Horse news...

Hello blog.

I have a million things I need to update, a million things I need to do, and seemingly no time to do it.

But, I wanted to record two things.

#1 - Gene.

Gene was not grained this past winter.  I was waiting for him to show that he needed it because graining with oats is a pain in the ass since I'm trying to balance them.  The commercial oat balancers have race horses in mind, which Gene most certainly is not.

So, some time last month, I went to the barn after work to take Peanut for a ride.  Gene cantered across the field to the gate (unusual) and was desperate to have me notice him by pressing hard into the fence and even shocking himself on the wire three times (also unusual).  Feeling bad, I turned around, put Peanut back, moved Peanut's halter to Gene, and brought him out.  I decided to groom the wooly, dirty beast.

He was skinny.

I could slide my hand up between his butt cheeks to meet his body.

He had not hollowed out from his spine to his hip bone, and his spine/withers had always been prominent.  His lush coat hid his ribs.  But once I moved behind him I started panicking.  Now that I look at charts, he was probably around a 4 - moderately thin.  But, I was always the one saying that an old horse does not mean a thin horse, and here was my oldie losing weight.

I finished grooming him, walked him to the closest field in the park (so that he could have ample food) and broke down while sending walls of texts to Anne-Marie.

I swear that he was doing everything he could to get me to take him out of the field and get a good look at him so that I could help him.  He is a very smart horse, and I wouldn't put it past him.

For some reason I had been searching for a decent feed, and at least I knew what to do.  I had decided on Equidae (from the makers of Canidae and Felidae).  No added sugars, fillers, by-products, or corn.  It has added iron, but by that time I was so exhausted with searching that I gave up.  Also, it can be ordered at pet stores that carry the dog and cat feed.  So, I marched myself to the one near my house and put in the order.  They looked at me like I was asking for the impossible (horse feed?) but they tried.  They succeeded.  He is now receiving the Coastal Grass formula and has started putting on weight.  He's not looking too bad right now, to be honest.  The filling in of the grass can't hurt either.

So, the vet came out to do spring shots - this was very shortly after I started his grain - and I asked for her to pull his blood and do a panel.  By the way, she said he didn't look that bad, but he could stand to gain about 200 lbs.  Anyway, we've had his blood done several times before, had it done last year in fact, and it always came back beautiful for a horse of his age.

Not this time.

His liver functions are abnormal.  The vet thinks it is a blocked bile duct which is hopefully caused by an infection.  On Friday he started two kinds of antibiotics, and his blood will be taken again in a couple of weeks to see if there is improvement.  If there isn't... I don't believe that there is anything else we can do.

He is still acting like himself, and since he started gaining weight we wouldn't think anything was wrong right now if we had not had his blood work done.  Looks like I will have to do this yearly from now on, if he comes out ok.

#2 - Peanut

Peanut was acting oddly today.  He was not interested in coming to me, doing his usual puppy stuff with me, and in fact acted like he just wanted to be left alone.  I had never seen him act like that.  Too bad, today was trim day, so he came out for his trim.

His rear left leg is bothering him quite a lot.  He really doesn't look off, but it was nearly impossible to get his rear right trimmed.  He would ask for it back, or demand it, and when he got it the rear left would shoot up and he would hold it completely off the ground.  Otherwise, he just rested it.  The hoof looks normal, there is no swelling or heat, but he does have questionable stifles/hocks so hopefully it's just that.

When I would give him breaks and walk him around, the first few steps were very halted, but he would get better as he went.  In fact, after being in the field, I saw him canter at a horse to be a bitch to it.  I have tomorrow off, so I am thinking I may take him for a hike to stretch his legs.  I wanted to ride, but I don't think that's fair right now.

Hoppy is coming out in a couple of weeks to work on the boys.  It can't come fast enough.  We are lucky because she is so incredibly busy that her voice mail is always full, but she saw Rick's number try to come through at one point.  Several days later we got a call, because she always finds a way to fit in Gene.