Help us save Hudson

Hi, my name is Rachel and my horse Hudson was diagnosed with a very severe coffin joint infection. It all started 7 weeks ago when he became lame in his hind hoof. We had the farrier out to check if he had an abscess which he is very prone to as he has very thin soles. We treated the abscess and he started to walk somewhat normal again after a couple of days. Out of the blue his leg started to swell up so we had the vet come out and take X-rays of his foot and draw blood. He was then diagnosed with cellulitis and was treated with stall rest and antibiotics which did work by lowering his inflammatory levels. Unfortunately he was still getting worse and became three legged and the vet couldn’t figure out what was causing this much pain. He was on two different pain medication twice a day but he still wasn’t able to put any weight on his foot. Since he was getting so bad we made the decision to take him to the local equine hospital for a diagnostic work up and treatment. We had to hire an equine trailering service to bring him to the hospital as well as my other horse to a local farm because he could not be alone since he is buddy sour. We had to move them both in the dead of winter with ice and snow on the ground which made everything more difficult and scary since he couldn’t walk. When he got to the hospital he had to go into surgery for us to get a diagnosis. They aspirated the coffin joint for a fluid analysis and it came back positive with a streptococcal infection of the coffin joint and navicular bursa. He was there for 7 days and then had to come home for us to try and nurse him back to health. He was sent home with an IV catheter for his pain relievers and antibiotics that he was on around the clock as well as fentanyl patches.  Now he’s on a very expensive oral medication that we have to give three times a day for an extended amount of time. With everything from the hospital stay, medications, supplies, and the multiple visits from the farrier and vet it is adding up very quickly. This horse is the sweetest and most trusting horse I’ve been around. He loves to love and be loved and is always giving you kisses when you are down. He saved me three years ago when I had to put my last horse down unexpectedly and now I owe it to him to save him.