Progress & Corneal Ulcers

First off, the Corneal Ulcer.  I HATE eye issues - only thing medically that makes me squeemish.  Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who makes it his job to doctor the horses when it needs done. Which for the past week has included driving out early mornings to put two different eye ointments in Riva's eye and give her Banamine paste. 

Last Sunday, we arrived at the barn to find Riva's right eye swollen almost shut, draining, and completely cloudy.  After panicing just a bit...we started calling vets to have an emergency visit.  When Riva was a yearling, she cut her eyelid and we waited a few days to have a vet out to see her.  The vet told us to never wait to call about eye injuries.  Of course, this time was much worse.

After trying our first choice vet...out of town for Thanksgiving weekend.  Second choice vet...Dr. on call was heading in to the clinic for an emergency c-section on a dog.  Third choice vet...he called us back and was out in about an hour.  He examined Riva's eye and determined it was a Corneal Ulcer caused by an injury.  He gave her a Banamine injection and treated her eye with two different ointments.  He was confident it would heal completely with treatment, but insured we did the right thing by not waiting to have it seen.

So, a week later, the swelling and drainage are gone and the cloudiness is clearing.  We are done treating with Banamine and one of the eye ointments.  The rest of this week, she needs just the one ointment twice a day.  Very relieved!  No pictures - sorry.

Next, progress.  I am starting to feel everything come together with getting Riva forward.  I can not say enough how working on a Dressage Schoolmaster is improving my position and understanding of riding in general.  My trainer/BO is patient and wonderful and works very hard to help me understand the mechanics of riding - how my position, relaxation, posture effects the horse.

Because of the lessons, I have also been doing a lot of reading and research in my quest to learn and understand.  While there is a lot of crap on-line, a couple of articles I found were exactly in line with what my trainer has been teaching.  I had a light bulb moment after reading it in print and seeing it stated a different way.

To be continued...