though he behaves fine in a bridle? It beats me, it really does.
C
Great news! And good to hear he's still his usual self!
Yep, not commented before, but do pop in to keep up on how you and the boys are doing :-)
(PS, if it helps with recognition, I still have a certain ex-saddle of yours, which is still doing the job thank goodness! :whistlesinnocently:)
Brill news...told you he'd get through it ok and with his type of temperament he was bound to bounce back quickly eh?!:))
Sometimes the recovery is the difficult bit though..Polo had months&months of box rest being walked out 3times a day, that was 'interesting' to say the least!
Nicola
Ah Jane, I guessed right when I saw your avatar with a Fhoenix on your lovely black horse (Welsh??)
Nicola, the advice I have so far on recuperation is, if all goes well in the next 2 days -
2 weeks in the barn with Zip, allowed out to pick grass a couple of times a day.
2 weeks in a small paddock (mmmm, could be interesting trying to keep him/them inside it)
2 weeks turned out normally.
2 weeks ride gently.
Scope.
Go back to a normal conditioning regime.
If that all goes to plan, then I am heading for an introduction to drag hunting on Boxing Day, which would be a fabulous thing to aim for. SH is already booked to drive the lorry and the meet is a nice, and local, one.
Polo and 3 months box rest? "Horse balloons" is the expression that comes to mind :-)
C
Excellent news! ^_^
I am suprised at the concern over how he would be handled at the vets, not on your part, but just the fact that there was any question that they don't seem to take every precaution with every horse nomatter what the horse is like.
When we took Ra to Massey every box there was 4 concrete walls with a small barred window at the back and rubber matting on the floor, the recovery boxes had shavings down as well. The bottom door was solid and had 3 bolts, the top door was double grill.
The horses were hand walked for grass if they were upto it and a rearing bit was but on every horse nomatter what. Even my little Ra, which I wasn't too pleased about lol, but they take no risks.
Anyway, great that the op is over and went well! I think Zip wants his mate back lol.
Yes, it's a bit surprising isn't it Anna? Especially when last Friday I left them a letter which said "to all the nursing staff" -
""Jazz is generally very quiet and a lovely natured horse. BUT – he is capable of sudden, explosive and fairly extreme violence. It’s never directed at people, but he can smash things to smithereens and hurt himself in the process. The welding in his lorry and the steel bars across his stable door are witness to his dislike of being enclosed.
He is fine in his home stable, but I have no idea if being in a strange place will make him go back to how he was when I bought him nearly a year ago. If so, he will either break through the stable door with his chest, or climb over it, and for safety’s sake he therefore needs to be in a stable with bars on.""
It is fairly extraordinary that after having been given that in writing, they then put him in a box with no bars, isn't it?
I was so frustrated last week. I knew they just weren't listening to me. Still, they got away with it. If they hadn't, I'd have had a pretty good case to sue them, wouldn't I?
C.
I am so relieved to hear that the operation went well. Now you can really start planning his future!
ML
Whoa, where did my comments go? I posted from school.
Wonderful news, regardless. I do have to laugh a little about Jazz's behavior--only because neither he nor anyone else got hurt. Guess they'll listen to you now!
Zipster will be happy to have his buddy back, but I do wonder how that recuperation period will progress. If only you could strike a deal with Jazz to behave himself for the duration.
Maybe your note to the staff should have been shorter: "Danger. Explosives cannot be contained. Handle with extreme care." Or, you could have just put a sign on him that said, "TNT." *G*
Drag hunting on Boxing Day! What a grand gift to unwrap! I'll be cheering you on!
i nearly rang and called infor a cup of tea, but was fairly sure that this was the week and that whilst therefore you wouldn't be away, company might not have been a good thing...
glad he's doing ok, and i guess the vet's will now listen when you tell them things. so pleased you don't need my professional services LOL.
btb, this is going even more german than it was before:
Sie können HTML-Tags verwenden, z. B.
is immediately below the comment box. shall one of us tell them?
I'm laughing too Jean, but as you say, only because he didn't actually hurt himself. I really want to ask them "what part of 'explosively violent' did you find difficult to understand??"
Planning the future is certainly a fun feature of life right now ML - maybe we can get him to event next year??????
Claire, you're right, we were totally out of it yesterday evening. I'm sorry he robbed you of a guaranteed win in a compensation case!
C
I think it's a German takeover myself.
Aus wiederschreiben!
C.
Recuperation period doesnt sound bad then..I love it when they say turn them out in a paddock and keep them quiet!HOW?!?!
I remember watching behind closed fingers!
Hope things are well today and he gets home to his buddy.
Nicola
Are you going to sell tickets when you take him on Boxing Day or can anyone come :-) Should be entertaining...! Great news that he is doing so well, and roll on the winter (!)...
Nic
Great news, I think the fact that he's a fighter will improve his speed of recovery.
I'd have definitely asked them "what part of explosively violent" didn't they understand? I hope you signed your written instructions with your job title as well ;o)
Tracey B
Nic, you mean you are expecting him to misbehave at a hunt? surely not :-) ?
Nicola, I'm already laughing at the thought that I could possibly persuade him to stay in a tiny paddock when he knows there is a ten acre field out there to play in. I may even leave him in the barn for the second two weeks instead, it would be a lot less stressful.
Tracey I agree, he simply won't consent to being an invalid, I'm sure :-)
Also, jetzt muss Ich shlafen gehen.
C
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