A NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE ... I THOUGHT

1:45 It is 15 minutes after my 1:30 rider is due to arrive. I don’t think she is coming so I started to do some of my chores. Dan had just left to go to the house and clean up before going to town. He had an appointment at 2:00 and was running late. I decided, since I had time before the next people were due, I would let Drafty into an empty pen to eat weeds for about an hour. I haltered him, took him over put him in and shut the gate. A happy horse on green stuff.

 I figured I would start with watering, made a decision as to where I would start then happened to look over at Drafty. Except, I didn’t see him. I started to the pen and saw him lying on his side on the ground. I was calling to him as I opened the gate expecting him to roll up on his chest and get to his feet. He didn’t.

 When I entered the pen he stretched his head my direction and nickered at me. Total abnormal behavior. I went closer and tried to get him up by voice. He struggled to roll up onto his chest but his legs flailed and he didn’t make it. He looked quite weak. I hopped on the ATV and hurried to the house to get Dan to see if he could get Drafty up.

There was no change by the time we got back. Dan hooked the lead line to Drafty’s halter and tried to get him to his feet by pulling. The best he could do was roll part way up then flop back down.

I called Doc and told him what I had seen to that point. He told me that with the information I had given him it sounded like he might have ingested pigweed, which produces nitrate poisoning. Pigweed looks a lot like careless weed, which we have a lot of and with the recent rains it, was coming up. When he told me that earlier this week he had a case where several steers had died of it my heart went to my toes. He asked if I wanted him to come and I told him I did. He told me to give Drafty a shot of Banamine and that it would take a bit to get here

I told Dan what I knew at this point then went to the house to pull the shot while Dan stayed with Drafty. When I got back, I gave him the shot. The thoughts going through my mind at this point were that through my ignorance I had killed a really fine horse.

 

I looked at my watch and it was now about 2:15.  I had a husband and wife scheduled to come at 3:15. I figured I had better call to let them know what was happening so they didn’t make a trip out for nothing. As I was explaining to Jon, he said they were on their way. I looked up to see them turning into my driveway. They were way early.

As soon as they got out they came over and Laura knelt down to stroke Drafty’s head and shade his eye from the sun. Jon squatted down and started petting him. I caught them up on what I knew and there was no sending them off – they were here to stay until I found out what Doc had to say.

At this point, looking at Drafty, one couldn’t help but think the worst. Dan called his appointment and told them what was happening and that he would be late. I heard him getting the front-end loader out – just in case.

About 2:45 I stepped back a little and just observed what was happening as the Banamine took effect. The voice of reason was conversing in my head and I realized I wasn’t seeing deterioration in him. I had checked his mouth for temperature and moisture a couple of times and that seemed constant. I noticed that although he kept his eye either half closed or all the way but his ear was quite active as sounds were occurring around him.

Jon had taken his respirations a couple of times and we found out later from Doc they were in the normal range. His breathing wasn’t labored and he wasn’t thrashing, groaning or grinding teeth as if he was in pain.

Several times he tried to get up – he just couldn’t roll up onto his chest.

3:15 Dan had gone back to the house to wait until Doc came. I called him to come up. After watching Drafty I thought he just might be able to roll up on his chest if Jon and Dan could step in and simply support him when he did. After Dan got there, he tried again and Dan and Jon made it happen. Drafty was up on his chest.

He rested there then suddenly made the needed effort and got to his feet. At this time his position was that of a horse severely foundered. He was rocked back on his hind feet and the front legs were at an angle in front. I was afraid he would fall over again. Laura had his halter and was steadying his head; Jon was at his shoulder and Dan at his hip. Jon was rubbing his front leg (the one that he had been lying on all this time) and helped get circulation going.

Drafty finally tossed his head to let Laura know he thought he could stand alone. He didn’t move but was standing by himself. I called Doc to let him know he was on his feet and found that he was a mile out.

3:25 Doc came up the drive with a car behind him. I went to see who else was here as he went to check Drafty. My 1:30 rider arrived – she thought she was to be here at 3:30. I told her what was happening and that we weren’t riding. She was welcome to stay and see what was going on if she liked.

By this time Doc had begun to check Drafty and each thing he checked was normal. The first thing he did was look at the vegetation and did not find any pigweed. So, he was not poisoned. We asked Drafty to walk a few steps and he did. He was a little stiff from being down but began to limber up. And, as he walked around the pen he was grabbing at the weeds.

We took Drafty into the barn for a further exam to see if there was any sign of neurological damage and he again checked out fine. By this time he was getting a bit impatient with all the fussing. Laura put him away and he immediately went to nibbling on the food in his pen.

Talking through this situation the only thing we could come up with was that Drafty was in such a position on the ground that he just couldn’t get his body to work to get him to his feet. Where he was down he was on a slight slant with the feet on a slight rise putting body and shoulder lower. (I know how I feel trying to get up from things and it depends on the shape of that thing as to how easy or difficult it is.)

Bottom line is Drafty is fine. Do I regret calling the vet for a visit that was normal? No. This way I know that things are good with Drafty. With these geriatric horses, you never know what is going on in their systems. Beside, while Doc was here, I had him check a couple of other things that were cropping up but were not emergencies. I just hadn’t called him yet.

The added bonus was an extreme lesson for Jon and Laura and for me, the gift of two caring people giving support to my horse and me.  

My Philosophy

 

AMAZING WHAT CAN HAPPEN WITH THE RIGHT ATTITUDE

OPEN HOUSE MAY 18, 2013

Getting paperwork ready for the open house. I have a good helper here.

 

The barn was covered in clumps of horse hair (wonder why – shedding season) so my helpers amused themselves while waiting for people to show up to the open house.

 

Much cleaner when done. Such good people hang around with me.

The purpose of open house is to encourage people to come out and visit and find out more about the school and – possibly sign up for lessons.

I do this in May just before school is out and students and families are kind enough to come out and help me.

The three in front below are three of my kids and they took over as tour guides. All the feedback from the visitors was very positive regarding the information they shared.

When these kids started taking lessons with me, they did not have the confidence to handle a tour and talk to prospective students.

Giving the lowdown about Butch with Drafty in waiting.

When they had down time, the girls saw water troughs that needed to be rinsed and filled and did that voluntarily.

 

The Shoe

Recently a friend told me that she and her husband were purchasing a cabin and she thought a horse shoe from my place would be a good addition. She follows the school page on Facebook and told me she likes the stories - so she now becomes one of them.

I found a shoe – used – that came off a very special horse. Her name was Ms. CC Fork – a Pitchfork mare - that was my show horse for several years. Later in her life, at about age 18 she became the ‘founding horse’ for Abrazos Adventure.

Not only did she have a successful show career she was a fun horse to pleasure ride or take to parades. When grandkids came along she carried them to horse show wins just as she did me.

Over the years she was in the school, I don’t know how many people rode her and fell in love with her although she had an edge and attitude and kept us all on our toes.

After age 20 she developed Cushing’s disease and chronic lameness. During the course of treatment she was in special shoes to help with recovery. It was one of those shoes that I was able to send to my friend who is pictured here hanging it over their cabin door. It gave me a good feeling not to send just any old shoe but one full of sweet memories to help someone on their way to their own special times and memories.

And, to the unasked question – no, CC is not still with us. I had to have her put to sleep several years ago.

MOM - I CAN DO IT

YOU NEVER KNOW UNTIL YOU TRY

I think Butch is beginning to trust us some. He is not as flighty about being caught, he settles quicker in the barn and is looking relaxed by the time he is pre-ride walked. He is now walking off with the riders, coming down from the trot to the walk quickly and relaxing in the trot as well as offering a much softer trot (so I am told). I haven’t tried him. To this point, he has only had adults on him with very similar energy and skills.

Recently a rider (adult) asked if she could ride Butch bareback. As we talked, the conditions were supportive of trying; the weather was a little cool but reasonably calm. Of course, by the time we got to the arena, it changed. It got so bad it looked like a lengthy sand storm was going to ensue. No one had gotten on yet so I sent them back to the barn. Within about two minutes, it all subsided – no sand on the horizon. The riders agreed that they were here, ready to go and willing to try.

We did experience some pretty nasty times in the arena due to heavy gusts of wind which picked up dirt and dropping temperatures. (This was the Sunday just prior to the snowstorm coming in.) Butch was willing to put some trust in the rider. I didn’t see him grab and jump one time with her. All they did was walk but he was willing to keep walking and every time I looked, he appeared relaxed. I am so proud of  my rider. She still gets a bit anxious but is getting herself under control so the horse can be comfortable. I love it.

A week later I decided to try one of my kids on Butch. This boy has his energy in the right place and is following instructions. It was a cool morning but nice. My rider did everything he was supposed to and was talking to Butch as I wanted him to. He was a little slower than the others in prepping so was the last one to the arena. After giving my rider the list of dos and don’ts he mounted. He started off fairly well. In a little bit Butch began trotting with him when he wasn’t asked so we worked on shutting him down.

As my rider came through the instructor’s corner (also known as the quit corner), both his mom and another parent yelled at him about keeping his legs off the horse. I saw him raise both his legs straight out to the side. When he did this, I think Butch thought he was going to wham him with the legs so he bolted to the trot. Of course this made the rider bounce which didn’t help Butch’s frame of mind. It finally got to the point that Butch wouldn’t walk. I crossed the arena and was able to intercept them and get Butch to focus on me and my body language message and we got him stopped.

As antsy as he was, I had to be careful since I was on his right side (he is still much  more reactive on this side). I carefully walked to the left and got a hand on the reins then talked to my rider. Bless him, he was in tears. I talked him through and told him I was not at all disappointed in him. Their energies just weren’t meshing today not his fault and not Butch’s fault. I led them to the quit corner and had the rider dismount and we talked some more.

When we went into the barn, my rider started humming to Butch and both of them got to a relaxed state. When he was brushing him out on the right side I was looking elsewhere. All of a sudden, I became aware of Butch jumping to t he side. My rider was on the floor in tears saying’ “It was an accident”. I asked if he was okay and then what happened. Apparently when he went to step down off the stool he stepped wrong and fell. That spooked Butch and my rider both. I told him everything was all right and he finished putting him up.

As he was putting his things away he commented that he had a rough morning. I agreed.

When we talked about his ride he made a very insightful comment about Butch, which was that he didn’t think Butch could help the way he was acting. I agree – the sensory stimulus was more than Butch could overcome and my rider wasn’t able to be the leader he needed.

My take away on Butch was that, although he is coming along, he couldn’t handle the sensation of someone bouncing in the saddle. His rider needs to be able to sit quietly down in the saddle for him to feel confident. The good news is that he didn’t take off trotting as vigorously as he did when he first arrived and I saw him looking for leadership. He is still a rough ride although the regular riders say he is getting better. The roughness will make it tougher for the kids though.

This is on the same day. A week earlier another rider and I had talked about riding Butch this week for her first time. After the early ride, my thought process bounced back and forth between ‘should I let her ride him or not’. This was to be her first ride on him and there have been confidence issues with this person. I decided there was enough break between this morning and her ride for Butch to totally reset his mind. We gave it a go and she did really well on him – Butch walked and trotted at her request.

She came in to have me check the saddle and I found the cinch about an inch and a half loose. She had been trotting and done just fine. Obviously her balance is getting good. I also believe it is easier for a rider with some weight on the bones to keep their rear end in the saddle where the kids are light weight and sometimes tend to become a little air borne.