Know Your Horse's Normal

The magazine The Horse has a great article on Knowing Your Horse’s Health in the May issue . . . and urge everyone to read this piece and to pay better attention to their horses.

I can’t stress the importance of knowing what is normal for your horse both in vital signs (temp, pulse, respiration, and capillary response of the gums), but also behavioral things like drinking water after grain, calling for you when you come home for work, etc.

If I had not known these, and had not know what was normal and not right for my mare, Bees (the one featured on the home page of our website www.good-horsekeeping.com ) she would not be with us today.  After 8 long weeks of working with two vets (one of which as recently as last week urged me to put her down and was the same vet that I blame for being aggressive enough with a diagnosis/treatment and for only offering the option of putting her down), Bees appears to be on the road to a full recovery. ***Please see earlier post for initial story.

In my 40 years of horse ownership this has been the biggest test of my will and of my gut instincts.  Seeing Bees trotting again and walking almost normal is better then any award we have ever won.  It took everything I had in me to take care of her from hand feeding her and watering her in those early weeks when she laid down for 10-12 hours at a time to getting only 4-5 hours sleep for the past five weeks so I could break up her meds and feeding regimen as a means to prevent colic and ulcers.

The x-rays last week showed minimal rotation and now after being one-week on an antibiotic (for what my original vet thought was a shoe boil . . . . even though I said is was way beyond a shoe boil when Bee’s entire forearm, chest, and leg swelled up), she has dramatically turned around.  I pushed for the antibiotic feeling in the back of my mind there had been some kind of weird infection that caused her original lameness and possible case of laminitis.

The message I want every horse owner to get from my hard and horrible experience is to know your horses, pay attention to them.  Although I do, and know when they even have a hair out of place, I fault myself for not getting a second opinion earlier.   Don’t be afraid to question your vet, and if you think you need a second opinion, get it!  When I finally called in another vet, Bees had a fighting chance . . . .Although with the new vet’s help and my tenacity of believing something else was going on besides laminitis, she’s alive today.

Making Sense Of All Of The Horse Care Information Out There . . .

The  past 6 weeks has been very insightful regarding all of the horse care information out on the web . . . . as I continue to treat and care for my laminitic mare, Bees.  Nearly everything I have researched from the meds the vet prescribed to some of the herbal remedies has been met with contradictions . . .

It's frustrating enough to read studies and articles from credible equine professionals that can't agree on protocols or medicines for treating common equine ailments . . . .then go to some of the forums and discussion groups and you really want to pull your hair out trying to figure out what might work.

It doesn't even seem like anyone can agree on whether or not you reduce swelling with heat or with cold compresses!!!  Very frustrating as I've been dealing with some secondary things that have cropped up from my mare's convalescence, which most recently has been a large shoe boil.  Yesterday I spent over one hour trying to decipher the best way to treat it.  Some said cold washes and DMSO, others said heat, others said leave it alone, while even others said drain it . . .

About the only thing there seemed to be agreement on is the use of a shoe boil boot to protect the elbow when the horse lies down.

Finally, I decided once again to follow my gut on the treatment.  I used a bag of frozen green beans as cold compress to get some of the heat out of the boil, and applied some Arnica to the swelling, and put a rear shipping boot (turned backwards) on the leg so that the lower flare of the boot covers the hoof.  It looks better this morning.
So I guess the bottom line here remains:  do your research, make sure Internet sources are credible, and whenever in doubt, follow your own instincts.

Picking Up The Pieces . . . . My Mare Is Alive, But Will Pay The Price For Not Calling Another Vet . . .

 

It’s been four weeks of pure hell!!  By the grace of God, my mare, Bees (the one featured on the homepage of www.good-horsekeeping.com) is alive, but will probably never be shown again and it’s too early to judge the damage caused by what probably was founder.

I write this to prevent anyone else from going through this.  In my opinion founder and colic are two things that vets NEED to be proactive with.  If an owner, especially one like myself with 40 years of horse experience says it looks like something  . . . regardless of there not being the classic signs, it probably is.

To say I’m mad as hell, would be an understatement.  I previously had a foundered horse . . . one with 12 percent rotation.  I know what the classic signs are; I pulled that horse through two bouts with founder and I managed to keep her sound for 20 years.

When Bees seemed a little sore around Valentine’s Day, after weeks of frozen ground and ice here in southwest Michigan, I didn’t sit back and just wait and see.  My blacksmith immediately came out and checked her (she does have thin soles and has had minor sore feet issues in the past).  He ruled out anything other then the hard ground and we put shoes on with snow pads.  She stepped away great and moved like normal for the next day.  When she seemed to back slide a little and I felt a slight digital pulse . . . I called my vet.  Initially he wanted me to wait and see.  However, I insisted (being hypersensitive about founder) and said I would feel better if he checked her and paid for the emergency call.  In his opinion she was just sore and didn’t show the classic signs of founder.  Give her time, he told me and soak her feet in case there’s an abscess. 

           

That’s what I did.  When she continued to get worse I had him out two additional times. . . .with my blacksmith being out of town for a week he said we would wait till he was back to pull the shoes.  Upon my instance during the second visit I pleaded with him to leave me what he would prescribe for laminitis.  He did, but still felt she wasn’t foundering.

In that week I questioned whether I should call in another vet.  Several of my professional horse peers told me I needed to trust my vet, and that I shouldn’t undermine him by calling someone else.  After all, he has been practicing for more then 25 years, just built a new, state-of –the art clinic, and had always been good about coming out on farm calls.  Normally I probably would have said “to hell with it” and called another vet, but knowing that Bees is very difficult to work with (she had some former training abuse, which causes her to be very anxious around new and strange people), I decided to take their advice . . .   BIG MISTAKE!

By the second week she could hardly stand . . . . An emergency meeting was set up with my blacksmith and my vet.  My poor blacksmith nearly cried when he saw her.  When the shoes were pulled off and my vet determined there were no abscesses he suggested we put her down, because she had foundered!

For the next 15 minutes we stood with her in our hay barn . . . as my blacksmith and I saw her look more relieved from having the shoes pulled, my vet tried to convince me that the right, and humane thing was to put her down.

With a song and a prayer, I uttered “I have to give her 24 hours”.   I wasn’t sure at the time if I did the right thing, but I had to give her at least that much time.

That night we took the boards down between two of our stalls that open into a dry-lot pen.  I set up small hay and water stations so she didn't have to move that far to eat and drink.  I have been on a constant vigil since then . . .spacing out her medicine and Bute to help prevent stomach problems from all of this.  If she’s lying down, I take her water (and yes, she does drink).

Please pray for us.  She’s 200 percent better then she was.  At least she’s standing fairly good (most of the time), alert, eating, drinking, and pooping.  God Bless.  And seeing her alive, is better then any blue ribbon she has ever won.

Spring Is Oficially Less Then Two Weeks Away!

As much as I'm anxious for spring after having 8 weeks of heavy snow, ice, and hard (frozen) ground, I'm not sure what it holds for me . . .

We've been struggling or the past 10 days with my show mare, Bees, and her sore feet.  Initially we thought it was brought on by the hard frozen ground and put shoes back on with snow pads. Our vet initially ruled out founder and only detected a slight sensitivity in one hoof.

Don't know.  The past few days have been tough.  It's hard to see her so unstable when she gets up . . . .I'm having the vet out again today for another exam.

I've never really seen anything like this in my 40 years of horse ownership.  Still not sure there might have been a stroke/seizure involved . . . although my vet says no.

Please keep  us in your thoughts . . . .God Bless to all, and I hope spring comes soon or everyone.

Fewer & Fewer Breeders Spells Trouble For Horse Industry

Last week a read Western's Horsemen's current issue that addresses the state of the horse breeding aspect of the horse industry.  It pretty much confirmed what we've been seeing for the past couple of years: a drastic downturn in foal crops, small breeders, and now large, longtime mare and breeding operations scaling down to help reduce their costs.

Coincidentally my vet was out Sunday to check on my sore-footed mare . . . and when I asked if he had had any foals this year he told me "one" and that was the only one for this year.  He then told me he'd sold off several of his broodmares last fall to cut back on expenses. I was a little surprised.  At the same time it's a real attest to the state of the horse industry:  we're not talking about losing the backyard horse person, or even the recreational horse owner: when professionals are cutting back to lower their costs we can't deny that the horse business is in real trouble.

Proposed Gas Tax Increase Will Be Bad For Michgan's Horse Industry

As if the horse industry in our state hasn't taken a big enough hit between our high unemployment, and last year's drought and hay shortage . . . .now our governor is talking about increasing the tax on gasoline by 35 cents.  That's a lot.  And while I agree that our state needs to find some extra funding to help repair our terrible roads, the gas tax will really hurt the horse industry.

Already people here are struggling to keep their horses - either from suffering a downsize in their income, or the increase in feed costs . .  .  .and for may- it's both.

The gas tax will not only affect the cost of hay next year, but will also affect many who show.  We're already seeing fewer people willing to haul to shows more then one-hour from their home.  Adding 35 cents to a gallon will make it even tougher to justify traveling to very many out-of-town equine evemts.

I urge everyone to contact their state representative and tell them this increase will hurt both the horse industry and our state's ag community.

Horses Are Starting To Shed . . . .

Hopefully Mr. Groundhog was right in his prediction last weekend that Spring will be early . . . .

As we await another winter storm today here in the Midwest that's expected to merge with another storm for those of you who live on the East Coast I find some comfort in the sighting of one of my horses starting to shed!

Yes, it's true.  As I finished lunging Joey, my 6-yr-old AQHA (an abbreviated session as the footing was not good with our 12+ inches of snow) I rubbed his forehead and was surprised to see white hairs falling out of his blaze.  Horses are always a good indicator of the weather to come.