Vasculitis

I have learned of a new equine condition. Fancy didn't eat her grain one morning, nor her hay during the day. She had no temperature, but by the end of the day, she could barely walk, and her right hind leg was very swollen. I was not too alarmed, as she has always had a problem with this particular leg swelling. Usually the swelling would subside after she moved around. In this case the swelling only increased, and she became very listless, and still had a poor appetite. We initially treated her with Bute, but after 2 days of stall rest our veterinarion Vasculitis is inflammation of the walls of blood vessels. It's cause is somewhat of a mystery, though it is believed to be a reaction of the horses own immune system aagainst bacteria, virus, drug reaction, or reaction to an herbal. Vasculitis almost always occurs in one hind leg, very often the horse will have recurrent episodes in it's lifetime, and there will be "Scratches" on the affected leg. An appointment was scheduled with our veterinarians Buck Hill Veterinary Services. They were able to see Fancy the next day, and by that time Fancy had a fever of 103, and her entire leg was affected and the edema was spreading to her udder and belly. She was given Lasix--I know understand the statement "Peeing like a racehorse", 2 different antibiotics, and the use of steroids was discussed if the problem didn't quickly subside. Fortunately after 24 hours she was improving and even wanted to go outside into the paddock. Four more days of treatment, and she should be as good as new-at least as new as one can expect for a 28 year old horse!! Poor Fancy !!!

Artistic Creativity

Yesterday, Tom was looking out of the bedroom window and saw a rainbow of colors on the roof of our tool shed. Upon closer inspection, he realized each of the colored items was actually a horse grooming tool. After washing a bunch of brushes, combs, etc; I had set them on the shed roof to dry. Maybe I'll leave them there, and get an early start on holiday decorating!

Bit Warmers

I find it funny to see all the new horse-related products I can waste my money buying. I don't know about my readers, but whenever I am thinking about buying something frivolous, I say to myself "How many bales of hay would that money buy?"
Yesterday I saw an ad for "Bling Bit Warmers". The description of this product is: Add glamour(shiny material and sequins) to the process of heating up your bit before bridling.Heat 40 seconds in a microwave. Stays warm for 1/2 hour. Machine washable. Has 4 Velcro tabs at the corners for easy fitting on most standard bits. Suggested retail, $14.99 each. Shipping is $7.95 Now tell me how many people have a microwave oven in their barn? Who is going to see and appreciate your bit warmer with bling? Certainly not your horse. And, call me old fashion, but what ever happened to holding the bit between your hands, and huffing on it with your warm breath! Even holding the bit between your warm legs/knees will work. I don't know about you, but for $24.95 I'll buy 5 bales of hay, and NO your cannot have the name of my hay supplier!

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

On Sunday, Lilo was returned to Squirrelwood. What a lovely mare. I had hoped she would work-out as a polo horse, but alas it was not meant to be. Sunday morning I gave her a good grooming, lots of treats, and let her graze in our backyard, which is the biggest treat for any horse, as we don't mow the lawn very often!Having all this quality time with Lilo got me thinking "Maybe I should adopt her, and use her for a trail horse". Keep in mind that I have never even sat on her back, my ankle is stil in rough shape, and she is a TB polo horse. Mark was working and I was unable to reach him by phone to ask if he'd mind if I rode her for a few minutes in our riding ring. Of course this would be under Tom's supervision, maybe even using a lounge line. By the time Mark got home, Lilo's "ride" was already in route, so I'll never know if she would have worked-out for me. We were sad to see her go. Looking at her photo, I think she was equally as sad, or maybe just bored with me taking pictures! Could be the puddle she is standing in! So, Lilo will be greatly missed.I know she will eventually find the right home, and I'll have more money in my checking account----sweet--

Ulcer Enlightenment

October's issue of Equus magazine arrived the other day. What a surprize to see that there was an article titled "Understanding Ulcers". Equally as surprizing to me was that the author is Heather Smith Thomas. This surprized me because she has been writing horse related articles since I was a kid(a million years ago), and I didn't know she was still alive! Does this mean that ulcers are as common as I thought? Why would a leading magazine bother with an article unless it would draw its' readers interest?
Of course I read every word, and have been enlightened. The 5 major risk factors for developing ulcers are: Long periods between meals; diets high in grain/low in forage; Intense high-speed training; Stress; and Illness. 90% of racehorses have ulcers, as do high performance athletes, and show horses kept in stalls being fed large amounts of grain, and subjected to travel, training and competition. The most effective long term way to prevent ulcers is to make changes in the horses'lifestyle. Lets keep stall confinement at a minimum, stick to a routine, and provide lots of forage. In otherwords, let horses be horses!

Ulcers

A few weeks ago I was visiting a friend at a boarding facility she owns. All of the horses were outside in paddocks, except for one. This lone horse was a beautiful 5 year old Thoroughbred stallion. The owner arrived, removed the horse from it's stall, groomed it using a horse vacumn cleaner, tacked up the horse and led it to the riding arena. Once mounted, the horse was immediately asked to collect itself and trot. This collected trot continued for about 15 minutes, and then the horse was returned to the barn to be groomed again, and put back into its stall. I should add that even though this was a stallion, at no time did he misbehave, or act "studdish". I commented to my friend about this, and she informed me that the horse is kept in its stall for 23 hours a day, and if its raining is not allowed outside at all. The owners riding time and routine is also always the same-hop on the horse with no warm-up, and trot for around 15 minutes. Even though this stallion showed no signs of distress over the routine, it got me thinking about horse psychology, and how they are able, or not able, to adjust to a humans' demands. This was a lovely stallion and only 5 years old. Will he eventually develop vices? Will he eventually become difficult to handle? Have any of my readers ever noticed how many products are available to control ulcers and cribbing? In one supply catalog I found 5 chemical products and 3 mechanical products. In another horse supply catalog I found 13 mechanical products, and 3 chemical products. This does not incude items and food additives for stress and boredom. This picture comes to my mind-horse in stall with bars across the front,except for a spot to add grain. It's wearing a cribbing strap or muzzle, and hobbles on its hind legs, "jolly ball", "Pas-a fier", "Jolly Stall Snack", Himalayan salt-on-a-rope,and some other stall "toy". At feeding time, there are more additives in the food than there is grain! What are we doing to our horses? Wouldn't it be a lot easier, and better for the horse to let it be a horse, and not some object it wasn't designed to be? Please don't comment to this blog article by telling me that "a horse is personal property, and as such we can do whatever we damn well please."

Hoses and Bees

In the past week, I have done some things that were a bit stupid, and in one case, dangerous. The water hose that runs to the large 12x12 stalls is very long. I believe around 100 feet. For the past year,whenever it gets a leak, I wrap the spot with duct tape. As expected, this quick fix only lasts a short time. The holes had gotten so large and numerous that it was effecting the water pressure in the hose. I have no patience when it comes to waiting while a water buckets fill with water. Often I will do some small task and ineveitably I forget about the hose, and the bucket overflows. Standing next to the bucket for an length of time seems like a waste of my time! There was a box of hose fittings in the garage, so I decided to "properly" fix the hose. I suppose I could have purchased a new hose, but it seemed like a waste of 90 feet of hose. I got a razor knife, hose coupling and pot of boiling water. The water is to pour over the cut ends of the hose so they easily slide onto the connector. Job done, I dragged the end on the hose to the water bucket, turned on the water, and promtly discovered that I had missed a few holes. So much for being so cost efficient. Yesterdays lack in judgement involved bees of which I am allergic. Fancy was in her stall eating her dinner. I decided to give her a good grooming. On the opposite side of her stall door is a window. As the brush and curry comb got dirty, I was banging them against the window sill. Suddenly, Fancy shied away from her grain bucket, and started jumping around her stall. At the same time, something was buzzing around my head. Since I am allergic to bees, I also started to panic. Here I was in a stall with Fancy jumping around, bees buzzing around my head, and I am opposite from the stall door. I felt bad for Fancy, but knew that if I got stung, I'd have to go to the local Emergency Room. Finally, I got out of the stall, ran out of the barn, and yelled for Tom and Mark. As they were running to the barn, I was yelling "bees, get Fancy out of her stall". Tom was yelling to me "Get out of there before you get stung, wheres the Wasp killer?", to which I replied "If I get out of here, how can I show you where the wasp killer is located?". Mark got Fancy out of her stall, Tom found the wasp killer, I didn't get stung, and we now keep a can of spray in the barn, along with one of my Epipens in the barn first aid kit!