Day by day

First, the lambs are doing well. Bumblebee and Cricket are still separated from the main group until they are strong enough to avoid getting trampled (um, yeah, that requires a whole lot more strength than I thought, sorry Bumblebee.) Otherwise, they're good.

Anyway, phew on the lamb problems. For now at least.

Hard to say about Josie. Sarah at CSL rightly asked how do you keep a 1000 lb pony off a broken foot.

The short answer?

Pain.

Josie is still restricted to her stall so that she can't go walk about even if she wanted to, which she doesn't at the moment.

She's also on a long-term sedative to keep her calm. Since she's the easily frustrated type (who, for instance, kicks her stall walls when pissed off), this is drug strategy number 1.

The second drug strategy, though a little counterintuitive is equally, if not more important. Josie is to get just enough bute to benefit from its anti-inflammatory properties, but not enough to dull the pain. It's the pain that will keep her from using the foot before its ready. Yesterday I think I gave her a little too much. The paste form does not come out of the tube easily. This makes the dose harder to control than it should be. Arghh. I saw her pick up the unbroken foot at one point in the afternoon. Not good. On the other hand, for the first 48 hours she went nearly bute-free, because she refused the powder I was giving her. She kept her foot pretty clear off the ground then. Today I am shooting for the middle ground.

The final strategy is ice. For both feet. These are wraps that you keep in the freezer when not in use. This is in lieu of cold hosing.  Cold hosing requires her to walk out to the hose outside. She's not allowed to walk anywhere. And, um, yeah, I can't hose her in her stall. So, ice.

It's the front foot that is broken. 

Good thoughts for Josie everybody, please?