Post by ponygirl on Dec 18, 2008 22:00:20 GMT -5
Here's Plum when I found him last winter. He was lying down with acute laminitis, was extremely underweight, had infected dog bites to his face (which had severed the nerves to his lips--you can see his lower lip hanging in the pic), and possible bute toxicity. He also had a maggot-infested wound on one hind leg. He was breathing rapidly and raggedly, and I figured I was taking him home to put him down. 
He stood up for me, but you can see from his stance that it was extremely painful for him. This picture was taken at his former residence before I got him in the trailer. His extreme wooliness (due to apparent metabolic issues) hid how thin he was. His coffin bones penetrated on all four shortly after this.
This is at my house a few weeks after his arrival. You can better see how thin he was. It's hard to believe he was penetrated on all four in this pic (he's wearing therapeutic shoes)--it's my opinion that as the nerves died along with the vasculature inside his hoof capsules, he simply felt less pain in his 'dead' feet. I could not give him any bute at all, because of his borderline bute toxicity upon arrival.
I didn't know for months if he was going to make it. Coffin bone penetration alone is a life-threatening condition, and with all his other issues, it was pretty rocky. However I now know that if there's ever a thermonuclear war, there will not only be cockroaches left alive, there will also be shetland ponies!
And here he is this afternoon, when it just so happens to be snowing again, a year later! As you can see, he still prefers to be out in the snow getting soaked than inside. His coat is like sheep's wool--and he doesn't completely shed it in the summer. Clearly Cushinoid, though his bloodwork has been inconclusive. Unfortunately he has to live on a drylot, but he still gets fat easily on soaked local timothy and a little LMF low-carb complete.
The nerves in his face never did reconnect, but it hasn't slowed him down any, or detracted from his charm.
He stood up for me, but you can see from his stance that it was extremely painful for him. This picture was taken at his former residence before I got him in the trailer. His extreme wooliness (due to apparent metabolic issues) hid how thin he was. His coffin bones penetrated on all four shortly after this.
This is at my house a few weeks after his arrival. You can better see how thin he was. It's hard to believe he was penetrated on all four in this pic (he's wearing therapeutic shoes)--it's my opinion that as the nerves died along with the vasculature inside his hoof capsules, he simply felt less pain in his 'dead' feet. I could not give him any bute at all, because of his borderline bute toxicity upon arrival.
I didn't know for months if he was going to make it. Coffin bone penetration alone is a life-threatening condition, and with all his other issues, it was pretty rocky. However I now know that if there's ever a thermonuclear war, there will not only be cockroaches left alive, there will also be shetland ponies!
And here he is this afternoon, when it just so happens to be snowing again, a year later! As you can see, he still prefers to be out in the snow getting soaked than inside. His coat is like sheep's wool--and he doesn't completely shed it in the summer. Clearly Cushinoid, though his bloodwork has been inconclusive. Unfortunately he has to live on a drylot, but he still gets fat easily on soaked local timothy and a little LMF low-carb complete.
The nerves in his face never did reconnect, but it hasn't slowed him down any, or detracted from his charm.
BLECH! Don't eat yellow snow!
My old sweety pie, Doc (formerly 'Joel' of CBER june '06). He was supposed to be 12, turned out to be 20. I'm convinced he was somebody's western pleasure horse because he's amazingly well-broke. But he has serious anxiety issues, so I retired him. He has a divet missing from the muscle of one buttock, tongue nearly cut in half, scarred/displaced vertebrate, some home-made stitch scars over his poll. You can't tie him to anything or get him in a trailer, or approach his mouth with anything in your hand--even treats, which he doesn't recognize and still won't eat-- but he'll stand and go to sleep while I do his feet loose in the pasture. Go figure. A few sticky spots I could probably work on, but at his age I decided to just leave him in peace. 
This is Charlie Git-Go, a half-mustang gelding who was an intact, spoiled pet 18 months ago at age 9. Gelding made a big difference in him, but he unfortunately still thinks he has to beat up every other equine in the world. So he has to live in isolation in his own paddock across the property. This has made him a very lonely horse. He is also super-intelligent. He tangled himself in the electric tape one day and stood there on three legs waiting for me to come free him. He will free-lead about the pasture, stopping when I stop, backing when I back. He is, however, still unpredictable, possibly even dangerous as his old studdy behaviors resurface every once in awhile. He needs consistent and deliberate handling, which I hope to accomplish this winter (he's only been at my place since this summer). (P.S.--if you have T posts like mine, make sure you cap them. I took this picture before I finished the job. )
Here he is, On the Wagon (his previous owners gave him beer, at my place he gets carrot juice or a V8)
Levi (formerly Zipper of CBER, June 06). This is my oldest old man. An ex-ranch horse in his thirties, he is the HAPPIEST horse on the place--I don't know if it's senility or what, but he's a big goofball. On the feedlot he was atrociously thin with overgrown feet and a shoe still attached to one 6-month-plus overgrown foot, and nasty looks and pinned ears for everyone. He was also lame. He's sound these days (with a specific shoeing prescription) and he'll follow you around the pasture all goofy and bright-eyed. He rubs his hair off in the summer no matter what I do, and he stays on the lean side no matter how much or what he eats, but I'm pretty sure he'll outlive everything on the place. 
And here's Hazard, AKA 'Cowbird' because he has to ride everyone's behind like an annoying little brother. He came to us last December as another laminitis case who'd been abandoned at a boarding stable by a first-time horse owner who would not feed him for days, then feed him too much. These days he thunders around the pasture like a locomotive. He means well but doesn't know much, and is pretty immature for his 8 or so years (doesn't he look like he needs to have a baseball cap on backwards in this picture???!), but he is the one horse around here I do ride.