Blossom's Eye

An update on Blossom's eyes.  At birth she had inverted eyelashes which isn't an uncommon condition with newborn foals.  I was able to correct it myself without having a vet out and stitching the lids up, a procedure they do with one stitch.  Taking a dry wash clothe I manually pulled the lid back and pulled out the lashes.  As precaution I gave a drop of polysporin to the eye.  My administration appeared to be working but then the one eye began to run and look sore once again.

When I'd go to pull back the lashes I discovered they already were out and that the problem was not inverted lashes any longer as I had corrected that problem.  I continued to give that bad eye polysporin but then I noticed one day that her eye looked like one red glowing bulb.  It was bleeding.

So I called the vet in and had him look at it.  Apparently she had poked it on something and an ulcer had developed.  She will always be blind in the spot of the ulcer but thankfully it is near the bottom of her eye and not in direct line of sight.  I was pretty upset that something in her environment could have done this to her eye so I went about and removed any dangerous screws in her stall and checked for anything else that could be poking out and then I tackled the miniature pasture.  There is a line of trees there that over winter the horses had chewed down pretty good.

Between each tree there had been two pine trees in their infancy standing no more than three feet tall.  When the horses were done with those pine trees there was nothing left but the tree trunk and empty branches.  Branches that were in direct line with Blossom's eye level so they had to come down.  I spent a couple hours today cutting down at least 20 budding (but dead) pine trees, tree stumps, and lower branches on the bigger trees leaving the pasture a much safer place for baby to roam.

I've also been administering her with Tobrex for the past week now and there has been considerable improvement.

She will always have the ulcer but at least she won't be blind.  At least I hope so.  The vet is to come back and check on her recovery and give the final verdict but from what I can see, her vision does not seem impaired.

Her fetlocks are improving but still not fully correct but according to the vet, that will come in time.  It certainly doesn't stop her from running about.

She's gained lots of weight and is beginning to graze alongside her mother.

Whether she is actually eating or not is another matter.  But she is definitely learning the concept.

Or maybe not.