Hello everyone and welcome to Maverick’s blog! For all of those that are following Maverick and his journey we wanted you to have an easier way to find out what is going on with him. For more information on his history you can check out his page on our website at http://www.equinerecline.org/maverick.
Let me add here that I am not at all familiar with blogs and don’t have much clue as to what I am doing, so please forgive me for any mistakes!
I know some people have had questions about Maverick’s care and just about him in general so I’ll try to answer some of them now.
First off I have to say Maverick is one of the most courageous horses I have ever known. He is very strong willed and to have survived everything he has, and to still be cheerful and happy is just incredible. He does have his bad days and can be a grump, but don’t we all? He adores being spoiled and the center of attention. Food is to be brought to him as he’s lying down, lavish praise is to be handed out, and in his opinion humans make great feed tub holders when he’s standing. 
To have Maverick in my life is such an incredible blessing that I don’t think I can ever describe.
Anyways before I start crying or rambling too much let me get back on track here. We do have Maverick supplemented with several things to help assist in his recovery. We feed him white willow and meadowsweet (both herbs that help with pain and inflammation), Recovery EQ, a probiotic, and Platinum Performance. We’ve had great success using the Platinum Performance on other horses with lameness and/or leg issues. We are hoping that it will do the same for Maverick. The Recovery EQ is supposed to be excellent for arthritis, injuries, and much more. We have seen him improve since on it, though not with his legs. We keep him on it despite it’s expense ($75 for a 40 day supply) because of the other improvements we’ve seen in his quality of life. When he arrived it could take him 5 to 10 minutes of struggling to get up after lying down. Now he can easily pop up without the struggle.
Since I mentioned quality of life, I’ll go into that a bit further. Owning any animal, it always comes down to their quality of life when trying to decide whether to keep fighting when they are sick or injured or to have them humanely put down. Despite the contracted tendons in both front legs and the limited amount of time that Maverick can stand, etc he does have a good quality of life. This we judge by his attitude which in general is very upbeat. He nickers for his food, treats, and in general is very positive. He has an excellent appetite and loves to hang out with the other horses and tries to boss them around, even over the fence. His favorite companion is usually Sunshine who will often stand “guard” over him when they are out together and he is lying down.
We will continue to do everything we can to get Maverick healed until he is either healed or has told us he has had enough. He hasn’t given any indication of the latter yet, so we will keep trying everything we can to get him better.
Recently Maverick managed to break one of the upgraded Dynasplints. We are waiting for a new one, but at the moment he has abscesses that have burst at the coronet band (where hoof meets skin) and are being rubbed raw by the splints. We have tried different ways to pad the splints so they don’t rub, but nothing has helped so we are giving him a break. Currently we are using SMB’s (sports medicine boots) to help provide him with some support. They do seem to be helping some.
Yesterday (January 31) we had a chance to chat with Soleil Dolce of the Arizona Equine Rescue Orginazation about Maverick. She is just awesome and so very knowledgable. We can’t thank her enough for her encouragement, ideas, and being willing to share her knowledge. We will post more as the ideas pan out.
Monetary donations are always greatly appreciated for his support.
God bless.
