SUMMER - 1987 chestnut Saddlebred mare

[jaybird]

Summer update from Carol:

Summer is doing really well. She’s gained a little weight since she’s been here, and she looks great. When she first arrived, I taped her at 1150 pounds, and she’s now 1170. This morning after I let her out of her stall, she went down for a roll and got up and bucked and ran around the dry lot three times. She was feeling especially good! She has the most amazing trot. She is the first saddlebred that I’ve really spent time with, and she has a beautiful way of moving.

[calpiner]

Hi fans of Summer,

I wanted to let everyone know how Summer is doing. We’ve been fostering her since late Sept. I needed a companion to my wonderful 30 year old gelding, Mac, and he and Summer really hit it off.

We lost Mac in mid January. He had been part of our family for 19 years and we miss him terribly. We are so fortunate to have many many happy memories of trail rides and adventures, but saying goodbye to an old friend is never easy.

I was so touched at how Summer handled Mac's passing. She understood that he was gone, but she wanted to stay by him. We left her in our arena over night and she stood guard over Mac. She did not want to leave his side the next morning.

Summer is a very social horse and would never be happy by herself. Bonnie and Jaime were very understanding of our situation, and Bonnie was able to bring Bucky out to keep her company. Bucky is a little cutie, and he settled right in. They've been together for about 3 weeks now and they're getting along really well. They are quite the Odd Couple - Summer is very tall and towers over Bucky. He follows her everywhere, and they enjoy eating together at the hay bunk.

Summer is a very special girl. My farrier and vet just love her. Her ground manners are wonderful, and she loves being rubbed and loved on. She is a very sweet and gentle mare, and we really enjoy having her in our barn.

Carol

[Sara]

Thank you for giving these two oldsters such a nice retirement. SAFE is very fortunate to have such wonderful foster homes.

[calpiner]

Summer continues to do well. She and Bucky have become good friends and they have a nice routine established.

Summer reminds me quite a bit of a wonderful older horse we had many years ago. I found Wallstreet when he was 18 and I wanted a very calm and reliable mount for my husband, who was just learning to ride. Over the next 8 years, we successfully showed him at local shows - he didn't win but he was always in the ribbons. He not only got my hubby hooked on horses, but he gave dozens of young kids their first ride. He was perfect with small kids. Summer has many of the same qualities, and could really blossom in the right environment.

My wish for Summer is to find a wonderful loving forever home. She is very affectionate and would love to have a family of her own to bond with. She's very gentle and good with kids. While we very much enjoy fostering her, and will continue to foster her, she really deserves a permanent family of her own to pamper her. She can give so much back in return. She is a very special girl with a huge heart. She deserves someone very special.

[Whitewolf821]

Summer has also been on my mind a lot lately! How is she doing? I always find myself thinking of the oldies in the winter and wondering how they're handling the weather.

[calpiner]

Thanks for asking about Summer! She is doing well. She continues to be on pergolide, but she's doing well at 1mg. Her coat is slightly longer and thicker than last year but I think that's more a reflection of the kind of winter we're supposed to have. She's holding her weight and is continuing to look really good. My vet was out in Dec and he's really pleased with how she's doing. She's been on Adequan for about a year and it seems to be helping her. She used to have a lot of popping in her neck, which has disappeared since she started on the injections.

I noticed a few months ago that Summer would sometimes almost fall down when she started to doze off in the middle of the afternoon. I didn't think too much of it, but I mentioned it to the vet when he was out a few weeks ago. He said she has some calluses on her front legs from where she may be falling down, which he thinks may be due to sleep deprivation. He suggested that we lower the stall wall between Bucky and Summer, which we did. Since then, she has started to lie down in her stall, and she seems much more relaxed. Apparently she just needs to be able to keep an eye on him during the night.

I know I’ve been sleep deprived, and it’s no fun. I had no idea that it could impact horses too. If anyone else has experience with this, please let me know.

[shekaberry]

One of the gals that posts sometimes from Colorado has a horse that suffered from sleep dep. Desi is the horse and I think she put a mirror in his stall and that helped. I wonder if Lil Miss didn't have the same problem, I don't think I ever saw her lay down. Summer is lucky to have you taking such good care of her in her twilight years!

[fototropic]

My daughter's horse had one episode within a few weeks after we got him. He fell asleep in the wash stall having a bath. His legs started to buckle several times before she got him woken up. He loves a bath. I guess it just relaxed him enough that he fell asleep. I've read it is from a lack of REM sleep which they only get by laying down.

[monicabee]

I've have seen a couple of horses with this issue - nearly falling in the cross ties, or while standing in the arena. A change in management - in one case, more bedding in the stall, in another, no stall at all - eliminated the issue. It was in fact sleep deprivation, not true narcolepsy.

Studies have suggested that many horses do not want to lie down without a buddy on guard - or maybe in this case, being the buddy on guard.

So glad to hear you have sorted that out.

[whenpigsfly]

We have an older Ottb mare with the problem. She falls to her knees usually while out in the pasture. It looks like she's bowing. We've been lucky that we've always kept her in heavy bedding while stalled or in grass pasture. I've heard of horses in gravel paddocks destroying their knees. Danni is our lead mare and I'm sure she doesn't trust the other horses to keep a proper watch over things. Especially the deaf Paint who sleeps like the dead!

[lisam]

My Kara used to be afraid to lie down because it was so hard for her to get back up. The Adequan helped, which I see Summer is already on.