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Blue is a 2010 Virginia Range (NV) mustang gelding who came to AAE March of 2017 after a request for assistance from the Virginia Range Wild Horse Sanctuary and Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund. Blue had been carrying around a large seven pound mass of proud flesh (granulation tissue) over his left rear fetlock/pastern area for some time. Although he had been haltered and handled some previously, he was not halterable when he arrived at AAE. We knew we had a big job ahead in helping Blue.

Before we could evaluate the mass, he had to be gentled, haltered, and readily halterable, and his legs/hooves had to be readily handleable for frequent bandage changes after surgery. With a straightforward mustang, it's usually not a big deal, but Blue had some substantial fear/trust issues. Initial efforts with befriending and haltering him were lukewarm. Thanks to Dr. Stolba and Team at LBEMC (throughout Blue's journey), he had made enough progress that we were able to sedate him, radiograph the bony area beneath the mass, and collect tissue samples for biopsy. We wanted to make sure there was not an underlying reason for the mass other than an old injury before getting too deep into corrective measures if they would be for naught. It was not an easy feat. Even with sedation, he kicked quickly and with purpose.

Radiographs and biopsy detected no obvious issues, so the work continued. Weeks in, Blue seemed to have had a reaction to something and developed a mysterious condition that turned out to be a form of vasculitis. He developed sores/ulcers throughout his entire mouth. The first layer of tissue pulled off with any type of pressure. They were horribly painful. Though his history and symptoms didn't suggest it, we had to quarantine him and test him for vesicular stomatitis. Thankfully, it was negative. We scaled back our efforts to reduce his stress and allow him to heal. But, the mass was growing and oozing, and flies and yellow jackets swarmed the oozy mass.

After several weeks, he improved and we’ve resumed course. He would take a few steps forward, then a couple steps back. Finally, after many weeks with nominal results, we had a marathon day. We worked until we broke through. After six hours, he accepted handling and touching all over, and we practiced bandaging and removing bandages, over and over. The next day, our learning curve was much shorter, and the next and the next, until finally, we could halter, touch all over, and pick up his left hind and handle it all over. We practiced with bandaging materials again and wrapped it up, and he was a gem! We scheduled surgery...
PLEASE READ THE REST OF BLUE'S JOURNEY ON