Daenerys Update

Dani has been doing well.  She foundered on Oct. 10th but luckily we caught it early.  She recently had a hoof trim after thanksgiving and was maybe a little tender still but doing much better.  I hand walk her when I can with her Cloud Boots on. It's difficult now that it gets dark so early. My farrier is having me apply Hoof Armor to help protect her sole from wear.  I'll have to make a post about that this weekend when I put on the next application.

Both her and Chance are now on Prascend (Pergolide), the medicine for Cushings.  Chance was tested and had a higher reading than Dani!  She most likely foundered due to insulin resistance which she also has. I probably won't be riding her until March or April but I am hopeful that she will be healed well enough to do riding around the property.  Obviously I don't trailer her since that's never been a success for me....

Older ponies, Dani will be 23 and Chance will be 24 in early 2022. Since Chance has COPD and his leg issues he's officially retired.  Steve never really rode him much which is a bummer.  Overall they are both doing well right now being doted on and loved with no work in sight!  Chance is having a flare up of his COPD or Heaves.  We have an inhaler ordered from the vet to give him a 10 day treament.  The syrup he normally is on is on back order now, thanks Covid for the supply chain issues!

We are managing as best we can and will be turning our two connecting pastures into a pasture paradise track system.  I will have to post about what that is but it's a system to make horses move more naturally, meaning more often, since they don't normally sit in nice rich pastures in the wild. It's hard for our pastures to not be green here in NC!

Laminitis

This has been a hard year for many reasons and this one is at the top.  My 22 year old Morgan mare had laminitis with founder (aka rotation of the coffin and pedal bone). The vet thinks we caught it early but I'm very quick to blame myself and wonder if I missed subtle signs. I noticed her walking very tenderly on the Oct. 10th and we had the vet out asap.  We'd iced her hooves and had a two week regimen of pain killers and other laminitis drugs.  I got her snazzy cushion boots and bedded up a stall to keep her on soft ground.  She's recovered well enough and walks around fine without pain or limping.  We had her tested, yet again (but with a more sensitive test) for Cushings.  She is positive for Cushings and insulin resistance.  So she will be on Pergolide (Prescend).

Dani has always been an easy keeper and never been slim in any sense of the word.  She's been in a grazing muzzle often.  This year has been a crazy year with my Stubs having a kidney issue, Chance having a strained branch of a tendon in his hind fetlock, then my carpal tunnel has gotten worse so I had injections which helped but were painful for the first few days.  I also had to go out to Colorado for two weeks to help my parents, my mom had three major spinal surgeries and my dad was her care giver but right when she got to a rehab facility in early September he gets admitted to the hospital with a major colon hernia. He nearly died and has been recovering since then, he's still not fully recovered.

There has been a lot going on and I feel like I must have missed something, must have slipped in my care.  I didn't get the horses off the pastures when we started having cooler nights (always something to worry about since this causes spikes in sugars of the grass). I did delay in getting weight off her this year, I didn't ride, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't.  I will beat myself up forever but it all comes down to one thing.  I'm human and if I missed something I can't be too hard on myself.

My farrier will be out in a week for the first trim post founder.  It will be many months for her to fully grow out any issues that develop in the hoof wall.  Trimming can help to realign the hoof to the bone inside and hopefully continue to keep her comfortable.  

She's a trooper.  Even in pain she had enough spunk to put up a fight about taking her medicine.  I had to pump a large syringe of ground Bute, aspirin and another med into her twice a day.  She is stubborn for sure, I love her though.

Looking at her 1 month after the beginning of the laminitis event she is doing well.  She's bossing the gelding Chance around (hopefully not too much where he restrains his tendon) and begging for food constantly.  They are both in the dry lot of the property, two of my pastures will be converted into a track system (Paddock Paradise - Information on how to create it (all-natural-horse-care.com)) since we were needing to redo the fencing anyways. I'll post more as we progress.  We have some planning and a small section of woods to clear out for this project.

I don't know the timeframe for healing Dani, I'm currently hand walking her when I can, have her on a Laminox supplement, and changed the ration balancer to one with an even lower rated non-structural carbohydrate ratio.  I'll have to consult with the vet in a couple months as to when it will be safe to ride her and then progress to other types of exercise for her as well. I also will be testing Chance for Cushings, he is 23 and has kept his coat some springs a little longer than normal.  He's been negative in the past but I don't think he was tested with this more sensitive test.  He already has heaves (COPD) and his tendon....man, old age sucks for ponies just as much as humans!

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) aka Heaves

Poor Chance, my sensitive 22 year old Arabian was diagnosed with COPD this spring.  He was coughing a lot this winter and spring; and not just a little cough.  A labored, violent, knocks a loud fart out of him that echos through my neighborhood kinda fart. So we had the vet out to float his teeth hoping that was the issue; I was worried that he wasn't chewing well and could choke.  He needed the dental work but after a few weeks he still was having some issues.  I contacted them again so they gave us some Ventipulmin syrup to see if that was effective.  We had him on that for about 14 days.  He improved and seemed good for a little while, an occasional cough but nothing as regular and violent as before.

Then he got to coughing more and more; so one more trip from the vet and a final diagnosis....COPD, aka Heaves. I'm still learning a lot about what this is and how it affects him.

The Ventipulmin helps but eventually horses can develop a resistance to the drug and at $150 for a two week course it's a bit pricey. Environmental conditions are what seem to be the triggers for most horses.  The hay this past year was not the best but sometimes you can't help that.  One way to help with this is steaming the hay.  For thousands of dollars you can buy a great steamer for your hay bales but who wants to spend that when were are tons of options for DIY below $200.  My husband immediately went online to find the supplies and ordered them so we could make a steamer.  

We are working on making better substrate around the barn, so the dusty dry clay that kicks up when we don't have a swamp out back will be curbed.  He's been here for four years, so I really don't thing it's environmental, we haven't had big changes.  The hay isn't necessarily the cause, Dani is not having issues, it's just some horses develop it from what I'm reading.  He's 22 and not a 10 year old so this diagnosis to me is just part of the aging process.

I have done some research on some supplements to help with mucus and inflammatory maintenance of the pulmonary system and one of the best recommended supplements was Heave HO.  Just the name alone makes we want to buy it!  It's $68 for a months worth and that is much better than keeping him on the Ventipulmin.  If he has acute occurrences we have the ability to give him that medication for a couple weeks as needed.

With summer time coming to an end I'm glad to report he's done really well on grass and his supplement.  When there have been weeks I've had them on the dry hay, he hasn't had too many issues.  I'll report once we start steaming hay this fall, here's hoping we don't hear any coughs from the old man!

Scrub a Dub Dub

Chance has some type of skin issue on his chest.  The vet said to keep treating it with MTG and then get some Hibiclens to wash his chest.  It was a warm day, been unusually warm in the SE from what it sounds like.  We still wanted to heat up some water so I was able to utilize my bucket heater.  This thing is great!  Heats in 10 minutes or so.  We didn't need it too hot but we have the ability to get the water pretty darn toasty!

Steve first rinsed Chances chest and then scrubbed the Hibiclens all over his itchy spots.  Then we let the soap sit to let the antibiotic properties take effect.

While Chance chilled and we waited for the rinse water to heat up he investigated some clean water in a bowl and decided to play with it.  This boy loves water.  When I fill the troughs he'll lip at the water coming out of the hose and splash around with his nose.  He's so cute.  I wonder if he's ever tried to roll during a water crossing?

Once the ten minutes were up Steve took the warm water and rinsed the medicated soap off his skin and fur.  The skin was less bumpy afterwards.  We'll have to continue with MTG and then maybe another wash.  Chance was a sweetheart as we took care of him.  He nuzzled Steve's shoulders and lipped at his hair.  What a patient little boy.  He certainly seems less itchy but we have more wet and warm weather the next couple weeks so I have to be diligent about the ponies hooves and skin.

Sub-dermal Hematoma You Say?

Star Trek-Quote

McCoy: Fundascopic examination is unrevealing in these cases!

Doctor #1: A simple evacuation of the epidural hematoma will relieve the pressure!

McCoy: My God man, drilling holes in his head is not the answer! The artery must be repaired! Now, put away your butcher's knives and let me save this patient before it's too late!

Okay, in all seriousness I had a little worry this morning.  Both ponies were set to have their hooves trimmed this morning.  All feet were looking good and I'm very happy with the farrier I'm using.  As she was trimming Chance though I noticed a swelling on his chest.  We both took a look at it and the swelling was very warm.

She mentioned it could be pigeon fever, I know maybe a little about.  After she left I took his temperature....it was normal.  He was eating and drinking so I left him in the stall to keep him away from Dani for the time being.  I went inside and grabbed my veterinary reference.  By the look of it the swelling seemed like it could be a hematoma but no way for me to really rule out pigeon fever except by location in the country.

I figured it's best to get the vet out and make sure there isn't anything serious or contagious going on.  Flat River Veterinary Services came out and checked my boys swelling.  He confirmed it was just a hematoma probably from a kick to the chest and the fluids were all collecting down between his legs via gravity.  He gave me some bute and told me to keep an eye on it.  He also recommended a scrub for when it's warmer the next couple of days to work on the itchy bumps that Chance has on his neck and chest.  I've been putting MTG on this area for a few days and he said to continue that regime as well, hence the reason his coat is greasy in that spot in the pictures.

Phew!  I'm glad there isn't a big issue but I need to watch the horses and see if it's just a horse thing or if Dani is trying to beat up on him more for some reason.  Usually they hang out together and graze near each other.  Sure she tells him to move a lot but that is what boss mares do.  I've only once seen her act slightly more aggressive but nothing worrisome where I would have to separate them.  I'll just make sure there aren't areas that could cause an issue with him being cornered either.  I have a suspicion that near the run-in shed there may be some fences that need re-routing to prevent just such an issue.

Hope all of your horses are healthy and happy!

Ouch

Really?  Only my horse can get injured on a rubber mat. We were working on trailer loading again and Dani was doing fantastic!  She was going in and then standing with her head out the back.  If I asked her to step back she would.  I started then moving the divider over to her and then releasing.  I'm trying to get her used to the "confinement" of having that divider on her.  Sure at this time she is facing backwards but baby steps.  I'm not at the point where I can walk in after her to shut the divider.  I know she can whip around to step out the back of the trailer and possibly squish me in the process.  I've been in the trailer when she's turned around and it's not a safe thing.  Luckily I was only bruised.

Well I got greedy I think and took it a step too fast and tried to work on the divider closing as she was still facing forward.  She freaked a little and I think the back rubber mat flipped upwards and rubbed her inside leg.  It looks like she has a very close shave.  Right afterwards though she was holding her back leg up and I was freaked thinking she'd gotten herself really injured.  She finally placed it down and I was able to walk her with no issue and it seems the pain subsided.  I asked her a couple of times to enter the trailer, not surprisingly she was hesitant.  She didn't stay in but we ended on a good calm note.  Granted if she'd been seriously injured we would have foregone the additional loads.  I don't want to create a huge setback because of this.

Then I took her up to address her injury.  I hosed her off and then washed her with Iodine.  It really was just that, a shaved off area, like road rash but with rubber.  I still felt horrible.  She kicks out when there are wraps on her back legs but darn it, she's just gonna have to deal.  We are using them when we load!  I'll be headed out today to see how she is doing.  I put some ointment on her so I'll be washing her leg again and seeing what the injury looks like.

I'm just so frustrated.  I should have just stopped at moving the divider over to her.  Instead I took it a step too far and it was just too much for her and she got hurt.  My poor baby

2014 Year of the Trailer??

January

Well last year started with a bang!  I bought a horse trailer!!! It was exactly what I wanted, a bumper pull, 3 horse slant with a tack room in the front.  It needed some work to meet my expectations but I wasn't afraid of that.

Also in January I continued to work on slow feeder for Dani's trough.  Eventually I moved onto slow feeder nets and loved them and it was great having Dani be able to "graze" most of her time in the smaller stall area.

February

February was lots of cold weather as seems to be typical in Colorado.  We only whipped out the blanket a few times, Dani is pretty darn tough.

We also had L come to the KCRC barn with her 6 horses new friends.  It was great to have friends for Dani and to see another human being at the barn!  Still the evenings were dark and there was very little time to ride except on the weekend.

March
At the evenings grew a little lighter I had time to play with Dani on desensitizing with found objects.  She's such a sensible horse and I think continuing this effort will have great pay offs.

Steve and I attended the Mane event for the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo.  Lots of cute pony fun there.  The rest of March I spent planning my parents 40th Anniversary which we hosted at the KCRC club house.

 April
In April my dirty pony really needed a bath but instead we just got in some refresher rides with trot and working on mounting techniques.



I did some fetlock trimming as the barn was very muddy and shorter hairs would be best.  She's pretty good about it so I am happy about that!

May
In May Dani had an odd leg swelling.  We had the vet wrap her leg and it went down but there will always be a bump.  We are pretty sure she bumped her leg on the fencing as she kicked out at a neighboring horse.



Steve and I began stripping down the trailer on the warmer days to begin the process of rust treatment and painting.  We sure had a lot of work cut out for us!



My friends son, Liam, had his birthday party at the KCRC club house.  It was batman themed with pony rides.  LOL.  I think the kids had fun.  My friend Michael had a pony ride too.  I'd never known that was her first ride on a horse ever!

June

June saw lots of trailer work.  I started with conversion of rust and then began painting.  The spray painting gun didn't work so well, user error I"m sure so I ended up using rollers to paint.




KCRC hosted an EXCA (Extreme Cowboy Association) clinic at the grounds.  Dani and I joined to learn more about EXCA and the obstacles you encounter.  She was a really good girl.  The only thing was sidling up to a block to dismount onto.

July

Weather prevented a fun day on horseback at KCRC for July 4th, I was bummed since it's fun to do things with the club.  We also got in lots more work on the trailer when the days were nice.  Steve's parents were in town to visit for a month or so and we had Cierra out for a week so we spent lots of cherished family time up in Durango.  I also worked on getting Dani into trailer loading mode with L.

August
The move to the new barn was uneventful and Dani settled in right away. Because of the lush grass and her easy keeper status a grazing muzzle was on order.  



Luckily we didn't have too many issues with that though I'm sure she disliked her muzzle.



We installed new trailer flooring.  It wasn't really too hard, I was relieved and got a good look at the frame and treated areas that needed rust treatment.



Dani then came up with pony hoof clip injury.  The flap kept getting grass caught in it so we had the vet come out and they told us what wrap to use with DMSO and Furizone.  Dani hated having her leg wrapped and unwrapped.  It was a struggle but after a few days we were able to keep her leg open to the air and she healed right up.

September
In September I discovered bots on Dani's legs and sides.  That was a first.  I became very familiar with a bot stone! Steve and I spent a long weekend in San Francisco.  Then we spent time finishing of the tack room of the trailer and finally getting the trailer to the barn.  Dani had a minor colic episode, mainly seemed to be just gas discomfort.  Luckily she was fine.  It was a sudden change in weather and barometric pressure too.  Phew!

October
I began working on the horse area of the trailer, rust treatment and painting.  I did get some rides in and also too Dani for walk to the high school across the street.  



I discover some odd mud looking crusts on Dani's rear legs.  It is apparently scratches.  I treat her legs with Shapley's MTG which has sulfur in it.  Eventually it clears up.  I now have powdered sulfur, animal feed grade, and some oil so that if she has this start again I have a more concentrated tool.  It can also be used as a prevention.



Julie Goodnight mentions my post on her Facebook page!!  The posts sky rocket on October 29th!!

November

I take a jiggy ride near high school with Scotty and M.  For the most part Dani does good she was just excited and I think I was tense.  More to work on.  I discover a missing chunk in mane from Dani rubbing the fence, ugh, her mane is so beautiful!!!  Steve and I spend Thanksgiving in Mrytle Beach with family and have a great time though I miss the pony.

December
I come back from South Carolina and have her hooves trimmed and her annual dentist visit.  Both horse people mention the swelling of old injury seems a little more so I decide to paultice it overnight.  She actually did really well with me paulticeing and wrapping.



Since it's dark as night when I get off work I can't do much at the barn during the week.  On the weekends I hope for nice weather so I can play with my mare.  We've had a few nice relaxing rides at least.

We plan to ride more regularly and also to begin some serious trailer training to get this girl out to some events and trail rides.  See you this year!!!

Pony Updates

Things have slowed down on the pony front since it's now dark when I arrive at the barn.  I don't have a lit place to ride but that's fine for now.  Dani has pasture and we are content.  I was gone for about 10 days in Myrtle Beach, SC for Thanksgiving with Steve's family.  I came back and had a tooth floating appointment, then a hoof trim.

The vet and then my farrier mentioned her hind leg seeming a little swelled.  Since both mentioned it I decided I should address this old injury.  This past summer Dani was hitting her leg on the pipe fencing between stall runs at KCRC.  She's never fully returned to her pre-injury leg conformation but hasn't been lame.  I figured a 24 hour wrap using Icetight poultice couldn't hurt.  It's like a mud mask and Dani was pretty good about me applying it and then wrapping her leg.

The next evening I unwrapped her leg and then took a bucket to rinse off the mud.  What a mess!  It was cold, cold, cold.  My hands went numb (wanting a bucket heater and stainless pail so badly!).  My tooth doctor had one to keep her tools nice and warm for the floating, I was impressed since it heated the water quickly.  Warm water in winter???  Awesome!

Dani's leg looked good after I rinsed off the clay to get a look.  There is still the calcified bump on her leg where the injury was but her leg doesn't look as puffy.  Icetight worked nicely I think but I will only use it when I can easily hose off her leg in warmer weather.  Going to look into other liniments or poultices that could help with future swelling.

I dried her off as best I could and brought her back to her hay in the field.  It was only 6pm but felt like midnight.  I can't wait until the time change again....March 8th.  Till then hopefully I'll be able to get a ride in this weekend and the coming holidays!

Scratches

Scratches is an odd name for a form of dermatitis often occurring on the fetlocks. It is
caused by a bacteria that can infect stressed skin of the foot. Similar to rain rot, the skin is
exposed to wet and muddy conditions and can cause microscopic cracks whereby
infection can take hold. The bacteria is naturally occurring in the environment and thrives
in moist conditions where it can take hold on the lower legs of our equine pals.

http://redponyfarm.typepad.com/.a/6a00d834529d8769e2017ee7758541970d-320wi

Dani didn't really have exposure wet conditions before her scratches formed but I think it
could very well have been due to the wetting of her hing legs due to her hoof clipping
injury. In the past I think she had this once and I just washed her legs really well thinking
it was mud. It very well could have been scratches and she was subjected to muddy
conditions at that time. These scratches cases have been very mild compared to really red
and swollen cases I've Googled online.

http://www.horsedvm.com/assets/img/images/conditions/skin/mud_fever/2.JPG

I've been treating Dani using Shapley's MTG which has sulfur in it as the primary ingredient.  It's not as concentrated as the above process for making a paste with sulfur powder.  If this continued too long I would have made a more concentrated treatment.

Dani's foot after only one treatment

Above is Dani's foot after one application.  Pretty much as it was, I thought it was mud at first so didn't know to treat it right away.  It's not the type of "scratches" image that I have in my mind!  

A week later the hard crusts have fallen off mostly, much less "stuff"

This second picture above shows her foot after about a week of treatment, I didn't treat daily, maybe every other day when I could get out there and since some days were raining it didn't make sense to treat her since it would just wash off.  There were only a couple "dirt clumps"/scabs left the rest was just dirt.  

Here are her fetlocks now, much better.  I'm still applying the MTG for a couple more days.  It's good to know what a mild case of scratches looks like.

I'm glad the MTG worked well. As a prevention I plan on using No Thrush, a white

powder used for treating and preventing thrush in the hoof sulci. The label and website

also indidcates that No Thrush can be used to treat and prevent scraches. This is good to

know and since it's a powder that is easier and less messy to apply than MTG or a sulfur

paste I could make myself. 

MTG was simple to use but making a

concentrated paste with food grade sulfur is an option for a more difficult case. Zinc

olxide paste is another option stated by a vet. Diaper rash cream contains this. If needed

the area can be wrapped for a couple days to keep the ointment on the skin longer.

Now that I'm aware what mild scratches looks like I can be more vigilant on spotting and

treating it.