I took the first part of this video to show how Fiona looks today, so I can compare it to how she looks later and make sure the deworming is helping her.
The rest is her eating her halloween treat (a bit early but I couldn't resist). Enjoy and keep in mind I am NOT a professional narrator. :)
Enjoy the show!
Thanks to Moniteau Saddle Club for all their great ideas and specifically the one I used in this video.
Cute! I wouldn't let her eat the pumpkin, either. I'm not sure if horses can normally eat pumpkins or not, but better to be cautious.
ReplyDeleteShe does look rather rough. I take it you've had the vet give her an exam? And you mentioned combing through her poop. Have you taken in a sample to have it checked for what parasites are in there.
I'm sure she'll fill out nicely and come around with your love and care, but she's got a ways to go, that's for sure.
Thanks for sharing!
The vet was JUST THERE! That's what's so upsetting about this whole thing. I called the vet and said she's had a change in temperment and I that I was worried. The vet said it didn't sound serious and that she would take a look. She didn't say anything was wrong with Fiona...so I figured..well she just needs more exercise (which is true) but I don't want to work her too hard until she looks better.
ReplyDeleteI haven't taken her feces in for analysis. I want to see how she does for the next week and then if she is still in sorry shape I will take some over to another vet that was recommended to me.
I sure feel for you on this one. Nothing like thinking you're doing everything right and then someone says something like "Your horse is really wormy" and suddenly you feel like the worst horse parent in the world. :) I've only been there about 50 times!
ReplyDeleteTake heart. You're doing the very best you can and that's all any of us can expect of ourselves. Also, your new trainer isn't necessarily right. He might be and I'm sure he knows a lot about horses, but your vet could be 100% correct as well.
Fiona should flourish under your care, you just need to work through this methodically like you would a programming problem. It's bewildering at first, but you can get it figured out for sure.
1. If you take a fresh fecal sample to the vet, they can look under the microscope and see what parasites are in her stool. That's never a bad idea.
2. If you are worried about sand in her gut, you can test for that yourself. The vet can tell you how, or I can describe it if you wish.
3. A good quality grass hay and fresh water are most important. I like the grass/alfalfa mixes the best. You may know this already, but alfalfa isn't a grass, it's a legume. It's also very rich and not an ideal forage all by itself.
4. A blood test is something you could consider at some point. They aren't too expensive and will tell you how her organs are working. I wouldn't call the vet out just for that, but I might do it for peace of mind in conjunction with annual vaccines.
5. Her teeth should be floated if you haven't had that done. That involves filing down any sharp edges. There are equine "dentists", but I prefer to have the vet do it.
6. Finally, there are feeds, beet pulp, supplements, etc., that you could consider adding if Fiona is just a "hard keeper", but I'd make sure you have the other things covered first.
Good luck! I'll be cheering you on.
1) Yes, I need to do this
ReplyDelete2) How the heck do you check for sand?
3) she gets 2 flakes of grass hay twice a day.
4) blood test is a good idea..need to do that
5) teeth were floated in march (for the first time in 6 years...sad)
6) I'd like to knock the other items out before assuming she's not a good keeper. I think she will be fine once we figure out what's the deal.
The phrase you are looking for is "easy keeper". "Hard keepers" are difficult to keep at normal weight, whereas "easy keepers" are easy and sometimes even too easy (prone to being overweight).
ReplyDeleteChecking for sand isn't the most pleasant task, but it's not that bad either, and it's good to know if your horse has a lot of sand in its gut.
Get a container that will hold about a half gallon of water and is big enough for you to put your hand in. Like a 1 gallon water jug with the top cut off.
With latex gloves on, collect three or four of Fiona's "apples" of fresh poop and put them in the water. Make sure that you pick poop that isn't touching the ground (so on top of the pile). You don't want to add any sand from the earth.
Fill the jug with water and stir everything around with your hand and break it all up. Let everything settle for a few minutes.
Now remove pieces of grass and anything either floating on top of suspended in the column of water. Keep adding water and removing what's floating around.
The idea here is to get the sand separated out and settled to the bottom and then get all grass particles and murky water out of the way so that you can see what's left. It's like panning for gold. Be careful as you pour off water that you don't pour off any sand. Just kind of tip it out of the top.
Eventually, you'll have fairly clear water with only sand on the bottom. You can guesstimate how much sand is left or swish it around in the last of the water and transfer that to a clear jar to present to your vet.
You'll need to tell you vet approximately how much fecal matter held the amount of sand in the jar. That's where you have to say "four apples", "half a pile", whatever.
Buster had what would amount to about half a teaspoon of very fine sand in an entire bowel movement. The vet wasn't concerned. However, sand colic can be just as devastating as regular colic, so it's worth it to go through this unpleasant exercise for our horse. Since it's "your horse", it's really not that bad. I didn't mind.
Buster probably never had his teeth floated until he was like 13 or so. It's bad to do, but some horses get along quite well. Glad to know that's not the problem.
Good job with her!
Thanks for the advice. She is doing MUCH better today. I think the worming did the trick. Her personality is back in almost full force. Head tossing, running around, acting generally afool.
ReplyDeleteTHIS is the horse I adopted.