The Big Slough Off!?

Aw, look who was at the gate waiting for me on Friday! And I thought treating this sarcoid was going to cause issues for me and my horse.....hardly the case! He's been in heaven. After all, every time he gets sarcoid meds put on, he's eating carrots, cookies, or his grain. What's not to like about that? A positive association, for sure!

As you can see from this picture, the bump had been oozing last week. The hair underneath the bump, towards the halter ring, was pretty matted with goo that had been draining. Per the vet's instructions, I was to keep applying the Xxterra for a few more days, trying to get this thing to react a little more.

The weather turned Saturday. It was wet, but the clouds took a break when I arrived. My Boy was looking a bit like a drowned rat. His fur was curled and damp and coated in dirt and shavings from his sleepover in his turnout shed. My handsome boy was looking a bit disheveled!

This time, the bump was definitely scabby and oozing. I could actually lift the corner of it a tiny bit (blech) and see more goo brewing underneath. It wasn't hanging there, and I wasn't going to pull it off, but I could tell that it was start to "lift up."

The Painted Creek Farm gets it's name from a little creek that runs between the house and the horse pastures. It only runs fall-spring, usually drying up in the summer. Every time I finish with my horse and leave the pastures and head towards the lawn and garage, I always stop and rinse my boots in the creek. It works great!

Saturday night, about 5 hours after I treated My Boy, I get an email from Paint Girl. She said that when her cowboy fed the horses their dinner, My Boy's matted bump was gone! It was bloody and raw. What? That was fast! I was just there 4 hours previously! Maybe he'd rubbed it off on a tree, or while rolling? Regardless, I have no pictures of the most gory part of all. Can you believe it? Sorry to let down all of you gore fans!

I called Paint Girl's cowboy on Sunday morning.

"So, I hear that My Boy's bump thing came off? Was it like, raw flesh underneath?"

"Yea."

"So, it was kind of bloody, but it was pink, like a skin wound?"

"Yea."

Paint Girl's cowboy is a man of few words.

I woke up Sunday to a wet snowy start to the day. Luckily by mid-day, a sharp and gusty wind had blown the rain away so I drove to the Painted Creek. Blue peeked out of the low, dark clouds as they rolled by in the sky. I stopped at the farm store to pick up some necessities.

I bought some Chicago screws, supplement (grain), dewormer, and randomly tossed in a Farm & Ranch Living magazine. When I got to the Painted Creek and checked out the bump myself, I noticed it had kind of scabbed over, but it was still a little bloody and gooey, although dry.

It was not as scary looking as I thought it might be, judging from the bloody flesh description I'd gotten from the cowboy. I wasn't sure if I was to apply more Xxterra, the vet was not taking calls this weekend and the answering service took my number for the on-call vet, who didn't get back to me. I went ahead and put on another coat as it didn't appear to be raw flesh and wasn't bothering him. I'm not sure if it has completely sloughed, or, is still in the sloughing phase?

There does appear to be a bit of a "crater" effect going on, so I am hoping this did the trick.
This medication certainly did (or is doing) what it is supposed to, it took about 5 days and it didn't inflame as bad as I heard it might. I will talk to the vet tomorrow but I have a feeling at this point we'll just let it rest and heal up. For those of you experienced with Xxterra, what is the next phase? Does it just scab and heal and flake off, and will the hair grow back?

After applying the medication I groomed My Boy then went to check the bedding in his shed.

My Boy licking his bucket clean as I picked out his run-in shed.

Pony Girl, stop that cleaning, get back here, and gimme me a refill, will ya?

So, are you tired of sarcoid pictures yet?

I'm ready to get back to some sense of normalcy with my horse. I haven't worked him since this whole sarcoid treatment started, partially due to that, and partially due to weather. Next Saturday we have the farrier visit so he'll have tender hooves for a day. I feel like I'll never be back in the saddle again!