Medial Patellar Ligament Splitting--Brandy's Post-Op Rehab Progress

Today is Brandy's seventh day post-op after her medial patellar ligament splitting.

Her right thigh remains quite swollen, but the swelling is moving down her leg into the hock area.  Drainage continues from the incision which looked pretty gunky when I went out to ride her today.  Some of the gunky look on the unshaven area below the incision is the DMSO-Furazone ointment I apply, but there is also serous liquid that drains out of the incision and down her leg.  When she lies down on her other side, it also drips onto her left leg.

Here the swelling shows up in the right (sunlit) leg.  On her left leg you can see grooves and bulges where the tendons run, but the right leg is swollen into shapelessness.

Almost an entire bottle of warmed-up hydrogen peroxide and some scrubbing with gauze pads got the incision and her leg below looking a lot cleaner.  I was surprised to find that it didn't look worse.  There doesn't seem to be any redness or infection, so I hope the drainage is just serous liquid from the cellulitis.

I dried everything off with a clean towel, then sprayed Blue Lotion on both incisions for good measure.  It's an excellent antiseptic with the added advantage that you can see when it's sweated or washed off and needs to be reapplied.

I had three willing helpers today for Brandy's rehab.  Kara saddled Angel for me and started to ride with me.  Since Herb had a choice, he said he preferred to scoop manure in the barnyard rather than ride.  Somebody needs to get his priorities right!  :)

A full-length view shows that we had clear blue skies and sun to ride under, although a freezing wind kicked up just as soon as we mounted up!  You can also see how long Angel's and Brandy's tails are; Brandy's actually trails on the ground.

Jenny came out and took over riding after a quarter of an hour so Kara could get back to her crocheting.  We did a lot of steep hill work in the Back Pasture and up in the woods and then some gaiting in the Lower Pasture.  Brandy has always been a sweat-er, but it reassures me to have her come back sweaty.  I feel like we're getting in some good workouts--and hopefully irritating those ligaments into making lots of nice, tightening scar tissue!